Page 120 of Reckless

“Oh, hey before I forget,” Emily draws my attention back to her. “They’ve changed the time of your panel from three to one tomorrow. Something to do with one of the other panelists needing to leave early.”

“Okay, that’s fine. Thanks.”

When I turn back, Brianna is making her way over. She throws her arms up and wraps both me and Emily in a hug at the same time.

“Oh my God, am I glad to see you two. Are you all checked in? Can we go get a drink please? I’m still hyperventilating from that flight.”

“Did the bands work?” I ask. Bri is terrified of flying and has tried every trick known to man to help her get through it.

“No. But the copious amounts of alcohol did the trick.”

Emily wrinkles her nose, but Bri doesn’t appear drunk, just as high on life as ever.

“We have work to do, Bri,” Emily tells her.

Brianna blows a raspberry and rolls her eyes hard when Emily tells her what I’m doing this evening.

“Oh hell no. You can’t spend your night doing that. Well, at least not without good company and good wine. Party in your room it is.”

“Fine by me,” I agree.

“Oh God.” Emily turns away and heads for the elevator. “Just don’t come crying to me when you have to sign books hungover to hell.”

“Why Emily, you make me sound like a terribly bad influence,” Bri laughs.

I hook my arm through Bri’s, laughing with her as we head to the elevators behind Emily. I’ve missed being around these ladies. This weekend is going to be a lot of fun.

It’s weird sleeping alone for the first time in weeks, which is odd because I’ve spent more time sleeping alone than I have alongside Jude. Not having him here is hard. I’ve got things to do. I’ll be busy for the next three days and then I’ll see him.

The thought of being alone on the road getting back home to California is losing its appeal. Not without him there.

When I get to the great hall where my table has been allocated, I can’t help but smile at the organized chaos going on as everyone gets their stalls set up. We have a couple of hours before the ticket holders arrive. Some people came down last night, but we chose to relax and enjoy some time before the event.

Emily text me to say she had things under control, knowing Brianna kept me up way too late last night after she went back to her room. I hadn’t gone into too much detail about Jude with Emily there, but given Bri knows almost everything about him, it was nice to have someone to talk to.

She is happy for me and told me to make the most of it. Rolling her eyes as she said, "You only live once. Damn, I hate that saying."

“Have I told you lately that I love you?” I ask Emily as I arrive at my stand.

“My bank balance says it for you.”

“That’s never enough. You’ve got a fat bonus coming your way, babe.” I walk over, and one arm hug her. “Thank you. It looks amazing.”

Emily has set up three large black bookcases. The left and right ones are larger than the center one and angled inwards, so it looks like an open book. They’re all stocked with my books, and little ornaments and props scattered through the display, items that have a meaning or link to the books and characters. Including a sinister pair of blood splattered ballerina slippers with pride of place on the center shelf.

The stacks of special edition signed books people pre-ordered are all lined up ready for collection and the table is laid out with pen and pads, and bottles of water. There are boxes and boxes of goody bags behind the table too. I grin at the tiny ballerina slipper keyrings. It was a huge outlay having them made, but it’s going to be so worth it seeing the look on people’s faces.

Never mind a bonus, Emily needs a raise.

I set my purse under the table and get to work finishing things off, pulling up my banners and chatting with authors on the tables nearby.

I love getting away in the RV and having that space and time to myself, but I thrive here. These are my people.

What would it have been like if Jude showed up here? Jesus, mobbed by fans, he wouldn’t know what hit him if the book community swarmed him. Luckily, this is more of a suspense orientated author space. Although I see a few romantic suspense authors here this time.

They wouldn’t need to be avid book readers to find Jude attractive.

My music tastes bleed into my writing a lot and I’ve used a Reckless Soul song or two in my books. Jude hasn’t got to those books yet, thank God. I still can’t believe he’s reading them. I can already picture his smug face when he gets to the part where my main female lead is dancing to one of his songs in her living room. I may or may not have drawn from real life for that scene.

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