Page 7 of The Pumpkin Pie Book Nook

Robyn balanced her laptop on her knees and opened the site where she posted her stories—her secret life. A few clicks, a familiar password, and there it was: her latest chapter, already swimming in views and comments.

She smiled before she could stop herself.

She loved writing these romances. Loved the way her readers swooned and laughed and begged for more of her serial fiction. Loved the freedom of it, the delicious, reckless permission to create happily-ever-afters where love always won, desire didn’t have to be justified, and no one had to shrink themselves to be accepted. On the page, she was living the dream she’d never quite been brave enough to claim out loud: writing love stories that felt truer to her than the respectable life everyone expected her to want.

Except she had to hide behind a pen name to do it.

There was no way around it. When she thought of the real world discovering her true identity, it made her stomach twist. Her parents would be horrified. Sure, they’d gotten better over the past year, but they were still her parents. They still had their expectations for her even though they’d let up on her older sister, Krista.

Robyn smiled, thinking of her sister. Now Krista was brave, turning her back on everything their parents demanded, living life on her own terms, and falling in love with Joe along the way. Robyn loved that for them—truly, she did.

But that life wasn’t on Robyn’s cards. Not just because of her parents. When she thought of her colleagues… well, they’d laugh her out of the lecture hall. And her students? How could they possibly still respect her?

A distinguished literature professor at Yale did not write steamy small-town romances for a cult following online.

She was supposed to publish peer-reviewed research. Literature reviews. Teaching pedagogy. Historical analysis of the great writers of the twentieth century.

Not will-they-won’t-they tension. Not longing. Not heroines with messy hearts and heroes with rough hands and soft mouths.

Robyn scrolled through the comments, making sure her latest chapter hit all the right beats when she landed on the comment she was secretly searching for.

ReadsAfterBedtime97: Chapter 15 was . You’re trying to ruin me.

Robyn’s mouth curved. Of course it was ReadsAfterBedtime97.

She didn’t know anything about him, but he was always there, reading along, leaving praise and teasing and shameless enthusiasm. He got her little jokes. He caught her innuendos. And he was just a little bit flirty in a way that turned her on more than an internet stranger should.

And if Robyn was being painfully honest… she sometimes thought of him when she wrote. Not his face, not his name, but the idea of her biggest fan reading her words and wanting them.

It made the writing come easier.

Robyn’s fingers hovered over the keys, the tiniest thrill sparking in her chest. She typed her reply and hit post before she could overthink it.

AfterHoursAuthor: Maybe taking matters into your own hands would help.

ReadsAfterBedtime97: A little self-care?

Robyn’s cheeks warmed. She glanced at the darkened front windows, thinking about all the nights she’d climaxed thinking about Tyler after writing one of her scenes. What would he think, if he knew about her secret, steamy writing life?

AfterHoursAuthor: I like to think my biggest fan is having their needs met.

ReadsAfterBedtime97: Then consider my needs extremely well taken care of, thanks to you…

Robyn covered her mouth with her hand, but a quiet laugh escaped anyway.

She finished polishing the next scene, checked the formatting twice (because she was who she was), and hit upload. Another chapter released into the wild. Another secret held close to her chest.

Her shoulders lowered a fraction.

For a moment, she simply sat there, listening to the faint tick of the old wall clock above the New Releases display.

Then a text message lit up on her screen. It was a new group message:

Maple Falls Book Club.

Mrs. Bishop: Hello everyone!!! This is your formal invite to tomorrow’s first book club meeting. 7 p.m. sharp at the bookstore! We have a mystery to solve.

Mrs. C.: Everyone check your email. I’ve sent a PDF of the story’s first installment.