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But mostly, he just watchedher.
Destiny Marie, who refused to go by her real name, choosing Dusty instead. Maybe if he could figureherout in the real world, the fictional woman tormenting his main character might start cooperating and doing what Ben needed her to do within the confines of the story he had already planned in great detail.
But no. The woman in his story—Sasha Nally—was being extremely difficult. And enigmatic.
Dusty—he didn’t know when he’d first started finding his baby sister’s closest friend too much like Sasha for comfort. He just did. Now he had to figure out why.Sasha’srole in the latest story had come out of nowhere. It was driving Ben crazy.
He did not like plot detours. Ben just didn’t.
Sasha had only had two mentions in the previous eight books, along with the character that was a great deal like Nikki. Sasha was Harry’s kid sister Rikkie’s best friend. Who owned the little diner in town.
That was all Sasha wassupposedto be. That was it. A minor character to add flavor and world-building. Because no one lived in a vacuum. That wasall.
Now, Sasha was showing up everywhere. She was even getting her own point-of-viewscenes.She was asidecharacter. That wasn’t supposed to happen at all.
He was behind schedule, thanks to what had happened to his brother Gil when Morris Preston tried to kill him. Now, Ben had to get back on track. Somehow.
Sometimeslifedelayed books more than he wanted to think about. Ben was starting to accept that. Somewhat.
Dusty kept creeping into his thoughts lately. The last two books he’d written had started off with just a female character who looked like, spoke like, and acted like that green-eyed woman right there. But he’d been able to get her to do what he wanted, where he needed her to without any trouble at all.
That had been before what had happened that night with Nikki, Dusty, Hunter, and that bastard who had tried to kill Ben’s sister and Dusty. Masterson County had become a bit of a violent place lately. It had the hair on his own neck standing on end when he thought about it.
Sasha had been described as a green-eyed blond in the first book he’d mentioned her in. He’d just filled her out a little over the series, until she resembled Dusty a bit more than he’d realized.
Ben watched the way Dusty moved around the dining tables, the way she tilted her head, the quiet way she smiled.
Very, very Sasha-like.Whyhadn’t he realized that before?
He hadn’t done it in one scene, it had just evolved as the stories had progressed. He’d never had a character resemble someone heknewquite so strongly. Well, except for his alter ego, good old Harrold Howard. And, well, Rikkie and Drescher and Hilbert.Theydid rather resemble his two brothers and sister. At least superficially. They all had brown hair, though. And green eyes. He had changed that much, at least.
Okay, maybe Ben hadn’t been incredibly creative when naming his original cast of characters, but they were established characters now. Not like he could change their names or anything. And those namesfit.
Maybethiswas exactly what he needed? Dusty. He’d figure out Dusty Talley, apply what he’d learned aboutherto Sasha, and then put little Miss-Far-Too-Tempting-To-Harry Sasha Nally back into her prescribed role in the story. And move on. Get past this damned block.
And keep Sasha’s clever little hands off of Harry. She was just getting toofrisky.With her best friend’s older brother. What was Sashathinking?
Harry was most certainly notthinkingwhere Sasha was concerned, either.
That was just crazy. And…that was the problem. Harry was starting to wantthings,too. Things he had no business wanting withthatwoman at all.
“Hey, Ben,” she said quietly. Dusty usually was a bit more reserved than some of her sisters or cousins.
He turned more fully. Looked at her. He remembered her as a quiet little blond girl with crooked ponytails. He did the math. She was twenty-five now.
Dusty was awomannow.
Hell. He tried to look at her objectively for a moment. As if it was the first time he was ever seeing her. As if he was Harry looking at the annoying little pest who had followed Harry’s sister Rikkie everywhere for years.
Ben tried to envision Nally’s Diner, set smack in the middle of his fictional town. It did look a lot like the diner he was in right now. Ben’s eyes narrowed as he tried to cut out that diner and look at thewomanlooking at him now. To put Dusty there, in his make-believe world.
He blinked.
He blinked again at what he saw.
He hadn’t expectedthis.This didn’t make any sense.
Dustywas a damned gorgeous woman now, too. With abodythat could drive a man insane. Had he missed when she’d grown from that girl intothis creature?
