Literary Love (Lazy Love Book 2) (7 page)

“Absolutely. See you in twenty.”

Aunt Sally had a small house right in the middle of Wiggieville. May wished she’d let her help with expenses now that she could afford it, but her aunt was determined not to accept anything.

She got in the car and rolled the windows down, trying to let a bit of the hot air out. She was already sweating and feeling disgusting. She hated the Texas sun.

She dialed Sara’s number and used the Bluetooth that tied the phone into the car’s navigation system to talk to her as she drove. “I have news.”

“You’re marrying Bob Bodefeld, living happily ever after, and having two point three children?”

“I don’t know about the two point three children…”

“I saw the picture he posted in Team Bob.”

“I forgot you joined the Team Bob Facebook group. I guess either Pam or Cindy posted our selfie to the group.”

“Yes, and I’m glad they did! It’s my job to know what’s going on in your life. I’m happy for you, by the way!”

“Thank you.”

“You don’t sound as happy as I like to hear you.”

“I know. I’m just…nervous.”

“Still worried he’s going to break your heart?”

May sighed. “Wouldn’t you be? He’s a big star. I’m just a nobody.”

“You are so far from being a nobody it’s absolutely ridiculous. I’ve never known anyone as loving or as giving as you are. You’re a bestselling author! You have fans begging for the next book!”

“I know. I know! But I’m not super model gorgeous. I’m not Valerie Savoy.”

“Why would you want to be? She’s married to Jesse Savoy, and you always found him lacking beside Bob.”

May laughed. “You’ve got a point there.”

“Promise me you’ll let yourself be happy? If something happens later, so be it. Be happy now. You deserve a HEA more than anyone else I know. Let yourself have it!”

“I’m going to do my very best. I’m heading into town now to meet Aunt Sally and go wedding dress shopping.”

“When’s the wedding?” Sara asked.

“Thursday afternoon.”

Sara laughed. “I should have known. You’re not living inside one of your own novels, you know.”

“Oh, I know. If I was, I’d have said yes to flying off to Vegas and marrying him on Friday.” May was known for super-fast weddings between her couples, because she liked to write marriage of convenience books.

“I love the ring. It’s gorgeous.”

“He picked it out. He said it reminded him of me.”

“He has good taste. I can’t imagine anything suiting you quite so well.”

May glanced down at the glint of the ring in the sunlight. “It feels so heavy on my finger.”

“I’ve never seen you wear jewelry except for events. Of course, it feels heavy.”

“Jesse and Valerie Savoy and Amber Knight are going to be at my wedding. Can you believe?”

Sara laughed. “If I were as into the show as you are, I’d beg you to let me come.”

“You know you’re welcome, but I’m not going to have any time to entertain you.”

“Oh, you know I can’t get away, but it would be cool. Church wedding?”

“Yeah. I don’t think I’d feel married otherwise.” May sighed. “Okay, work mode for a minute. I’ll have this book finished by the time I go to bed tonight. I’ll do edits tomorrow, and get it to proofreader by Thursday morning. I’ll get it to beta readers Friday morning. You okay with a Monday release?”

“Yeah, that works. You want newsletter out Monday?”

“Yes, please. I’m planning on taking Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday off, so I’m going to have betas email it to you when they’re done. You can mess with any errors they find. Watch their commas. Sometimes they like to add in comma errors, and that makes me crazy!”

“Sounds good. Do you want me to format for print right away?”

May thought about it for a moment. She didn’t always put books in print immediately, but she felt such an affinity toward Marissa that she wanted this one in print. “Yes, please. Can you contact Erin about that?” Erin was her cover artist, and Sara would know what to tell her.

“I’m on it.”

“Have I mentioned today how much I appreciate you and all you do for me?”

“It’s my job!”

“I know. That doesn’t mean I appreciate you any less.”

She pulled up in front of her aunt’s house just as she was hanging up the phone. Aunt Sally had obviously been watching for her, because she came hurrying out of the house, jumping into the passenger seat and buckling.

“Let me see the ring!”

“Nice to see you too, Aunt Sally. I’ve missed you so.” May grinned as she held her left hand out.

“Yeah, yeah, missed you too. That ring is gorgeous!”

“He picked it out himself. Said it reminded him of me.” May blushed as she said it, slightly embarrassed about how sweet Bob had been about the ring.

“How did you meet him? I want details. Drive and talk.”

May and Sally had always had a special relationship, and it had been cemented when May had moved in with Sally. They were only fourteen years apart, so for a while it had been hard for May to see her aunt as an authority figure. She’d gotten over it quickly though.

