I could hear the smirk in her voice before I noticed it in my periphery.
“I may have checked your social media when your new book released and saw the post about the signing. It said open to all, so I got in the car, bought your book from the woman at the door, and here I am.”
“Here you are. Stalker much?” she teased.
I turned my head when traffic bottlenecked in front of us. Her smile was wide and beautiful, her full lips still swollen from our crazy kiss in front of the bookstore.
Something we shouldn’t have done in public, but once she was in my arms, begging me to take her home with me, I didn’t give a shit where we were or who could see.
In fact, I wanted them to see. I was pleased as fuck to let everyone around us know that she belonged to me, because she’d owned me since that first day.
And it shouldn’t have taken me so damn long to do something about it.
“Your social links are in the back of every book. I thought that meant you’d want readers to keep up with R.M. Dioro and her book tours.”
“Book tours,” she scoffed. “One signing is hardly a tour.”
“But I’m sure one is coming. I saw the line you had,” I said, reaching over to squeeze her knee, running my thumb back and forth over her silky skin. The blue dress she wore had driven me crazy when I’d only been able to see it from the waist up. When she’d run outside, I noticed how it hugged all my favorite places, places I couldn’t wait to get reacquainted with all night long.
“It was nice,” she said, covering my hand with hers. “More than I’d expected.”
“Why would you say that?” I asked, driving with one hand as I kept the other on her leg, not wanting to stop touching her now that I was finally able to. “You have how many books now?”
“Yeah, but that doesn’t matter. When you’re a one-woman show, it’s hard to get traction. I’ve been lucky and my readers are good to me, but I don’t plan on touring anytime soon.”
“Well, if you do,” I said, picking up her hand and bringing it to my lips, “I’ll be your first groupie.”
“You’re so ridiculous, Silas,” she said on a sigh, looping her arms around my neck and pressing a long kiss to my cheek.
“I only seem to be ridiculous with you.” I turned my head, dragging kisses along the inside of her forearm as I kept my eyes on the road.
“Don’t let that get out on Instagram. You’ll lose your fan base.” Her words were breathy and husky, tempting me to slide my hand between her legs and check how turned on she really was.
“You’re the one with groupies. So I couldn’t beyourfirst.”
Technically, she wouldn’t be my first groupie, thanks to all those stupid reels, but she was the first for so many other things. Things I still didn’t totally understand.
“It meant a lot to me to see you there today. In fact, before you came, it reminded me of when I was a kid and I’d be at an assembly in school and the only one with no parent in the audience.”
“I thought you had your grandmother.”
“I did, and she’d come when she could get off work, but most of the time, I had to pretend one of the parents in the back was there for me.”
Her sad smile gutted me.
“It’s something I should have gotten used to, and Auden was there and happy for me. But it wasn’t the same as having you there.” She exhaled a long breath. “I know that doesn’t make sense.”
“No, it does. I felt the same way when I saw you on opening day.”
“Even though I wasn’t holding a sign?”
Her teasing smile faded when my gaze locked on hers.
“You didn’t need one. I spotted you right away.”
Her smile deepened as her eyes glossed over. I’d looked for her just like she’d looked for me today, and we fit in ways we shouldn’t have in such a short time.
My marriage had soured long before I’d ended it. My ex-wife had resented me for all my time on the road and never being present enough while I was home. Being on the road was part of my job, but she’d been right. I’d been just as distant when we were under the same roof.
