Total pages in book: 121
Estimated words: 116362 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 582(@200wpm)___ 465(@250wpm)___ 388(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 116362 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 582(@200wpm)___ 465(@250wpm)___ 388(@300wpm)
“I’ll let you know tomorrow,” I tell him firmly.
“You promise you’ll read the whole thing and keep an open mind?”
“I promise.”
“Okay…” He puts his hands behind his head, showing off his wide chest, the thickness of his biceps, and of course I’m staring at him like I’ve never seen a man before. He knows what he’s doing. What an asshole.
“Get a good look?” he asks smugly, all damn dimples.
“Whatever,” I dismiss him, averting my eyes and keeping them locked to my beer. Seems like I do a lot of staring at my drink when I’m around him.
“What should our pen name be?” he asks.
I shake my head. “You really are full of yourself, aren’t you?”
“I refuse to accept that you might turn me down.”
“And I refuse to accept that no woman has before.”
“Oh, I’ve been turned down before.”
“By who?”
His lips quirk. “You,” he says pointedly.
I stare at him for a moment, my mind racing. “When did you proposition me?”
“I don’t have to proposition you to know how you’d react.”
“Oh yeah?” I ask, raising my brow haughtily. “And how would I react?”
“You’d kick me in the balls. You told me that once.”
He sounds so sincere that I have to laugh. “I was just letting you know I could defend myself in case you wanted to take advantage of me.”
“Amanda,” he says, his eyes going soft. “I doubt anyone could take advantage of you.”
“Too smart?”
“That and scary.”
“I’ll take both of those as compliments.”
“Did I mention you’re insanely talented and I need you desperately?”
A thrill runs through me at that thought and I don’t even bother to ignore it this time.
“Seymour Butts,” I say.
He stares at me blankly as I sip my beer. Eventually he spits out, “What?”
“Seymour Butts,” I repeat, straight-faced. “Our pen name.”
“Simpsons reference,” he says with a knowing nod. “Well-played.” He leans in, eyes dancing. “Does this mean you’re accepting?”
“It just means I want to hear all our pen name options before I even think about it. How about—”
“Amanda Hugandkiss,” he fills in.
I grin at him. “How did you know I was going to say that?”
“I think I know you pretty well, Miss Hugandkiss. What about Big Red?”
I roll my eyes. “No.”
“Red but spelled read, like I read a book.”
“Then people will call us Big Read.”
He shrugs. “So picky. Okay, what about Patty Peaches?”
I burst out laughing. “You are terrible at this.” I tap my fingers on the table, thinking. “Susie Dicksuck?”
Now he’s laughing, head back, eyes shut. “That’s brilliant! Please, please can we be Susie Dicksuck?”
I giggle. “We’ll put it in the maybe pile.”
And so we spend the next few hours going over potential pen names. By the time he drops me off at my place, my ribs hurt from laughing and we’re acting like the biggest pair of dorks. I think our maturity level has dropped to reserve levels, which is totally new for me, but I’m liking it.
“So,” Blake lists off as I unbuckle my seatbelt, “we’ve whittled it down to Susie Dicksuck, I.M. Hornay, T. Aint Licker, P. Ennis and Mike Hunt.”
“I swear to god there was a teacher at my high school teacher called Mike Hunt,” I tell him.
“And there was one at my high school called Dick Titball.”
We burst out laughing again, tears running down my face.
I fumble for the handle. “Okay, I have to go to sleep.”
I step out of the car as he says, “Amanda.”
I stoop to look at him, leaning against the open door.
“Promise you’ll really consider it,” he says looking up at me, his voice gravelly. “I think it will be fun. I think it could change everything.”
I promise him I will, and when I’m lying in my bed later, drifting off to sleep, I wish I made him promise that everything will change.
CHAPTER 10
Amanda
The next morning, before Ana even wakes up, I pad into the kitchen and make myself a giant vat of coffee and find a free corner of the table to bring out my computer and look through Blake’s proposal.
When I woke up, my first thought was to just dismiss last night as a drunken fun time and plan on never seeing Blake again. Writing erotica with him is a ridiculous move and totally the opposite of everything I stand for.
But slowly it’s growing on me. It has legs. It has movement. And the more I read of his business plan, the more I realize he knows exactly what he’s talking about. If we could pull it off, if we could somehow get readers and our foot in the door this way, this might open up a whole world for us. For me, if we’re successful enough, I might be able to snag an agent. Actually, the more I read up about the self-publishing success stories, the more I realize that agents go after them, not the other way around. That would be huge for me and my high fantasy career.