"And then?" I asked.
She looked at me for a long moment.
"And then, I realized I would rather work harder and earn less doing what I loved than being miserable doing something that maybe paid more," she said to me. I remember thinking that I could absolutely understand where she was coming from. And it wasn’t like she was a complete failure. This was a top author I was sitting across from. On the Rainforest Hot 100 Author List. USA Today and New York Times Bestseller at one time.
Sure, she went a bit off course.
But I'm in her life now. We're going to come back.
That’s literally all that I’m thinking about right now as Abby slowly writhes her firm backside against mine. Even as I grab her and pull her close to me I think back to that day on the couch as I watched her eat Chinese food.
Fuck, I think I’m falling in love with this woman.
I know what you’re thinking. Get the fuck out, right? Aidan Stone doesn’t fall in love. I mean, remember how this whole process even started? I was caught fucking Alyssa’s sister. Backstage. At an awards dinner she was presenting at.
But still, I need to tell her something. Sure, my cock is nestled in between her ass cheeks right now. I can tell we’re going to fuck in a few moments. But she needs to know how I feel about her.
"Abby…" I start. But she interrupts me.
"Oh my God, Aidan," she says out loud.
Fuck. Is Cheryl still on the line? This close to her fucking gorgeous body and I can’t really think much now.
"Babe," I say to Abby, pulling her close. "I need to tell you someth—" I try again and once more, Abby has a different idea.
"Aidan!" she yells. "Look!"
And that’s when I turn away for a brief moment to look at Abby’s phone. She’s got the Rainforest bookstore open on her phone and she’s showing me the landing page for Big Dick. I’m looking at the ranking.
#98.
Holy fucking shit.
We did it.
We broke into the Rainforest Top 100.
"Congratulations, you two!" Cheryl’s voice comes out of the speakerphone, startling me. "I just saw this right now and I had to send it to Abby. Your book is a hit. The readers love it!"
Well, how about that.
"Aidan, I’ll reach out to CJ but I’m sure that with a Top 100 book, you’re royalty check from her will be extra large this month," Cheryl says into the phone. "And I’m sure a lot more doors will open for you, love."
"He’s always extra-large, Cheryl," Abby says out loud toward the phone and I think to myself that it’s a good thing that Cheryl is just on speaker and not on a video call or something. "I can promise you that."
"Okay, I think I’m going to be leaving you two alone now," Cheryl says into the phone. "I don’t want to know what Aidan is doing there so early in the morning and no, please don’t tell me," she says.
I stretch out on my back, one hand still holding onto Abby, as I think about the doors that we’ve just opened together.
Rainforest Top 100. That shit is the real deal. You don’t get there by being mediocre. From here on out, it’s all about publicity.
Sure, when you've got a big publishing house behind you, once you hit Rainforest Top 100 they start throwing the ad dollars in to keep you relevant.
But Abby doesn’t have a big publishing house behind her anymore. She’s got just herself. And me.
So we’re gonna have to do the best we can on our own to stay up in the Top 100 Books being sold on the Rainforest store.
"Hey, Mister," Abby says, turning over and getting on her elbows to put her head on my chest. "You were doing something while I was talking to Cheryl and now you’ve stopped!"