Page 118 of Foreplay on Words

“Three months? They realize I’ll be on tour or doing promotional work for half of that, right?”

“They are aware, but I couldn’t get them to budge.” Her sympathetic smile was supposed to make me feel better, but it wasn’t working. This was going to be a hard deadline to meet.

“What happens if I opt to cancel?”

She shook her head and leaned toward me. “You don’t want to do that, Chase.”

“Three months?” I asked, my neck sweating from the thought of how much work I still needed to complete. “I don’t know if I can do it.”

“At least take the weekend. Go talk to Evan. I know it seems impossible, but you’ve pulled through on tighter deadlines.”

I nodded and exhaled slowly. My mind was still focused on the project we’d finished. There was no way I could switch gears to romantic comedy and put out a quality product that quickly.

“I’ll check in on Monday, and don’t even think of ghosting me like you two did before.” She pointed at me and squinted. “I will hunt you down.”

As unease started to build, I empathized with Evan’s anxiety.

“Don’t pretend like you weren’t sneaking around. Taking a staycation, my ass,” she continued with a scoff. “Next time, don’t hide in plain sight. You’re lucky I couldn’t figure out where I’d seen your boy.”

“Obviously, I was being productive.” She’d gotten a damn book out of it.

“Not the point,” she said, pinning me with an unamused smirk.

“Fine. I’ll let you know on Monday.”

Nodding, she sat at her desk, pulling open the cover of her laptop.

Apparently, I was dismissed.

I was a little flustered as I walked down the hallway, through the open office area in the middle of the floor, and across to the hallway where Adrian’s office was located. Hopefully, Evan had fared a little better in his conversation.

Evan’s voice was raised as I got closer. Clearly, he and Adrian were having a heated discussion as I got to the corner near his office. I wasn’t sure if this was something I should interrupt, so I leaned against the wall and listened to what they were saying.

“I’m telling you, man. I never expected something like this out of you.” Adrian’s cocky voice almost seemed a little proudly smug.

“Because I’m boring?” Evan’s on the other hand, seemed annoyed.

“No, because you’ve always been so concerned with brand integrity.”

“I still am concerned with that,” Evan insisted.

“So, you’re not worried that getting into this kinky shit will damage your credibility as a writer?”

“No, Adrian, I’m not. Chase and I worked hard on this book and have put a lot of time and research into it,” he told him, raising his voice as he spoke. “It’s not sensationalized, and it’s not an attention grab. This was a well-planned plot that I feel is different from everything else out there. Aren’t you always the one telling me I need to research market trends?”

I silently cheered at how passionately Evan defended us and our work from my hidden location.

“I know it’s been a while for you, and Simone mind-fucked you into seclusion, but you need to protect yourself.”

“Excuse me?” The growly quality of Evan’s voice would have been a bit of a turn-on if I didn’t want to rush in there to save him from his jackass editor.

“Chase, deep down, is a good girl, but she’s still capable of using sex to manipulate you. I don’t want to see her turn you into something you’re not and then bail.”

“Alright, Adrian. I know this is your misguided attempt to protect me, but I’m a big boy,” Evan’s voice rose again, and I looked around to make sure no one saw that I was eavesdropping. “I can handle myself. If you’ve got some childish grudge against my girlfriend, that’s your problem. Because if you had read the manuscript entirely, instead of farming out your workload, you’d see that my voice is in those characters as much as hers. And if you can’t respect the entire body of my work, knowing that sometimes authors want to write something different, then I don’t know how to change that for you.”

Evan’s voice got more pinched as he talked. My eyes widened, and my pulse raced as he delivered his final blow. “But I’m fully intending to marry that woman, so if you don’t back off, I can always find another editor.”

“Fair enough,” Adrian conceded quickly. “I wanted to make sure you were prepared to follow through with this whole thing. You may get pushback from some industry professionals, and you need to be able to stand up for yourself like you just did to me.”

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