Page 56 of Four Letter Feelings

Jeremy opened his mouth to tell him precisely what he’d done with that woman, but AJ held up a hand to silence him.

“Nope. It’s staying between you, Jess and God. I don’t wanna know.”

You might not wanna know, but I sure as hell wanna do it again.

***

A few days later, Jeremy bumped into Jess again, at the bookshop. She grinned at him and flipped him off before he watched her leave the bookshop, put a helmet on and take off on a motorcycle.

Always full of surprises!

He had offered to pick up a gift for Ana from AJ. Her birthday was coming up and her favorite author had just released her new book. AJ had reserved a copy for Jeremy to grab while he was out running errands.

“Kelsey Kingsley, eh?” Adrianne eyed him suspiciously. “Can’t say I had you pegged for a romance reader, Jer.”

“There’s a lot you don’t know about me, Addie. But if you must know, it’s for my roommate’s sister.”

“It’s a good one,” she replied enthusiastically.

“I thought it only came out today, how did you—”

“Oh, I’m one of her ARC readers.” She cut him off, and seeing the confusion on his face she continued, “Y’know, advanced readers? Authors often send out advance copies to ARC readers to let them read the story ahead of publication. I guess the idea is to get a few reviews before of the official launch day. Or maybe it’s to have us all tell our friends how much we love this new book we read, who then go tell their friends or something, but, either way it works and I get her books ahead of time. I love her stuff, though, so it was kinda a no-brainer that I’d love The Life We Have, but at the same time it was something new. It’s her first same-sex romance, y’know, and there’s an age-gap. I was a little concerned I’d hate it, not cause of the same-sex thing, I mean, I’m totally cool with people being gay, I just… I dunno, I wasn’t sure she could write anything better than Warrior Blue…”

She must have realized she was rambling and clamped her mouth shut. Her cheeks pinked and she looked away, sheepishly.

“Well?”

“Well what?” she asked, still blushing.

“Was it better than Blue Warrior?”

“Warrior Blue,” she managed through a giggle. “And it was equally as good, and better in some ways. She nailed it. I read it in one sitting. I didn’t sleep ‘til I finished it.”

“Perfect,” he said, glad AJ hadn’t made a crappy choice of birthday gift for his sister. “She’s going to love it,” he added.

“Here…” She grabbed a Post It and started scribbling. “That’s her reader group on Facebook and if your friend’s sister doesn’t know about it already, there’s, like, bonus material at the end of her books that you get if you sign up to her newsletter. Sorry. I just… I get super excited about authors I like.”

“I see this. I’m sure Mr. Flamingo totally digs you geeking out over books. I’m sure it pushes all his dorky buttons.”

She blushed again and nodded shyly.

“Thanks for this.” He stuck the Post It inside the book on the dust jacket and offered her his card.

“Oh, Mr. Williams paid over the phone already. You’re good to go. And thanks for not making me feel weirder than I already do about my fan-girling word vomit. You’re a good friend, Jer.”

“Shhh!” he glanced around pretending to care about who overheard. “I got a rep to protect.” He winked at her. “We can’t have the whole campus thinking I’m some kind of good guy!”

“With a face like that, Jer, I don’t think anyone could assume that right now.”

***

“I was starting to think you got lost!” AJ greeted him from the kitchen as he made his way into the house.

“Your fault!” he groused. “That damn book you got for Ana, it turned Adrianne into a bumbling idiot when I tried to pick it up. Apparently, the author’s the best thing since sliced bread and Addie just needed to share her thoughts on the new book with someone before she exploded.”

“She invited you to her birthday dinner, it’s next week. The 13th.”

“I don’t think I have plans. We have a game on the 12th, don’t we? But nothing on the 13th, at least I don’t think I do, do I?”

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