Page 12 of Becoming His Perfect Daddy
I shrugged. “Well, I’m excited to talk about it. It’s my favorite book. So sue me.”
Alex’s smile turned kind. “I get it—I know how much you enjoy his books.”
My forehead scrunched. “Enjoy. Love. Obsess over. Sure.” I glanced around, seeing no one nearby. “How far did you get?”
Alex’s brown curls flopped as he cocked his head to one side and scrunched his forehead. “Stephen just snuck into Rafael’s bedroom.”
I squealed. Quietly. Because work. “Oh, shit, it’s about to get good.”
He smirked. “I don’t doubt it. I’m starting to get a feel for his writing, and I know something hot is about to go down.” He narrowed his eyes at me. “I’m right, aren’t I?”
I wiggled my eyebrows. “Maybe.” What I didn’t tell him was that Rafael catches Stephen in his enormous royal bedroom in a modern-day castle and makes Stephen strip for him, then Rafael spanks him for trespassing before fucking him into the king-sized mattress. It was one of my favorite sex scenes of all time, and I was jealous Alex would get to experience it for the first time.
Alex just rolled his eyes at my antics.
I clasped my hands in front of me and clutched my chest before letting out a dramatic sigh. “I love our unofficial book club.”
He snorted as he turned back to his computer, taking a second to scan and archive the email that had just come in. I’d been copied on it, too. Nothing critical. “It’s true. I swear you got me hooked on his novels just so we could talk books between projects at work.”
I grinned shamelessly as I cleared my inbox, too. “Guilty. I am nefarious—I mean, brilliant—like that.”
He scoffed, but his tone was prim. “Youarebrilliant, and I actually do have to thank you. I’ve found so many new favorite authors thanks to your recommendations. In fact, I’ve shared the brilliance—Christian is into them now, too.”
I gasped appropriately at the mention of his brother. “Isn’t he straight?”
Alex nodded, a wide grin on his face. “As a ruler. Been married to Ginny for . . . um . . . like thirteen years now?” He furrowed his brow. “Yup, thirteen. No kids in sight, though. Hm.”
I stared at him. Something in his tone . . . “You think he’s in the closet?”
He bit his lip, tilting his head as he considered it. “Maybe? But who am I to judge? At forty-two, Christian can live his life how he wants to. And if he wants to read about men getting down and dirty and falling in love—which we both know is the shit—I say more power to him.”
“Aren’t his classes usually full of gay men, too?” I’d been to several of the yoga classes he taught at his studio and had witnessed it firsthand, after all.
Alex laughed, a little too loudly. “They do seem to love ogling my brother. A yoga studio is not a bad place to do so, I suppose.”
I couldn’t disagree. Besides, Alex’s brother was definitely easy on the eyes. I’d actually admired him from afar during said classes—not that I’d ever tell Alex that.
After a minute had passed and I didn’t hear anything else, I glanced over at him. My chest clenched as he stared, unblinking, at his screen. “Alex, what is it? What’s going on?”
He blinked at my words then slowly turned to me. “Sam . . .”
Okay, now I was worried. I swallowed around a huge lump in my throat. “Alex, tell me. What’s wrong?”
His eyes caught mine, and I swear I could feel my heart pounding against my ribs. “Have you looked at C.L. Masterson’s socials today?”
My stomach dropped. I hadn’t had time before work to read the newsletter he’d sent this morning or even hop on social media. “No, why?”
“Fuck,” he muttered under his breath. “Pull it up.”
I snatched my phone and opened my favorite social media app, the one Cameron was most active on, quickly clicked overto his profile, and tapped on his most recent post. And my heart dropped to my shoes.
Shit.
Cameron’s most recent post was a full-fledged, profuse apology rife with self-recrimination. He was postponing his next release indefinitely, and he was clearly beating himself up about it. God, the language he was using broke my heart. Things like “I’m the worst person for doing this” and “I am so sorry I couldn’t manage to actually write like a writer is supposed to.” I just wanted to give him a long hug and cook him a comforting meal before chastising him for the way he was referring to himself then giving him a thorough spanking so he’d never talk about himself that way again.
Wait,what?
I blinked unseeing at my phone, feeling like my world had been flipped upside down for a second time in just a few months. What the hell did that reaction mean?
