“I was going to say for years, but yeah, forever.”
The word hung between them as they stared into one another’s eyes while swaying back and forth under the blanket of stars on the bluff overlooking the lake. String lights were strung above the dance floor giving the entire area a muted, romantic feeling. Not that he needed any help feeling romantic around Liv.
“So, what do you do?” he asked again, mainly so he didn’t lean down and kiss her. Again. He knew that he’d be able to get away with a peck, especially if it was for “show”, but he didn’t want to press his luck by making out with her on the dance floor.
“Oh, right.” She blinked. “I’m um, I’m a writer.”
“Like your grandad,” he stated and internally face palmed.
Way to go, Captain Obvious.
“Yeah, but I don’t write crime.”
“What do you write?”
She hesitated a moment before saying, “Romance.”
“Really. My mom loves romance novels.”
“She does?”
“She does,” he confirmed. “Right now, she’s obsessed with a series called Rogues of Riverglen by Harper Rose.”
Liv rolled her eyes as she smiled and shook her head. “Ha ha, that’s funny.”
He wasn’t sure why she was responding that way. “Why is that funny?”
She tilted her head and gave him a look like he didn’t need to play dumb. The problem was, he wasn’t playing. He had no clue what she was talking about.
“Chrissy told you, didn’t she?”
“Told me what?” She might as well call him Mathew Fox because he was lost. He was trying to use context clues to solve the riddle so he ventured, “Do you know the author or something?”
She stared at him, her eyes narrowing before her brow creased. “Yeah, I do. It’s me. I’m Harper Rose.”
He chuckled. Sure that she was fucking with him, he looked around thinking there must be hidden cameras somewhere. This had to be a prank. He did feel like he’d known her forever but he had only known her for forty-eight hours, so this could be her idea of a joke. Chrissy probably told her that he read romance novels to his mom.
When he looked back down at her, he didn’t see any signs that she was teasing him. If anything, she looked as baffled and shocked as he did.
“You’re Harper Rose?”
“Wait. I don’t think Chrissy and I even talked about what I do.” Her beautiful face was clouded with confusion. Sincere confusion. “We were too busy catching up on life stuff.”
“Seriously, you are Harper Rose?”
“Yes, my gran’s name was Rose and her maiden name was Harper, so when I started writing I used Harper Rose as a way to remember her.”
Holy shit.She was serious. She was Harper Rose. Liv was his mom’s favorite author. How in the fuck was that possible?
“Does your mom seriously read the Riverglen series?”
“Yes. And actually, I’ve read her all five of the books.”
“You have?!”
He nodded. “She gets tired when she reads and she doesn’t like audio books, so I read to her. I skip the love scenes though. It’s been driving her crazy that she doesn’t know who the Duke is going to end up with. She thinks it has to be Rebecca but I don’t know if she’s right for him.”
Liv was staring at him like he had two heads and he realized that he was talking about characters that she wrote, and he may have just offended her. This entire situation was so surreal that he’d put his foot in his mouth without even meaning to. “Sorry, I didn’t mean…if he ends up with Rebecca that’s great.”