A forever kind of love.
As they lay wrapped in each other’s arms, the warm glow of sexual satisfaction painting everything, it wasn’t the sex that made him press a kiss to her temple. It was that other sensation deep in his heart.
The words trembled on his tongue, but he wasn’t ready to let go yet. He needed a little more practice just thinking them first. But as she fell asleep in his arms with a smile on her face, Jack couldn’t resist giving them one test run.
“I love you, Pepper.”
Chapter Fifteen
“You’re late.” Charlene’s flat observation greeted Pepper as she hurried into the media room on the first floor of the Grande Hotel.
She’d sprinted through the lobby carting her heavy messenger bag, so her breathing flew out in quick pants as she skidded to a stop near the table laden with monitors and audio equipment. On the other side of the cramped room, Charlene stood with her slender arms folded over the front of her silky blue dress. The party wasn’t starting for another three hours, yet the woman already looked like the belle of the ball.
“I’m sorry,” Pepper said breathlessly, setting down her bag. “I don’t have a car, so I had to cab it over here, and my driver was ten minutes late to pick me up.”
Charlene’s perfect nose turned up. “You don’t have a car.”
A thinly veiled judgment, but Pepper decided to treat it like a question. “Haven’t gotten around to buying one yet.” She looked the woman up and down, opting to try and be nice for a change. “You look fantastic. Everyone at the party is going to love that dress.”
“What? No.” Looking frazzled, Charlene adjusted one of her spaghetti straps. “This isn’t what I’m wearing tonight. It’s just a day dress.”
A day dress? What the hell was that? And…seriously?
Pepper made another wise decision not to voice a smart-aleck remark. She unzipped her bag and pulled out her laptop. “I got your email about the changes you wanted for the photo collage. I fixed it this morning, but I want to get your official approval before I finalize the file.”
“Get to it then.” Charlene flung a hand at the computer. “I still need to get my hair done and then head to the airport to pick up my brother and sister-in-law.”
The woman sounded so stressed that Pepper was willing to cut her some slack. She snapped to action, plugging in her laptop and shoving the flash drive into its slot. A moment later, she clicked on the file, glancing over at Charlene as she waited for it to load. “So I didn’t alter any of the older photographs, but I did play around with the contrast like you asked, so the images are clearer. And for those last-minute wedding photos you found, I—huh. This is weird.”
An icon had appeared on the screen, informing her of a file error.
“Why is it saying that?” Charlene leaned over Pepper’s shoulder as she voiced the demand.
She pursed her lips. “I have no idea. Hold on.” She closed the box and went into the hard drive menu to load the file from there. Again, the error message popped up.
Pepper bit her lip and attempted another solution, ejecting the drive, then sliding it back in, using the digital program to try to open the project. This time, the message was different, informing her that the file was corrupted and couldn’t be opened.
“What the hell?” she mumbled under her breath.
Behind her, Charlene cursed loudly. “Why isn’t it working? What did you do?”
“I didn’t do anything,” Pepper protested. “The file was working this morning.”
“Well, it’s not working now! So fix it!”
She ignored the woman’s shrill yells and refocused on the screen. None of her troubleshooting paid off, and by the time she admitted defeat, Charlene was spitting mad, her high heels clicking on the floor as she rage-paced.
“I can’t believe this is happening!” the older woman hissed. “I should have known better than to trust a child with something so important!”
Pepper wearily rose from the chair. “Relax. I’m not sure what’s wrong with the file, but I have—”
Charlene cut her off. “Of course you’re not sure! You’re incompetent, Pepper!” She made a sound of disgust. “Pepper. What kind of moronic parents name their kid Pepper?”
“Hey,” she said sharply. “Leave my parents out of this. It’s not their fault.”
“You’re right. It’s your fault. Do you know how much money my brother and I spent on this fucking party? Tens of thousands of dollars! Oh God, I can’t believe you screwed everything up!” Charlene’s breathing became shallow. “Actually, no, I can believe it. I’m not surprised you screwed up. The only reason Parker hired you was because you’re family. Or maybe Jack was the one who convinced him—we both know what a horny bastard that man is. He probably wanted easy access to you.”