Flirting With Forever Read Online Free PDF Page B

off.”
    “Try again,” Erin said through tears. They were really cute shoes. I held her hand and she swooned a little when the man finally slid the strap down her heel. That seemed to relieve enough of the pressure he could work the shoe off. Every time he moved it, she said she was worried she’d throw up on me. I deserved at least that.
    “There.” Glasses Guy finally handed Erin her shoe. The Donald Pliner logo explained why she was so adamant about saving it. He helped her out to the town car waiting for us, and I followed with Lilly and the offending bag.
    I spent the next three hours at the ER with Erin, and one of the nurses discreetly told us we could count on at least another three. At least they’d given her a little something for pain, but I don’t think it did anything more than take the edge off. I went into the bathroom and splashed just enough cold water on my face to make what little mascara I had on run. I dabbed at the gray streaks on my face and headed back to tend to Erin.
    “You need to go, Tara. Check into your hotel.” I started apologizing again, but she’d had enough, and held up her hand for me to shut it. “You have the Today Show tomorrow.” I was still drunk enough to see the humor in what she’d just said, but didn’t dare laugh. “I called my boss, she’s sending another publicist tomorrow. Don’t worry, he’ll have all my notes, everything will be fine.”
    “But you’re going to be okay. I know you are. Remember we were going to do this together and it was going to be fun?” I sounded like a three-year-old.
    “Tara, I played sports growing up. I know what broken bones feel like. This isn’t something that will be fixed tonight.”
    Erin’s cellphone rang and she talked to her sister who was freaking out because she was stuck in traffic and wanted the doctor to wait until she got there to operate. Erin looked at me a couple of times and tried to smile. When she ended the call, she looked relieved. Maybe she was glad to be relieved of me.
    “When you were in the bathroom, I ordered you a pizza. It’ll be at the hotel soon. Be sure and eat. Drink plenty of water.” She said there was a town car waiting for me outside the hospital. They’d have me at the hotel in fifteen minutes and pick me up just before 5:30 in the freaking morning. “You’re going to be fabulous tomorrow, and you’re in luck, they’re sending Jake.”
    Jake? Hopefully it wasn’t Jake the ass.

Chapter Five
    ‡
    J ake Randall ran his hand over his face and sighed into the phone. Barely thirty, he was too young to be this tired. “Where is she now?”
    “She’s in the bathroom,” Erin said.
    “God, I’m so tired of these people, and this one sounds like a train wreck.”
    “Stop being such an ass,” Erin snapped. “Tara’s dog just died. Her life is shit right now, but she’s great. You’ll see. Besides you’ve begged for months to leave the diva side of the business and come over to the real author’s side. I just sent her itinerary to your phone, this is your chance.”
    It was true. Just after college, Jake joined Penguin as a lowly publicist’s assistant, moving up through the ranks before ending up as a publicist. He had a talent for handling celebrities who couldn’t write a book if their life depended on it. Yet, there he was carting them around the country while they signed ghostwritten books and complained about everything from the inept design of Sharpies to hotel sheets with the incorrect thread count. Like they’d actually taken the time to count and knew the sheets were six hundred instead of sixteen hundred.
    “I’m supposed to start my vacation tomorrow, which I need. A lot. But I’ll do it. Just don’t make it sound like you’re doing me a favor. She showed up drunk and broke your foot.”
    “Hang on a second, the doctor is here—No, I haven’t had anything to eat since breakfast. Some water, maybe around eleven this morning.” Jake could hear a woman