EXCERPT
Prologue
Mason apartment, Greenwich Village Section of New York, New York, Wednesday morning, November 11, 2015
Jinxx Mason rolled over in her big, comfortably rumpled bed and opened one eye. She had awakened to the bing of a message on her cell phone before her alarm clock rang. It was 6:58 a.m. That had been happening every morning lately. Before she picked up the phone, she said a quick prayer. Today would have been her mother’s sixty-fifth birthday if she hadn’t died the year before of breast cancer that had gone undetected until it was too late. Jinxx felt a moment of grief and then reached for the phone. Her mother would not have wanted her to be sad even for a minute, so she had to honor that.
Jinxx smiled when she saw the text message from Troy. She had met Troy Barnett when he instant-messaged her on Facebook over a month ago. She usually didn’t respond to that type of message from strange men, but there had just been something about Troy. He looked a little rough around the edges but handsome in the picture on his Facebook page.
He had been persistent and said she had a captivating smile. That had made her smile, captivating or not. After he’d messaged her three times, she finally deigned to say hello to him. That had started a daily correspondence that she had to admit made every day exciting. Unfortunately, or maybe not unfortunately, he lived in Los Angeles and she was in New York. A good, safe distance separated them and, what the hell? It was fun to have someone to flirt with safely—no commitment, no danger of an intimate relationship upsetting her comfortable applecart.
The contact with a handsome man made her feel alive and like she had someone in her life. Her brief and unsatisfying marriage had left her very cautious about men, and she usually preferred to do without rather than be disappointed. Her vibrator, Herbie, never disappointed or hurt her, unlike her ex-husband and a couple of guys she had dated over the years.
Jinxx, or Jacinta Mason, was forty years old and the senior litigation paralegal at the prestigious Wall Street law firm of Brampton Hamilton. She made great money and got to travel with her boss, Jim Hamilton, to assist with big trials all over the country and sometimes overseas. It was a dream job. She had worked for Jim for over fifteen years, and she was close friends with his wife, Trish.
Good morning, beautiful. I was thinking about you. It’s 4 a.m. here, and I’m about to go out for a run before I head to the job site. Have a great day and think of me, sexy. Barnett
She picked up her stylus and started to answer. I just rolled over and found your message. It’s 7 a.m. here. I can’t get used to this time difference. Have a good run. TTUL. Xoxox
* * * *
Troy Barnett tied his running shoes and grabbed a hooded sweatshirt from the rack near the door of his Los Angeles high-rise apartment in Harbor City.
That girl always brightened his day when he pictured her wide smile. That was what he had noticed on Facebook. She had a great smile and a curvy body that got his motor running—that and the fact that she wrote BDSM erotic romances on the side. He had checked out her Facebook fan page, and the book covers displayed there had caught his interest. He had to laugh at that. He wasn’t really sure what erotic romance was, but he knew he probably wanted some.
Troy had been trapped in a funk ever since the death of Peggy, his wife of fifteen years, from ovarian cancer. She had been his first love, and her death had left him ravaged and pessimistic, bringing his dour Scottish personality to the surface. Jinxx had been the first bright spot in his life in a long time, and he found himself looking forward to their messages and emails every morning and night. He felt like a kid in a candy store for the first time in years.
He was trying to keep his enthusiasm under control. He didn’t want to scare her off by being overzealous or too needy. He had to keep reminding himself that he was a stranger to her although she did not feel like a stranger to him. He had already developed some strong romantic feelings for Jinx despite the fact that they had not yet met. How weird is that?
* * * *
Jinxx bounced out of bed and headed to her bathroom. These morning messages from Troy always started her day with a little thrill, despite the three-hour time difference. She knew a lot about him since they had been messaging and emailing for a month, but there were still some gaps in her knowledge. Sometimes his one-word responses left her with more questions than answers. She knew he was a construction engineer and had worked on projects all over the world. He said he was forty-five, unmarried, and didn’t currently have a girlfriend.
Jinxx was amazed at the intimate connection they had made in such a short time. She had told Troy private things she had not even told her best friends. Maybe it was the anonymity of the written word on a cell phone or computer screen. They occasionally spoke on the phone, and she had to admit that his deep, rough voice with a pronounced Glasgow accent sent a thrill right to her clit.