“What about you? Did you fist your cock when thinking of me?”
My girl has the boldest vocabulary for such a sweet-looking little pixie. “More than once a day, baby.”
“We can’t just get married and have babies, Brody.” Her voice is higher as she changes the subject.
“Sure, we can. People do it all the time.”
“We hardly know each other.”
“I disagree. We probably know each other better after one afternoon and evening than a lot of people do in a year. What matters is that we’re open and discuss everything. No secrets. No lies. No glossing over things by saying what we think the other person wants to hear.”
“You don’t have any secrets?”
I ponder her question. “No. You can ask me anything, Melody.”
After a pause, she whispers, “I have secrets.”
I set my lips on her ear. “I know you do, baby. I’m not worried. I’ve thrown a lot at you tonight. You’ll tell me when you’re ready.”
Another few seconds pass. “You know how Arianna was hiding out in Wilde so no one would know who she is?”
“Yes, baby.” I suspect my girl is also hiding, but I won’t pressure her.
“I’m sort of doing the same thing.”
“I know, little pixie.”
She sighs. Her body relaxes marginally in my arms. “It’s not as big a deal as what happened to Arianna. My parents aren’t famous and dead. No one is hunting me down for the sensational story.”
“But… You’re a well-known author, aren’t you?”
“Yeah.”
“Have you had bad experiences with fans?”
“When I first got big, I was stunned and didn’t know how to handle it. I was twenty-four. Really young for that kind of notoriety. I didn’t have my parents around to help me. I hired a publicist, and she hooked me up with a virtual assistant, Kelly. Kelly has saved my sanity. She manages everything behind the scenes for me. She also protects me from the public. When I realized I didn’t want to be famous, I deleted all my social media under my real name and started searching for someplace I could live without being hounded. For a while, no one in Wilde knew what I did, so with the advice of Thomas—my attorney in town—I decided it would be better to be partially open. So I make light of the fact that I’m a quiet author. People have been kind about it. They seem to enjoy the mystery. Some people assume I’m just an egomaniac who’s written one book. Others believe I’m a huge star and try to guess my pen name.”
“That must be stressful. Always keeping up this persona.”
“That’s just it. It’s not a persona. The Melody people know is who I am. That’s my real name. I just don’t share my pen.”
“Baby, as far as I’m concerned, you can keep your anonymity. Unless there’s some particular reason you think I need to know, I won’t bug you to tell me.”
“Really?” She turns in my arms to look at my face. There’s barely enough light to make out her features, but she’s shocked.
I shrug. “Imagine if one of us worked for the FBI or CIA. We wouldn’t be able to share about our jobs. So you’re an author. It doesn’t seem to me like anything about what you do is going to put me in danger.”
She turns fully around in my embrace and presses her small body against me. “I can’t believe you’re real.”
I kiss the top of her head and hug her tight. “I can’t believe you’re real either.” I rub her back. “Keep that secret, baby. As long as you want.”
“You’re making me fall in love with you, Brody Wilde.”
“Thank goodness. I’d hate to be alone with that emotion.”
“There’s something else you should know.”
“Something you’re worrying about that’s going to keep you awake, little pixie?”