May went through the details of how she’d met Bob on the plane, skipping the part about how he’d observed her in the airport first. She was always embarrassed when people heard about her doing nice things like that. It made her uncomfortable.

“So he proposed within a few hours of meeting you?”

“Yes! It was nuts. I kept telling him no, but he wore me down.”

“I’m sure he did! You’ve had a crush on him for long enough, I’m surprised it didn’t happen faster.”

May sighed. “You know me. Always worried about protecting my heart.”

“Stop. It sounds like he’s head over heels in love with you. Enjoy him.”

“I’ll do my best!” May parked the car in front of a small bridal store in Weatherford. “I doubt we’ll find anything in my size that I can just buy off the rack, and there’s no time to have anything made. I’m not really sure why we’re trying, except that we’re supposed to.”

Aunt Sally laughed. “We’re going to find something perfect. Just watch.”

Sally’s words proved to be prophetic. On a clearance rack of dresses, May found one and stared at it dumbfounded. It was exactly what she’d have chosen if she’d had six months to shop and find the perfect dress. “I want to try this.”

Aunt Sally grinned widely. “That’s it. That’s your dress. It’s going to fit. I just know it!”

“I hope so,” May touched the sleeve reverently.

A saleswoman came over. “How long before the wedding?”

“I’m getting married on Thursday afternoon.” May almost laughed when she saw the saleswoman’s eyes widen. “I’d like to try this. It’s exactly what I want.”

“There’s no time for a fitting before Thursday. If it doesn’t fit, we can’t do anything about it.”

“I know. I’m going to try it. I didn’t expect to find anything, but I wanted to try.”

“I’ll help you.” The saleswoman looked at Sally. “You wait here, and we’ll be out in a moment.”

With the saleswoman’s help, May slipped the dress over her head, and stepped out to where Sally could see her. She looked in the full-length mirror along one wall and just stared. “This is it. It fits.”

The saleswoman shook her head. “This was a return. The wedding was cancelled, and it had already been fitted to the bride. I hope you know this kind of thing doesn’t happen. Ever.”

May laughed. “I guess I’m meant to be married this week, because it just happened.” She didn’t ask how much, because she’d already seen the price. “I’ll take it.”

“Let me find you the proper undergarments to wear with it, but yes. You’ve got yourself a dress. Congratulations.”

May wanted to jump up and down and clap her hands like a little girl, but instead, she just looked at her aunt, her face lit up. “We did it.”

Sally nodded. “That we did. Now for shoes.”

May wrinkled her nose. She hated shopping. She could do it, though. For Bob. She could do anything for Bob.

Chapter Seven

Two days later, May found herself at the front of the church she’d attended since she was ten, standing beside the man she loved, surrounded by people she’d seen only on television. It was surreal in a way that she would never be able to express in a book.

She did her best to catalogue every moment, so she could later write them down, but she just couldn’t. Her mind didn’t have the ability to quite grab onto the events of the day.

After the wedding, Bob introduced her to the people that mattered to him. “These are my co-stars and closest friends,” he told her. “I don’t think any of them really need an introduction to you.”

May smiled, looking from Jesse to Valerie, noting that Valerie’s pregnancy was starting to show. “It’s so nice to meet you.”

Jesse grinned. “I hear you helped start Team Bob. I’m not sure if I should be willing to talk to you in public.” He wrapped her in a bear hug, kissing her cheek. “Welcome to the family.”

May pulled back, looking at him. “Sorry, Bob’s more my type.” Then she smiled at Valerie. “It’s so nice to meet you. Love the show.”

Valerie hugged her as well. “I know we’ve talked online a few times. And I’ve read a few of your books. I’m so happy to meet you! Any way I can get an autographed book?”

May grinned. “Absolutely. We could trade autograph for autograph.”

“Sounds perfect to me.” Valerie stood grinning at May, obviously happy to see Bob married.

Amber, the girl who played Valerie’s younger sister in the show, hugged May next. “I haven’t read any of your books yet, but I have a feeling I’m going to need to now. I feel left out!”

“Don’t do anything you don’t want to do!”

May introduced Aunt Sally to everyone, and then Bob caught May’s hand. “You guys hang out and have fun. We’re out of here!” He dragged her to the door, making her blush.

“Stop that!”

“Why? They know we just got married and want to do each other.”

“Do each other? Did you really just say that to me?”

“Hey, I’m used to people writing my lines for me. You’re the one with the gift for words.”

May shook her head, tucking the long skirt of her dress around her as she got into the passenger side of his vehicle. “Are you going to use that excuse a lot?”

