Page 37 of Strictly Forbidden

“That’s what assistants are for.”

I gave her a dour look, shaking my head. She was right about Vicky, a woman we’d both called the Ice Queen because of her take-no-shit attitude. While she’d helped rocket my career into the stratosphere, she could be considered a grade-A bitch.

My phone chirped and I groaned. I had special little rings programmed in for the important people in my life. That allowed me to know if I wanted to ignore the call altogether. “Speak of the devil.”

“Yeah, she’s a devil alright. Maybe she wants you to sharpen her horns.”

At least Kathy could make me laugh. I took a deep breath. “Wish me luck.” Every time I had a conversation that lasted longer than five minutes with Vicky, I wanted a hard drink and a hot shower. She just knew exactly how to get under people’s skin. It was an art form with her. “Noel Young.”

“Noel, darling. Did you get the edits from your last bestseller?”

“How could your team read through the manuscript that fast?”

“Because they are damn good at their jobs and we don’t have time to waste on this. The book release is two months from tomorrow. It must be perfect. Every. Single. Aspect. But I can’t get it perfect, including doing a very special foil-edged cover without your help. That help means you need to check your email more often.”

“Fine, Vicky dearest. I can do that.”

She huffed. Whether or not she knew I was making fun of her wasn’t any of my concern. I was having fun doing it. Sue me.

“When will your edits be returned?” Jesus. I could hear her tapping her long nails or maybe a pencil or pen on her desk. The woman had zero patience. She also wouldn’t let me get away with the usual excuse of: Well, I was kidnapped and held with other women in a dark prison, tortured for hours on end with no food, little water, and the constant fear of being killed.

Nope.

After the second time I’d broken down in tears, she’d shrunk back, looked me directly in the eyes, and had said, quote, “Get over it.”

So I’d sucked in my whimpers, kept them as my own on the sleepless nights where I’d cry myself to sleep during the wee hours of the morning, and gotten my shit together in the daytime.

I rubbed my eyes before making a yapping hand signal to Kathy. She did nothing more than role play how Vicky usually acted when we did a Zoom call. Thankfully, I didn’t need to endure that today. Besides, I looked like a homeless girl with mismatching socks, sweatpants that were a little too big, and a man’s shirt. I liked men’s shirts but all it did was remind me of Kage.

That wasn’t a good thing at all at this point.

“Three days. Satisfactory?”

She was so used to me asking for two weeks I thought I’d shocked her a little. “Well, okay then. That’s perfect. We’ll chat again after you send them back and I want you to look at your calendar for the best dates in the next three weeks or so.”

“For what?”

“I want you to come to New York. There are some people I need for you to meet.”

People. I hoped that didn’t mean she was having a hard time selling my three-book advance or I’d be pissed. “I’ll see what I can do.”

“Excellent. Incidentally, your agent is a real bitch.”

I managed to keep from bursting into laughter. In comparison, Tasha was a true pussy cat. Just roll her over and scratch her belly and she’d be happy. “Talk soon. Gotta run. Tata.” I hung up before I put my foot into my mouth. Yes, I was thrilled with my income and how my books were treated, but the woman was worse than someone scratching their nails down a chalkboard.

“Tata?” Kathy repeated. “No one says that any longer. You do know that?”

“Remember, Vicky is old school.” I laughed, tossing my phone onto the desk. “Okay, let’s see that sexy artwork of yours.” As I moved to the other side of the desk, she peered up at me.

“You’re really going to hunker down and work on the edits for three days straight?”

“What else do I have in my life?”

Right on cue, my beautiful new puppy thumped his tail, which made Kathy laugh.

“Oh, I don’t know. Take your dog to a park. Go hiking. Go sledding. Go find a hot guy.”

Why was it when she suggested the last part I found my heart palpitating? “Funny. Art. We’re here to work and I always meet my deadlines.”

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