She moves away. “Careful. Your blinds are open.”
“Sorry. Nobody’s here yet.”
She clears her throat, but she’s smiling. “Today’s the day.”
“Yeah, it is. Are you nervous?”
She shrugs. “You know I’ve never done this before, right?”
“I know.” I sit down and sigh a little bit. God damn, I’m getting old. “Look, all you need to do is make her happy. You don’t need to offer some genius suggestions.”
She bites her lip. Her nervous little gesture. I’m starting to notice all these little tiny details about her, and it’s strange.
I’ve never noticed this sort of stuff in any other woman. Normally, I see tits and ass. I fuck them and leave them and never bother to get to know them.
But with Avery, it’s different. I keep finding new things about her, keep getting these little details, little new levels.
And I want to find out more. Not just her body, although I fucking love her body.
But the way she talks, the way she laughs, what makes her tick. I want all that stuff. I want to make her smile.
Strange. I don’t know when this happened to me. I guess I really am getting old.
I check my watch. “She’ll be here in an hour. Want to go over the plan again?”
She shakes her head. “I think that’ll make me more nervous.”
“You’ll be fine, I promise. I’ll check in on you, okay?”
“Okay.” She sighs and leans back in her chair. “Remind me again why I’m doing this?”
I laugh and get up. I walk around my desk and sit in the chair next to her.
“Look, you’re smart, you’re beautiful, you’re talented. And you actually like this author. Your opinion matters and it’s more important than some random copy editor.”
“Right. All that stuff is very true.”
I grin. “Good. The book’s already edited. You’re just going over the edits with her and talking about it.”
“Right. The hard work is done already.”
“Exactly. Just go in there, agree with her, make her happy. Convince her to change the stuff you think needs changing. Honestly, Avery, I trust you.”
She nods again. “Okay. Okay. You’re right.” She laughs a little and I can tell she feels a little uncomfortable. “I guess I did need a pep talk.”
“It’s okay to be nervous. I’m throwing you in the deep end here. But I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t trust you.”
“Thanks.” She cocks her head toward me, and I want to kiss her so fucking badly.
But out of the corner of my eye, I can see Marcy setting up her stuff. I stand and head back around to the front of my desk.
“Better get out there,” I tell her. “You don’t have much more time before she shows up.”
Avery nods, stands, and leaves my office. I watch her go, loving that perky, tight ass. I keep seeing it looming above me, her pussy practically dripping into my mouth. I love the way that ass tastes and I can’t wait to get it again.
I force myself to pay attention to my work for the next hour. Haylee is coming in soon, and Avery is going over the edits to the partial manuscript she submitted. Apparently, the girl writes like a freaking demon. It’s not a finished work, but it’s about half, and that’s enough to start working on it.
Haylee shows up right on time. I stand as the young author knocks on my door and steps inside.
“Morning,” she says, looking bored.
“Morning,” I say, and walk around the desk to shake her hand. “Do you need anything before we get started?”
“Nah,” she says. “Let’s get this over with.”
She doesn’t sound excited, but that’s fine. I lead her into the conference room before I go grab Avery from her desk.
“Remember,” I say softly, “just keep her happy.”
“Got it.” She takes a deep breath and we step into the conference room.
Haylee has her stuff spread out in front of her. The manuscript is front and center with all the notes attached to it. She also has her own notes, pages I’ve never seen before, and a little planner.
“Hey,” Avery says, sitting down across from her. “How’s it going?”
“Tired,” Haylee grunts. “Was up all night last night writing these.” She picks up the pages and waves them in the air.
It’s at least ten pages, front and back, single spaced… there must be like ten thousand new words.
“Awesome,” Avery says. “I can’t wait to read it.”
“Sure.” Haylee yawns. “Let’s get this over with, okay? I have a lot of problems with a lot of this stuff.”
I smile at the two girls as Avery glances back at me, fear in her eyes.
“Good luck,” I say, and leave the room.
I almost feel guilty for it. I can tell Haylee is going to be difficult, but I trust in Avery. She’s smart and she’s capable. This might be her first serious job, but this shouldn’t be too hard for her. I mean, just keep the young author happy, right?