Page 100 of Safe With You

I looked up.

Ellis was watching me instead of the camera.

“Life.”

“Very specific.”

“You asked about the book, not for a dissertation.”

“I’ve got time.”

“Some of us have businesses to run.”

“So I’ve heard.”

I smiled and opened the book, flipping through pages I’d read enough times to know where certain scenes lived.

“The characters feel like real people,” I said. “That’s probably what I like most. They have entire lives outside of each other. Family. Friends. Work. Things they want that have nothing to do with falling in love.”

The camera clicked.

I looked up.

“Ellis.”

“Keep talking.”

“You just tricked me.”

“I’m working.”

“You asked me about the book so I’d stop paying attention.”

“Is it working?”

“No.”

Click.

I tried not to smile.

“Yes.”

“Then keep talking.”

I told him about the book.

Not the entire plot, because despite what he seemed to think, I did have some self-control. But enough that I eventually stopped noticing when the camera clicked.

“Sounds frustrating.”

“It was.”

“But you love the book.”

“That’s why it was frustrating.”

“I don’t understand readers.”