Page 47 of Chasing Forever

“What? You can’t stop me.”

“You’ll ruin everything. Callie still doesn’t know that I know who she is. It’s better this way, believe me.”

“That’s ridiculous. Why wouldn’t an author want to meet one of their biggest fans?”

“Under different circumstances, I’m sure she’d be flattered, but she came here to relax, not be fawned over by some overzealous fan.”

“Overzealous? Wow. Big word. You’ve been reading.”

He sighed. “Listen to me. My relationship with Callie is…tricky.”

“What do you mean? What did you do to her?”

“Nothing. We kissed, but that was all.”

“You don’t sound very happy about it.”

“The kissing was great, but Callie and I agreed we don’t want to get involved. We’re only here for a while, and we might never see each other again.” He didn’t dare tell his sister where Callie lived lest she scream in his ear again. But as an avid fan, he wondered if she already knew. Did authors share things like that? He hadn’t looked at her Facebook page, but now that Miranda had brought it up, he was curious.

“She lives in Michigan, you know. I don’t know where exactly, but based on some of her posts, I think it might be in the metro Detroit area. Wouldn’t that be awesome if she lives close by?”

“Yeah. Awesome.” There was his answer. Miranda probably knew almost as much about Callie as he did.

“I gotta go, but I’m not giving up on the idea of coming to visit you.”

“Miranda…”

“I’ll give you a little bit more time to get to know her. But what’s wrong with you? Ramp up your game. I would love to have Callie Cooper as my sister-in-law.”

“That’s it. You gotta go, and so do I.”

“Love you.”

“Love you too.”

After he hung up, he sat there staring at the phone and shaking his head. The last thing he needed was his sister to show up and blow it for him. He suspected Callie wouldn’t take kindly to finding out that he’d known about her career for some time and hadn’t told her. Knowing her, she’d probably wonder what else he’d been keeping from her, and keeping secrets wasn’t a solid start to a relationship.

Wait a minute. Relationship? They weren’t even supposed to have a relationship. But what should he call it, then? He was so confused.

“This is exactly why I shouldn’t get involved.” But it was too late. He already was.

Chapter 23

Callie was writing the first sex scene in her new novel, which was often a daunting task. She’d always spent more time on those scenes because she wanted to get them just right. She strived to place the focus on the emotions between the characters rather than the mechanics of the act, and she was careful with her word choices.

When she’d written her first romance novel, she’d been very aware that her grandmother and mother would likely be her first readers. She’d even thought ahead to when she had children someday. All of that had helped shape her writing, and as a result, her books were what she’d call sweet with a touch of heat.

She smiled remembering her grandma’s reaction after reading her first book. “Whew! I had to break out my fan during that first sex scene between Jason and Samantha!” Irene had said with a smile.

“Was it too much?” Callie asked worriedly.

“No. It was perfect. I loved it,” Irene replied.

“You’re not just saying that because I’m your granddaughter, are you?”

“Have you ever known me to sugarcoat things?”

“Well, no…”