Do not laugh. Do not laugh.
“Oh, wow-o, was that the dryer?” she says and moves past me. “Let’s go get you some clothes.”
“I’m good. What is this?” I ask, pulling a weirdly shaped object from the bag. At first glance, it looks like it could be a cross between a dog toy and a sex toy.
I hold it up for Calla.
Her eyes widen as if she’s just seeing it for the first time. “You roll it against sore muscles.”
Ah, okay.
“Huh, I thought maybe you had a kink I wasn’t aware of.”
Her bottom lip drops open.
I move toward her slowly, toy in hand, and gently touch it to her chin to close her mouth. “Too bad.”
Her chest rises with her next breath. I lick my lips and glance at hers.
“I went shopping,” she says again and shoves the bags at me. “Let me show you what else I bought.” She dashes right back out the door. “I’ll get the rest!”
I’m smiling at my handiwork when my phone rings from the kitchen table.
Doug. I cringe. He isn’t going to like anything I have to say because I’m not going to say anything he wants to hear.
“Hey, Doug, how’s it going?”
“Beck! Oh my god, you are a genius.”
“I am?”
I turn back around as Calla comes in with more bags and runs back out.
Hell, what did she buy?
I step closer to the bags.
“Oh, here’s your card.” She pops back inside and tosses my credit card at me.
How the hell did she get this?
“This book is your best work yet. I want more. Get me more.”
Only being able to focus on one issue at a time, I close my eyes and focus on Doug.
“What book are we talking about?”
“The whole enemies slash roommates to lovers who accidentally got married thing. I want that. Flesh it out and get it to me. The whole book. Netflix loves the pitch I gave them.”
The enemies slash roommates to—oh fuck. Fuck. Fuck. A hot tingle runs through my blood.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” I say and jog to the stairs and down to my office.
I drop into my chair and wiggle my mouse to wake up my laptop. How the hell does he know about that?
Shit.
“Did I send that to you?” I ask. “If I did, I didn’t mean to.”
