Page 23 of Wizard

“Because I looked into you a little when I did the background check on Violet that he asked for,” he admitted.

“But why?” I asked. “I never even met her creepy neighbor.”

“Your name came up since most of her narration credits are books of yours, and I couldn’t get it out of my head.”

His perfect answer was yet another example of why he’d been so easily able to sweep me off my feet. Literally and figuratively. But I wasn’t sure I was ready to do anything else sexual quite so soon again, so I focused on something that would hopefully cool my libido a little—work.

“Did you listen to some of her work for me?”

“Not once I realized there were sex scenes.” He shuddered, his fingers digging into my butt cheeks. “Last thing I need is to hear Violet say shit like that. It did give me the perfect chance to give Echo some shit, though, about his woman narrating your sexy-as-fuck lines for the heroine while some dude did the hero’s part.”

“It isn’t even like that,” I chided with an exasperated huff. “Violet has only ever recorded her chapters for me separately from the male narrator. I was supposed to do a duet recording on my next standalone book, but I decided against it at the last minute.”

“How come?”

I adored how genuinely interested he was in what I did. It was something I was looking for in a romantic partner, and he’d more than proved that he could deliver in this area. And more. “All of my other books are dual, and they do very well. The production company I use had talked me into giving duet a try, but I figured why fix something that isn’t broken, you know?”

“I get the last part, but what the hell is the difference between dual and duet?”

I giggled at his grumpy tone. “In dual, the narrator does their entire chapter, giving voice to all of the characters in it. Which means that when Violet records for me, she delivers the files for her chapters without any interaction with the male narrator who does the hero’s voice.”

“Okay, that makes sense.”

“But for a duet narration, she would give voice to the heroine whenever she speaks…including in the chapters that are in the hero’s point of view,” I further explained.

“Gotcha.” His hold on me tightened. “Guess Echo’s the one who owes you gratitude for canceling that project.”

“Probably,” I agreed, thinking about how possessive Echo was with my friend. Kind of like how the man holding me was with me. “Did you wonder what I’d be like in bed after reading my books?”

“Gotta tell you, I hadn’t really thought about whether you’d tried the positions you wrote about.”

I was stunned. All that worrying—and turning him down over and over again—had been totally unnecessary. “You didn’t?”

“Not gonna pretend I didn’t have a few pictures in my head when I read those scenes,” he admitted. “The positions, kinky shit, and whatever can add to or take away pleasure. But it’s not truly about how they're doing it that matters, baby. It's why they’re doing it. On paper or in real life, the emotions behind the sex are what’s important. And that’s something you taught me.”

I was afraid to ask exactly what he meant, but I was hoping he’d said that because he was falling for me the same way I was with him. “I guess this virgin had some sexy tricks up her sleeve after all.”

“I heard you talking in the shower, so I know you do research, but I gotta admit that I’m blown away by the fact that you managed to write all those sex scenes without any experience yourself.”

I trailed my fingers along the ridges of his six-pack with a grin. “I’m a very good researcher, no matter the topic.”

“Like when you talked to my club brother about custom motorcycles?”

His voice had a slight edge to it, so I tilted my head back to peer at his face. Although we’d just had sex and he’d gotten absolute proof that I’d never been with anyone else, a muscle jumped in his jaw. It was almost impossible to believe, but I asked, “Are you jealous that I talked to Cross ages ago? On the phone? Without even giving him my name? Before we ever met?”

“Maybe a little.”

His confession was so darn cute. And sexy.

“I never planned to tell you this…” I deliberately trailed off, waiting for him to demand that I finish my sentence.

I got exactly what I wanted when Baylor rolled me onto my back and levered his body over mine, the tip of his dick still notched inside me. His breath was hot against my mouth as he growled, “Tell me.”

My cheeks heated as I wondered if my confession would be too much. “I…I?—”

“Whatever you gotta say, you don’t need to be afraid.” He stroked his thumb across my bottom lip. “You can tell me anything, baby.”

My voice was whisper soft as I admitted, “For the most part, my sex scenes have mostly been my own fantasies with a faceless guy. I figured if it was something that turned me on, then my readers would feel the authenticity.”

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