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“And I’m Alex. Alex Zurich. Remember me?”
JJ leaned her head forward, scrutinizing the pair. “Oh. My. God. You’re not. You couldn’t be.”
The last thing she heard before she fainted was the man who called himself Blake say, “Didn’t see that one coming, did you, Alex?”
Chapter 2
JJ woke up nearly eyeball to eyeball with the self-proclaimed fictional heroine of her novel. She squealed, startling the other woman, who let out a squeal of her own.
Note to self: Don’t shriek. Head pounds worse.She felt as if someone had pumped her head full of helium to the point where it would stretch past its limit and burst at any minute.
Nervously, she squirmed backward trying to put as much distance as possible between the alleged heroine and herself. But she couldn’t go far. It was at that point, she realized she was lying on the loveseat.
Oh, it’s all coming back to me now.She glanced around. She was still in her office. The man who claimed to be the hero from her book had been pacing directly behind his partner. With arms extended behind his back, head down, staring at the carpet, he determinedly walked back and forth while the female stood guard over her. The cries jolted him out of his reverie, and he strode over.
“I’m sorry,” the dark-haired beauty said, now kneeling in front of the sofa. “We never intended to scare you like that.”
The man apologized as well. Gingerly, he sat on the arm of the couch and took her hand. “Never expected you to keel over like that, love.”
“We didn’t think you’d mind if we just jumped out of the novel you had us in and pop in on you while you dozed a bit,” he said. “We knew you were working on our love story just about nonstop, and you know we adore your devotion to us and all, but you really need to kick back some and take care—”
“Blake.” Alex reached up and lightly slapped him on the shoulder. She looked him squarely in the eyes.
Even in JJ’s befuddled state, she could clearly recognize the love and dedication this woman had for her hero. The way she gazed into his large, chocolate brown eyes told the whole story.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Blake said, “but we really did want to be there when you woke up.” The heroine nodded vigorously.
“You see, you’ve taken such good care of us the last couple of months,” she said, continuing her partner’s train of thought. She ran her hand through her thick, dark brown hair, as if she were searching for the right words. The long hair fell to one side. JJ swore she heard Blake whimper.
“You’ve spent so much time and effort developing our characters, making sure our lives were on the right track, keeping us from taking the wrong turn in the road, so to speak, that we wanted to return the favor to you.”
“Some favor, huh? Making you keel over in a dead faint? Just what kind of grateful characters are we, anyway?” Blake looked sincerely apologetic—and handsome. No wonder Alex fell in love with him so hard, she thought.That is if these two were really from my novel. Which is totally impossible. But if that’s not who they are, who are they?
JJ took a deep breath, then exhaled. She thought, maybe, she was experiencing some existential meltdown. But since she wasn’t quite sure what existentialism was, she couldn’t be sure.
On the surface, it appeared the main characters from her current work in progress were standing in her office. For apparently no good reason. Not that an obviously good reason for them being there would make it easier to understand.
She felt the two staring down at her. A bit unnerving to say the least. She slowly sat up. “Be careful,” the female cautioned. “You were out for a while.” Attempting to stand, JJ quickly determined it was beyond her capabilities, at least for the moment. She sat, closed her eyes, and sighed deeply.
What kind of trick is my mind playing on me?She opened her eyes again and scrutinized the man who said he was Blake Teesdale, the hero from her book,Love’s Surprise.
At six feet, he certainly fit the bill. He had black, wavy, unruly hair that danced wildly from side to side as he talked. The more animated his speech, the wilder his hair jostled about his tanned, ruggedly handsome face. And the more passionate he appeared on the topic at hand, the more his hair bounced.
It really didn’t matter what he talked about, she recalled from the description she had painted of him, he was passionate about everything. And that was the trait that initially drew Alex Zurich to him. Now, it was coming back to her. The heroine also loved the man because he could make her laugh.
And Alex, well, she was beauty personified. JJ liked to think she endowed her with every good quality she personally lacked. She also envisioned this fictional character as a classic beauty—something that no one had ever accused her of being.
JJ took another look at her. At nearly five foot nine inches, the woman had a small waist, slender hips, and was well-endowed. Just enough to make her extremely attractive and mildly seductive. All of this was set off by her long, shapely legs which were seldom hidden by a pair of jeans. In so many ways, she was a throwback to the 1940s pin-up model.
If men were initially attracted to her because of her body, they were equally as intrigued by her face. Her hair framed green eyes that flashed when she was angry but sparkled like expertly cut emeralds when she laughed.
Now that she looked at them in more detail, JJ realized she did know them. Why, of course, they were creations of hers, even though she couldn’t explain how they came to be standing in front of her.
“I smell coffee,” she said, slowly emerging from her fog-like state. “Is there any left? I could really go for a cup right about now.”Actually, I could use a stronger type of beverage, but coffee will have to do.
“Oh, yeah, there’s a quite a bit left,” Blake said, his voice brightening up a bit. “I’ll get you a cup.”
“I didn’t know you drank my favorite coffee blend. French roast.” JJ could hear Blake close a kitchen cabinet door. “What a coincidence.”
