It was late in the day a week later when she slammed her laptop shut. “I’m done. I’m finally done with this book.”
I was washing my hands and jolted when she spoke. Usually Piper was quiet. “Congratulations.”
“I’m a little behind. My agent isn’t thrilled with me, but it’s done and ready to go to him. What a relief.”
I blinked over at her. She had an agent? I had no idea she did so well with her writing. Then again, she’d been able to move to Strawberry Springs without the mention of a job.
“You can ask, you know.” She stood and walked until she was in front of me.
“I was just curious about your writing.”
“Ask anything you want.”
“Is it profitable?”
“For most people, no. I’m incredibly lucky. Mybooks do well and I get great advances on them. Plus, I don’t spend a lot of money. It’s hard to when you never leave the house.”
“Do you publish under your regular name?”
“I don’t. I thought about making my dad’s legacy be smut and romance, but I was worried people would find me.”
Every now and then, Piper would mention something sexual just because she knew it would make me blush. It was never directed toward me, but hearing it come out of her mouth still shocked me every time.
I’d completely turned off any thoughts about relationships, determined to focus on keeping my past a secret.
It was coming alive now.
I didn’t need to connect those kinds of things with her. She meant it as a joke, but I thought about her far too much and in ways she wasn’t ready for.
“I’m sure he’s rolling over in his grave just because of how well you’re doing.”
“You know what smut is?”
“Contrary to popular belief, I can read. The ladies talk about it in the Facebook group often.”
“I did see that,” she said with a laugh. “But I haven’t seen you in there much.”
“I haven’t touched Facebook in a while.”
“Why not? You used to post.”
“I just ... hate social media. And I have a habit of looking up people from my past.”
Piper slowly nodded. “Got it. Then it’s not good for you. Though, I did like reading when you would comment.”
“How far did you go back?”
“Pretty far.”
“On everything?”
“Uh, yeah. Definitely everything.”
I had a feeling she was lying. Had she really done all that digging on me?
“Anyway,” she said, and for once, she was the one blushing, “I’m sure you figured out that I write romance.”
“Yes. And if you want to be left alone, keep that to yourself. Tammy loves romance and would be asking you all kinds of questions on the various genres.”