“I don’t know? Did it work?” He checked to make sure her dress was all inside before closing the door and running around to the other side.

She shook her head. “Not at all. You obviously have a gift for being able to memorize other people’s words, so maybe you should work on that.”

“I don’t know about this. Maybe you should pretend to be all intimidated by me and do your ‘I’m on Team Bob, and Bob is the greatest man on earth’ thing.”

“Maybe you should keep dreaming.”

He sighed heavily. “Thirty minutes of marriage, and already I’m not a superhero in her eyes any longer. Now what?” He started the car.

“Now we need a newlywed selfie for my Team Bob compatriots.” She pulled her phone out and leaned toward him over the console, snapping a picture of the two of them smiling. “Perfect. No one will be any the wiser.”

“Wiser about what?” he asked as he backed out of his parking spot.

“Wiser about your real feelings for me.”

He frowned, looking over at her while he waited to be able to pull safely onto the road. “What are my real feelings for you?”

“You’re in lust, of course. Don’t worry. Your secret is safe with me.”

“I’m in lust? You don’t think I’d have pushed harder to get you into bed if it had just been lust? You really think I’d have married you?”

May wasn’t going to put too much thought into that. It might hurt her head. Instead, she looked out the window. “I think we can go now.”

He sighed. “There’s more than lust. At least on my part.”

She laughed. “You can’t be questioning how I feel.”

“If you can question how I feel, then I can question how you feel. Why isn’t that fair?”

She shrugged. “Just not.” She looked over at him, seeing that his jaw was stiff, and he looked angry. “Let’s not fight on our wedding day.”

He nodded, looking down. “Let’s never fight again. Does that work for you?”

“Love the idea. We’ll do our best to make it happen.”

“And if we ever do need to argue, we’ll do it naked.”

Her eyes widened as she gasped with surprise. “Why would we want to argue naked?”

“Making up will be lots faster that way!”

She shook her head at him. “You really have serious issues, Bob.”

“And you don’t? Really? I’ve seen you talk to the people you make up in your head!”

She shrugged. “I’m supposed to have issues. I’m a romance writer. Comes with the territory!”

He laughed shaking his head. “You think you’re always going to win, don’t you?”

“Not at all. I think I’ve won as much as I can in this life.” She looked at him as she said the words. She couldn’t imagine winning better and harder than she had with Bob.

“Stop talking like that ‘til we get back to your place.”

“My place? You know, we just got married, and we haven’t even talked about where we’re going to live.”

“Your house, of course. No reason for you to move into my tiny little trailer on set. I’ll still use it during the day, because that’ll be easier, especially with you sleeping your life away.”

“Sleeping my life away? Did you really just say that?”

“You do sleep odd hours.”

She sighed heavily, shaking her head at him. “You’ve hit on one of my pet peeves. People who sleep ‘normal hours’ are so sure that what they do is ‘right.’ They make sure that day sleepers know that those of us who sleep alternative hours are doing things incorrectly. Well, I feel differently! I can’t sleep the hours other people sleep because they are against my body’s natural rhythms. I listen to what my body needs, rather than trying to force it into a box that’s socially acceptable. It sounds like mornings work for you. More power to you! They don’t work for me, and everyone needs to just get over themselves and realize that my schedule is no worse than anyone else’s!”

Bob blinked a couple of times. “Tirade over?”

May thought about it for a minute. “Yeah, I think that’s about it.”

“Feel better?”

“Somewhat.” She shrugged. “It really does get annoying when people act like what I do is wrong though. Some people deliberately call me early in the morning to help me get on a normal schedule. I
like
my schedule! My brain works better in the middle of the night!”

“I don’t want you to change a thing about yourself. And I’ll be as quiet as can be in the mornings, so I don’t wake you.”

She shrugged. “I have a feeling you’ll be awake before I ever go to bed anyway.”

He hadn’t thought about that. “So, what if I want to lure you into bed with me?”

She grinned, her hand reaching for his, which was resting on the console between them. “I could probably be persuaded, as long as you understand, I’ll get back up and do what I want to do after.”

“Just not during. You don’t want to make me feel insecure.” He pulled into her driveway, turning to her fully.

“I don’t think you have a lot to worry about in the insecurity department…”

“You might be surprised.” He grabbed his bag of clothes from the backseat, walked around and helped her out of the vehicle, and led her toward the door. “I’m just like anyone else.”

“Oh sure you are. Bob Bodefeld and his insecurities. I’ll be writing that biography someday!” She winked at him before unlocking the door.

