Page 87 of Love to Hate You

“Which wouldn’t be a problem if Autumn had paid you back.”

“It’s a problem either way.” She’d never spent more than a few hundred bucks promoting an author signing. She mainly hung flyers around town, mentioned it on her podcast, and sent out an email to her loyal customers. “I’d have to dig into my wedding fund.” More like drain it.

“Before you keel over on me, let’s focus on the solutions not the problem. First off, the green room will be easy.”

Summer plopped into the chair facing the desk as if she were the guest in this situation and her mind was racing with solutions. “We can just use the staff room and turn it into a spa-like haven. As for the podcast. We’ll have to sell tickets ahead of time to limit going over the official capacity and having someone call the fire marshal.”

“You mean like Sir Crumpet?”

Summer’s face heated. She couldn’t believe she used to call him that. Of course, it was before she knew him, but still. How prejudiced she’d been, assuming that he was the bad guy in what was just a shitty situation. “He would never call the fire marshal on me, and we should probably stop referring to him by that name.”

Cleo studied Summer with narrowed eyes. “You slept with him. You actually slept with the enemy.” It was a statement not a question. Summer was about to deliver a speech she’d prepared on the way over to defend Wes and herself when Cleo said, “Was it hot? Oh, yeah, that sex-dazed look tells me it was. Did he get the job done?”

Summer just smiled a mischievous smile.

“Yeah, his BDE is so big he nearly made me toss out my vibrator the first time I saw him.” She leaned forward on the desk, resting on her elbows. “We talking home run or grand slam?”

Summer actually heard herself sigh. “Out of the ballpark.”

“The vibrators of the world thank His Royal Highness. He has no idea how many vibrators he’s prevented from working in a sweat shop.”

“I’m not that bad,” Summer said defensively. Cleo lifted a brow. “Okay, fine, maybe I had a little problem. But sex with men never felt like they write about it in novels.”

“And he’s novel-worthy?”

Summer leaned forward. “Babe, he’sGuide-worthy.”

“Then why do you seem so conflicted? I mean, don’t get me wrong, your hair is sticking up in the back, you have no foundation on around your mouth, and your eyes seem a little crazy like you had a quickie in the parking lot, but you also seemed lost.”

Summer released a dreamy breath. “He’s moving back to London and doesn’t believe in long-distance relationships.”

“And new boy Asher last night didn’t think he had the core strength to do the Betty Rocker, but he lasted nearly an hour. Men just need the right stimulation and,pow, they’re on their knees begging to give you what you deserve. And last night I deserved a little Face-Off 69 action. What do you deserve, Summer?”

Wasn’t that the question of the hour. A month ago she would have said she deserved a quiet, dog-owning man who was into stimulating conversations and walks on the beach. Now she wanted a straight-laced, alpha male with Big Dick Energy who drove her crazy—in and out of bed.

Now that they’d opened the floodgates, they couldn’t seem to keep their hands to themselves. They’d even pulled over on an abandoned road and done a little rocking action of their own—twice. But then they’d arrived back in Ridgefield and he’d given her a quick peck and disappeared into his lair. She hadn’t seen or heard from him since.

“Okay, if that’s too hard of a concept—not surprising after the dickheads you’ve dated—then what do you want?”

“More than a quick sendoff smooch before he heads into work, but not so much that I get distracted from my goal of making this the most famous romance bookshop in the world.”

“What did he say he wanted?”

“About the same.”

“Then what’s the problem?”

Summer dropped her head to her hands. “I’m pretty sure he’s already distracting me.” She took a deep breath and met Cleo’s gaze head-on. At least she had the courage to face her friend after she’d thrown her under the bus. “I told him about the signing.”

Cleo shot up to a stand. “You did what? Why?”

“Because it felt wrong to keep it from him. And if I win I want to do it the honorable way. Not by playing some kind of game.”

“But the element of surprise is the only thing we had on our side, she says to David concerning Goliath.”

“That’s not true. We have enough grit and determination on our side.”

“I’m sure he’s sitting in his five-thousand-dollar ergonomically correct chair, checking the minutes on his Rolex until your shop goes under.”

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