Veronica looked over at Grace and smirked. “Candlelight?”
Grace’s secret smile was so obvious, it couldn’t really be called a secret smile. “Well, I figured that since Hank and Travis were coming over you might like the setting to be more…you know.”
“I know? I know what?”
Grace giggled. “You know.”
“Are you matchmaking, Grace? You know I’m only here temporarily.”
“But I thought maybe you were having fun with them. I saw Hank’s truck there last night and then I saw him barreling down the drive like a man on a mission earlier at lunchtime.”
Veronica snickered and had a hard time holding in the urge to sigh with satisfaction. He’d kissed her good-bye at the door, still naked and ready to start her afternoon. She hadn’t put clothing on until right before time to head up to the ranch house.
“You don’t want me to matchmake? You need to tell your face, sweetie,” Grace said with a chuckle as she returned with silverware for each place setting. “You like them, don’t you?”
“I do, Grace, but Hank holds a public office, and Travis may be leaving again. And I’m all twitterpated from seeing him again after so long.”
“That’s right! Kate mentioned that she’d asked Travis how he knew you.”
“I figured she’d give them both a good grilling the first chance she got.”
“Can I point out the obvious?”
“What?”
“If Kate had the feeling that something was off with either of them, she would’ve objected to them spending more time with you. You should trust your instincts more.”
“My instincts where men are concerned have gotten me in trouble before. I’m not even sure I have any instincts.”
“How’s the writing coming?”
“Very well.”
“Hank and Travis didn’t fuss at you about your hours?”
Veronica smiled, recalling the look in their eyes as they’d detailed their wishes to her. “No, actually they were encouraging…downright inspiring.”
She followed Grace back into the kitchen and heard her snicker. “I know all about inspiration. Imagine writing erotic romance and having three men to work all of your pent-up…imagination and energy out on. Whooey, is it getting hot in here or is it just me?”
Blushing to her roots, Veronica imagined exactly that—working out all that saved-up erotic energy on two handsome men. “It must be the oven. Yeah, definitely the oven.”
Veronica saw Grace glance her way as she peeled an avocado and said, “That online chat this afternoon was brutal.”
It’d gone fast and furious as expected, and of course BookAddictedWhore had shown up, only the chat had been in a moderation-free chat room. Since Veronica was the guest, she couldn’t count on moderation when the questions had gone from personal to downright confrontational.
Veronica shrugged. “It’s par for the course, I guess.” She looked up in time to catch Grace shake her head negatively but she said nothing else. “I let them think I laugh it off. What can I do? If I fight back, they would just start a flame war, or portray me as an author behaving badly. BookAddictedWhore will eventually lose interest in me and take her minions along with her to find someone else to pick on.”
With a sigh, Grace said, “I hope so.”
“You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that new, unfamiliar user who showed up today?”
Grace bit her lip in a lame attempt to hide a smile. “There were so many. Which one do you mean?”
“Duct Tape Dom?”
Veronica very clearly heard a gigglesnort but Grace looked innocent. “Oh, I liked him! He was nice to you! I wish he’d come back on a regular basis.”
Smiling, Veronica nudged Grace and said, “I do, too. Who is he?”
Grace blushed and said, “I know not of whom you speak. He seems like a nice…Dom.”
“All right. Keep your secrets.”
“It looked like you had quite a few readers who were new to your books show up for that chat. I was glad that they kind of balanced BookAddictedWhore and those other troll’s nonsense.”
“It’s a good thing. I was beginning to feel like I bring out the worst in people.”