Chapter 9

NINE

My face was sore from smiling, but my heart was bruised.

A heart that had no business being involved in that ridiculous hookup. What the hell had I been thinking? Sure, the panic attack had been the precursor to my questionable reaction to Penn, but I could have stopped. I definitely could have chosen to not jump in hormones first.

I'd walked into that situation with my eyes and freaking legs open. Even at my most dangerous days on the street, I'd never come close to doing what I did with Penn. And the mistakes had been plentiful in those days.

He was obviously a mistake. He definitely hadn't been my first or probably my last, for that matter. Beyond the half naked and intense sexy times action, he was also freaking famous.

Penn Masterson—darling of the indie publishing world. I remembered my shock at learning he'd walked away from a lucrative deal with a major publishing house to go out on his own. Then he'd succeeded.

My own self-publishing heart had jumped with hope. We authors didn't have to be tied to the traditional ways of publishing or even have to write about the more traditional topics anymore. We didn't have to be a slave to corporate decisions. Seeing his freedom had been a precursor to my own deep dive into writing.

The publishing world was changing so damn fast, and it was dragging me along like a bit of toilet paper on a shoe.

I'd picked now to do something ridiculous and off the cuff like hook up with a freaking stranger. Obviously, I was just unbalanced at this point. That was bad enough, but finding out he was an asshole?

I'd never picked up on that, and I was usually a good judge of character.

Then again, my character was in his jeans pocket right now, wasn't it?

Aware that I'd spaced out on the reader in front of me, I covered her hand on the book. "Thanks so much for coming out to see me." Noting that she had chosen Jonah's book to get signed steadied my careening heart. "I hope you're excited for new Sara Springs books."

"I'm ecstatic that you're continuing the series. I was so afraid there wouldn't be another book after Date with Disaster took off. And well…the other."

I was not opening myself up to that line of thinking. Readers were picking up on the fact that me and Jenelle had split, but we were still crafting our official statements now that the nasty money side was finalized. Instead, I gentled my smile into my real one instead of the public Rita. "Luckily, my brain is too full to let that happen." I patted her hand.

"Your books give me hours of peace. Being a stay-at-home mom of four means the only time I get reading time is when I lock myself in the bathroom for a bath. Your books let me find romance again."

"Time to get the mister to start dating you again, maybe? I can't imagine how hard it is with kids, but I know you can find a way."

She tipped her head. "I never thought of dating my husband. We already did that."

"You should always keep wooing each other. At least how I feel about it."

"Right on, sister." Ryan's voice lifted from the table beside me.

I laughed and glanced her way. "See. She agrees. You probably want to get a copy of Tripod too. Hecking cute."

"That's right!" Ryan waved the woman over. "C'mon over."

My gaze bounced from Ryan to Penn and my stomach flipped. Those dark eyes locked on mine for a full minute and the reality of my pantiless state became very apparent once more.

I tried to ignore it by crossing my legs under the desk and rerouting my attention to the next person coming up to see me.

Another hour went by in a blur. Ryan had disappeared for a bathroom break, and it was time for me to ask the same. And my hand needed a damn rest.

"Excuse me!" A deep voice rose from the doorway currently filled with people.

The woman at the table with me turned and gasped. "Is he doing some cosplay?" she whispered.

I peered around her to see the cop from my first day in town. Christian Masterson—oh, hell. He was probably related to Penn. I didn't even put it together since I was still reeling from finding out who my inconvenient lover was.

"Colette?"

"Yes, officer?" Colette popped up from behind us. She was preparing all the books behind us to keep our stacks pretty and full.

I glanced over my shoulder. "You knew who it was by voice?"

She shrugged. "I know all the hot men in this town. Too bad they're usually taken."

"Fair. I met him my first day."

Ryan threaded her way through the fans with little waves and smiles, her skirts and crystals moving in her unhurried sensual manner. If I hadn't done a little Googling, I would have guessed she was mystical in some way.

She was a tarot reader and self-professed witch.

While I lived very much within the mundane world, I was open-minded. I'd seen far too many odd things in my twenty-nine years not to be. From the good all the way to the terrifying.

"Who's the hot cop?" she asked me on the way by.

"My brother," Penn said stiffly. "My very by-the-book brother."

