On Dry Land (Swimming Upstream #3) by Rebecca Barber Page A

kiss to Ava’s neck, encouraging her to continue. “Don’t make me say this, please…”
    He knew she was embarrassed. She didn’t have to say anything. There were no words needed. When she burrowed against his chest and held on for dear life, he felt her body tremble when she sucked in a deep breath and held it before sighing heavily.
    “Ava Jacobs. I love you. Nothing you say is going to make that go away. I promise. Now come on. Time to fess up. It doesn’t matter. Don’t be embarrassed. I’m here and I’m not letting go! Not today. Not ever.”
    “This is so humiliating.”
    “No more stalling out with it.”
    Ava gulped. Loudly. “Well, the first…the first book, it was…it was loosely based on you.”
     

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 14
     
     
    Ava
     
    Ava said the words and watched Tyler’s bemused face. He wasn’t laughing. He wasn’t making fun of her. Instead he remained silent while Ava’s head and heart soared. Feeling her confidence growing slightly, Ava continued. “And that book didn’t end up so well. I mean, you were so pissed…”
    “Yeah, I was.”
    “I don’t want you angry at me again. I don’t want to lose you just cause of some stupid book. But the ideas, they wouldn’t stop coming. And early this morning, while you were snoring, I just got up and started writing. The words came so thick and so fast I couldn’t stop them.”
    “That’s a good thing. Isn’t it?”
    “Yeah it is. But…”
    “No, Ava. No buts…you write whatever it is you need to write. Yeah, I won’t lie. When I first got your book I was furious. And I wanted to strangle you. Make you pay for exposing my life like that. Obviously that didn’t go according to plan and I’m thankful for that. ’Cause here we are now. Right where you’re supposed to be. I wouldn’t change that for the world.”
    “You’re so sweet.”
    “Nah, I’m really not. Just telling it how it is.”
    “Thank you. So what are you trying to say?”
    “What I’m saying, Ava, is write whatever it is you want. I’ll support you no matter what. Just don’t give them my name or get too personal and I’m good. So, now we’ve covered that, what else is going on? ’Cause I’ve seen you under pressure before and it’s never been like this. Tell me the rest.”
    “The rest? They want me to do some more promotion.”
    “That’s great!” Tyler’s voice brimmed with enthusiasm.
    “You’d think so.”
    “You don’t?”
    “You know me. I hate being in public. I hate people looking at me. Judging me. And they want me to go on the morning show and put myself out there. Can you imagine anything worse? Me on TV?”
    “When?”
    “Thursday.”
    Tyler stood up, not letting Ava go. Clamping her legs around his waist, Ava kissed behind his ear and felt his flesh heat up beneath her lips. “Well then, tomorrow we’re going shopping to find you something to wear. Something sensational. You’ll do great. You always do.”
    “Your faith in me is…it’s…”
    “Deserved. Now, enough of the heavy! If I recall, Short Stack, you owe me a fashion parade. And if I remember correctly, there was quite a bit of lingerie to model.”
    The next day Ava’s nightmares continued. Tyler took her shopping. Between trying on dress after dress, Tyler yanking out his shiny, silver credit card more than once, insisting that only buying one dress wasn’t enough, there was the people. The shopping centre, even on a Sunday it was packed. After ten minutes of circling the car park, they’d fought their way inside and almost immediately Tyler had been recognized. He just seemed to take it in his stride. Smiling and posing for photos, but not once did he let go of her hand.
    Three hours and four dresses later, Tyler insisted on lunch, leading her into an overflowing café. Feeling run down and generally blah, Ava had splurged and stuffed herself on brioche French toast with crispy bacon and covered in a thick drizzle of maple syrup.