Total pages in book: 36
Estimated words: 33298 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 166(@200wpm)___ 133(@250wpm)___ 111(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 33298 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 166(@200wpm)___ 133(@250wpm)___ 111(@300wpm)
I give her an enthusiastic nod. All I want is for this interview to be over, so I can go and analyze Blade with my friends. Still, this is a fan, and I’ll always make time for my fans.
The audience erupts into applause as a broad-shouldered man steps onto the stage and walks toward me. My breath catches in my throat. Blade is here. He’s really here with me on stage.
Maddy greets him warmly with a hug and a kiss on the cheek. The woman is happily married to her own supermodel husband with three adorable children and a Yorkie that follows them around. But I still fight the urge to glare daggers at the woman for putting her hands on Blade. I know it’s crazy. I don’t own the man. But I want to. I really, really want to.
He sits beside me on the leather sofa and takes my hand in his.
“Do you really want to do this?” I ask in a hiss whisper. I don’t have a clue what he’s about to say, and that makes me nervous.
“Trust me,” Blade says so softly that his microphone doesn’t pick it up.
I bite the inside of my cheek to keep from telling him that I did that once already. Besides, I want to hear him out. I want to know what was so important that he flew across the country and joined me on TV, after spending so long isolated in his cabin.
“So, Blade, tell us how you first discovered Gwen’s books.” Maddy is looking at me with a sparkle in her eye, like she has a secret she wants to tell me but can’t.
“I was in the hospital after having lost my arm in the line of duty. There was an organization that donated secondhand reading tablets to soldiers. My tablet hadn’t been cleaned off, and the previous owner was a huge Gwen fan. I picked up the tablet and began reading one of her books when I couldn’t sleep one night.”
I swallow against the lump in my throat. “You never told me this.” My voice is quiet, meant for his ears only.
“I’ve never been as brave as you.” His lips are only an inch from the shell of my ear, and his breath warms my skin. It reminds me of how he took me bare after chasing me through the grass. A shiver works its way down my spine at the memory. Was it only two days ago that happened?
“How many wolf shifter romances had you read before that?” Maddy asks, leaning forward in her seat. The whole audience is listening to us with rapt attention.
Blade’s lips are so close to my skin that I feel his smile. I reach out and put a hand on his thigh because I can’t be not touching him right now. I can’t be not touching him when he’s surrounded by all of these women that are looking at him with hero worship.
“None.” He lets out a small laugh. The sound is rich and throaty, sending a tingle between my thighs.
“But you were enthralled with her work,” Maddy says. It’s not a question. It’s a statement, like the two of them have already talked about this once before. How could that be possible? How could Blade even get on the show that quickly?
“I devoured every book she’s written within a month. I started following her on social media and watching all of her live videos. I became obsessed.”
There’s the cutest pink tinge to his cheeks under his beard. Blade had a crush on me. I think, maybe he still does. I rub my thumb in a circle on his thigh, fighting the urge to move my hand higher. It would make for some interesting TV if I mauled Blade right here in front of the studio audience.
He continues, “When I saw she was looking for a narrator, I emailed her and convinced her to give me a chance.”
“But you had no experience,” Maddy clarifies.
I frown. He didn’t tell me that at the time. I’m glad he didn’t. It could have changed my decision, and I would have missed out on meeting such an amazing man.
“No experience at all. I learned on the job and well, it turned out pretty great because it gave me a chance to get closer to Gwen.”
“And then you, Gwen, traveled to Courage County where Blade lives recently, didn’t you?” Maddy asks.
I’m not sure where this interview is headed or what I’m supposed to say, so I just nod along. Are they working together? Is it something they planned, or is this just how the interview is unfolding?
“She was looking for me. I’d accidentally let it slip in a message where I lived, but I never expected her to show up.”
“And when she did?”
“I fell even more in love with her.”