Literary Love (Lazy Love Book 2) (3 page)

She stepped forward when she saw her luggage, and grabbed the handle, only to find his hand covering hers. She stepped out of the way, and let him get it. “Is this all you have?”

She nodded. “Yes, just the one bag.”

He pulled the handle out. “Let’s go then.”

“You don’t have a bag?” she asked.

He shook his head. “I have everything in my carry-on. I hate checking luggage.”

She shrugged. “I’ve gotten used to it. I’m usually traveling to conferences, and I carry pens and bookmarks and so many little things to give away to fans.” She rubbed the back of her neck, wishing she could take away the travel weariness. She was ready to be home, but she didn’t want to waste her time with him.

“It’s strange to think of people being that big of fans of books. I mean, I’m used to fans, and they kind of rule my life, but it seems like it would be very different to have a fan for something I’d written.”

May nodded. “I honestly don’t know. I only know how it’s always been for me.”

“How long have you been a professional writer?” He waited as the automatic doors opened, and he stepped out into the Texas heat. It was four in the afternoon, and the August sun was pounding down on them.

She felt herself sag as a wave of the heat hit her. She had lived in Texas her entire life, and she still felt like a limp noodle after ten minutes in the summer heat. “Since my junior year of college.” While the other girls in school had been going to parties and hanging out having fun, she’d been locked away in her room. It had taken every dime she could save her freshman year to purchase a computer to write on. All of her sophomore year had been spent writing around working to make ends meet.

Her junior year, she’d published her first book. She’d gone with one of the big publishing houses and learned a lot. She’d since cut herself off from the New York publishers, and had gone the indie route, but she knew she’d learned a lot of valuable lessons from her time as a traditionally published author.

“How long ago was that?” he asked. He couldn’t put an age on her. She looked like she was anywhere from twenty-five to thirty-five. Her face seemed one age, but her eyes seemed much older.

“Ten years.”

“So you’re thirty?”

She nodded. “Yeah. I’ll be thirty-one in September.” She was almost embarrassed to admit her age, because she’d already told him she’d never been kissed. Very few people knew that about her. In fact, she wasn’t sure anyone knew that about her. What had she been thinking to blurt that out to a stranger on a plane? A stranger she had a crush on, at that!

“I’m thirty-four,” Bob told her.

“I know. I’ve read your bio online.”
At least a hundred times.

He grinned. “You have?”

May shook her head, a smile pricking the corners of her mouth. “I told you, you’re my favorite actor.”

“You like me better than Jesse?” he asked, surprised. There was a very small group of LLers, as fans of the show called themselves, who preferred him over Jesse. They were a small but very vocal group. He couldn’t help but wonder if she was an active member.

She nodded. “Yeah, I’m part of Team Bob.” She looked down, blushing as she said it. “I don’t do any of the fan art or memes, but I’ve been known to write a bit of fan fiction.”

He stared at her for a moment, stopping in the middle of the parking garage. “My vehicle is this way,” he finally said, walking toward his small sized SUV.

He opened the back with the press of a button and heaved her suitcase into the vehicle before putting his own bag, which was over one shoulder, in after it. He waited while she got into the passenger side, and then opened all the windows as he turned the AC on high. “Texas heat. Gotta love it.”

She nodded. “It’s so hot! How’s Valerie doing with the heat now she’s pregnant?”

Bob shrugged. “She’s handling it, because she has no choice. We’re about to film the show where her pregnancy is revealed this week, and her scenes will be mostly indoors after that.”

“Oh, good. I hate that she has to be hot so we fans can get our show.”

“Just how active are you in Team Bob?” he asked, eyeing her. He couldn’t help but wonder just how far she took her fandom.

She shrugged. “There were three of us that started it together. I do most of it under my pen name, because that’s how I’m active on social media. There’s no point in being me at this point.”

“Why did you decide to use a pen name?”

She shrugged. “I went to a Christian college, where no one admitted to reading romances with sex scenes. Everyone read Janette Oke in the open, but while no one was looking, they snuck and read Nora Roberts. I didn’t want to be ostracized, but I felt like romances needed sex scenes, so I compromised. I wrote my scenes, but I didn’t do it as me.” She hadn’t admitted to being published until after she’d graduated and already had a following.

