She leaned forward, her voice low. “Did it suck?”
I laughed. “No. Quite the contrary. Not my usual genre. I prefer a smokin’ hot romance, but um...wow.”
“Does he write those spy thriller dude books?” She hopped off her stool and took her empty plate over to the sink and started cleaning up the dishes.
“No. I think technically he’s a horror writer, but it feels like more than that. It’s like he really knows how to drill down into the psyche and the fears of people and use it against them.”
“Sounds like you might have a lady boner for more than just those impressive shoulders and the way he fills out jeans.”
I flushed. “Maybe. He’s ridiculously attractive. Like almost too much.”
“As if that’s a thing.” She filled the dish basin and started scrubbing the pan. My sister had conservation running through her veins from water usage to saving the planet, and of course saving all the endangered animals she could manage. “He’s got a whole lot of beard action going on there.”
“Yeah. You wouldn’t recognize him from his dust jacket.” I went over to my weekender bag where I’d stashed the book. I didn’t exactly want to hide that I was reading his book, but I wasn’t sure how he’d feel about it. And reading it while I was away made me feel closer to him. God, I was a sap.
I handed her the book.
She dried her hands and took it, flipping it to see the photo of him in front of the Golden Gate Bridge. She held it up. “This is the guy you’re banging?”
I wrinkled my nose. “Geez.”
“Well, you look like you got yourself rocked before I pulled up.”
She wasn’t wrong. In fact, it was quite rude how he’d gone from giving me an orgasm full of sparkles to a fight in the space of a minute.
“The color of those cheeks of yours says that’s a yes. Looks like a totally different guy.” She flipped pages into the center of the book and skimmed a few pages. Then kept reading as she walked around to the other side of the kitchen island to sit at her stool.
“It’s good isn’t it?”
She looked up, her eyes unfocused. “Sorry.” She slammed it closed. “I’m borrowing this.”
I laughed. “It’s really good. Scary as hell.”
“I’ve got a litter of raccoon babies to take care of. They eat every two freaking hours. Cute little suckers.” Her sky blue eyes went misty. “Mama got hit by a car.”
I could feel her pain. I reached over and squeezed her arm.
She sniffed. “It’s fine. I’m not letting the little babies die.” She pulled her phone out of her butt pocket and opened it, sliding it over to me. “Just look at Dwight.”
“Dwight?”
“Yeah, we’re naming them all after characters fromThe Office.”
I laughed. “He does look a little like Rainn Wilson.”
“Right?” She laughed. “Melody has the first shift. I take over after dinner.”
I swiped through the photos of the little pink babies. Their eyes weren’t even all the way open yet. “Super sweet.” I clicked the phone shut and slid it back over to her.
“You really are a master at changing the subject.”
I laughed. “Well, something happened between the last time he released a book and now. He’s beyond talented. I barely slept last night after I finished the book. I’m never going to look at a red suitcase the same way again.”
“I believe you. But you are always underselling yourself. Creative people never think they’re good enough. Well, the real ones. The ones who aren’t talented at all seem to scream about how awesome they are.”
“Speaking of.” I pulled out my own iPad. “Check out the fence I got to paint this time.”
I went around the island to show off the massive flowers I got to paint directly on the honey colored fence that framed out the courtyard of the restaurant. It was attached to the hotel and they asked me to highlight all the flora and fauna from the region. It had been one of the most intricate projects I’d done so far.
