I smiled as Jeremy clutched his chest. “Oh gosh, yes.”
“I’d like one of the Hemsworth brothers,” Elaine said. “They’re all so handsome.”
I snorted. “Don’t they all look the same?”
Elaine guffawed at me.
“Who’d you cast?” John asked me, elbowing me slightly.
I frowned at the skin contact. He just wanted to rile me up again. I twirled my glass in my hand. “I haven’t really thought about who would play her.”
“Her?” Elaine asked.
My gaze snapped to hers. Crap.
“Your captain is a woman?” Jeremy looked equally elated and aghast.
I hadn’t wanted to say it out loud. But then…by tomorrow evening at the latest, when the blurbs were posted online, everyone would know.
“Interesting.” I felt John turn his body more toward me. Like he didn’t already know.
I shrugged. “I thought it was time. We got a female doctor, why not a female captain?”
Elaine made a face. “Because of readers' expectations. I think this is a very risky strategy.”
Was she right?
“I think it’s brilliant.” Jeremy leaned his head back and slipped his sunglasses back on. “I can totally see that.”
I grinned into my drink.
“Who would play the love interest?” Elaine asked, obviously uncomfortable not having all the attention.
“Love interest?” I asked.
“Why? You don’t have a romance arc in your story?”
They all looked at me.
“I don’t see why one is necessary.” I was hesitant to give even this much of my story away. On the other hand, I didn’t want to fit into the category of: she is a woman, of course, she must write romance.
Jeremy’s mouth fell agape. “But all the fighting and the tension and the leather,” he threw his hands out wide, resulting in splashing all of our faces. “It’s all so sexy.”
I shrugged, secretly thinking that yes, he and Otis would get along just perfectly. “That may be, but I don’t see why she needs to have a love story.”
Elaine tsked. “Sounds boring. A book with no love is a clear no from me.” She looked smug, like she was happy to have found common ground with the group against me.
I straightened. “She has all she needs. Her ship, her crew, her best friend…I just don’t see why you have to ruin a perfectly good sci-fi with a romance plot.”
“So your Captain is asexual?” John asked, readjusting his seating position. The water sloshed as he shifted his legs, brushing mine for an instant. A little jolt zapped through me, reminding me of the moment my lips brushed his cheek last night. I took a swig of my champagne, suddenly dry-mouthed.
“I didn’t say that. She may or may not have sex, but I think the romance part is overrated.”
“I think it’s a shame not to let her be loved,” John said.
“I agree,” said Elaine. Of course, she would.
I shook my head. Caruso meeting a random dude, deciding to fall in love, possibly compromising her team’s safety just for him to abandon her with a broken heart…my girl didn’t need any of that. She was too busy fighting a galaxy full of alien monsters and saving her father from Terra before the planet’s destruction.
