How To Wife Your Nanny A Billionaire Single Dad Romantic Comedy- Melinda Minx Page 0,46
competitors. Up until a few days ago, I would have considered them as “the enemy of my enemy is my friend,” but now that I’d slept with Noah, things were obviously more complicated than that.
“Uhh,” I said, “I don’t think you should join us. Sorry, I don’t like being rude, but why would you want to sit with me?”
She took my weakness as an opening, and she pulled a chair up and sat down. Damnit, now I was too big of a wimp to tell her to get up and leave.
“Look,” she said. “This isn’t about Noah. It’s about you.”
“Me?”
“Your books. The Gobblegurt books.”
“They’re my favorite,” Naomi said.
Lisa pointed to Naomi. “Exactly. They weren’t given a very big print run by your old publisher, but for how few were printed, our surveys showed that it ranked very high on children’s lists of favorite books.”
I shook my head. “Trust me, it’s not—”
“No,” Lisa said, sliding a laminated chart forward. “When you adjust for how many copies were printed, your books were very popular.”
“I had never thought of it like that.”
“Right,” she said, “but Red Sun is thinking like that. And guess what we are good at? Printing a lot of copies. Most publishers are focusing a lot harder on e-books now, but Red Sun understands childrens’ books. You need print copies. Kids play games on tablets. Put a tablet in their hand, and they will play a game. It doesn’t matter how many thousands of ebooks are on that tablet. But take the tablet away and give them a book, and they’ll read it.
“Ohh,” Naomi said. “I love playing games. Do you have games, miss Lisa?”
Lisa smiled. “I don’t, I’m sorry, but I’m trying to get Lacey to be able to get even more Gobblegurt books out. New ones.”
“My daddy is gonna do that,” Naomi said.
Lisa smiled and leaned in closer to me. “He’s going to do a few, sure, but we both know what he’s really paying you for.”
“Excuse me?” I said, looking up at her, anger burning through my face.
“I mean no offense, but...I know you’re not really engaged. Still, you’re clearly sleeping together.” She spoke low so Naomi wouldn’t hear.
I tried to look surprised, and got ready to deny it, but the look on her face told me she already knew somehow. Or maybe she didn’t know for certain, but it was just so clear cut to her that denying it wouldn’t ever work. Especially since I had slept with him.
“It doesn’t matter,” I said, “we’ve signed the contract. It’s happening.”
“And if you break up?” Lisa asked me, “what happens after that? You ride out this money, then go back to...delivery driving?”
“I was a librarian too, as a matter of fact.”
“And you worked in some pizza place too. What I’m trying to offer you, Lacey, is a fallback. I know you’ve already signed with Blackwinters for the next five books, but sign with us now, and we’ll make sure you have an actual career in front of you. A career as an author. Long-term. Not just a year.”
She slid a contract toward me. I looked down at the numbers. They were a lot less than Noah was paying me, but they were very good. At least three times what Panda Press had paid me, and with better royalty splits too.
Still, I was loyal to Noah now, and this reeked of some kind of subterfuge. I didn’t like how much she knew about the contract between Noah and me, and also all the other stuff between Noah and me.
“No, thank you,” I said, and I slid the contract back toward her with one finger.
She took her card and dropped it right into my purse before I could even stop her. “Just think it over. I’ll give you some time to chew on it, but don’t take too long, or the offer won’t be as good.”
I frowned at her, but she got up and strode out of the buffet.
“What did she say?” Naomi asked me. “She really likes whispering.”
“Nothing,” I said to her. “Just pretend we never saw her. I think she was just trying to be tricky.”
“Is it good to be tricky?” Naomi asked.
“Sometimes,” I said, “but not this time.”
12
Noah
I met Cozy Cat Lady, Beatrice Bielefeld, in her room.
She smiled up at me as she opened the door. “Mr. Black! I finally have you in my room.”
I smiled at her. “I believe it’s technically a cabin.”