Page 7 of Between the Paragraphs

My eyes widen at the suggestion, and I look over at Maria, hoping she’ll put a stop to this mad suggestion. Instead she grins.

“Let’s find out how honest you’ve been,” she says. “You can text my numbers and I can text yours.”

“I guess we can find out,” I tell her. Hopefully, some of these people will catch on and play along with Maria’s texts.

Maria, Nikki, and I move away from the crowd to find privacy, and then we start texting to see if we get responses. Over the next hour, we laugh and have a great time as some people respond with quite provocative answers, while some are clearly fake numbers.

“Fake number alert,” Nikki says. She holds up the phone, showing the angry message.

“She must’ve given you her boyfriends number,” Maria says with a laugh. “He has a colorful vocabulary.”

“I can fix this,” I say with a charming smile and a wink in Maria’s direction. I grab the phone from Nikki and quickly type out a response.Within a few messages I manage to charm the man and tell him a friend gave me the number and I wanted to see if he wanted to have a drink sometime to talk about the new rules in the NFL. I didn’t rise to where I am by not charming the pants off of the people around me and getting people to talk.

“Disaster averted,” I say, holding up the phone and showing Nikki and Maria the man’s change of heart. We all burst into laughter.

“It seems you can charm anyone,” Maria says. Her joy is contagious. I want to be the reason she laughs like this every damn day.

“I guess that one counts,” she tells me. “You did get him to agree to a drink. Clearly some of your numbers are padded though.”

I lean in, giving her my most flirtatious smile. “Are you jealous?”

“Not in the least. I’m competitive, though, and want to win.”

“We never said what the gender had to be or what the outcome past a conversation with the person had to be about. I play to win as well,” I say.

She laughs again. “Well, that opens things up. I’m going to smoke you at a book conference filled with far more women than men.”

“I have no doubt about it. Maybe we’ll have to call this game a truce.”

We continue laughing and I feel more comfortable with this woman than I’ve felt with any female in years. Most of my time with women lasts a night or maybe a few nights, but there’s never a real connection. The relationship is about sex, and nothing more. I like this better. I want to know who this woman is. This must be the connection Miles is always going on about when he talks about Emily. She’s so much better than his old cover model girlfriend who wasn’t necessarily evil, but someone I didn’t love a whole lot.

“I’ve been to a lot of conferences and haven’t seen you before. What brings you to this one?” I ask.

“I mostly go to romance conferences, but my publishing house is expanding my territory. I’ll still focus on romance in literature, but it’s going to be in connection with other genres like thrillers or fantasy. It’s different, but I get bored easily, so I’m looking forward to a challenge,” she says. “I’m here in particular because I’m supposed to wine and dine an author.”

“Who? I might know them,” I say.

“How does a football player know the authors?” she asks.

“My brother’s in this world and I’ve hit the circuit a time or two,” I tell her.

“I just got the assignment, so I haven’t looked him up yet. His name’s Miles Bennett. As up to date on romance authors as I am, my knowledge on fantasy authors is sub-par at best.”

I nearly choke on my drink, but somehow manage to keep my composure. “Yes, I’ve heard of him,” I say. “He’s . . . interesting, kind of a recluse who doesn’t do a whole lot of interviews. Haven’t you looked him up?” We’re twins so how can she not be making this connection? I’m a bit hesitant now wondering if she’s the one playing a game with me. I don’t want to be on guard with this woman, but I’ve been burned before. This normally doesn’t bother me. Everyone’s out to get something. With Maria, though, it’s bothering me.

“Well, I’ll get him. I always get my man,” she says. “I haven’t looked him up because I want to form my own opinion, not have the gossip telling me who he is. I also just got the assignment today and I’ve been busy.” This does make sense. I want to give her the benefit of the doubt. I do have some hair on my face right now too, not a lot, but a bit, that changes our looks slightly.

“I have no doubt about it,” I tell her. Maybe us meeting has been meant to be. Maybe it’s fate.

We wrap up our evening, and I find myself bummed to part ways with Maria. The night’s been a lot of fun. I avoid telling her Miles is my twin. I’ll hold that trump card. I don’t get her number, but the conference lasts for nearly a week, and that’s plenty of time to win this woman over. I have the upmost confidence I’ll win this game we’ve begun. It’s a long game, not overtime. I’ve got this.

Chapter Three

Maria

I wake up, roll over, and let out a groan. What in the actual hell? The first thought on my mind is Mason. I dreamed of the man the night before . . . and they weren’t PG dreams. I love a new morning, and am always eager to start my day. But instead of making plans like I need to, I’m fantasizing about tying Mason to my bed and having my way with the man. Why him? Maybe I’m cursed to be attracted to all of the arrogant ones. I try to assure myself that at least he was funny. I really did have a good time last night, more fun than I’ve ever had at a conference . . . and this was only night one. I have no doubt he’s going to be appearing again today.

I shake my head as I try to clear my tantalizing thoughts. I need a good run. It’s the only thing that will help me focus and get through my incredibly busy day. I don’t get to hide out in my room, not at a conference.

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