Page 31 of Book Bae

“Home. I see you need time to come to your senses.”

I watched her walk away and shook my head. I’d allowed Arabella to get too comfortable dictating certain things in my life. I never should have allowed us to blur the line between agent and client. Never again.

WEDNESDAY (3 DAYS LATER)

“I wanna take your word, Sam, you know I do. I just can’t run with it like you want me to though. We’re talking about a lifetime commitment.” –Love You Hard, MJ Stone

I set the copy of Love You Hard back on the shelf and grabbed a copy of Heart of Stone. I slid the handwritten note into chapter six and closed the book again, just as I heard someone approach me from behind. I hadn’t been looking over my shoulder as I usually did; otherwise, I wouldn’t have almost been caught.

“What are you doing?” Myraj asked.

I had arranged to meet her at VC Winery & Book Boutique because it was halfway between our houses, and I wanted to drop some letters off. I often wrote love letters to my readers in the form of thanking them for their support, praying their dreams come true, and that eternal love finds its way to them. Then I would slip the letter inside of the hardback books whenever I was in a bookstore. I had plenty of business to take care of on this side of town, so it was most convenient for us to meet here.

“Nothing. Just checking out their selection,” I lied, turning and shoving my hands in my pockets.

“How did you get into reading?”

“My dad loves literature, especially poetry. He used to read poetry to me all the time when I was a kid, all of us, really, but I was the one who it connected with most. He would read Cobalt Stevens’ poetry to me, and he was one of my favorites. There was one book he told me about, but he’d never been able to get his hands on it because it was out of print.”

“Which one was that?”

“Stolen Georgia Nights.”

“I’ve heard of it but never read it myself. It’s supposedly one of his greatest pieces.”

“Yeah, I’d love to get my hands on that one,” I replied.

“You mentioned you were a reader and that you read romance, but I didn’t know you liked MJ Stone,” she stated, pointing at the books I was standing in front of.

I shrugged. “I check out different authors from time to time, but I mostly read indie authors.”

“Me too, but she’s good,” she stated, pointing at Love You Hard and Heart of Stone. “MJ is my favorite romance writer of all time. If I could have a one-on-one interview with her . . .” She sighed and closed her eyes wistfully.

I smirked at her declaration that MJ was a woman, her favorite writer, and her wish to interview MJ, but I remained silent. That wasn’t a conversation I could get into because of a clause that was implemented in my contract, not permitting me to disclose my identity. If in fact her baby was mine, she would find out who I was soon enough.

“Did you want anything out of here?” I asked, looking around the bookstore.

She glanced at the books in my hand; they were pregnancy books that I had picked up to gift her.

“Uhm, no, . . . I’m fine. Are those for me?” she asked, gesturing to the books in my hand.

I took her hand in my free one and led her to the register. “Yeah. I thought these might be helpful. One of them I purchased for Karen when she was pregnant with Malachi. These other two, I’ve done research on, and I thought they might be helpful to you.”

She smiled sweetly at me as we stood in line. “You’re so sweet, Micaiah. I-I was worried about how you might react.”

“I’m good. One day at a time, right?”

“Right,” she mumbled and bobbed her head. She turned her gaze to the coffee shop inside the store.

“Hey, go grab us something to drink on the way to the restaurant,” I suggested, removing a twenty from my wallet and handing it to her.

“Mkay,” she mumbled and walked off.

I focused on her body admiringly as she headed to the coffee shop. She had gotten a little thicker, but not much. It was mostly in her ass, but her thighs and even her waistline appeared to be the same.

I stepped out of line and returned to grab three hardback copies of Heart of Stone. I rushed back to the line, which had decreased since I left it. I slid a Benjamin to the cashier. “Would you please ring up these copies of Heart of Stone separately from my purchases?”

“Sure.”