Ryan grinned. "Have you seen my man? I like by the book. All the better to corrupt them."

"Okay, gross." Penn sat back in his chair with his arms folded. "I don't care to picture that."

"Moonbeam, quit making false claims. You know the only one you're corrupting is me," Preston, Ryan's partner, said smoothly from behind us. He didn't look up from the book he was quietly reading in one of the comfy chairs near the window.

The quick spike of jealousy startled me. The easy way he just accepted Ryan's idiosyncrasies was like nothing I'd ever seen outside of fiction I'd written.

Penn glanced my way, smirk in place.

And my annoyance replaced jealousy.

When Christian shouldered his way through the people in line, his face was stony. Still hot, but he was not at all happy by the state of affairs at Every Line A Story.

"Colette, you're way over your capacity."

"I know, we got a little backed up, but we're moving everyone along pretty fast."

"Figure out a better system or get more people outside."

"C'mon, Christian. It's a bookstore, not like we've got a rave going with drinks and cigarettes." Colette had her hands on her hips.

"Don't care. You're at least fifty people over capacity."

"Christian, we just had more people show up than we expected. What do you expect her to do?" Penn stood and walked over to Ryan's table.

"C'mon, hot cop, I'm sure you could find a way to help us out." Ryan's voice was sultry as she leaned forward, her chin propped on her hand.

"Pardon me?" Christian's voice was cool.

Instead of being deterred, Ryan only grinned wider. "You're fully aware that half the women in here are swooning over those shoulders of yours."

"I am not. What I look like in my uniform has nothing to do with the law and order of this town."

Ryan laughed. "Law and order of this town? You do realize we're in Crescent Cove, right?"

"You'd be surprised about what goes on here, ma'am."

"Ma'am?" She turned around to Preston. "Did you hear that?"

"Don't make me have to bail you out, Moonbeam," he answered her easily.

She rolled her eyes and faced Christian.

I bowed my head to stop the smile. I wished I had half the gumption of Ryan Moon. I generally was afraid of my shadow these days.

"Look—"

I stood up, cutting Ryan off. "Why don't you help me persuade a few people to move the line?"

Penn frowned back at me.

"My readers are very sweet. I'm sure we can figure out a way to get the line under control."

"And what, my people aren't?" Penn asked.

"I don't know, are they?" I asked sweetly.

"We didn't have this problem until you were added to the signing," he muttered.

"And yet, looks like a lot of these people are here to see me, aren't they?" I turned to Christian and held out my hand for help down the stairs.

He took my hand, glancing from me to his brother, then he cleared his throat. "I appreciate your cooperation, Miss Savage."

"Rita, remember?" I smiled at him. "It's nice to see you again, Officer Masterson."

He flushed. "Christian is fine." He cleared his throat again. "How is Judy treating you?"

"Perfectly. However, Bruce definitely doesn't like a leash."

Christian laughed. "Never does." His stiff shoulders eased a little as I stepped down the last step to the floor. He was very tall, head and shoulders above me to be exact, even with my heels.

I could see the appeal—as did all the woman murmuring around us. "Now, let's see what we can do, shall we?" I let his hand go and straightened my skirt. I glanced up at Penn still on the dais, his face mutinous.

I guess maybe I had a little of that Ryan style, after all.

I lifted my voice. "Tell you what? I know you all have been so very patient this afternoon, but we got ourselves in a little trouble with the law." I gave a what can you do gesture. "I hate to ask you to go back outside?—"

The crowd groaned and grumbled.

"We've been waiting for hours already," someone said from the back.

"I know."

A warm body came up behind me and the way my body instantly reacted, I knew it was not Christian. The slow unfurling of awareness in my gut and chest along with Penn's very specific scent told me just how close he was.

"Anyone who willingly goes outside will be entered in a raffle for dinner with me or the romance author."

I whirled around. "Romance author?"

He gave me that wretched smirk. "Rita, right?"

He knew my damn name, jerk.

I narrowed my eyes, then I spun back around. I brushed back against Penn and my traitorous body hummed even louder. His hand automatically slid across my waist to steady me.

When I stiffened, he dropped it.

