AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Brett leads me into a conference room where three men I’ve never met sit. They’re younger than I’d expected. No doubt, Phillip has the more inexperienced acquisitions team talking to an untried author with a single book to her name. This is almost certainly going to be a low-ball offer.
“Good afternoon, Miss Adelaide,” the first one says. He looks happy, a spark in his eyes as he stands up to shake my hand. It’s strange. When I started working for Loughton House, I was so nervous. Now, I’m expecting to turn down an offer from them, and I’m as calm as I’ve ever felt.
“My name’s Charles Anderson, and this is Lewis Taylor,” he says as he points to a dark-haired man in his late twenties sitting next to him. “And James Miller,” he says as he points to a man with red hair, both on top of his head and in his thin beard. All of them are wearing suits that look reasonably expensive. They look professional. They’re just young compared to the old men I’d expected.
“Thanks for having me,” I say as I sit down next to Brett on the opposite side of the table.
Brett slides a contract to me and says, “Now, because I signed you before I started working for Loughton House, I’ll refer you to a different agent after this meeting due to the conflict of interest. I needed to get you here, though, becauseSweet Temptationsis going to be the book that turns you into a bestselling author.”
I frown. “What do you mean?” I’d expected to turn them down, but with the way Brett is talking, it almost seems like he’s offering me a real contract. One that’s too good to turn down.
Brett glances at Charles and the other two across the table, and Charles takes over the conversation. “Loughton House has created a new department for signing brand new authors. We’re not able to give out as big of advances as other departments, but we’re able to offer authors a lot higher percentage on their first books. After that, we’ll re-evaluate things.”
That’s an odd way of doing business. I glance over the offer and see that Charles isn’t lying. The percentage is far higher than I’ve seen in my research. “What’s the catch?” I ask, having not read the rest of the contract yet.
“It’s simple. This is a trial run. We want to minimize costs and have no desire to make any significant money on this book. But if you’ve written a winning book, like I think you have, then we get to renegotiate the contract for book two.”
How did Phillip ever approve this plan? This isn’t how anyone else does business. It’s not like I’m a soccer mom from Indiana who’s never dealt with the publishing industry. I know how things work, and this isn’t it.
“That’s not a catch, Charles. That’s you publishing a book and hoping to make back the printing and marketing costs. There’s a catch, though. Any time there’s a deal that sounds too good to be true, it is.”
Charles grins. “Read the contract. Get a lawyer and have them read it. I know it sounds too good to be true, but it’s not. We’re looking to expand faster than anyone in the industry ever has, and that means they’re going to have some losses. But they’ll also get some serious wins to offset them. Those winners are going to keep on winning, and we’ll cut the losers.”
I nod. It isn’t real. Loughton House doesn’t lose money. Ever. Arguing with Charles isn’t going to do any good, though, so I might as well just do what he said. Read the contract and find how Phillip is taking advantage of new and ignorant authors.
“We loveSweet Temptations, Addison,” Charles says. “And we’re allocating significant resources to it, all of which are detailed in the contract. The advance is small, like I said, but if you sign with us, you’re going to become a full-time author very soon if you keep writing like that.”
It puts a smile on my face to hear them say that. I mean, it’s still kind of hard to believe that complete strangers enjoyed my book this much. Angela and Donovan’s love story made my heart melt even while I was writing it, but to hear other people talk about it, I feel like maybe I’m not the only one.
“I’ll go through the contract, and I’ll let you know by the end of the week,” I say as I stand up.
They nod to me, and everyone else stands up as well. I follow them out, my mind on the fleeting hope that the contract is actually as fantastic as Brett and Charles are making it out to be. My head is down as the thoughts run through my mind. When I look up, I see the one man I’d been hoping to avoid: Phillip.
He’s not even looking at me. There’s a smile on his face as he walks toward Charles. The rest of the group keeps walking, and I hesitate. Do I want to see him? Do I want to talk to him?
I know the answer should be no. That’s the smart answer, the reasonable answer, the “don’t be an idiot, Addison” answer. That doesn’t mean it’s what I want.
Because I’ve never fallen out of love with the man. Even after the funeral, no matter what I’ve done, my thoughts have turned toward him.
My steps stutter. Phillip’s eyes are locked on Charles, and I try not to look at him, try to let him pass me by without noticing me because although I want to talk to him, I can’t. He’ll suck me in just as fast as he did before.
“That’s the third contract you’ve handed out today, right?” God, Phillip’s voice washes over me like a heatwave, bringing back every memory. I mourned those memories, and I buried them in too many cups of box wine. I shouldn’t remember the way he looked at me, the way he kissed me, the way he felt when I was moaning his name…
Charles glances at me, and I start to walk again, not wanting Phillip to notice me. “The first two were definite risks, but this one is the real deal, Mr. Loughton. We’re going to pushSweet Temptationshard.”
Phillip freezes and slowly turns toward me. My feet move faster, but not fast enough. “Addison?” he asks.
I turn to him and he’s staring at me with those same piercing eyes. The same smoldering look that I’ve never been able to turn away from. “You published it?”
That’s when it clicks. He knew. He’s publishing my book because he wanted to talk to me. “You son of a bitch,” I growl. “You promised you wouldn’t touch my book. You wouldn’t use your influence…”
“I didn’t even know that you’d found an agent,” he says, just as roughly. “I’ve never lied to you, and I won’t now. How’d you even wind up here?”
He’s right. He’s never lied to me, and truthfully, I can’t figure out how Phillip could have influenced Brett. Trish found him, and I doubt they worked together in some grand scheme. Whether he influenced things now, well… That’s possible.
“I found an agent, and you bought him, so he’s trying to get me to sign with you.”
Charles is looking at us in complete confusion, and it cements the fact that Phillip didn’t rig this. I earned the contract in my hand.
