Page 5 of Naked

Her face crumpled into concern. “Are you okay?”

I stood frozen. Completely incapable of moving. Elizabeth took my hand and gave it a shake. “She’s just awestruck. She hasThe Butterfly Rebellionin hardcover, paperback, and audio.”

“I have a first edition,” I whispered because my heart was beating so hard I couldn’t breathe.

Zoe smiled warmly at me and stood up. I freaked out.She was coming closer.“May I hug you?”

Hug me? Hug me!I nodded furiously.

And then it happened. Zoe Hydehugged me.She held me by the shoulders and looked into my eyes. “I’ll get you a signed copy before you leave. Now, come sit beside me and drink. I’m human. I swear.”

“I think June has copies next door still,” Carrie said around her drink. “Hey June!”

Another woman appeared in the doorway. Aside from the fact she was a few years younger, she looked exactly like Eve. I also recognized her from my time with the Mantas as one of our trainers. “You rang?”

“Do you have anyButterfliesnext door?”

“Yep. Sure do.” Her eyes wandered around the room, falling on me. She waved. “Hi! Are you Tilley?”

I nodded. Normally I was capable of normal, even warm and enjoyable introductions, but today I was broken. My favorite author of my favorite book was touching me!

“It’s nice to meet you! Elizabeth told us all about you. I’ll ask Roman to grab a copy before he walks over.” She pulled a phone out of her pocket and began tapping away.

As my brain began to function normally again—or maybe the wine kicked in—I began to feel human. The conversation around me continued as if I were behaving normally.

“Did you watch his Instagram stories this morning?” Zoe laughed.

Carrie rolled her eyes to the ceiling and sighed. “Yes. That man!”

“What did he do?” Elizabeth asked.

Carrie waved at her torso. “Naked breakfast in bed, talking to me as if I were there with him. I swear that man can’t be alone for five days.”

“The internets have lost their damn minds over it.” Zoe nodded. “Not that Wes doesn’t make the internets lose their damn minds all the time, but the extra swoon factor of a hot catcher missing his wife has really tipped them over the edge today. That and his continued shirtlessness.”

“Naked?” I jumped when I realized that question came from me. I was now caught in a trance between star struck and struck dumb by thinking of Hunter’s naked torso. Memories of it pummeled me all at once. The hard planes of muscles, his flat stomach, his strong arms holding me while he…

Ahem.

“Not naked on camera,” Carried explained. “I mean, hewasnaked. The man refuses to wear clothes whenever possible, but the camera was waist up.”

I noticed she called Wes “the man” or “that man” when she was most frustrated with him.

“Wes Allen is my husband, by the way” she gritted out.

“Wes Allen is the starting catcher for the Mantas. He has a .299 batting average, 73 RBIs last season, and a 40.22 caught stealing percentage.”

Everyone stared at me. I shrugged. “I know the stats of every player on last year’s team.”

“No wonder you love her.” Carrie smiled at Adam.

“She’s fucking incredible with numbers.”

Conversation wandered on. Elizabeth asked Zoe about her current projects, Zoe asked Elizabeth about hers. Then Zoe turned her attention on me. “And how are you adjusting to life at Vector Racing? I’m trying very hard not to interview you.”

I blinked at her a few times. “Me? Interview? Why?” Zoe Hyde could interview me about the time of day or weather if she wanted. Heck, I’d even discuss the finer points of menstrual cycles if she was interested.

“You’re a woman in racing. Young, ambitious, beautiful. I bet you have stories to tell already. You’d make a great character in a book.”

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