“Do you ever regret it?”

“Sometimes. At first, I was kind of ashamed that I’d written anything like that, but now, I’m proud of my work. I’ve hit bestseller lists over and over. I work my butt off, and I deserve to be recognized for that.”

Bob smiled. “Yes, you do.”

May shrugged. “Sorry, I guess I get a little passionate about my work sometimes.”

“If you’re not passionate about your work, no one else will be!”

She smiled. “That’s a really good point. A true one as well. I very much believe that a real writer laughs and cries as they write. If I can’t make myself laugh or cry, how am I going to bring my readers to those emotions?”

“You’re right. And if I don’t feel those emotions as I act, how can I make a viewer feel them?”

“I never thought of what I do as similar to what an actor does, but I guess in some ways it is.”

“It sure is. We’re both in the business of making people feel things. Intense emotions are our calling cards.”

“I like that. I really, really like that.”

He backed the SUV out of the spot in the parking garage. “Let’s go home to Wiggieville.”

She sighed. “I can’t wait.”

Chapter Three

Bob talked to her as he drove, dropping little details about what it was like to film a popular television show. “We’re just getting back from a week-long hiatus. We work three weeks on and a week off.”

“What do you do during your time off? Do you have a place somewhere you go home to?” May asked, genuinely curious how much of the fan rumors about this man were true.

He shrugged. “I have a tiny little apartment in LA. I sometimes go there. Sometimes I stay on set. Sometimes I travel. I’m good friends with Jesse and Amber.”

“People want Bob and MaryBeth to get married.”

He shook his head. “Not happening. MaryBeth is way too young for Bob.” He always referred to his character in the show in third person, which was odd, because it was his real name as well. Sometimes he even confused himself.

“I agree. Are they going to bring in someone new for him?”

He shrugged. “They haven’t so far. And I can’t tell you what’s going to happen on the show! You’re too involved with the other fans.”

May grinned, loving that she had the freedom to just watch him now that he had to concentrate on driving. “Would you do me a huge favor?” she asked, feeling more daring.

“Anything.”

“Would you let me put my Team Bob T-shirt on, so we can get a selfie together after we get to my house? My Team Bob friends will freak out!” She couldn’t let the opportunity pass her by. The others would never believe she’d spent an afternoon with him otherwise.

He laughed. “Sure. As long as you’ll autograph that book for me.”

“Are you still on that? Fine, I’ll autograph a book for you.” She glared but pulled a book from her purse and found a pen. When he stopped at the gate to pay to leave the airport, she quickly signed it. “To Bob, Thanks for helping me dream. Love, Jolene Gold.” She set the book on the console between them. “Happy now?”

“Yup. Very happy.” He couldn’t believe he was actually excited to read a romance novel, but he was going to read it ‘til his eyes bled if it meant he’d have a better understanding of the special woman beside him. “Are you hungry?” Neither of them had eaten much of the meal on the plane.

“A little.”

“Do you want to stop? I’m going to take 360 down through Arlington, and then head west on I-20. We can eat just about anything you want along that route.”

She frowned, not sure what she was hungry for. “What sounds good to you?”

“Do you want to go to Rudy’s on I-20 in Arlington?” he asked. “I always miss Texas barbecue the most.”

“That sounds good.” Really, she’d eat anything if it meant another hour in his company.

“Have you always lived in Texas?”

“Yeah. I lived in Weatherford until I was ten, and my mom died of breast cancer. Then I moved in with my aunt in Wiggieville.”

He frowned. “Why didn’t you live with your dad?”

“That’s a story for another day,” she said softly. She wasn’t going to change the mood of their day together by telling him about her father going away. Why would she? It wasn’t something she liked to remember, and she didn’t need him feeling sorry for her.

“All right.” He was curious, but she had the right to her secrets.

“You were born in Louisiana, right?”

