Page 35 of Not on the Same Page

“I know.” I’m trying not to sound annoyed, but it’s not working. I clear my throat and try again. “Last I checked, Trina isn’t taking YA.”

That was one of the main facts playing through my head as she sat pressed against me through the keynote speaker on Saturday. I liked her there. I more than liked her there, and me moving into this new role and her not having anything to do with young adult manuscripts felt like a way we could maybe build something beyond the physical.

Then again, I’m not even sure how you go about that. How do you date someone you’ve seen naked? Take them out to dinner? Go to the movies? Pretend you haven’t been buried inside her as you play a board game?

“Agents expand their genres all the time,” Ryan says as if it’s no big deal. And it probably isn’t. I just don’t want to ask her, and thanks to his meddling, I am running out of reasons why.

Actually, that’s not true. There’s just one reason why. And it has something to do with the way my heart starts beating faster every time she’s around.

“And besides,” he continues, “what’s the difference if it’s literary fiction or young adult if she’s pitching exclusively to you? The point is to make sure Imani has someone in her corner when things get tough.” He smirks. “And to keep you in line.”

I press my lips together and try desperately not to let my mind wander to all the ways she could keep me in line.

“I’ll think about it.”

Ryan narrows his gaze, eyeing me skeptically. He shoves himself forward in his chair and stands. “Okay,” he says slowly. “Not going to lie, it’s a little weird that you’re so resistant to this. It’s not like you’ve never worked with her before. You used to work with her all the time.” He tilts his head, his expression turning thoughtful. “Surely the thing with Scarlett didn’t piss her off enough that she stopped submitting to you?”

“No.” I shake my head quickly. “I mean, she was angry about it, but nothing has lined up for us for a while.”

“Right.” He doesn’t sound entirely convinced, but he turns toward the door anyway. “I’ll leave you to it then. But don’t sign her without an agent. Get someone in her corner.”

I give him a sarcastic salute, and he chuckles on his way into the hallway. He shuts the door behind him, and I stare at the phone on my desk for an embarrassing amount of time.

I can call her, right? Arguably, I should. She told me she wanted to see me again, and even if she meant just for sex, at least that’s something. And this doesn’t have anything to do with sex at all. This is work. A work call is fine. It’s normal. No big deal.

Before I can talk myself out of it, I start the call on speaker and punch in her number. It rings enough times that I think she won’t answer, but then she does.

“Hello?”

“Trina, it’s Casey.”

“Casey? Oh, I…” A scraping sound comes through the speaker as if she’s shifting the phone to her other ear. “Huh. I guess I didn’t see the name.”

“Are you saying you wouldn’t have answered if you knew it was me?” I try to infuse some humor into my voice, but the thought this might be true sends a pang of sadness through me. It’s so unexpected, I almost don’t hear what she says next.

“No, but I would have said something a lot cooler when I answered,” she jokes, but it’s a little flat.

“Are you okay? Is this a bad time?”

She pauses, then inhales deeply. “No. I mean yes. I’m fine, this is fine. I’m just a little distracted. What’s up?”

Well, this is going great. I should hang up and let her call me back when it’s convenient for her, but then I might lose my nerve.

“I have something I want to run by you. Can you stop by the office?”

She laughs, but that sounds flat too. It’s almost enough for me to be concerned, but she says, “I’m not going to fuck you in your office, Casey.”

Even though the door is closed, I scramble to pull the phone off the receiver and press it to my ear. “Dammit, Trina. You were on speaker.”

“Well, I’m not.” She sounds completely unbothered. “Who heard me?”

“No one. I’m alone.”

“Then what are you worried about?”

I should be worried about combining work and pleasure, about sleeping with someone I could end up working with. Who I want to work with. Ryan was right—Trina is the best in the business, and getting her to work with Imani would be a huge win for the author and, ultimately, for me.

But even though this should all concern me, now that I have Trina on the phone and I’ve heard her voice, I can’t bring myself to care. All I can think about is when I’ll get to see her again, and working with her would mean seeing her a lot more often.