Page 101 of Will Bark for Pizza
“Pull up a seat, sweetie,” Lotti offered. “Did you read the book?”
“I sure did,” she said.
“What book?—”
“Beckett, are you staying, honey?” Dylann asked, as though they were old friends. Had they met?
“We have extra chairs,” Thelma said, her offer sounding more like a demand that was hard to evade.
I glanced at Beckett, catching his gaze and holding it for a few seconds longer than I should, considering the number of comments from the peanut gallery about the two of us.
Friends. Justfriends.
“I should warn you,” I said to Beckett. “This group reads mostly spicy romance.”
“Think I can’t handle it, Red?”
I offered a shrug, pretending I wasn’t affected by the nickname I was coming to like a little too much.
“You’ve been warned.” I turned my attention to the table. “Who wants coffee?”
“We have margaritas too,” Dylann reminded the group.
“You look right at home here,” Beckett said as I poured a couple cups of coffee for Betty and Carlos.
“It was home.” I let out a soft sigh as I scanned the familiar room. “For a long time.”
“Maybe you should?—”
“Would you two hurry up and join us? I want to talk about that sexy vampire, Darius.”
“You meanMateo,” Lotti said.
“You can have that grumpy-ass vampire. I’m Team Darius all the way.”
I froze, my eyes no doubt doubling in size. The air in my lungs froze.
“You know Mateo?” Beckett asked me, his voice low.
It had to be a coincidence. The only person here who knew I was Diana Davenport besides Beckett was Aspen, and she was sworn to secrecy. But as I slowly scanned the table, I found copy after copy ofForever Forbiddenlaid out in front of several book club members. Most of them had colorful tabs sticking out the sides. They’d not just been well read, they were well annotated.
“Did you?—”
“Me?” Beckett shook his head. “But something tells me your secret was never really a secret.”
“Fucking hell, is she going to pass out?” Thelma said. “Beckett, make sure you hold on to her before she hits the damn floor.”
“I told you we should have warned her,” Dylann said, her tone a mixture of annoyance and apology as she played with the layers of necklaces hanging around her neck.
“Come join us,Diana,” Lotti cooed, pulling out the empty seat next to her. She was easy to spot in her bright yellow and pink windbreaker suit. I followed the blur of color, feeling as though my feet were floating.
“Guess you have some fans,” Beckett whispered to me. Was his hand on the small of my back? That wouldexplain the pool of heat gathered there. Heat that was slowly spreading to other parts of my shaky body. I felt the swish of Husker’s tail against my leg as he trotted beside me toward the table, and allowed that to ground me. Because all Beckett’s touch was going to do was take me that much further from reality.
“You should sit down before you hit your damn head on a bookshelf and get a concussion,” Thelma insisted.
“How did—” I looked at Aspen, and she shook her head.
“We’ve known for a long time, dear,” Betty said as I fell into a chair beside Lotti.
