the moment, so I took the opportunity to look at my phone. A few texts had come in, but I’d ignored them while readers were at the table.
“I always feel bad, saying this to another author, but I haven’t read your books. Tell me about them,” a musical voice said.
I looked up to see Sydney Hart.
She glanced at me for a second and smiled but turned her attention back to Angela. This let me look at her without her knowing.
She had the girl-next-door look going for her, and that was totally my thing. Women who wore a lot of makeup and fancy clothes never really did it for me. In fact, even though Sydney looked good, I actually preferred her the way she’d looked that morning at breakfast. No makeup and her glasses on. She had beautiful porcelain skin she didn’t need to cover up with anything. Although I had overlooked her cool-ass eye that morning because of her glasses.
I was also a breast and a leg man. Maybe that made me a pervert, but I wasn’t dead. I’d noticed Sydney’s ample chest. And, while she wasn’t very tall, I could tell she had long legs for her height. For a moment, I let myself picture them naked and spread open for me while I—
“Travis.” Angela smacked my arm.
“What?”
Angela gave me a seriously, dude look.
I shrugged. “Sorry. I wasn’t paying attention.” One thing I’d learned in life was to own up to things even if it made me look less than favorable. Life was too short to lie, especially about petty shit.
“Sydney is buying books one and two and an extra book one. So, get to signing.”
Wow. I really had missed a chunk of the conversation. “Why two?”
“I’m buying a set for myself and book one for my reader group. I like to do giveaways, and they love getting signed books from other authors even if they’ve never read them before. Plus, it helps get author names out there.”
“I love that idea,” Angela said. “I’ll have to come over and get one of your books and do the same. I’m always looking for a way to engage my readers.”
I took one copy of the first book and wrote, Never give up on your dreams, and then signed it. The book was about a football player who got injured and was worried that he’d never play again. Don’t give up fit with the story and was inspiring, too.
I slid the book over to Sydney. “This one is for your reader.”
She opened it up, read the inside, and smiled. “Thank you.” Then, she pushed the book over to Angela to sign.
“Damn it, Travis. That’s what I was going to write.”
I laughed. “You can write that in the next one.” I gave her the second copy of book one. “I’ll even let you write in it first.”
“Wow, that’s so magnanimous of you,” she said sarcastically.
I crossed my eyes. “I sorry. Me dumb model. Me no understand big words.”
Sydney laughed. “You two must have a lot of fun together.”
Angela nodded. “We do. Sometimes, too much.”
A look crossed over Sydney’s face for a fleeting moment, but it passed as quickly as it’d come, and she grinned. “I bet there are some good stories there.”
“There are. Someday, I’ll tell you.”
I opened up book two. This was a story about a nerdy girl who fell in love with the bachelor-of-the-year football player. I decided on a saying that went with the story but was also directed at Sydney: You’re more beautiful than you know.
I traded books with Angela, and in book one, I wrote, Some things are worth fighting for.
When Sydney opened them up, her eyes widened, and she might have blushed. “Wow. I think I should maybe give these to my readers instead.”
I frowned. “I don’t think so. Those are for you.”
Seven
Sydney
I brought the books I’d bought from Angela back to my table to put away for safekeeping. I pulled the copy I’d gotten for my readers off the top and handed it to Harper. “Look inside. They both signed it. I hope my readers love it.”
She opened the cover and looked inside, read what Angela and Travis had written, and then hugged the book to her chest. “Can you just give it to me as a present?” She batted her eyelashes. “Or let me be the winner?”
I grabbed for the book, but she held on. “If I give it to you straight-out, then that would be cheating.”
She stuck her bottom lip out.
“Harper, it was ten