Work In Progress (Red Lipstick Coalition #3) - Staci Hart Page 0,101

could break him and me. And that was something I found I could not let happen.

I couldn’t lose him. And I wouldn’t hurt him.

No matter what it would cost me.

But First

Amelia

The kiss, which had been going for a full and steady hour, regretfully ended.

A forgotten movie played on the TV the next day, muted by Tommy. In lieu of Lord of the Rings, he’d turned on some guitar-driven indie music, stretched out on the couch, and spent what felt like a fleeting moment kissing me well and thoroughly.

Father John Misty sang about the Hollywood Cemetery while Arwen and Aragorn kissed in Rivendell, and my heart swelled until it ached. I rested my head on Tommy’s chest and watched.

I choose a mortal life, she whispered, the sound unheard as she gave him her necklace, the Evenstar, along with her heart.

Tears stung my eyes, my throat clamping shut. Arwen and Aragorn always did that to me.

I wouldn’t admit it with a gun to my head, but their love story was my favorite part of the books. And watching the movie, I always choked up, every single time, without fail.

Tommy’s big hand smoothed my hair.

“They always get me, too,” he said, the words rumbling in his cavernous chest.

I sniffled and shifted, folding my arms. I rested my chin on top as he propped up his head so he could see me better. “Well, aren’t you a big old softie?”

He chuckled, adjusting the pillow behind his head. “I have a confession to make.”

One of my brows rose. “Oh?”

He paused for a moment, gathering the words or the gumption—I couldn’t be sure. “Writing romance is fucking hard.”

A laugh shot out of me along with a sense of victory. “I can’t believe you just admitted that.”

“Don’t tell anybody. I’ve got a rep to uphold.”

“Not when it comes to romance, you don’t.”

He twiddled his fingers in my ribs, tickling me. I wriggled, squealing until he stopped.

“It really hit me reading Lord of Scoundrels. When I got to that scene where he unbuttoned her gloves…I realized it was maybe one of the most unexpectedly erotic things I’d ever read. And the follow-up thought was that I could never write tension like that.”

My smile was so broad, it almost hurt. “Thomas Bane, you love romance.”

“Who knew?”

“I did,” I answered proudly. “You’re writing it brilliantly.”

“With you alternating between whipping me to finish and punching the story in the ass.”

I chuckled. “I mean, I don’t hate whipping you, and you have a pretty hard ass.”

He smirked back. “We’ve been so focused on what I need to write that we’ve barely talked about what you need. Have you planned any more of the article for Janessa?”

I was instantly uncomfortable, my smile disappearing faster than rain in the desert. “No, not much. I figured we could talk about it after you get the book turned in.”

He brushed my hair over my shoulder absently. “Well, I got my chapters finished for today, thanks to the no kissing until the chapters are written rule. And I got my kisses earned by those chapters. So what do you have so far? And what do you want to know?”

I hedged, “What do you want me to write about?”

He shrugged. “I dunno. Growing up in the Bronx. The trouble I always seem to find. Ma, all she did for us, the kind of woman she is. Her diagnosis—as much as I hate to put that out there.”

“How is it that more people don’t know about her illness? Or your background?”

“Well, Ma changed her name back to her maiden name when my dad left, and Theo and I legally changed our names to Bane when I started writing and we hatched the plan to get me seen. A couple of people have connected all the dots, but it’s convoluted enough, and the records are all spread out. It’s been surprisingly easy to keep everything under wraps.”

I chuckled.

“Anyway, Ma doesn’t leave the house much. Her nurses all sign secondary contracts, to take HIPAA a step further, and we hired a private company who works a lot with celebrities and is known for their discretion. Some people have figured out her name but nothing else about her. And honestly, the second Teddy gets word of someone sniffing around, he usually pays and gags them. If you Google her name, you won’t find much of anything.”

“And what about you? No one’s selling yearbook photos of Tommy Banowski to People magazine?”

He laughed. “It happens. Usually when it does, I break up with Marley