Read Online Determined: To Love: (Part 2 of the Determined Trilogy) by Elizabeth Brown - Free Book Online Page B

just two years old. Finally getting out of the puppy phase, thank God. How was the drive up?”
    “Good, good. Faster than I thought.” I stood back up and looked around. Gina’s house was impressive. Even from the foyer, you could see through a huge, vaulted living room, straight out to the bay. It was gorgeous. “Your house is lovely.”
    “Thank you. I like it too. The location mostly. The house itself is a little stark for me; it needs warmth.”
    I glanced around the living room. She was right. It had the distinct feeling that someone had just moved in. There was barely any furniture, save for a large suede sectional and a few cheap floor lamps. Nothing on the walls. It was in sharp contrast to Gina herself, who was outfitted in an elegant tweed skirt and soft cashmere sweater, with lots of gold jewelry layered on her neck and wrists.
    “Some art, perhaps?” I said with a wry smile.
    “My thoughts exactly. Here, come with me, I’ve got some sandwiches and iced tea in the sun room. We can talk in there.” She motioned for me to follow her.
    The sun room was a bright glassed-in room perched on the edge of the property overlooking the water. We sat at a rattan table and ate chicken salad sandwiches as Gina told me about herself. She recently had relocated from Manhattan, having divorced her hedge-fund husband. She said she had found him in bed with his secretary.
    “Honestly, what bothered me more than the actual cheating was how stereotypical it was. I mean, I wish he’d at least slept with someone interesting—someone I could admire or be jealous of, but the freaking blonde secretary with big tits? It was so embarrassing. I had to get out of there. So I figured, what’s farthest from the East Coast?”
    “The West Coast,” I intoned.
    “Exactly.” She paused, taking the last bite of her sandwich, chewing slowly before she continued. “And so here I am.” I didn’t know what to say, but she continued “So, Sam. May I call you Sam?”
    “Sure.”
    “Sam, this is a big place,” She waved her hand in the air. “And the best way to punish my ex is by hurting him financially.” A fire started to brew in her eyes. “I’d like to do this place up right. I want the best, most expensive art. I want to coat the walls. I want it to be a fucking museum.”
    I was taken aback. I thought that she was going to ask me to help her go to a couple galleries here or there, and pick out a few pieces for her home. This sounded like a much bigger job. I sipped on my iced tea, buying time. “Hmm. That sounds like quite a project,” I finally uttered. It was all I could come up with.
    “I’m prepared to compensate you accordingly, of course.” She added, as she dabbed the corners of her mouth with a napkin, “I’ll send you the details via email. Do you have time for a tour before you have to go?”
    “I actually have an appointment this afternoon I need to get back to town for,” I said, removing my napkin as I stood up. It wasn’t true, but I didn’t want to overstay my welcome.
    “Drat. Well, you’ll just have to accept the position and come back again then,” she said, looking bemused. “Thank you for coming up, Sam. Let me walk you to the door.” Finn ran over and followed us down the hall. “I will be in touch soon.”
    “Thanks Gina. And thank you for lunch. It was lovely.”
    “Anytime, Sam. Have a safe trip back.”

6
    After lunch, I went back to my place. It had been a while since I’d been there. I surveyed the space—it was just as I had left it—my down comforter strewn hastily over the bed, a pair of jeans tossed over the back of my desk chair, unwashed dishes in the sink. I’ve never considered myself a slob, but after having access to housekeeping service at David’s, I was starting to understand the point. I threw the jeans into the hamper and promptly ignored the dishes in the sink while I booted up my computer.
    I caught up on my favorite blogs and scanned updates on social