phone into her pocket. She leaned back and closed her eyes. She had to make this work. She’d already told her bosses at Back Bay she could get Dex Kennedy to sign on to the project, and they’d already begun making plans based on her overly optimistic claim.
How could she go back to them and tell them she’d failed? They’d lose all faith in her. They already had their doubts. There was only one choice—she’d have to convince him, no matter what it took.
* * *
THE DAMP WIND stung his cheeks and Dex shoved his hands farther into his pockets. He was chilled to the bone but he didn’t feel the cold. All he wanted was the numbness that it brought.
The moon had come out from behind the clouds, illuminating the wet road in front of him. He knew this route so well in the dark, navigating from cottage to cottage by the light spilling out of the windows.
The weather matched his mood—foul and dark. He’d paced the cottage for a full ten minutes, regretting his decision to send Marlie Jenner away. Then the walls had begun to close in and he had to escape.
If he walked long enough and fast enough, he’d exhaust himself and maybe get a little sleep. His encounter with Marlie certainly hadn’t done anything to relax him. After her reaction to his invitation for a drink, he realized the mistake he’d made. He’d assumed the attraction was mutual, but she’d obviously only been flirting with him in the hopes it might help her cause. He’d misread her interest.
He’d been so long without a woman that he couldn’t even read the signs anymore. In eight months, he hadn’t even considered indulging in the pleasure of a woman’s company. And now, suddenly, he was desperate for another chance to touch her, to lose himself in the taste of her mouth or the scent of her hair.
Because in that single moment when their lips had met, he’d felt as if a door had been thrown open and the sun had shone through with blinding white light that had warmed his soul. He’d sensed his life might finally get back on track, if he could just spend a little time standing in that light.
What was it about her that he found so alluring? She was pretty, that much was evident. He couldn’t take his eyes off her face. But there was something else that drew him to her. She had an innocence, a naïveté, that he usually didn’t find in the women he dated.
How easy would it be to fall into a relationship with her, and for all the wrong reasons? She was just like that bottle of sleeping pills, a drug that made all his problems disappear, a drug he’d soon come to crave, knowing all the while that he was just medicating the problem, not solving it.
Then there was the matter of professional ethics. He’d never mixed his personal life with his professional life. It was a strict rule that he and Matt had made for themselves and it was part of the reason they had been so successful. When they were immersed in a project, there were never any distractions.
And if that wasn’t reason enough, Dex couldn’t drag her into his messy life. No one, not even someone as tempting as her, deserved that. He’d done the right thing in sending her away. He needed more time to heal.
But how much more? Dex wondered. When would he start to feel this darkness lift? There were days when he could barely crawl out of bed.
And yet the moment he’d set eyes on Marlie, all of that had been forgotten. So maybe he just needed a woman, any woman, to distract him for a bit. Any woman except Marlie Jenner.
As he neared the cottage, Dex noticed a car parked on the road just outside the garden gate. He squinted in the darkness, trying to make out who it might be. Had Claire decided to drive out and keep him company? The moon emerged again and he made out the silhouette of Marlie’s Fiat.
“Bloody hell,” he muttered. As he approached the car, he wondered if she’d decided to wait inside. But the cottage was dark, just as he’d left it.
He peered into the window and saw Marlie, curled up in the front seat, her eyes closed. Dex rapped softly on the window and she jerked, startled by the sound. As she looked out at him, he circled his finger, silently asking her to roll the window down.
“What are you doing out here?” he demanded.
“Waiting for you,” Marlie said, rubbing her eyes and sending him a weak smile.
“I thought we’d settled everything earlier.”
“You didn’t let me make my presentation,” she snapped. “I’m not going to let you say no until you’ve listened to what I have to say.”
Dex circled around the car, but instead of going back inside the cottage, he waited for her to unlock the passenger-side door. When she did, he got inside, settling himself into the seat.
He rubbed his hands together to warm them. “It’s not that I wouldn’t like to work with you,” Dex murmured. “I just don’t think I’d be any good to anyone right now. I’ve sort of lost my focus and I’m not sure I’m going to get it back.”
“You won’t know unless you try,” Marlie said.
“I know that I just spent three hours in the rain trying to get you out of my head.”
She drew a sharp breath and glanced away, rattled by his declaration. “Maybe you’re feeling guilty that you didn’t give me a chance?”
Dex chuckled. “What I’m feeling has nothing to do with guilt.” He twisted around in the small seat and faced her. “Tell me, why are you so determined to make this film? Beyond fame and fortune, which I can promise you, you won’t find making documentary films. So there must be a reason. Why this film? Why Aileen Quinn?”
She considered his question for a moment, as if she wanted to make sure she gave him the answer he was seeking.
“Don’t tell me what you think I want to hear,” he warned. “Tell me the truth.”
She nodded. “When I was younger, I was...lost. I didn’t really fit in—with my family, with the kids in school. I felt like an outsider most of the time. Then one day, I picked up one of Aileen Quinn’s books at the library. I think I was twelve, and I was so excited that the librarian had given me an adult book. I found myself in that book. The heroine in the story was all alone in the world, but she was so strong and determined, nothing could stop her. And in the end, she made a wonderful life for herself. And I told myself that I could do the same thing.” Marlie met his gaze. “Aileen Quinn changed my life. I know that sounds dramatic, but it’s true.”
“That’s a good reason,” he murmured. “You’re passionate about your subject.”
“So maybe instead of thinking of all the reasons why you can’t do this project, you should think about the reasons why you should.”
“And what might those be?” Dex asked.
“I’ll be honest. With your name attached to the project, it’s going to get much more attention than it ever would with just my name. People will be interested in seeing it. We’ll get distribution and interest at the film festivals.”
Dex turned away, letting the sound of her voice lure him back in again. Everything she said was true. His name would open a lot of doors for her. And it wasn’t as if he was doing anything useful with his time, beyond lying around Claire’s flat and drinking far too much.
But
