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“What’s up?” she whispered.
“I don’t know. She must have messaged.”
“I didn’t get—Shit! Our phones!”
Daphne scrambled for her phone on the bedside table. “I should have turned it on before we went to sleep.”
“It’s seven in the morning,” he said. “We turned them off after eleven. That isn’t unreasonable.”
He was grumbling. He knew that. But he didn’t like anyone making Daphne feel guilty for disconnecting overnight.
“It’s probably a last-minute interview,” he whispered as he pulled clothing from his bag. “Morning radio or whatever. If so, I’ll apologize, but they can’t really expect that without notice.”
Daphne stopped. Her phone must have switched on, and she was holding it up.
“Anything?” he asked.
“A voicemail and two texts about twenty minutes ago. The texts just say to call her.”
Chris scowled. Twenty minutes ago? It wasn’t as if she’d been calling for hours.
“Take your time,” he said as he tugged on a T-shirt. “I’ve got this.”
He slid from the bedroom. “Hey,” he said, as nicely as possible. “Daphne’s almost ready. So what’s up?”
“I need to speak to both—” Sakura’s phone chirped. She glanced down. Then she froze. Her finger moved to the Decline button, but at the last second swerved to hit Answer.
“Sakura Mori speaking,” she said.
Pause.
“Hello, sir. Yes. I’m in their room right now. Can I call you back—”
Pause. “I haven’t had a chance to speak—” Pause. “Yes, I understand.”
She hit Mute and lowered the phone.
Daphne walked in. “What’s going on?”
“I have Russ Milner on the line.” When Daphne’s blank look didn’t change, Sakura said, “The publisher.”
“A representative from Daphne’s publisher?” Chris asked.
“No,” Daphne whispered. “The publisher, the person in charge of the imprint that published Edge.”
Chris suspected Milner wasn’t calling to congratulate Zane on a tour well done. Before he could ask, Sakura unmuted the phone.
“Sir?” she said. “You are now on speaker. I have Daphne and Chris in the room.”
“Who?” a man’s voice snapped.
Sakura looked Daphne in the eye. “The actual author and her boyfriend, who has been playing the role of Zane Remington.”
Chris’s jaw tensed. He wanted to grab Daphne’s arm and storm out.
He couldn’t imagine Sakura had turned them in without warning them. Unless something happened and that was her only chance of saving her job, and while he could be furious about that, he wouldn’t blame her. But she could have taken two seconds to tell them what was happening before dropping that bomb.
He glanced at Daphne. She stared straight ahead, her face slack with shock. Chris took her hand and guided her to the sofa, and she didn’t fight him. Sakura laid the phone on the coffee table and sat in the opposite chair.
