“Maybe my assistant could do with a little harassment. Maybe then my caramel lattes wouldn’t be so few and far between.”
“You had a latte half an hour ago, you little minx. I’ll show you harassment.”
With that he slid his hand up my jawline and covered mymouth with his. Just as I was getting lost in the kiss, I heard a sharp tap on the glass.
“Shit, Felix we forgot the blinds,” I squeaked, and he huffed out a frustrated sigh. I jumped when the sharp tapping started again and turned to see a furious Maddie standing outside the glass window to the office flanked by an amused Lottie and a curious Vicky.
“I guess we better get up,” he said reluctantly as Maddie wrenched the door open.
“Honestly, Felix,” Maddie snapped, steam practically coming out of her ears. “You guys canoodle 24-7. Do you have to when the entire production team from Netflix is boiling their arses off in the next room?
With no rush at all Felix lifted me up and moved us both to standing, taking my hand and then strolling to where Maddie was standing in the doorway. I groaned.
“Felix, please tell me that you’re not boiling those telly executives alive in there, you maniac?”
He shrugged, completely unrepentant. “I’ve no idea how long this meeting could go on for. I wanted you comfortable.”
“You’re impossible,” I said as we started towards the conference room.
“They’re on our turf, so I… Luce? You okay?”
I’d come to a sudden stop in the corridor. I could see the Netflix people through the glass. There were five of them. Five. Why did it require five of them to speak to little old me?
“Lucy?”
“I don’t think…” I whispered, shaking my head and taking a step back. “I mean, I just write silly stories about fairies and stuff. I can’t understand why anyone would…”
Felix moved to stand in front of me so that his large body was blocking my view of the conference room. He put both his hands on my shoulders to anchor me in place.
“Lucy, look at me,” he said, his voice firm.
I blinked and looked up at his handsome, determined face.
“Now you listen to me, Shakespeare,” he said. “Your stories take people to other worlds. They give people joy. They’re about good and evil, love and sacrifice. They are not silly. Understand me?”
I bit my lip. “Er… I guess?—”
“Theyneedyou. Not the other way around. Now we’re going in there to kick some streaming service arse and get you the deal you deserve with the control over it you want.”
“I just?—”
“Think how proud your dad would have been, Shakespeare,” he said softly. I closed my eyes and Dad’s voice echoed in my brain.
“Storytellers change the world, love,” he’d said. “There’s nothing as powerful as a good story told well.”
“Okay,” I told Felix, new determination in my tone as I squared my shoulders. “I’m ready.” Felix smiled at me and then gave me a brief, hard kiss before we both headed into the meeting. When I looked up it was to see all the eyes in the conference room fixed on us through the glass. Maddie rolled hers. But I didn’t care. I was the keeper of stories and if I wanted to kiss my husband before a meeting then I would.
“Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen,” Felix said as we walked into the room. “This is Lucy Moretti, pen name LP Mayweather, and I will be assisting her today.”
Four years later…
Felix
“Get. Off. Legolas. Now!” Bea stamped her foot as she glared at her twin brother. One of her bunches was higher than the other, she had her hands on her hips with her short, chubby legs braced wide as her dark brown eyes flashed with fury.
Legolas had found his calling as an entertainer for our three-year-olds. He would happily trot around the village and the estate with either one of the twins on his back. But both Henry and Bea very much considered Legolas theirs, and there was a little too much of me in both of them for either one to concede defeat.
“Imma ride to Gramma’s!” shouted Henry, giggling hysterically as Legolas trotted off in the direction of my mother’s house.
