“Not funny. I like him because he’s different, not because he’s rich.”
“I’m just teasing you, Gretchen. It’s good that you met someone. I just wish he wasn’t directly tied to the job you’re doing. As your agent, that makes me a little uncomfortable.”
“It’s not like he’s actually involved in the project,” Gretchen told her. “He just happens to own the house the letters were found in.”
“Very, very dirty letters. You sure you’re not getting inspired by these dirty letters?”
“Give me a little credit?”
“Just a little. I’d like to meet this guy.”
“We’re just fooling around, Kat. It’s not like this is anything official.”
“I don’t care. I still want to meet him. Maybe he has a sexy younger brother.”
“He’s an only child. But I’ll see what I can do about getting some friends together. This house would be a great place to entertain.” Though, the thought of entertaining would probably drive Eldon to drink.
Kat squealed. “Oooh, maybe we can do a Victorian house party! We can invite your editor so he can get excited about the progress you’re making on the book.”
“I don’t know—”
“And the publicist! And a photographer. Think of the angle we can spin on things to get some in-house excitement.”
“I don’t know if the owner of the house is going to be particularly excited about this. He’s pretty reclusive. And by pretty, I mean completely.”
“So, you can just take him into a closet and play Seven Minutes in Heaven or something. Victorian house party coming up! So where’s my invite?”
Gretchen sighed. “Let me work on him, Kat.”
“Tell him it’ll be good for your career. You need as much in-house support as you can get.”
“We’ll see.” But for some reason she was thinking less about her career and more about dragging Hunter into a closet and rocking his socks off. A smile curved her mouth. Maybe this party thing wasn’t such a bad idea after all.
***
“Oh, Astronaut Bill, what can we do? The universe is doomed for sure. The solarship with the cargo full of super-plutonium is headed straight for the galaxy warp. If we can’t get on board somehow, it’ll cut across space and head straight for the planet of my people, Vifraxa. Billions will be doomed.” She wiped unhappy tears from her shining blue eyes. “You must find a way to save them.”
Bill’s strong hands clenched on the railing of the deck. He turned and stared at his captain’s chair, furious. “We’ll find a way to stop them.” He snapped his fingers. “I have it! All we need to do is—”
Is . . .
Gretchen drummed her fingers, waiting for an idea—however stupid—to come to her.
And waited.
And waited.
Damn it. Nothing. She consulted the outline she’d turned in to her publisher. The storyline with the Vifraxans in danger was a new one and not included. Damn it, damn it.
She was stuck. She supposed she could backtrack a few chapters and delete the subplot and move back to the original storyline, but if she did, she’d lose an entire day’s worth of work.
She continued to drum her fingers, thinking. The trunk of letters lay open, waiting for her to turn to them, but she’d promised Kat that she’d try and knock out the rest of Astronaut Bill. Her gaze swung to her purse, where her phone hung out of one side.
An idea wormed its way into her head. Even though she knew she shouldn’t, Gretchen pulled her purse into her lap and began to dig through its contents.
A few minutes later, she had what she was looking for, and smiled. In the corner of one back pocket was an individually wrapped condom. Expiration date? Not until next year.
Hot damn.