Page 25
Four years later
Asa
“Nervous?” Dex asked as he wrapped his arms around me from behind.
I leaned back into his embrace. “Would you believe me if I said no?”
“No.” He pressed a soft kiss against the side of my neck. “But you have nothing to be nervous about.”
I gripped his arms and held on tight, using him to center myself so I could calm the fuck down.
Today was my first book signing, and I’d spent the past two weeks freaking out and convincing myself that no one other than my friends would show up.
A lot had changed in the last four years, but at the same time, things were still the same.
Dex graduated from his physical therapy program a few months ago and had taken a job in the rehab department at the local hospital. His true passion was sports medicine, but he decided that working in a teaching hospital would be a better fit for him right now so he could continue to learn before moving on to athletic training.
I was insanely proud of how hard he’d worked while in school and loved seeing how happy he was now that he’d achieved his dreams.
He’d also encouraged me to go after my dream of becoming an author after he binged all of my books in only a few months. I resisted at first, convinced that no one would read my books, or worse, that people would read them and hate them, but with his encouragement, I went through the process of editing my manuscripts and getting covers made for the first three books in my fantasy series and self-published them.
I didn’t get a lot of traction on them at first, and I barely made any money. But the reviews I got were glowing, and with Dex’s encouragement, I published the rest of the series over the course of the year.
I’d pretty much given up on the dream that I’d ever be able to make it as a writer when the first book went viral on social media thanks to a book influencer who took a chance on my series and loved it. That had propelled me from not even breaking even on what it cost me to publish the series to having the entire series top the charts in multiple categories.
That helped me find the motivation to keep with it, and in the last two years, I’d published a science fiction series and my paranormal why choose trilogy. I wasn’t a household name, especially since I wrote in niche genres, but I was living my dream of being a published author, and it was all thanks to Dex and his unwavering support.
We stopped camming just before my book went viral, which was perfect timing. I didn’t handle public scrutiny well, and I wasn’t all that eager to find out how readers might react to me being a former sex worker. So far no one had put the pieces together and connected my pen name with my cam persona.
Things with our family had gotten better, but they still weren’t great. My mom and Dex’s dad eventually accepted that we were together, but my dad hadn’t, and he used it as an excuse to fully cut me off. Dex’s mom didn’t have a problem with us dating, but her husband and his family did, so things between her and Dex were still strained. I wished things could be different for him, but I had a feeling his stepfather was doing the same thing my dad did and was using our relationship as an excuse to finally get her to cut Dex off.
Our extended family accepted us after getting used to the idea, and as I’d suspected, our little siblings hadn’t even blinked when we’d told them.
Something I hadn’t seen coming was that Dex’s old friends had more of an issue with him dating me than with him dating a guy. They remembered high school Dex, who’d hated me as much as I’d hated him, so it was the stepbrother thing that tripped them up and not him being bi.
He didn’t really talk to any of them anymore and only saw them at major events like weddings, but he’d made new friends when he was in school and had become close with several of his colleagues at the hospital.
I still worked at Legacy Mechanics and had no plans to ever leave. Even if my books happened to take off to the point where I could stop working, I wouldn’t. I loved the family we’d created, and I liked being a mechanic.
It was crazy to think that four years ago I’d been on the verge of homelessness and convinced I’d never want a partner, and now Dex and I were planning to buy a condo together when we found a place we both loved.
“You’ve got this.” Dex pressed another kiss against my neck. “Just take a deep breath and remember that you’re amazing, and you worked damn hard for this.”
I let go of his arms, and he loosened his hold so I could turn and hug him properly.
“Do you want me to ease your mind and tell you what’s going on out there?”
I nodded against him.
“Isaac and Jamie were trying to wrangle people into a line when I came to check on you.”
“Wrangle people, as in multiple people?” I pulled my face out of his neck.
“As in lots of people.” He pecked a quick kiss against my lips. “The line goes out the door.”
My jaw dropped. What the hell?
“Are you sure?” I had to ask.
He gave me a patient smile. “I’m sure. And all the books you brought have already sold.”
“What?” I gaped at him. “All of them?”
“Every last one.” He grinned. “Are you ready to go out there?”
I buried my face in his neck again. “Almost. Just need a few seconds to process that. I was so convinced no one would show up that now I’m freaking out that people actually showed up.”
He chuckled and gently rubbed my back. “Take your time. You’ve got a few minutes until things officially start.”
I drew in a couple of deep breaths and forced myself to calm down. Dex was right. I could do this.
Hopefully.
“Ready?” he asked again when I finally pulled away.
I nodded, not trusting my voice, and held out my hand.
Dex took it and led me out of the back office and into the main part of the store.
The signing was being held at a used bookstore that I’d been frequenting for years. I loved shopping here because the building was a converted Victorian-style historical home, and the entire bottom floor was a maze of rooms and nooks and crannies that were crammed full of every type of book you could imagine.
The owner was also the biggest book nerd I’d ever met. We spent hours talking about our favorite reads, and he’d tracked down more than one hard-to-find book for me over the years.
He’d been ecstatic when I told him I’d published several books when we’d been talking one afternoon and had not only stocked the entire series to sell, but he’d also created a special feature wall for them and promoted me as a local author.
About a month ago, he approached me about doing this signing, and after lots of encouragement from Dex, I said yes.
