Pattie and I share a look. This happens sometimes. Authors can be ornery because they’ve poured their hearts and souls into their work, and even the slightest suggestion can set them off.
Plus, clearly, we’ve hit a nerve when it comes to Elisa Morgan. She sounds absolutely opposed to our edits, and it’s a problem. Fortunately, it doesn’t need to be solved right this moment, so I decide to put the issue on hold.
“Listen,” I say in a calming voice. “That’s fine. We hear you, and we don’t have to decide today. Let’s just think on it for a while.”
The tension in the room lightens a bit.
“Sure,” Elisa smiles. “I can do that.”
My assistant checks her watch and sighs. “Listen, I hate to leave so soon, but I need to meet with production about a new release in about five.”
I stand as Pattie gets up to go.
“Thanks so much, Pat. I’ll see you later.”
She gives me a faux salute and hugs Elisa.
“You’ve got this, girl. We’ll talk again soon, okay?”
Elisa nods.
“Sure, no prob. I’m glad we’re on the same page.”
Well, we’re not exactly on the same page, given that our new author doesn’t want to make our suggested edits. But that’s okay, for now at least. My assistant leaves just as our lunch arrives. She steals a fry from the tray and grins as she walks back into the main office.
I tip the delivery guy, take our food, and set it on the desk between us.
“These are the best burgers in New York, I promise.”
“Looks amazing,” says Elisa, eyeing the foil covers with appreciation. “Exactly what I like.”
Elisa waits for me to pick up my hamburger before picking up her own. I like that she’s taking cues from me. We eat quietly for a few minutes, although with relish. My curvy girl isn’t afraid of a little red meat, and I appreciate her for that.
“So, how have you been?” I begin like nothing’s wrong.
“Good,” Elisa says when she’s swallowed her bite. “How about you, Mr. Cameron?”
I snort.
“Please, don’t call me that. I’m Robert,” I say with a grin. “But we’re busy. Real busy. We’re about to publish our new catalog so things are a little crazy. That’s why Pattie has so many meetings. I’ve got budget and other meetings for the rest of the day.”
“Don’t let me keep you,” she says worriedly.
I put my hand over hers. “I cleared out an hour and a half for our meeting, don’t worry.”
The gorgeous brunette smiles, and I fall even further for her, my heart flip-flopping wildly at the sight of those pouty lips. This girl does things to me no one else has ever done.
We stare into each other’s eyes for a beat longer than we should. I have meetings, and we really do need to talk about more specific edits to her manuscript. We can’t drop everything and have sex again. So with a Herculean effort, I pull myself back into business mode.
“Ms. Morgan,” I say, trying to be serious. “There were a few specific things we had in mind in the second half. This scene where Sarah sees her father for the first time, before she finds out he’s actually a horrible serial killer, the dialogue gets a bit tight. We want to loosen it up. Sarah was close to her father, even when she moved away, so their stiff back and forth doesn’t make sense.”
Elisa scrunches her face. “I didn’t realize that. You’re right, though. It should be easy to talk to her father.”
We go through the rest of the pages and I lay out specific things that should be fixed before we publish the book. She needs to adjust some of the character relationships and conversation especially. It shouldn’t take her more than a few hours to make these changes, but there’s still the problem with the heroine’s friend that we discussed before. I want that third party added, but Elisa’s still giving me push back.
But clearly, the conflict can’t be resolved today. After going through the last page, I close the manuscript. We still have twenty minutes before I have to get to my budget meeting. Elisa daintily wipes her hands on the napkin, and makes like she’s about to get up and leave.
“Wait,” I say, not ready to end our meeting just yet. “Why don’t we talk a little?”
She looks confused. “I thought we went over everything? Or did you want to talk more about adding that new character?” she asks with a frown.
“No, not about work,” I say quickly. “We could just get to know each other.”
“Oh,” she says hesitantly. “I thought…um, I’m not sure. You know, no fraternizing and all that?”
Shit, she’s caught me in a bind. How do I get out?
“I’m not ashamed of what we’ve done,” I say slowly. “My board of directors has a strict policy about dating. Employees aren’t allowed to date each other at all. We’re strictly forbidden to start any kind of relationship with authors, especially a sexual relationship. That’s why I said we had to keep what happened between us.”