Chapter 3

January 2nd

After a complete failure at my first meet-cute, I am determined to behave as if I am the main character in my own life. And it starts with how I feel about myself. Tomorrow I have to go back to work. But when I walk into the office, I will be in charge of my life and its path. Not Jack. Not Thomas the cow tipper. Me.

"This is so Sex in the City," Eli said excitedly, linking his arms with Paige on one side and Amelia on the other. "I feel as if we should be strutting down the middle of the street."

"Let's save the strutting until after I have some new clothes," Paige said with a laugh.

The book club had loved Paige's idea of a makeover so much they all decided to join in. Eli knew all the best secondhand stores where the Upper East Siders took their old clothes to get rid of them. Well, more like where their maids took the clothes and resold them to secondhand shops instead of just throwing them out so they could make some money on the side.

"This is my favorite place. Chanel, Dior, Gucci, oh my!" Eli opened the door with a flourish and inside was something out of a reality show. Women were battling over clothes as if it were a matter of life or death. They were yelling and cursing each other in so many languages Paige couldn't begin to tell them apart. "Get in there and don't give up until you got what you want!"

Eli waded into the fray and elbowed a woman to get to a silk shirt. Leah gave a shout and headed into the shoe department.

"I don't think I can do this," Amelia gasped as she clung to Paige's arm. Then her eyes locked on a dress and Amelia charged forward. "Out of my way!" She shoved two women fighting over a Prada purse out of her path to beat out another woman racing for the same dress.

Paige tried to pick her way around the women making a mad dash for the racks, but in the end, she got caught up in the game of it all. And a game is exactly what it was. It was how to look like a million bucks with only spending a couple hundred.

"Paige!" Eli called out as he hip checked a woman who was trying to grab the skirt from him. "This is perfect for you!"

"I got her shoes!" Leah called out holding up the sexiest pair of heels Paige had ever seen. "I got myself a pair, too."

"Leah, grab me a size eight!" Amelia yelled from where she engaged in a tug-of-war over a super cute top.

Paige scanned the rack of tops and lunged for a turquoise shirt that would make her hair pop and match the skirt Eli had scored for her. That was just the beginning. Paige discovered she couldn't be quiet or hide in the background here. If she wanted something, she had to fight for it. She yelled, she cussed, and she never apologized.

Three hours later, they all collapsed onto Paige's couch. They were smiling and laughing, and Eli was definitely sporting a black eye. But it had all been worth it. Paige had new shirts, skirts, dresses, and two new pairs of shoes. One very cute pair of boots and one to-die-for pair of heels.

"Who wants to go first?" Leah asked, holding up a bag full of salon products they got at the drugstore.

"Me!" Eli raised his hand. "I need a facial so bad and my eyebrows are a mess."

"Why don't I just do everyone at once?" Leah pulled the mask sheets out of her bag along with the facial scrub.

"I'll get a bowl of warm water while you tackle Eli's eyebrows." Paige jumped up from the couch as Leah got to work. Eli cursed with every pluck. But within minutes they were all cleaned up and Eli, Amelia, and Paige lay back on the couch with their heads resting on towels as Leah gave them all facials.

"Which book should we read next?" Amelia asked as Leah settled her own facial mask in place and leaned back against the chair.

They all looked like ghosts as the cloth masks on their faces left only their eyes, nostrils, and lips visible. "I need some real good girl power," Paige said.

Fifteen minutes passed in a blur as they decided on their next read. Food was ordered as Paige picked up the boxes of color and read the instructions. "Who is the purple for?"

"You!" Leah said with a laugh at Paige's horrified look. "Just a little strip under your hair. You would only see it if your hair is in a ponytail or something."

"I'm so not a purple hair kind of person."

"You weren't, but you are now," Eli said. "Girl, you fought for that Dior like a champ. You can do a deep purple stripe to show your wild side."

"I'll do one too," Amelia said, looking very nervous. "It just has to be really small."

"I'm doing pink!" Leah said, pulling out another tube of dye from the bag.

"I can't do it when I'm in production, but I'll do your hair." Eli took the dye from Leah and once again they lined the couch as Eli went from woman to woman adding a little "power color" as he called it.

By the end of the night Paige's skin glowed. She had a French manicure with silver tips, and a secret purple strip of hair that she loved. Tomorrow she was going take the world by storm.

Paige did not take the world by storm the next day. Paige hid in her cubical, staring at the email from Jack Griffin. It was a simple email in reply to her recommendation to buy the romance book under the main Griffin Publishing line she'd read for him before New Year's.

No.

That was all it said. That one word.

What would a main character do? Well, the woman in the book Paige had just read last night after her makeover would walk in and demand to be heard. Paige had cheered when she'd read it. "Read it and live it." That was her new motto. Okay, she could do this. Really.

