Writing A Wrong (Write Stuff 2)

Hours later we were still awake, completely spent from our lovemaking marathon that made up for nearly two weeks spent apart. "This is nice," I said, snuggling under his arm. I pressed my backside against his body, trying to seep in as much of his touch as I could.

Alec's arm tightened around my midriff. "I missed this. I wish I could go with you for the whole tour, like I did during the summer."

I traced the back of his hand lightly. "Me too. I can't tell you how many times I've turned to tell you something only to remember you're not there. I hate the conflict in our schedules."

"I do too, babe," he yawned against my shoulder.

I felt slightly guilty for not letting him sleep. Between his job, the extra lab time he put in at school, and his early flight to get here, he'd been up for almost thirty-six hours. Clearly he was running on fumes. I knew that once we closed our eyes, we'd lose some of the precious hours we had left together. I'd yet to ask him how long he was staying, but it couldn't be more than two days since the Love Bus would be leaving then. I thought about asking him before he went to sleep, but I was afraid of his answer and didn't want to ruin the rest of our time together.

I continued stroking the back of his hand as his breathing evened out and I knew he had fallen asleep. My eyes burned from fatigue, but I refused to close them for the longest time. I would have plenty of time to sleep once we were apart again.

Eventually my heavy eyelids won and I fell asleep in his arms, wishing I could fast-forward time to the end of the tour so I could go home with him.

Chapter 10

The good news was Alec planned on staying for two days, but as luck would have it, the following day was complete chaos. The official release of Wicked Lonely was met with a

n unexpected amount of fanfare from the moment I woke up. My room seemed to be a revolving door of people and activity. I spent the better part of the morning juggling social media sites as I tried to keep up with all the release day hoopla. Olivia was equally busy, finalizing remaining details for the tour and making sure my agenda was up to date.

The fact that Alec had come to New York was a pleasant surprise for not only me, but for Chelsea as well. She seemed immediately taken by him, which wasn't surprising. Alec had a way of attracting attention from both men and women alike. Even Greg made a point of introducing himself to Alec and talking his ear off for nearly an hour. As my publisher's PR representative, Chelsea was especially pleased to know that Alec would be attending the Wicked Lonely release party with me later that evening. "Photo ops all around. What a fantastic opportunity," she said before calling my editor, Remi, to give her the good news.

My mood was swaying back and forth like a swing. At times I was ecstatic that everyone seemed to be taking to Wicked Lonely, but then my eyes would move to Alec, who was never far from my side. I would feel sudden surges of panic, thinking about the hours that were whittling away.

For his part, Alec never showed the least amount of disappointment over sharing our time together with the rest of my world. He remained busy on his phone for most of the day. I couldn't help wondering if he was texting someone or perhaps mindlessly playing a game and regretting his decision to come. I couldn't blame him. He'd sacrificed a lot to be here.

As we sat together on the loveseat while I continued reading through more Facebook notifications, Greg walked over and placed his hand on my shoulder. "You look tense. Can I get you something? Starbucks or maybe a fresh Diet Coke? I'll even hit the deli around the corner to get you one from the fountain. I know you prefer that over cans or bottles."

My first instinct was to look at Alec, who barely seemed to notice as he continued with whatever had him occupied on his phone. "Uh, no, thanks. I'm actually okay right now." I shrugged my shoulder, hoping he would take the hint to move his hand.

"You sure? Whatever you need. I'm here to please you."

"Really, no. Thank you though," I said, focusing again on my phone. Thankfully he dropped the subject and walked back over to Chelsea and Olivia, who were busy reading reviews for the book.

By early afternoon my inner introvert began to rear its head. I'd had enough of the people in my room and needed a moment to catch my breath without worrying about carrying on a conversation or watching everyone continuously updating their phones to check the ranking of Wicked Lonely.

Olivia knew me well enough to see that I needed some time to clear my head, so she talked Greg and Chelsea into going with her to Starbucks to grab a latte. Once the coast was clear, the smile I'd been wearing dropped and I sagged back against the sofa cushions.

Alec stood up and walked behind the loveseat, placing his hands on my shoulders. "You okay, babe?" His fingers provided much-needed relief to my screaming neck muscles.

I nodded, letting my head fall forward. "I'm just not used to all this craziness. Usually the only two people worried during release day are Olivia and me. It feels weird to have so many other people involved with a vested interest. I can't shake the feeling that I'm going to disappoint them all," I admitted, letting my shoulders sag. "I wish we were home watching movies and eating comfort food. That's the typical release day I'm used to."

Alec continued kneading through my shoulders, taking away the tension that had me at my wit's end. "You're not going to disappoint anyone, babe. The book must be doing well because from what I've seen, everyone is more than pleased. You've got this."

"I hope so. I really want to be excited and enjoy this moment. I just have to get past all the stress first."

"That guy Greg seems pretty eager to help. I get the feeling he wouldn't mind being the one standing here rubbing your shoulders."

So he had been paying attention after all. I sat motionless, pondering the right response that wouldn't make the rest of the evening completely awkward. I'd never seen Alec jealous. Lord knows I'd had my share of opportunities to show jealousy—like everywhere we went. At least I knew he cared, which made me happy. "Well, I wouldn't agree with the rubbing the shoulders part, but the publisher did tell him to make sure I had everything I wanted. He's just doing his job."

Alec removed his hands from my shoulders and walked around the loveseat and sat down next to me. "Regardless, you really should relax and enjoy all this. It wouldn't be happening if people didn't love your writing." I melted against his body, wondering how I'd lucked out to have him in my life.

"It sucks that it's eating into our day together. I can tell you're totally bored," I said, nodding toward his phone.

"I've been studying," he said, flashing me his phone. "Online textbook."

A startled laugh bubbled out of me. "You came all the way to New York to still have to study. I thought maybe you were texting someone."

"The only person I want to text is you. I figured I'd stay out of your hair by getting an edge up on the test that could crush me."