Page 100 of Raised On It

There it is.

“So I did a little research on book clubs and learned that sometimes attendees come dressed like their favorite characters, and I figured I had the outfit so I thought what the heck.” Lifting the glasses up and down, he continues. “Picked up these bad boys at the pharmacy and bam! I’m Tucker Rhinehart! Hot sandy-haired farm boy who looks good in a pair of jeans and a backward baseball cap. Oh, and glasses.”

“Interesting, I didn’t see the similarities between the two of you until now. Must be the glasses.” I giggle.

“Are the specs supposed to be my Clark Kent disguise?”

It’s suddenly way too hot to be curled up in a blanket, but all I want to do is hide underneath it. But I promised myself I wouldn’t let myself hide my feelings today, and I guess there’s no time like the present to start.

“I had a pretty hot muse.”

“Yes, you did.” He bends down and kisses me quickly before taking a seat in the armchair across from me. “Shall we begin?”

“That’s what we’re here for.”

I grab a pen and the journal I used to plotThe Book with No Nameout of my bag ready to take notes.

Lou lies down at his daddy’s feet, and we both take a sip ofwine. Miles picks up his printed copy ofThe Book with No Name,and my heart trips over itself.

“Chapter One…”

Two hoursand thirty chapters later, we’re finally to the end. Except for one small break that included strawberry shakes delivered from Tom’s, we haven’t gotten off track. I thought he may start off all formal and that the book club schtick would wear off at some point, but he was serious.

We’ve gone chapter by chapter and discussed the characters, the storyline, and oh yes, the sex scenes. He was particularly detailed with those sections. He also gave me some pretty productive notes. He pointed out a few spots where the hero’s dialogue didn’t really sound like something a guy like Tucker Rhinehart would say, which really meant Miles would never say it. He corrected my terminology when describing farm equipment and other little details that most readers wouldn’t notice but were important to him to get right.

But most of all, he loved it. He talked about the characters like they were real people, and he couldn’t believe so and so would say that or how could this character do that? It was incredibly endearing and warmed my topsy-turvy heart along the way.

He did have one major issue with the book, though.

“Mase, it just ends. What happens? Does she stay or go?”

“It’s called a cliffhanger, Miles. This is book one of a four-book series. We can’t wrap it all up in the first book.”

“Well, I now know I don’t like a cliffhanger. It’s so unfair.”

“You’ll just have to wait for book two.”

“As the leader of this here book club, shouldn’t I get special privileges?”

“And what kind of privileges would that be?”

He finally leaves his chair that’s felt so far away all the wayover on the other side of the room and joins me on the couch. That was far too long with him so close but too far away to touch. Next to me is where he needs to be.

He scoots me down onto my back and hovers above me playfully pinning me into the spot.

“The kind of privileges where you tell me what happens.”

“Where’s the fun in that?”

I lean up to kiss him, but he pulls away.

“No sugar for you until you tell me what happens.” He stands and offers me his hand, pulling me to my feet.

“Miles, you can’t ask an author to give away the ending to their story.”

“But I just did.”

“Well, what if I don’t know the ending yet?”