“You really have been reading my bio! Yes, my mom was a professor at a university there.” He wasn’t sure how he felt about her knowing so much more about him than he knew about her. He’d have to look up her official bio when he got home. Did authors
have
bios?

“Do you ever go home?”

He shrugged. “For holidays. I go visit from time to time. Mom comes here to see me on school breaks occasionally. She was here last month.”

“What does she teach?” She knew he was an only child, and that he’d been raised mostly by his mother.

“English Literature.”

“Did you go to the school where she teaches?”

He nodded. “Yeah, I did. It was free.”

“That makes sense.” She’d been raised with little. The life she’d built with her aunt had been good, once she’d moved in with her, but there had been no money for anything extra. “When did you decide to become an actor?” She’d seen the question posed to him dozens of times, but he’d always avoided the subject.

“I don’t know if that’s something to answer within hours of meeting someone.”

She eyed him curiously. “Why not?”

“It’s long and kind of depressing. Let’s save that for another day.”

“I can deal with that.” May hadn’t thought of him as someone who would ever get depressed, but she’d only seen his public persona in the interviews she watched over and over. This man was different than she’d thought he would be. More intense.

“What about you? When did you decide to become a writer?”

She smiled. “I knew from the time I was eight. We had to write a story for language arts class, and mine was chosen by the teacher to be read aloud. When everyone laughed at my story, I knew I’d found my calling.”

“Did you always plan to write romance?”

“I think so. That’s a harder question. My mom and I would snuggle up together and watch rom coms when I was a girl. Especially after she had to stop working because of her cancer. I’d just climb in bed with her, and we’d watch movies all day. It seemed the natural route for me.”

“And you started writing in college?”

She shook her head. “I started filling up notebook after notebook on my school breaks. I learned to type in junior high, just so I could be faster. Everything I did in life, from that day when I was eight, was geared toward me becoming a writer. I’ve never wanted anything so much.”

“Wow. I’ve never been that single-minded about anything. Except maybe acting.” And her. He had an idea he was going to be that single-minded about her.

He pulled into the parking lot at Rudy’s, glad it was between the lunch rush and the dinner rush. “I think we’re here at a good time. We might not have to wait a long while.”

“Good, because I’m hungry! I don’t think I realized just how hungry until just this minute.”

He met her at the back of the SUV and took her hand in his. When she looked at him with surprise, he asked, “Do you mind?”

She shook her head slowly, looking at him. He was back in incognito mode. His baseball cap was pulled low over his forehead, and his sunglasses were firmly in place. “How often do you get recognized?”

“Like this? Only by diehard fans. When I don’t have the sunglasses and baseball cap? Too often. I want to be able to go where I want to go, and do what I want to do without someone stopping me. I don’t mind signing autographs, but when it keeps me from being able to eat out with a pretty lady, I draw the line.”

May blushed at that. Was he really calling her pretty? She sighed. He really was a professional liar.

They walked into the restaurant and sighed with relief when the blast of cold air hit her. The odd thing about living in Texas was that in the summer, you needed to wear a scarf and mittens inside, but during the winter, you needed a sundress when you were indoors. All weather that could be compensated for, needed to be overcompensated for apparently.

After they’d ordered, she took a seat at one of the picnic tables for the customers. She’d never eaten at Rudy’s, but she’d heard good things about them. When he sat down across from her, putting the tray of food between them, she took the things that were hers. “Are famous actors supposed to eat at place like this?”

He shrugged. “I have no idea. I just know this is one of
my
favorite places to eat.”

She had a hard time sitting across from him and not staring at him. Even with the sunglasses and cap, she could tell it was him. She was surprised anyone was fooled by the look, but she did understand not wanting to be mobbed. Being interrupted during her short time with him was at the bottom of the list of things she wanted to happen.

When he didn’t immediately say anything, she nodded to a couple who was sitting two tables over from them. “He’s only out with her, because her sister begged him to take her out just once. Her sister is the girl he loves, but she’s dating someone else, so he thinks if he is nice to her sister, at her request, she’ll soften toward him.”

He shook his head. “Nope.”

May looked at him. “Nope?”

