Peyton was still laughing when the doorbell rang.
Startled, she stood up to move tentatively across the living room, wondering if she should simply ignore whoever it was. Then she remembered that Gwen was supposed to stop by.
“Someone’s at the door,” she said, interrupting her friend’s ongoing monologue on Noah’s habit of eating all the Oreo cookies when they were kids. “Hold on while I take a peek.”
Fully expecting to see Gwen, she was a little surprised when she looked through the peephole and instead saw Scott standing there looking sweaty and uncomfortable as hell in his normal 5th Avenue wool suit. Not surprising since the temperature outside was probably already in the mid-90’s.
“My editor is here,” she said into the phone. “I’m going to have to call you back later.”
“No worries,” Laurissa said. “Tell my brother I said hi.”
Promising she would, Peyton unlocked the door and opened it, stunned to see an older man in an expensive suit with Scott. He must have been standing off to the side for Peyton not to have seen him through the peephole. That worried her. These days, she didn’t deal well with people she didn’t know.
“Hope we didn’t interrupt your writing,” Scott said with a familiar smile that went a long way to calming her nerves. Scott was as much of a friend as an editor. If he brought someone with him, there was no reason not to trust the man. “Gwen would have come herself, but she got busy on some contract negotiations and asked me to come in her place,” he added as Peyton stepped aside to let them in. “She also wanted me to introduce you to Daris Markovic. He’s a prospective investor.”
Peyton groaned silently. She knew very little about the business side of publishing but was fully aware that it took a lot of money. As one of the publisher’s most well-known authors, she was always being paraded in front of people with fat bank accounts in the hopes of luring some money out of them.
“Nice to meet you, Mr. Markovic,” she said, stepping forward to shake the dark-haired man’s hand.
“Please, call me Daris,” the man said with a warm smile. “Truthfully, my entire reason for approaching your publisher with an offer of investment was so I’d get a chance to meet you. I hope I don’t embarrass you by admitting that I’m your biggest fan.”
Peyton laughed. Impressing potential investors might not be her thing, but this she could handle. Daris was a fan. He simply had more money than most. And maybe he was a little outside the normal demographic, but that was okay, too.
She was about to ask if they wanted coffee, but the moment they sat down on the couch, Daris immediately peppered her with questions about her books. They spent the next few minutes talking about her series and the most recent book. Daris shocked her by admitting he’d already read every book in the series twice. Crap, he really was a fan!
Scott made a comment or two about the book, but she could tell he wasn’t as into the conversation as Daris was. Peyton tried to ignore her editor’s uncomfortable silence, but after a while that became impossible.
“Is everything okay, Scott?” she finally asked. “You seem quiet this morning.”
Scott seemed to be caught off guard by the question. He flushed and dropped his gaze to stare down at the floor. She thought for a moment that he wasn’t going to answer, but when he finally looked at her again, the expression of contrition on his face was hard to miss.
“I wanted to tell you how sorry I am about what I said last night,” he said, giving her a sheepish look. “When I asked about the book before even checking to see if you were okay. I mean, I didn’t intend to make it seem like I was more interested in your book than your safety.”
She waved her hand, a little surprised Scott was fixated on something like that. “Don’t worry about it. Things got a little crazy last night. But I’m fine, the book is fine, and the cops caught the jerks who tried to get it. I certainly don’t hold your concern for the book against you. It’s your job. So please, it isn’t a big deal.”
Scott let out a sigh, relaxing as if a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders. “Thanks. I appreciate that. Speaking of the book, I guess I should ask how it’s coming. It’s why Gwen sent me over in the first place.”
“It’s almost finished,” she said, almost laughing at the look of surprise on Scott’s face. “The only thing I have left to do is wrap up the ending, but I can’t quite seem to get it the way I want it. It’s lacking a certain punch, if you know what I mean? I’m trying to get the intensity to match the end of the previous books and it isn’t quite there yet.”
“Do you want me to take a peek?” Scott asked. “Maybe I could help you out.”
“Sure,” she said. He’d been pretty good at making suggestions when they’d worked together on the previous books. “I was about to get some coffee. Do you two want some?”
Scott looked over at Daris, who nodded. “That’d be great. Thanks.”
“Cream and sugar?”
“That’s good for me,” Scott said while Daris asked for milk in his.
She pointed at the computer sitting on the coffee table with a smile. “The last page of the story is already up for you. I was working it when you knocked. Have a look and see what you think. You can take a look too, Daris. Just keep in mind that this is the rough draft and is likely to change a little in the final version.”
She almost laughed at how fast Daris moved to grab a seat on
