Turn Me On (Man of the Month 7)

Begrudgingly, he downed his glass of orange juice, then stood up, meeting his father's eyes. "I'm heading to the airport now," he said. "And I'm not going to fuck this up."

And he wouldn't, he thought as he headed around the pool and toward the main house. But the frustrating reality was that he'd intended to call Amanda Franklin from the road to let her know he'd be in town for the night.

For over a month now, she'd filled his head. And memories of their night together had invaded his dreams, so intense that on more than one occasion he'd had to take a cold shower before he even thought about getting dressed.

He'd resisted calling her from Dallas over the last month. She'd made it perfectly clear that if they got together again it would only be a drive-by. But he was okay with that. As much as she filled his thoughts, he didn't need the complication of a steady woman in his life.

On the contrary, for years, he'd been the guy who'd gone out with a different woman every weekend. Not with quite the exuberance of Jared, maybe, but Derek had never been the type to stick. What was the point? His business was his priority, and it ate up his time. Why not enjoy the rare free time that he had? Especially when there were so many women in all of Winston's various flagship cities who were more than happy to keep him entertained.

And the fact that he hadn't called a single one of them in the last month had nothing to do with the night he and Amanda had spent together. Why would it? She was cut from the same cloth, wasn't she? A woman focusing on her career and not looking for a relationship.

So no. The only reason for his relative celibacy these last four weeks had been the insanity of his schedule. He'd been pulling long hours planning the new division and working on the terms of the motor inn deal. And at no time during those weeks had he crossed paths with any women interesting enough to pull him away from work.

Amanda was interesting enough.

The words sang through him. True enough.

And that, of course, was why she was still on his radar.

As he drew closer to the house, he texted the butler to request that a driver and car be waiting for him by the time he'd grabbed his overnight bag from the trunk of his Mercedes. He'd leave his car here so that he could catch up on emails during the drive from the ranch to the Winston hanger at Love Field.

They'd been on the road for fifteen minutes, and Derek had managed to answer all of the morning's emails, when his phone rang. He glanced at the Caller ID, intending to ignore it unless it was his assistant, only to see that it was Jared.

"Where are you this week?"

"Aspen. You should come. The snow's cold, but the women are hot."

Derek chuckled. "I guess so. I thought you were in LA. Weren't you all excited about optioning some author's book to turn into a movie?"

"She was hot, too. But it didn't work out."

There was an unfamiliar edge in Jared's tone. "What's going on, man?"

"Nothing. Shit. Seriously, it's no big thing."

"What isn't?"

"Carla. The author. Like I said, no big thing."

From Jared's tone, it sounded like it was a big thing.

"What happened?"

"She dumped me."

Derek's eyes widened. "I didn't know you were dating her?"

"I wasn't. Maybe that was the pr

oblem. She dumped me as a producer. Said she didn't trust me with the project. That I was fly-by-night."

From Derek's point of view, Carla sounded like a sharp woman. Jared had never worked in Hollywood, but he had the money to play. He'd gotten the itch to be a producer, which could turn out fine if he paid quality people to work with him. But from what Derek had seen, Jared was acting, not working. Playing the producer role without actually accomplishing anything except getting his face known at all the hottest clubs and a few mentions in The Hollywood Reporter.

"So I said fuck it and came to Colorado. You should come. I've met some lovely ladies who are happy to help me stay warm."

"No can do. About to catch a plane to Austin." And he wouldn't go even if he could.

"Too bad. This is the life, my friend. Working in Hollywood was way too much trouble. Not worth the time if you don't need the scratch." But for the first time, there was something in Jared's voice that made him think that his friend didn't believe his own bullshit.