We’d done the right thing by stopping it. There was no reason to tease us both.
I tried to keep busy with work and what I needed to do for my book release, but even my sister had noticed my sour mood and had asked me why I was moping around the house all the time. I tried to pass it off as release nerves, but she didn’t buy it.
I knew better than anyone else that life wasn’t a romance novel. It was easier this way. I didn’t have to wonder about him like he was some fantasy. I’d had the chance to get to know the man he really was, and even though that made it that much harder to walk away, it felt like a lucky bonus. It was a nice little interlude, but I had to accept that it had ended.
I’d take the memories and make them into art as I always did with my silly wishes that never fit into reality, and I’d be happy with that.
Eventually.
A few readers lingered right before the store closed and a couple sneaked in right as Nina was locking the door.
“You can make it out to Jana.” A girl with curly red hair and a wide smile handed me a paperback. “I’m so happy to meet you, but I’m a little nervous.”
“I’m so happy to meet you too. And don’t be nervous.” I took the book out of her hand and flipped through to the first page. “Readers like you are why I’m here.”
Her smile deepened as she leaned in closer.
“I loved this book. I read it on the first day it came out. All your books are great, but there was something about this one.”
“She did extensive real-life research,” Auden said, smirking at me.
I glared at Auden for a second and turned back to Jana. “I enjoyed writing it, so I’m glad that came through.”
“I agree.”
My head popped up at a familiar, deep voice.
Silas stood behind Jana in a T-shirt and shorts, a plain baseball cap pulled down low enough to hide his face.
Jana swiveled her head around, eyes wide when her gaze landed on Silas.
“You read the book?” Her lips pursed, probably just like mine had when Silas had told me he read romance.
“I did. I’ve read a lot of her books, and they’re all fantastic. But yes, there is something about this one. It shows you had a good time writing it, and that’s great.”
Jana nodded, still examining Silas’s face. I didn’t think she recognized him as the Brooklyn Bats’ manager, but even if I didn’t have very personal insight as to why he thought it wassogreatthat I enjoyed writing this book, I would gape at this beautiful man too.
A guy in a romance bookstore, in line to meet a romance author, was enough of an anomaly to turn the heads of everyone left inside.
He hadn’t come in here by chance. I guessed if he followed me online, he’d known about this event. Warmth flooded my chest, and the rest of me, at the thought of him coming all this way to see me, but it still felt like fate screwing with my emotions. It was, once again, dangling something wonderful in front of my face to remind me I couldn’t have it.
“It was so great to meet you,” Jana said, her gaze darting from me to Silas as she plucked the book from my hands and turned to leave.
I can relate, girl.
“Who should I make this out to?” I said, clearing my throat when I caught the crack in my voice.
He quirked a brow, drawing out the little air left in my lungs with his crooked grin.
“Make it out toCoach,” he said.
“Sure,” I said, my hands shaking when I tried to sign in a straight line as my vision blurred, the emotion from having him here, right in front of me,forme, getting to me in ways I couldn’t handle.
“Thank you for…coming today.”
After I’d told him we couldn’t be anything, he still came.
He shrugged as he grabbed the book. “I’m a big R.M. Dioro fan. See you at the next one.”