Paige took a deep breath and shoved her chair back. She stood and straightened the new pencil skirt Eli said looked ahmazing and grabbed the manuscript. Here goes nothing.

Paige walked around the pool of people who worked for Jack Griffin and down the hall to his office. She'd actually never been inside his office. She realized that as she stared at the closed door. This was crazy. She wasn't a main character. She was only a peon in this fiefdom of publishing.

"Are you just going to stand there or get out of my way?"

Paige jumped at the male voice behind her. She spun, clutching the manuscript to her chest to find Jack Griffin, grumpy billionaire owner of Griffin Publishing, standing there, looking devastatingly handsome. He was definitely the main character in his life with his broad shoulders, black hair, and gray eyes that made you think of a storm blowing in. He had money, power, sinful good looks... all the things Paige had none of whatsoever.

"So sorry, Mr. Griffin."

Paige moved aside and her boss opened his door, strode inside, and then called back to her. "Are you coming or not?"

Paige looked down the hall. If she ran, she could hide in her cubical for the rest of the day. No. This was the new Paige. The women in her romance books wouldn't run. They never backed down. They stood up for themselves and what was right.

"Thank you for giving me a moment of your time," Paige said as professionally as she could.

"Which one are you?" Jack asked as he shrugged off his jacket and hung it in a small closet behind his desk.

Figures. He didn't even know his employees. "Um, Paige Turner. I read manuscripts for you."

Jack made a grunting sound. Paige couldn't tell if it was out of annoyance or if that was just his way of acknowledging her statement. "You emailed me about the book from Mimi Golden," he said.

Paige nodded, but Jack wasn't looking at her so he wouldn't know her answer. She had to actually talk. Channeling one of her heroines' spunky attitude, Paige went for it. "Yes. That's why I'm here. You need to reconsider publishing this book. It'll be a bestseller."

Jack sat down in his giant leather chair behind his desk and looked up with something akin to disbelief and anger. "You're telling me what I need to do? I'm sorry, is your name on the building?"

Oh crap. She was going to be fired. Paige squared her shoulders and took a step farther into the room. Well, if she was going to be fired, she was going to make it mean something. She had years of opinions she'd kept to herself and somehow the knowledge that she was probably going to be canned gave her the panicked freedom to blurt it all out all while staying classy and true to her beliefs, just like her heroines did in the books.

"No, but if my name was on the building, I would know better than to pass on this book. Actually, on the romance genre altogether. I have been here four years, reading exceptional books that you pass on because you've deemed romance not literary enough for you and your peers, even though it's the top grossing genre in publishing with the most loyal readers. Romance is what keeps your publishing company afloat. But you send all of these fantastic books to a small imprint that you very carefully keep your name off of. The romance genre is expanding its reader base and leading the way in diversity, inclusion, and LGBTQ+ characters while increasing the male market with the addition of more male readers." Paige took a breath and pushed ahead. Years of bottled-up thoughts on her profession poured out. "So, I think the question is, why do you continue to ignore a billion-dollar genre? Are you afraid of strong women going after what they want? Or maybe it's just the sex. Maybe you're a prude who doesn't like reading about women finding courage to stand up for themselves, who take risks, and demand respect, equality, and yes, have good sex. So, which is it? Because you've refused to publish any romance under the Griffin brand even though the Griffin brand only exists off the back of romance writers and readers."

Jack was silent as he leaned back in his chair and stared up at her. "Are you done?" he finally asked.

"I am." Paige pushed the book across the desk toward him. "Except to say I think you should read this book and publish it under Griffin Publishing."

"Are you willing to bet your job on this book becoming a bestseller?" Jack asked her, not looking the least bit ruffled, even though Paige was a hot mess standing in front of him.

"I am." Paige had no hesitation. She knew good books, and this was a good one.

"Fine. I'll read it. If I disagree with your conclusion and notes, you're fired."

Paige gulped. Okay, sure, characters didn't always get their way. Sometimes they messed up. Sometimes they were scared. But her heroines always persevered as they went after what they wanted and she would too, even if it wasn't at Griffin Publishing. "And if you agree with me, I want a promotion to Editorial Director of Romance for the main Griffin Publishing line."

Paige thought she might have seen a bit of surprise in Jack's stormy eyes, but it was gone in a flash. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves, Miss Turner. Take the minor victory. I'll read the book. But you need to get the hell out of my office before I decide I don't need a demanding assistant any longer."

"Very well, thank you for your time." Paige rushed from the office and didn't breathe until she dropped into her chair. Her leg was bouncing uncontrollably. Her hands were shaking. Paige was also pretty sure she might be having a panic attack, but she'd done it. She'd been professional yet had stated her opinion and held her ground. Okay, well, maybe calling one of New York City's most famous bachelors a prude might not have been so professional, but he hadn't fired her on the spot.

Hello Paige Turner. You're now the main character in your own story.