Page 159 of Foreplay on Words

“Just be prepared for Elle to roast him. She’s the sweetest person, but she loves to give my brother a hard time,” Chase told me in an amused tone.

“No wonder the two of you get along so well,” I smiled at her.

“You know you love it when I taunt you.” She grinned back.

Six months ago, my life was devoid of any affection other than my immediate family, and even that was at a calculated distance. I’d resigned myself to a life of solitude in the woods with my words. Those same words that could craft a story read by millions couldn’t come close to describing the way Chase made me feel. “I only know that I love you, and I’m grateful for you being in my life.”

She reached over, clasped my closest hand, and interlaced our fingers. I knew that she felt the same way. She’d always been much more social than me, but sometimes despite being surrounded by people, you can still feel alone.

When I was with Chase, I never felt alone.

“Are you sure you’re not a romance writer?” she teased as she ran her thumb over my knuckles.

“Pretty sure,” I laughed. “If it weren’t for you, I’d still be putting tab A into slot B. B being my hand.”

Her laughter filled the car, and she leaned against my shoulder. “You can put your tab into my slot any day.”

“Are you sure you’re ready to meet my mother’s friends? I can take you back to the hotel,” I asked warily.

“Not a chance.” She shook her head as she bounced in her seat excitedly. “I can’t wait to meet them.”

“They’re...a little much,” I told her hesitantly. That might be an understatement, but they loved my mother fiercely.

“They want to support you.”

“Um, I’m pretty sure Mrs. Elkins is a cougar,” I laughed.

“So, she probably wants to be your Mrs. Robinson. I don’t blame her. You’re hot,” Chase laughed.

A shudder ran through me at that thought. Mrs. Elkins was very pretty when I was younger, but she was probably over 70. For my part, that was a hard pass.

“I’d rather my older women be in their thirties.”

Chase grinned over at me, shaking her head. “Sweet talker.”

“You can be my Mrs. Robinson.”

She pinched my armpit, and I jerked away from her touch. “I was in preschool when you were born, not college, you perv.”

She snuggled back into my arm, and we sat quietly listening to music for the rest of the drive to the bookstore. It was in Germantown, on the north side of the city. My parents’ house was only about fifteen minutes away.

I was able to find street parking nearby. After I parked the car and killed the ignition, I took a few deep breaths before I moved to open the door.

“It’ll be fine,” Chase assured me, knowing my nerves threatened to get the best of me. “No crazy old ladies are going to scare me off. If I survived your bitchtastic ex-girlfriend, I could survive them.”

“You say that now,” I warned. She hadn’t met them yet.

“Bitches better back off my man,” she teased as she squeezed my hand.

I knew she could handle herself, but it still made me uncomfortable that my mom’s friends read all my books. I’d hoped that having a pen name would give me some anonymity, but my mom couldn’t help telling all of them.

Now with the last two books, I was terrified of their reactions. I knew they sometimes liked to read racy books, but looking them in the eye would still be hard. I’d known most of them since I was a little kid, and a few had kids my age.

“Okay, now or never. I’ll chicken out if we don’t go inside.”

My palms were sweating as I followed Chase into the store. I’d been inside frequently when I’d been home before, but it was weird knowing I was here for people to see me.

“Great, you two are here,” the shopkeeper greeted us as we walked inside. “We’ve been looking forward to this.”

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