Page 73 of The Book Club Boyfriend
We sit on the stage, the lights hot, the eyes of a hundred romance readers burning into us.
“Alright,” Vivian says. “Let’s kick this off. What’s the biggest difference between how men and women are written in love stories?”
Scarlett leans toward her mic, all confidence and control. “Men in romance novels are fantasy. Real men would never say half the things these characters say—unless they’re trying to get slapped or sued.”
There’s laughter. She barely hides a smile.
Itake my turn. “Women in romance novels are way too skeptical. Like, ‘Oh, he brought me soup when I was sick, but what does it mean?’ It means he brought you soup, babe.”
The audience cracks up.
Scarlett glares at me.
“I’m just saying, sometimes it’s not that deep.”
“Oh, because men are famously simple creatures. Got it.”
I glance at the crowd. “She’s proving my point.”
More laughter.
The banter goes back and forth—she roasts my taste in books, I tease her about her tragic inability to flirt without sounding like she’s about to sue someone.
But underneath the jokes, there’s a current. A pull.
And for a second, I wonder if she feels it too.
Because when she laughs—actually laughs at something I say—it hits me square in the chest.
I want to make her laugh again.
And again.
But for now?
I’ll take one more hour on this stage where it feels like it’s just her and me. The crowd of people fades away, and Scarlett is all I can focus on.
After the event wraps and the crowd starts to thin out, I find her near the refreshment table, swirling what’s left of her lemonade like she’s thinking very hard about whether or not to throw it at me.
I lean against the table beside her. “You survived.”
She sighs. “Barely.”
“You crushed it. They loved you.”
Her lips twitch. “They loved watching us verbally spar.”
“Same thing.”
She rolls her eyes but doesn’t walk away. Progress. “This isn’t a game, you know. There are no winners here.”
I grin. “I don’tneedto win.” I lift a cup of lemonade and take a slow sip. “I justliketo.”
“I hung out with Lucy the other day,” she says casually, like it’s not a bomb she’s just dropped into the conversation.
I almost choke. “Oh, I’ve gotta know… what was that like?”
“Basically world domination.”
