Page 113 of Foreplay on Words

“The buzz from your new book has been positive, right?”

I nodded as I looked at her. My book had been released the previous week. Some more conservative critics didn’t endorse it, but I hadn’t expected them to. Adrian kept sending me all the comments from my fan site. I didn’t even have login info, so I avoided it. For the most part, my readers loved the spiced-up version of my book, and I’d gained a bit of a female following on Facebook. I thought it would make Chase uncomfortable, it would’ve angered Simone, but she thought it was hilarious her thirsty readers were lusting after her boyfriend.

“Yeah, it’s more than I expected. I was expecting pitchforks and book bans, but I know it really wasn’t that spicy in comparison to other books.”

“Then this will be fine. If they’re not running away from prostitutes, a fairly tame Dominatrix should be okay too.” Her warm hand cupped my jaw as she tried to talk some sense into me.

“Tame Dominatrix,” I laughed. “Little bit of an oxymoron.”

“Would you rather have modeled Fanny after someone like Grace?”

I shook my head. “Nope. Not even a little.”

Emory had texted Chase to let her know Grace had been asking about us. Apparently, she’d wanted to volunteer her consulting services. Our answer had been a resounding ‘hell no!’. Neither of us wanted to kink shame, but sadistic humiliation didn’t appeal to either of us.

“Ready now?”

I nodded nervously and pressed my finger to the touchpad. The little dialogue box popped up as ‘document shared,’ and I looked over at Chase with wide eyes.

“Hold me?” I whimpered as she laughed and picked up the laptop, placing it on the coffee table. She leaned back and opened her arms. I laid my head on her chest, and she ran her fingers through my hair.

My eyes closed, and I relaxed into her touch while we waited. Almost on cue, our cell phones started vibrating across the coffee table.

“That didn’t take long,” she giggled as she reached for hers and tossed mine into my lap. Adrian’s name flashed across the screen, and I knew it was time to face the dickhead.

“Let’s do this.”

I sat up in the corner of the sofa opposite Chase, and we both accepted our calls at the same time.

“Yes?”

“You dirty dog. I didn’t know you had it in you.” His voice sounded half amused and half proud as he praised me over the line.

Chase rolled her eyes as she talked quietly to Isobel.

“That’s all you have to say?” I asked. I was expecting feedback, not some macho congratulations.

“This is gold, Evan. Obviously, I still need to read through the whole thing and send it to Sam, but I expect a contract on this by the beginning of next week.”

I could hear a female voice in the background, and Adrian covered his speaker before answering her quietly.

“I gotta go. I’ll call you later,” he said quickly before he hung up.

“So?” I asked as Chase finished her call only moments later.

“She hung up on me.”

Isobel must have been the female voice I heard in the background. “They’re so doing it.”

“Yup,” she giggled, climbing across the couch and into my lap. “You’d think they could at least send us a thank you note.”

That had gone better than we expected.

Chase

Boston

“Are you kidding me, Is? I can’t make him do that.”

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