Page 17 of Paper Hearts & Plot Twists

“Will do, Sweet Pea,” Joel said before the phone went silent as he hung up on his end.

“You’re here for the romance authors?” Miles asked. Emily jumped, turning to face Miles standing by the bathroom door. She hadn’t realized he’d finished his shower.

“Sav R. Miller is more romantasy than straight romance. I’m here for a lot of the authors, but yes, I appreciate some great romance in my reading,” Emily responded, giving Miles a side eye. “You can’t honestly look down on romance authors.”

“I don’t look down on them necessarily,” Miles responded. He walked into the room and sat in the chair across from Emily, grabbing one of the pastries from the breakfast tray, “But I also think that reading romance is the least stimulating reading you could offer yourself.”

“It can be formulaic,” Emily conceded, “But there’s also a lot of innovation in the genre. Reading doesn’t always have to be intellectually stimulating. Reading is supposed to be an escape and it’s supposed to bring you what you need; romance makes me happy and relaxed.”

“Shocker of all shockers, the guy gets the girl,” Miles teased.

“Shocker of all shockers,” Emily mocked, “I’m only interested in happy endings, so that’s perfect for me. There’s too much trauma in the world. When I read I want to be happy.”

Miles smirked, “How’s this for romance? As his eyes met hers, he felt a wave of emotion flood over him, like someone had just upgraded his heart’s software to the eternal love edition.”

Emily rolled her eyes, “Literally no romance book says something like that.”

Miles laughed, “What about, her gaze lingered on his, as if their eyes were engaged in a marathon of romantic staring, with each blink whispering, you’re my favorite chapter in this love story.”

“You’re ridiculous.” Emily laughed. “What about guys writing women in fiction? Her boobs jiggled as she lifted the brush to her hair, counting the strokes until she reached one hundred.”

“Sounds about right,” Miles said, a wide grin blooming over his face. “I should use that in my next novel.”

“Have you published before?” she asked.

He looked at her in confusion. She stared back as she munched on her pastry.

“You don’t know who I am?” he finally asked, his brows drawn together.

“Should I know who you are?”

He suddenly threw back his head and laughed. “You might be good for my ego. It’s been a while since someone hasn’t known who I am. Maybe I’m in a slump.”

“What kind of material do you write?”

“Mostly fantasy, but I’m looking at stretching my wings and trying other genres.”

“If you have any copies, I’ll read one of your books and tell you what I think. I’m a fast reader.”

“I’m not sure I want you to give me your opinion. You’re kind of mean,” he said, and she finally smiled. This wasn’t so bad. She remembered his comment before she got sidetracked by learning he was an author here. She should be excited she was sharing a room with an author, but he’d annoyed her so bad already for her to fangirl.

“Go ahead and use my brilliant hair-brushing line in your novel, but I demand compensation for my important contribution to your work.”

“Of course: Credit to Miss Parker, who taught me how women really behave to support my literary career,” Miles said with a serious expression, nodding his head.

“I think that level of support actually deserves like five-percent royalties,” Emily teased.

“Only five percent? I was thinking at least twenty-five percent,” Miles responded. His eyes crinkled in amusement, matching the grin that popped up on his face.

Emily stared at the two dimples of his full grin, so different from the polite smile she’d seen from him so far. She wanted to do everything in her power to be the reason those dimples kept appearing. “You got yourself a deal. We just need a contract to get this in place.”

“Easiest business deal I’ve ever conducted,” Miles said with a wink.

Emily felt flutters in her stomach as she stared into his hazel eyes. She wouldn’t survive these four days. She could handle him when he was being a jerk. She might start crushing on him if he kept acting charming. That wouldn’t do, it wouldn’t do at all.

Chapter 10

“Thank you all for joining me today! I’m always happy to help fellow writers reach their goals, especially writers who want to follow in my footsteps and enrich the fantasy genre. I’m so lucky to have such an amazing fan base who wants my input, and I hope this talk helped at least some of you,” Miles said. He made sure to move his eyes around the room, making eye contact with a variety of people in the process. In high school he’d taken a public speaking class and joined Future Business Leaders of America with an emphasis on public speaking, and he used those skills regularly when he attended author events now.

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