Page 100 of Driven Daddy

“I appreciate the in with Asher, but none of this is on you. If Asher isn’t interested in helping us, that’s fine. If he is, that’s great. I know, from my point of view, this could be a lucrative venture between us. The newspaper business is fading. There’s a reason why Asher has poured a lot of his money into podcasting. He’s smart and forward-thinking. I’m hoping he’ll be intrigued by my offer, but that doesn’t have anything to do with us.”

“I know I was the one who offered it up. I think I was being reckless. Like the old me,” I whispered.

He cupped my face. “I bet the old you was pretty great.” Then he tugged my T-shirt down a bit to show off my tattoo. “She gave you this.” He traced the lines of the intricate cameo.

“I modeled for a tattoo artist for cash.”

His eyes glittered with apprehension and a bit of ice.

“Shewas amazing. She was trying to get her shop off the ground after her mentor ended up getting arrested.”

His eyebrow winged up.

“I’ve got a lot of crazy stories.” I laughed and twisted our fingers together. “But I didn’t really think about the aftereffects of having a full chest tattoo for trying to get a job.”

“You’re so goddamn brave, Duchess. The more I find out about you, the more I’m amazed.”

“But that girl I used to be didn’t think things through all the time.”

“Instinct is hard to listen to. Think I didn’t shit my pants when I turned down that contract with Voldemort?”

I laughed. “You’re ridiculous.”

“I’m serious. I flew out to see Larsen when he was living in Scotland and got blind drunk for a solid week and read that contract over and over again. I wasn’t sure I could do this on my own. I had to believe in my character and my series and own a bit of what I put into my kickass soul eater’s stories. I had to believe that I could walk away from less and find more.”

“I’ve always had less, Penn. It’s too hard to be brave.”

“Fuck that.”

I couldn’t stop the laugh. “Easy for you to say.”

“You’re starting over what? Ten plus years into your career?”

I nodded. “Eleven, yeah.”

“You knew thatDisasterbook wasn’t you. I can’t tell you any author who would walk away from a book that made that kind of money to chase after what they truly needed.”

I tried to back away from him, fear a ball of lead in my belly. “Don’t put me on a pedestal. I’ve made plenty of money on that book.”

“And yeah, you have some cushion to do this your way now. Lots of zeroes to be exact, but so many people would have leanedinto what was easier. You’re starting over, and you’ll build your brand your way.”

“How do you have so much faith in me?”

“Same as you. That badass smirk as you offered to bring me and Larsen with you was all the faith I needed. I’ve only ever had Larsen in my corner.”

I rolled my eyes. “Your parents think you hung the moon.”

He laughed. “They’re amazing, but they never understood this part of me. Luckily, the fact that they believed in me was enough to make me confident to chase my crazy dreams. You did it all on your own. I’m in awe of you and as careful as I’m trying to be, I’m falling hard for you, Rita Savage.”

I sucked in a breath.

“I know, I know. It’s fast. Just letting you know where I am on this.” He cupped my face and lowered his mouth to kiss me gently. “And I’m not saying that to keep the meeting.”

“I don’t think that.”

“Good.” He kissed me again, this time, more deeply.

It was so easy to fall into him, to lean on him when I’d had so few people to prop me up. My readers had always been special, but I never let any of them get too close to me.

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