Page 11 of The Huckleberry Bookshop

“So, he’s going to be on the cover?”

“And we’re going to fit him into your marketing plan.”

“My marketing plan?” Realizing she sounded like a petulant preschooler, Athena sucked in a deep breath.

Seriously though? She’d tried cutting the belligerent rule-breaker from her life and now here he was back in full force like an infestation.

He’d done this on purpose.

He’d done this to show her who was boss, who held the cards.

Damn him, but she kind of respected the audacity of his crafty ploy.

“Fine,” she said carefully, shaking her head at the predicament of her own making. “What do you have in mind?”

“You’d pitched a YouTube cooking channel in your book proposal. They’re setting that up for you as we speak.”

“But it was nixed.” Athena dropped a box of books near the back door in frustration, then gripped her phone tighter and stretched her neck while she returned for another load. “They told me I don’t have the right flair to be an online personality.”

Her phone beeped with an incoming call. Her dad. She ignored it, making a mental note to call him back.

“Mullens is on board,” Aurora said, “and so is the marketing department so they’ve decided to go ahead with it.”

“He doesn’t even cook!” Didn’t someone have to clear these kinds of marketing changes with her since they involved her?

“You’ll teach him. He’ll bring the celebrity and you’ll bring the cooking skills. You’ll act as foils to each other. But don’t go to the extreme. You’ll need to lighten up and be fun.”

“I am light and fun.”

Well, she used to be. Before life got so serious. There were only so many if-it-doesn’t-kill-you kind of experiences a woman could take before they dampened her sunshiny optimism.

“Marketing is sending you a filming coach. The publisher is fully on board with all of this.” There was a hint of warning in Aurora’s voice.

“What’s a filming coach?”

Her phone beeped again with another incoming call. Her dad, Neandro, again.

“His name’s Howell. He’ll critique your on-camera personality. Give you tips and all of that so you’re not overshadowed by Mullens. He’ll help you develop your personal brand, and we’ll steer you away from anything too bookish and inaccessible personality-wise. Okay? Nothing boring. All dazzle-dazzle sunshine and entertaining fun.”

Athena stared around the bookstore’s back room and the towers of boxes surrounding her. Nothing bookish? And was her agent calling her boring and no fun?

Was Chad right? Did she take herself too seriously? Was she creating barriers between herself and others with her seriousness and drive?

She used to be fun. Used to laugh.

Or maybe she was just hanging out with the wrong people and they simply didn’t appreciate her bookishness and found it all a bit boring.

She shook her head. Spending time with hockey players and publishers was getting to her. She was fine. She was accomplishing amazing things with her life.

Even if she was a bit overwhelmed by the idea of suddenly having to create a few meals in front of a camera, plus developing her own brand. It was the biggest challenge she’d yet to face.

Did she even have time for this?

Putting together a second cookbook was supposed to be a fast and easy project, but was quickly becoming a third job. Or was it her fourth? She was team dietician, something she could do in her sleep. She was starting a business with her younger sister, which was a bit out of either of their depths. She’d just finished creating recipes for the new cookbook—tested on the team, of course—and now had to build herself an online personality?

But a cooking show. She really wanted that.

She’d even play nice with Mr. Hot Stuff Playboy in order to get it.

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