“Is that right? And what is it women want?”
I shrug. “Three-pronged alien dick, obviously.”
Lana chokes.
“Okay, and maybe like, a wealthy duke who looks after a woman’s every need.”
She closes her eyes. I can tell she’s trying not to laugh. “Well Raph, I have to hand it to you. You seem to know more about the genre than any other man I’ve met.”
I set the stool back on all fours, resting my forearms on the counter. “Okay, now you tell me your favorite books. I’ll read them this week. I’ll read them tonight.”
She blinks. Then she rattles off five of them. I pull out my phone, writing them all down.
“Done.”
She laughs, kind of incredulously. Then she chews her lip, her eyes darting to her laptop screen.
“That’s what you’re writing, Lana, isn’t it? A romance book?”
She hesitates only a moment. “Yes.”
“Does it talk about what you like? Because that’s my new favorite book.”
She gapes.
“Sorry.” I give her a sheepish grin. “So you’re writing a book but you don’t want to be a writer. Is it just for fun?”
“It’s to prove I can do it.”
“To yourself?”
“Sort of.”
I tuck my hands under my arms, examining her. “Am I annoying you?”
“Yes.”
“Do you want me to stop?”
She chews her lip. “No.”
“Good. Because every moment I spend with you the more fascinating you become. And not a word of that is a lie, Lana.”
For a moment, I wonder, not for the first time, if I need to worry about how into this woman I am. But I don’t worry about things as a rule. Except when it comes to her.
I wave off that contradiction and wait forher response.
“Mike always gave me a hard time about reading romance,” she says after a moment. “He made jokes about it to our friends. He only reads literature, naturally.New York Timesbestsellers.”
I make a snoring noise, even though I’ve enjoyed quite a few of those myself.
She smiles.
“He kept talking about how the people who write romance don’t put any work into them. How they’re trash. I argued how important they are, to women, primarily.”
Just when I wanted to give good ol’ Mike a chance.
She saidwomenwith enough emphasis that even if I didn’t know this already, it’s clear her ex might not have been the most supportive feminist husband and father of two girls he should have been. At the very least, he should have offered moral support to his wife, even if he didn’t get it. Jesus, half-assed dads seem to be a theme in my life. I make a note to make sure I’m reading a particularly smutty-covered romance the next time Mike comes over here. Shirtless.