He shook his head. “You mock my pain!”

May stepped into the cool of the house, bending down to greet Fudge for a moment. “I’m sorry. Do you want me to kiss it better?”

“Yeah. Let me get my clothes off, and I’ll point out all the places you hurt with your sharp tongue!”

“Uh huh. I’ll get right on that.”

He caught her by the hips and pulled her to him. “Did I tell you that you are the most beautiful woman in the world today?”

She wouldn’t meet his eyes. “You really don’t have to say things like that.”

He put his index finger under her chin, tilting her face up to his. “I don’t have to say anything. I choose to tell you you’re beautiful, because I can’t hold those words inside me.” He shook his head. “What did I do before you came into my life?”

As much as she wanted to believe him, she couldn’t. She could, however, live in the moment as she’d promised herself she would. “I have no idea? Wept copiously into your pillow at night, dreaming of a woman who would knock you out of your bobby socks?”

“My
bobby
socks? Really?” He shook his head at her. “For a woman who made a name for herself writing romantic comedy, that’s pretty bad.”

She shrugged. “I’m not here to entertain you.” She wrinkled her nose. “According to what you said when we left the church, I’m here to
do
you.”

He nodded thoughtfully. “Yes, that’s true. I’ll forgive your error in judgment just this once.”

“Oh, thank you, magnanimous one! How would I have made it through without your forgiveness for my egregious error?”

“Sarcasm doesn’t become you…”

She grinned, taking a step closer to him and resting her forehead on his shoulder. “You’re going to have to get used to it, I’m afraid.”

“How about if I just get used to making love with you?”

There it was. She’d been waiting for him to make a move, and she wasn’t sure her heart would ever slow down again. “I could go for that.”

His thumb traced her bottom lip. “I’ve been expecting you to try to put it off, and I’ve spent the last couple of days coming up with reasons why we should make love immediately.”

She grinned. “Oh? Want to share a couple of them with me?” She turned her back to him, lifting her hair out of the way so he could unbutton her wedding dress.

He couldn’t help but be surprised at her casual attitude about making love with him, when he knew it was her first time. He carefully unbuttoned the top few buttons as he thought about all the reasons he’d come up with. “Number one. I can’t let Jesse Savoy impregnate his wife faster than I impregnate mine.”

She laughed. “Really? That’s your number one reason?”

“Well, they’re not in any particular order. Hush. I’m having to concentrate on unbuttoning you
and
all my reasons. That’s a lot for this poor actor’s brain.”

“Duly noted. I’ll hush.”

“Number two. My penis might shrivel up and fall off if it doesn’t get some action soon.”

She giggled. “We wouldn’t want
that
to happen!”

“No, we would
not
.” He kept unbuttoning, happy to uncover her. “Number three. It’s illegal to be a virgin after your wedding night.”

She laughed. “Is not! You didn’t work very hard on this list, did you?”

“I did! Now hush! Reason number four. God has commanded us to be fruitful and multiply.”

“Oh, that’s a good one!” She shook her head, enjoying herself more than she’d imagined she would.

“Number five. Because if the world ends tomorrow, I don’t want to die not knowing what’s under your shirt.”

“Oh, well, in the grand scheme of things, I can see why it’s vitally important it happen tonight then.”

“Number six. Men and women need sex. I vowed to take care of your needs. I’m here for you, baby.”

“So good of you. I’m glad you take your vows so seriously.”

“I do. When it comes to you, I take everything seriously. And finally, number seven.”

“Only seven?”

“Hush you! Number seven. I shaved right before the wedding, and my face is nice and smooth. I’m going to rub it all over you.”

“That one is kind of weird.”

He leaned forward and kissed her neck, his tongue roaming out to touch her soft skin. “I guess I can work on coming up with more if you really need me to.”

“No, I’m good.”

He pushed her dress forward and down to the floor, letting it pool at her feet. “How come you’re wearing so many clothes under your clothes?” he asked grumpily, disappointed that her skin wasn’t bare for him yet.

“I had to for the dress to look good.” She turned to him, linking her arms around his neck. “Want me to take the rest off?”

“Like in a strip tease?”

She frowned at him. “I’m not doing a strip tease.”

“Aw. That was the main thing I was looking forward to tonight?”

She raised an eyebrow. “Really? That was the main thing? So you’d prefer a strip tease to actual love making if you had to make a choice?”

His brows drew together in a frown. “Why would I have to choose? You’re just being mean now.”

“I’m not being mean. I’m also not doing a strip tease.”

“But you’ll take off the rest of what you’re wearing so I don’t have to mess with it?”