Risky Rockstar: A Hero Club Novel, стр. 54

“I have a thing with not being able to move. Handcuffs or any restraints are a definite hard limit for me.” Damn, that was probably too much information. I need to change the subject, and real quick. “Wait? What? How do you know about the limo sex? Did you read the book?” I ask.

He gifts me with another of his off-kilter smiles. “I can hardly come to a book signing when I haven’t read the book, now can I?”

My mouth gapes, and I struggle to close it. After an interval that is far too long, I finally manage and eye him suspiciously. Maybe he just read the reviews or skipped straight to the smutty parts—not that I can blame him. That shit’s good!

“Did you read the whole thing?”

He flicks his lip ring with his tongue. “I did.”

I quirk an eyebrow and cross my arms. “What was your favorite part?”

He gives me a look, one that says he knows I’m testing him. “I thought Andie’s mom was tons of fun. I narfed my Coke when she bought her future daughter-in-law a dildo for her bridal shower and everyone else got her toasters and shit. I liked it when Rob kneed Matthew in the balls by accident. It kinda reminded me of this time when one of the contestants in Breakout kneed Dean in the balls. I kinda like Rob, and I think he gets a raw deal from Andie sometimes—although her burns are hilarious. But if I’m completely honest, my favorite part was the breakup. When Andie and Matthew are at their most vulnerable, bleeding out and losing everything.”

Damn, he really did read the book. He is so serious, and there’s a little something in his eyes that flashes for the barest of moments, and then it’s gone. This moment, however, is completely overshadowed by the desire pooling between my thighs. Dammit, I’m freaking inappropriately wet. I’m at a damn book signing with Kade, in leggings of all things, and my damn panties are wet. Hearing him talk about books I love is like when a guy washes your dishes without being asked. Undiluted porn. I guess today is the day for irony, since I soon realize I’m in a situation Andie would most definitely get herself into—and does all the time—except it’s much funnier when it’s happening to a fictional character and not me.

“It’s time for you to stop drooling and get your sign on.” Kade takes me by the shoulders and turns me around.

It takes me a while to react, and Lesley is staring expectantly at me. Oh my word, she’s way more awesome in real life. Her face is animated; it’s like all the characters she writes in her books are having a party in her brain. While I’m staring at her, awestruck and stupid, her expression changes and suddenly she’s gaping at me, and for one long awful moment, I think she can tell I’m wet. Then she speaks, her voice more animated than her face.

“Holy effing shitballs, you’re Hayley Stephens.” I must hear this same sentence in various ways nearly every day, but my brain will not compute that Lesley Peppers actually knows who I am. I’m still staring. I can’t speak despite the voice in my head screaming at me to not be a total idiot and do something, but I can’t get my brain to tell my mouth to open up and say something semi-intelligible.

From my peripheral vision, I see Kade’s hand reach out to shake Lesley’s. “Hi, I’m Kade—”

“Holy effing shitballs, you’re Kade Tennick.”

Kade chuckles. The sound hits me square in my fun parts and makes it even more impossible to formulate a sentence.

“I can see where the inspiration for Andie comes from,” he teases.

Lesley is blinking at me now, and I’m mirroring her. It’s getting embarrassing, and I’m trying desperately to think of how to say what I want to say, but I’m failing. I want to tell her that the Conspicuous series is more than just a barrel of laughs. I want to tell her that the storylines have touched me and that I’m sure they have touched other women too. That it’s about family and sticking together no matter what. I want to tell her that the dumb moments we find ourselves in daily are less mortifying because she makes us feel like those moments are okay, that we aren’t alone.

But all I manage is… “I love you.” I blink again. “I mean I don’t love you love you, because I don’t really know you, but I… shit…I mean, I think you are great and very pretty… Oh shit…and I mean funny. You’re funny and real.” Dammit. I look at Kade, begging him with my eyes to stop me. But he doesn’t, he just stands there smirking as I trip over my own tongue. I take a breath. “What I mean to say is I love your writing and think you’re awesome. I troll the Burn Den under a pseudonym so I can see what antics you and the Peppers will come up with next, and you’re very responsive.”

Lesley snorts. “That’s what he said. Amiright?” She holds up her hand to high-five Kade, and he meets her palm midair.

Kade is trying desperately not to laugh, and I clamp my mouth shut in mortification, but when I see them smiling, I burst out laughing.

“Well, that couldn’t have gone worse if I’d been caught having an orgasm in a photo booth,” I state, referring to a scene in Always Conspicuous,Lesley’s fourth book in the series,when the main characters were caught fucking in a photo booth and pictures of their bare asses were shooting out of the slot. Lesley laughs again, and Kade looks confused.

“Keep reading. You’re in for a treat,” she tells Kade.

Kade rummages in my cart and hands me my books. Realizing that I’m holding up the line, I hand them to Lesley.

She smiles warmly at me. “Who should I make these out to?”

I tell her just “Hayley” is