Page 70 of Forbidden King (Magnolia Falls)

“Don’t mind these two prudes.” Midge shrugged.

“I can assure you that no one has ever called me a prude,” Peyton said, not hiding the fact that she was offended by the comment.

Demi came up behind her with a big smile on her face. “She’s right. No one has ever called her a prude.”

Midge waved her hand around as if they were all annoying her. “Anywho, I’m wondering if you could label the books by spice level as well as genre.”

“You want me to label the shelves by how sexy the books are?”

“Correct. Sometimes a woman wants something spicy to liven things up in her own bedroom. And other times I want something serious. Closed door. So how about you help a girl out?” Midge crossed her arms over her chest.

“Midge Longhorn, you have lost your mind since you got back together with Doug.” Janelle chuckled and shook her head.

“You might be right, but a lot of people are pleased to see that I’m in a much better mood than I used to be.”

“This is you in a good mood? You snapped at me for not getting you a glass of ice water quick enough just fifteen minutes ago, and then you called me a prude,” Peyton said.

“Well, you weren’t very fast, and I was calling Janelle a prude, too.” She raised a brow.

More laughter. Brinkley and Georgia were watching with complete fascination.

I noticed Ashlan out of the corner of my eye, and she was walking up beside me. The crowd had died down, and I was relieved to be closing up soon. I turned my attention back to Midge.

“I don’t know if giving a spice level to all the books would work, honestly.” I shrugged because it was the truth.

“And why is that? I’ve heard that people use a chili pepper system.” Midge pressed. My God, the old horndog could judge her own heat level on her books.

I was flustered by how to answer her, and I tried to think of a good response just as Ashlan put a hand on my shoulder and leaned in. “I think the reader should make that assessment for themselves because the heat level is very subjective. Some readers give me one chili pepper, and others give me three or four.”

I smiled at her in thanks because it was clear that Midge thought Ashlan walked on water. “You know what? You’re right, Ashlan. I can’t trust some stranger to decide if it’s sexy enough for me. Your books have just the right amount of steam. Doug and I listened to your latest release on audio together last night.” Midge whistled. “Let me tell you, we had a very good night.”

“Oh, wow. Good to know.” Ashlan’s face turned bright red, but she shook it off quickly.

Brinkley and Georgia were laughing hysterically, and we all joined in.

Midge and Janelle left shortly after, and we spent the next few minutes cleaning up.

“Let’s go get some food and cocktails. I’m starving,” Ruby said.

Everyone agreed, and we locked up and spent the next hour and a half laughing endlessly about everything from Midge Longhorn to the fact that Oscar Daily had come in and bought a book, but he’d worn sunglasses and a baseball cap to hide his face.

I was grateful that I’d completely forgotten how nervous I was about my upcoming road trip to see my dad tomorrow.

Ruby spent the night at our house to keep me distracted, even though I told her multiple times that I was fine. She would be moving out soon, and I knew she’d only agreed to keep renting the other room to help me out. She stayed at River’s almost every night. But we’d stayed up late talking, and I was grateful that I was so exhausted when my head hit the pillow that I didn’t have time to second-guess if I was doing the right thing.

My phone buzzed in the morning, and Hayes’s photo filled my screen. I’d sent him a text in the middle of the night to check on him because they couldn’t seem to get this wildfire contained, and it was still blazing with a force.

“Hey,” I said as I ran my fingers over the charm on my necklace out of habit. “How are you doing? Are you okay?”

“Hey, Say.” I heard the exhaustion in his voice. “This fire is still out of control, but we’re not backing down. Just had a few minutes to check in and saw you’d texted pretty late last night.”

“Yeah, I woke up in the middle of the night and checked the app, and I just got worried. How long are you going to have to stay there? Are you eating? Sleeping?” I dropped to sit on the bed and chewed on my thumbnail. I hadn’t slept well because I’d woken up shortly after falling asleep last night because I was anxious about Hayes, and I’d checked the fire update. That had me tossing and turning for hours.

“I’ll be here for probably at least two more weeks. Maybe longer. It depends on what the weather decides to do. This damn wind keeps shifting, so every time we make progress, the weather makes things worse again. I’m eating and sleeping just fine. Don’t worry about me. I’m good. Tell me about the book signing.”

“Says the man who never stops worrying.” I chuckled, but it was forced. Because I was worried, and I had a valid reason to worry. He was the one in the middle of a wildfire. “The book signing was so great, Hayes. Everyone in town came out to meet her, and she was amazing in every way. Charming and sweet and funny. The bookstore has been really busy since we opened the doors. Today is my first day off in a while.”

“I’m proud of you, Say. You were determined to do this, and you made it happen. What are you going to do on your day off?”

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