"I suppose the famous Mr. Masterson can only manage to offer dinner." I peered up at him. "Unoriginal as…" I let my voice fall away.

The crowd of people made oohing sounds, and I noticed several phones being lifted.

Just great, cameras.

He just put my back up so freaking fast.

"As what?"

"You," I finished.

I smiled out at the alarming number of people who were now in the store. More had spilled in after we began this display.

"You are not helping matters, Rita." Christian's voice was full of warning.

"If the librarian is amenable," I raised my voice, "the first fifty people who go back outside can do a writing workshop with me."

" Us . Drawing included," Penn said from over my shoulder. He dropped his voice so only I could hear him. "You are not going to outmatch me."

Oh, but I would.

"When?!" Came a voice from the left.

"I—"

"November 13th. Sound good?" Penn's voice was so damn certain.

"You can't promise that," I said under my breath. "You don't know their schedule."

"Handily, the librarian is a friend." His voice was so close that my hair shifted with his breath. I tried to resist the shiver, but my stupid body was more than on board with him being so close.

C'mon, brain, take over. You don't like him!

However, my very pantiless state said otherwise.

The phones were still up, and I was way too close to him. I tried to step forward, but more people had crushed in.

"All right, there are too many people in here. Everyone out!" Super-Officer-No-Nonsense's voice lifted over the excited chatter.

"Christian, we aren't kicking everyone out." Penn brushed against my backside as he shifted to look at his brother.

The cashmere of my dress sliding over my too sensitive skin wasn't helping matters.

I pushed forward, and a dozen people followed me outside. Penn caught up quickly and a bunch more did the same. Once we were outside, I could breathe a little easier, but damn that man for getting right back up in my space.

I didn't want to show people how unnerved I was but ignoring him was a lesson in futility. Especially since I still had some of him on my stupid skin. I'd cleaned up as much as I could in the bathroom, but there was no denying I'd had truly exceptional sex.

At least to me. Hopefully, no one else would notice.

I glanced at Christian who was frowning as he looked first at me then at his brother and back. Unwilling to show all my cards—or my ass—I smoothed my dress down and walked briskly to the edge of the sidewalk.

It was early afternoon and the amount of people outside was staggering. I was pretty sure there were even more people in line than when I'd arrived. At least it was sunny and clear, not to mention warmer than it should be at this time of year.

The line shifted forward and to the side like a ribbon in the wind when they noticed something was going on.

Christian sighed and went to his cruiser, coming back with a megaphone.

Surprised he'd have one of those on hand, I took it from him. "Thanks." I found the button and tried it. My voice was too muffled.

Penn tried to take it from me, and I yanked it back. "Hi. We're so sorry things got a little crazy. If you could just line up again, we'll get the signing moving."

"You're not telling the rest about the workshop?" he asked under his breath.

"They can enter the drawing when they get their books signed," I said over my shoulder.

"Fair."

I nodded. "Finally, something we can agree on."

The growl that came from his chest didn't do anything to help my awareness of him, but at least he didn't try to talk over me for once.

Colette came outside with a strip of old timey raffle tickets that looked like they belonged at a fair. That woman was ready for anything. "Goddess," I said quietly.

She gave me a winning smile. "I'll take that."

We directed Colette to hand out the raffle tickets to the people who were inside, then they'd get a second ticket when they got their book or books signed inside.

"Happy now, killjoy?" Penn asked over my shoulder.

I whipped around to frown at him.

"Not you this time, Duchess." He nodded to Christian, who still had his arms crossed over his massive chest, but at least he'd stopped with the nostril flares of annoyance.

Christian just stationed himself by the large window. "I'll just make sure we maintain order."

Penn rolled his eyes. "Whatever."

He disappeared inside and I was loathe to have to follow him, but we needed to get this show on the road again.

If only I could ignore that bonfire scent of him that made me crazy. I veered off to my side of the tables and found Ryan at her table throwing out tarot cards in a big spread.

I couldn't help myself from stopping. "Who are you reading for?"

She gave me a secret smile. "Oh, no one." She scooped the cards up, but not before I caught the two of cups, judgment, and the tower in her pile.

Because I lived for research and had featured a tarot card reader in one of my early books, I knew they were not amazing cards.

I really hoped they didn't have anything to do with me.