Page 59 of Writing Mr. Wrong

She bit the inside of her cheek against a denial. Those puppy eyes pleaded for that, but Mason was not a stupid man. To deny it only insulted his intelligence.

Gemma exhaled and pulled her legs up, hugging them. “You were the starting point.”

“Why?”

She flinched. But he had a right to that answer, and a right to the real one. “It’s a bit of a story.”

“Tell me.”

She shifted in the seat, knowing she had no hope of getting comfortable for this conversation. “I got back into writing after the divorce. I wrote a romance, and I loved it, but no publisher expressed even marginal interest. I joined an online writers group, and they said the problem was my hero. He was too nice.”

“The sort of guyyoulike.”

She ignored the implied question and kept going. “They gave me a bunch of romance books to show me what was selling.”

He frowned. “You didn’t read romance before writing it?”

“I’ve read romance all my life, Mason. I just have my preferences, and these weren’t the books I was reading. One thing those bestsellers had in common was that the guys were…”

“Assholes.”

“Yes, and the writers in this group pressed for me to figure out what kind of alpha hero Icouldwrite. A guy who fit the mold but wasn’t cruel or abusive. Just…”

“Me.”

Gemma rubbed her hands over her face. “Yes, okay? You were the first guy who sprang to mind.”

She looked at him. “You hurt me, Mason, and I’m not going to lie. Was this catharsis? Putting the worst of you on a page and pairing you up with some simpering heroine and shoving you off into the sunset? Happily ever after and out of my head forever?” She met his gaze. “Yes.”

“Because Edin isn’t you. You’re Lilias. The friend who tried to warn her. The friend who wouldn’t put up with Argyle’s bullshit. The friend who had to die so they could get together.”

“That’s not—”

“You had her fall off a cliff, Gemma. A literal cliff.”

Gemma sighed. “Lilias isn’t me, but if you want to get analytical, maybe she represents the part of me thatIhad to throw off a cliff to finish the damn book. And Laird Argyle is not you, Mason. You were… like the sourdough starter.”

“There’s stuff in there that was definitely me. The masquerade ball and—”

She raised her hands. “Okay, I mined some of our history. I was an idiot not to realize someone like Ashley might notice. But I never intended for anyone to see you in Laird Argyle, and if anyone asks, I’m going with what Cal said at the coffee shop. That Ashley was mistaken.”

“Except she wasn’t.”

She looked at him again. “I am honestly sorry about all this. If it’s any consolation, most readersdosee Argyle as a hero. A hot warrior alpha hero. You can read the reviews. Ashley certainly didn’t see anything wrong with the portrayal. But if it embarrasses you, I am sorry.”

His gaze lifted to hers. “I deserve it, though, don’t I? For what I did to you back then?”

“No, Mason. That’s not what I wanted.”

He looked down at his hands again, folded between his knees. “Because you’re a decent person who wouldn’t do that, even if I deserved it.”

“The portrayal was based on the you I knew as a kid, Mason, and I didn’t even know you all that well then.”

“Yeah,” he said, his voice low. “You did, Gem. But if you’re telling me I’m not like this anymore…” His gaze lifted. “I read that book, and I didn’t want to see myself, but I did.”

She sighed.

“I messed up our date,” he said. “I didn’t warn you about the problems I was having, and then I put you in a cab and sent you home. That was a dick move.”

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