Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 86799 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 434(@200wpm)___ 347(@250wpm)___ 289(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86799 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 434(@200wpm)___ 347(@250wpm)___ 289(@300wpm)
“That sounds great.” Like pinch-me level great. I can say a few French words, including bonjour, though, like Belle in Beauty and the Beast, I usually sing it. I can’t say anything in Danish. And I can only say ciao in Italian.
“Perfect,” Ramona says, then takes a beat before she adds, “Oh, and there are a few other authors doing this too. It’ll be a group tour.”
Makes sense. That’s expected these days. Maybe TJ has been asked. He’s written a few books set in London. We’d have the best time.
Only, he has a different publisher. Lancaster Abel probably wants to send someone from the same house.
“We’ll send Kennedy too,” Ramona says. “You two comp so well.”
I brighten. She’s always up for adventure. Can this day get any better? “Pretty sure she’s my long-lost twin,” I say. “Plus, her last book has the Danish hero. So, Copenhagen makes even more sense now.”
“That’s what we were thinking too,” Ramona adds.
Aaron squees. “I knew we had to tell you in person, Hazel,” he says, then grabs Cady’s shoulder. “Right?”
“So right,” Cady seconds.
“And,” Ramona continues, “Axel Huxley will be on the trip.”
My world grinds to a halt. “Axel?” I croak out.
Ramona’s gaze turns serious. She doesn’t know the details of our split, but she knows we didn’t finish our last book. Well, everyone knows that.
She tactfully explains their thinking rather than addressing the elephant in the room. “Most of his romantic thrillers are set in Europe.”
Damn my overeager brain. How did I miss that city in Spain hint? That was an anvil-sized clue that Axel would be a travel companion. His heroes have traipsed all over Barcelona and Madrid, not to mention Italy. The hero of The Perfect Lie—Jett—foiled the villain’s plot to hack into an international bank in Rome then captured the bad guy in the Trevi Fountain itself, tackling him in the water. Of course Axel will be going on a trip to Europe. Axel loves Europe. He took off for the fucking continent the day he walked out of the coffee shop when our partnership fell apart.
“Will that be okay?” Ramona asks with genuine concern.
A concern that tells me I can’t say no.
Yes, I do understand why the publishers are sending Axel, but I don’t understand why they’d pair us, knowing we’ve split. An hour-long Q and A at an expo is one thing. A seven-day, close-quarters train trip is entirely another.
Still, it’s not my place to say, It’s not okay because I can’t stand his smug face, and I also can’t stand how much he’s not smug.
“Totally okay,” I say, faking it once again.
Cady cheers. “I knew it! You two are just so fun together. Since the expo, everyone’s been talking about how well you two get along. It’s all the rage.”
“People are talking about us?” I ask.
Ramona nods, clearly enthused. “Readers kind of went wild over your…chemistry,” she says. “We surveyed them online, and the overwhelming consensus was they wanted the three of you together on a book tour. And since all three of you are with the same parent company, it seems like a fantastic mix.”
Great. Just great. Axel and I faked liking each other so well we’re now stuck together for seven stinking days on a train.
In Europe.
Can this day get any worse?
7
A HORROR VALENTINE
Axel
I. Freeze.
There’s no way my editor just said Hazel’s name.
I’m holding my cup of coffee at Doctor Insomnia’s Tea and Coffee Emporium, midair, imitating a statue. Am I fucking living in an alternate reality?
I stare at Linus like he’s not making any sense. Because he’s not. “Hazel…Valentine, as in the romance author?” I choke out, like there could be any other Hazel Valentine. Like there’s a sci-fi Hazel. A horror Valentine.
My editor nods in that serious way he always has. “The tacos. The subway ride. Readers dig it, Axel.”
That was a survival game so we wouldn’t spew vitriol onstage. But instead, we won a prize of hosting a VIP reader trip together?
Talk about being careful what you wish for. “Are you sure?” I ask, hoping he can read between the lines of my question.
As in…
Hello? We abandoned our last book like a patient left on the operating table, so why would you pair the two of us?
But they don’t entirely know what went wrong.
Hell, she doesn’t entirely know what went wrong.
We played nice then too. We didn’t let on. We didn’t tell anyone.
“You don’t want someone from Dunbar and Loraine instead? Like Saanvi,” I offer, thinking on my feet as if I’m in court. “Wouldn’t that make more sense to send me with someone from the same imprint?”
That’s a damn good argument. Linus has to be swayed by my logic.
“Dunbar and Loraine and Lancaster Abel are all owned by the same parent company,” he says, and that’s publishing for you. Hazel and I might be with different houses, but we have the same corporate big media parent, so we’re riding the choo-choo together in Europe.