“Nope. He’s out with her because he met her at a bar a couple of months ago. They had a one-night stand, and now she’s pregnant. He doesn’t want anything to do with her or the baby, so he’s trying to figure out what to do.”

She wrinkled her nose. “I liked my story better. More romantic.”

“Mine is more realistic.”

“Probably, but I’m a romance writer. Do you really think I want anything realistic in my life?”

Bob grinned at that. “You know you may have a point! Do you do that a lot? Decide stories for people you see?”

She nodded. “I really like to watch people. I watch everything they do, every little gesture. It helps so much when you’re trying to create a real person in a book. Real people don’t just say things mechanically. They have real actions and reactions.”

He nodded. “I people watch for the same reason. I mean, Bob is a well-established character, but he’s not the only character I’ll play for the rest of my life.”

“Do you ever worry about being typecast?”

Bob shrugged. “Sometimes, I guess. And the longer I’m on
Lazy Love
the better chance there is of that happening. I’d like to eventually move on to movies, but I enjoy the regular work of a television series as well. Let’s face it, in the world of an actor, a regular job is pretty darn amazing.”

She nodded. “I can sure understand that.” She finished eating and saw he’d done the same. Standing up, she moved to the trash can to throw her stuff away. “Thanks for dinner.” She hadn’t expected him to insist on paying, but she hadn’t been willing to make a scene and force him to let her pay for her own food either.

“You’re very welcome.” He put his hand on the small of her back as they left the building, walking toward his vehicle. “We’re about an hour from Wiggieville.”

She nodded. “Yeah.” She hated the idea of saying goodbye so soon. “Don’t forget that you said you’d take a selfie with me and my Team Bob shirt.”

“How could I forget?” he asked, sliding behind the wheel. “You never would have given me an autographed copy otherwise.”

She wrinkled her nose. “I just don’t want you reading my books!”

“You know if you didn’t give me a copy, I’d just buy a book online, right?”

May shrugged. “I figured that.” She didn’t want to help him read her books, though!

He shook his head at her. “You’re being silly. It sounds like lots of people read your books regularly.”

“They do. Just not men. And not
you!
”

Bob frowned at her. “So it’s me in particular you don’t want to read your books? It’s not just men in general?”

“Well, I don’t want any men to read them, but especially men I’ve met.” She wrinkled her nose at him. “It just makes me uncomfortable.”

“But women can read them?”

She shrugged. “Sure.”

“That’s messed up.”

“Maybe. Maybe I’m messed up. Did you ever think of that? And maybe it’s not something I want brought to my attention, because it’s embarrassing to be messed up.”

“Hey, May?”

“Yeah?”

“Messed up or not, I think I really like you. Wanna get married and have babies? Half can be actors and half can be writers.”

“Um—People get married that fast in my books, but I don’t think it’s a good idea in real life.”

“People in your books get married the day they meet?”

She had to think about that for a moment. “Only a couple of times. But yeah, it’s been known to happen.”

“That’s weird.”

She shrugged. “I’m weird.”

“Does that mean you’ll marry me?”

She rolled her eyes as she buckled her seat belt. “You’re even crazier than I am.”

“Why’s that?” he asked, pulling the car out onto the service road.

“You tell me! I’m not in your head!”

“Why are we even having this discussion?”

“Because you asked me to marry you! Crazy man…”

He grinned at her. “Crazy about you.”

“You don’t even know me!”

“I know you better than I did a few hours ago!”

“Maybe.” She realized then she’d forgotten to text Sara. “I need to text my assistant, Sara, so she knows I landed safely. She worries every time I fly.”

“Why?”

“I have no idea. I just humor her.”

“Sometimes you have to humor people. Like if a random actor who you really like happened to ask you to marry him within hours of meeting him, you should totally humor him.”

She shook her head at him. “Quiet. I’m texting.” Her thumbs quickly tapped out a message to Sara.
I sat next to Bob on the plane. He’s driving me home. If you don’t hear from me, I accepted his marriage proposal and ran off to—somewhere to marry. Not Vegas, though. Too cheesy.