Page 54 of And I Love Her

Her phone buzzed. Against her better judgment, she glanced at the screen. God. Just the sight of his name made her heart jump.

Ignore it, Callie. Let it go to voicemail.

“Hello?” Her voice came out high and breathless.

“Hey.” His voice was deep and sexy. “Am I bothering you?”

All the time.

“No.” She stared at her computer screen. “Just working on my book proposal. Unsuccessfully.”

“Why do you have to rewrite it anyway? Didn’t the editor like it?”

“No.” Letting out a breath, Callie leaned her head on the back of her chair. “She wants me to make it more cutting-edge, whatever that means. They want the book to appeal to a wider contemporary audience, and my approach was toodryandacademic. Her words, not mine.”

“So how does she want you to change it?”

“I don’t know. I don’t think she knows either. I’m just supposed to make it fresher and more interesting. I was thinking of finding ways to link Greco-Roman mythology to popular culture. But I don’t know a lot about popular culture.”

“I do. A ton of movies and books are based on Greek myths, fromWonder WomantoMy Fair LadyandPercy Jackson, even the Nike brand. There’s a romantic comedy coming out this summer based on the Orpheus myth, which I don’t know what that’s about, but the lead actress played my sister in the firstFatal Glorymovie. There’s a lot of buzz that this will be her breakthrough role.”

Callie tapped her pen on the desk. “That’s quite interesting, actually. I study all the ins and outs of Greek myths, but at heart they’re just really good stories. It’s no wonder people want to reinvent them.”

“There’s even a Three Stooges movie where they kill the Cyclops and meet Hercules. I think Led Zeppelin did a song about Achilles, too.”

“Rory would know about that.” Callie straightened, tightening her grip on the phone. “My students would, too. I bet they’d love it if I’d bring more pop culture ideas into the classroom. I could do a whole unit on how ancient history and myths are embedded in contemporary society. Likely in ways we don’t even realize.”

“Sounds like a great idea to me. I can probably get you clips or promo materials for any movies or TV series you’d want to include.”

“That would be fantastic. I’m going to write this up as part of my book proposal. Can I call you back la…wait, why did you call?”

“To tell you I’m picking you up at seven on Wednesday night.” Amusement threaded his voice. “But if I find you pounding away at your keyboard in a state of frenzied scholarly writing, I will be more than happy to sit on the sofa and watch you work.”

Callie laughed. “I’ll keep that in mind. I’ll also make an effort to be presentable and ready to go.”

“So will I.” He paused and cleared his throat. “Can’t wait to see you again.”

Everything inside Callie softened. “Me too. You, I mean. I can’t wait to see you.”

His warm, low chuckle echoed right through her. “Get to work, Professor.”

“Yes, sir.” Callie ended the call, still smiling as she turned back to her computer and started to write.

* * *

“Do you know alphabetical order?” Sam stuck a chewed-up pencil behind his ear and eyed Jake with a frown.

Even though it was Jake’s first day on the job, and Sam showed no signs of recognizing him as a movie actor, he was mildly offended by the question.

“Only twenty-five letters,” he said. “I don’t knowY.”

Sam’s expression didn’t change. He pointed to several boxes in front of the romance novel shelves. “Those go on the shelf in alphabetical order. Don’t screw it up.”

“Not in the habit of screwing things up.” Jake opened the top box and started putting the paperbacks on the shelf. “So how long’ve you been here?”

“Thirty-one years.”

“I mean, the bookstore. When did it open?”

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