Hopefully I didn’t come to regret that decision.
“Excuse me.” Isaac came up to my table, his arms full of my books when the signing was over and the last customer had left the store. “Are you the super famous author who wrote these amazing books?” He carefully set the stack down. “Can you sign these and make them out to your biggest fan?”
I snickered at his antics. “My biggest fan, huh?”
“Hell yeah. Only your biggest fan would wrestle these away from a little old lady to make sure that he gets your autograph while she can kick rocks.”
I shot him a dubious look. Knowing Isaac, that scenario wasn’t completely farfetched.
“It’s me. I’m the little old lady,” Jamie said flatly as he came to stand with Isaac. “I snagged them before we opened the doors,” he assured me. “No little old ladies were involved.”
Isaac elbowed Jamie in the side. “Maybe not, but mine is a better story.”
“How about we leave the storytelling to the author instead of giving his boyfriend a mini-heart attack thinking that you mugged an old lady at Asa’s signing,” Jamie suggested.
I glanced over my shoulder at Dex. “Did you go into panic mode?”
“Panic and damage control mode,” he confirmed with a nod. “I’ve learned to not discount anything Isaac says, no matter how crazy it sounds.”
“That’s smart.” Isaac tapped the pile of books. “Chop-chop, famous author guy. These aren’t going to sign themselves.”
“Is Isaac being annoying?” Jesse asked, giving Isaac a little hip check as he came to stand on his other side.
“I’m being a supportive friend.” Isaac hip checked Jesse back.
“Children, do I need to separate you two?” Zander asked, looking up from the book he was flipping through.
“Sorry, Daddy.” Isaac batted his eyelashes at him. “We’ll be good.”
Luka snort-laughed. “Sure you will.”
“Do you really want me to sign these?” I asked Isaac.
His expression went serious. “Yeah. I know I joke around a lot when I say stuff like this, but I’m really proud of you, and I’m amazed at how talented you are. I haven’t read a book since I dropped out of college, but I read all of these, and they were amazing.”
“You read them?”
He nodded. “Yeah, and like I said, they were amazing. I ordered your other series last night, and I’m going to start it as soon as it arrives.”
My throat tightened, and my eyes went a little misty. Everyone at work had made a point to read my books after I started publishing, and it meant the world that they were so supportive.
“How do you want me to sign them?” I asked, my voice thick with emotion, and picked up my pen.
“However you want.” He pushed the stack closer to me.
I opened the top book and wrote out a short message, then added my real signature, not the one I’d made for my pen name.
When I was done signing them, Isaac picked up the stack and balanced them in his arms. “How about I put these in our car, then we all go out and celebrate?” He glanced around at the group.
“I’m in,” Jesse said.
“Us too,” Luka added.
I glanced at Dex. He was smiling at me with so much love and affection my chest squeezed.
“Yeah,” I choked out. “That would be great.”
“Awesome.” Isaac turned to Jamie. “Go put these in the car for me?”
Jamie shot Isaac an amused grin and took them. “I’ll be right back.”
“So where are we going?” Isaac asked.
“How about we let the man of the hour decide?” Jesse suggested.
“Um,” I said when everyone swung the gazes to me. “Maybe Ralph’s?”
Dex put his hand on the small of my back. “Too bad the hot bartender doesn’t work there anymore. I miss trying to mess with the timeline.”
I snickered and pressed back against his touch. “I still regret telling you about him.”
“No you don’t.” He pecked a kiss against my cheek. “You loved having both of us to stare at whenever we went there.”
I rolled my eyes, even as I could feel a blush heating my cheeks. “Maybe.”
“You two are so cute together,” Isaac said, making fake moon eyes at us.
I flipped him off.
Jesse laughed and pulled his phone out of his pocket. “Are we going to Ralph’s? Bas should be finishing up his rehearsal soon. I’ll let him know, and he can meet us there.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to try something new?” Luka asked. “This is your celebration.”
“I’m sure.” I leaned against Dex as he wrapped his arm around me.
“I’m really proud of you,” Dex whispered and nuzzled his nose against my cheek.
“Thanks.” I turned my face for a kiss. “And thanks for believing in me. None of this would have happened if it wasn’t for you.”
“I’ll always believe in you, babe,” he murmured against my lips.
“Okay, okay. Get a room,” Isaac complained.
“Said the guy who still gets caught taking dick picks in the staff bathroom,” Jesse shot him a flat look.
“At this point it’s basically tradition.” Isaac grinned.
“Come on.” Zander made a “let’s go” motion with his hand. “How about we finish putting this place back in order, then we head out?”
Everyone made various noises of agreement. I snuck another kiss from Dex.
“Love you,” I said when he pulled away.
“Love you too.” He squeezed my ass. “And I’ll show you how much when we get home.”
I tried to look unimpressed but couldn’t stop my smile.
If someone had told fourteen-year-old me that the stepbrother I thought I hated would not only become the best friend I could have asked for but also the love of my life, I would have called them a moron and walked away laughing.
Now I couldn’t imagine my life without him. He wasn’t just my best friend and the man I loved. He was my family and my home. We might not have seen each other for who we were all those years ago, but that connection had always been there, and I couldn’t wait to spend the rest of my life loving him as much as he loved me.