Total pages in book: 131
Estimated words: 130255 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 651(@200wpm)___ 521(@250wpm)___ 434(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130255 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 651(@200wpm)___ 521(@250wpm)___ 434(@300wpm)
“Is he all right?” She rushed into the kitchen, swinging the door open. “Winston! You little shit!” She returned to the living room, hugging him tightly, and buried her face in his fur. It only lasted for a second before she held him at arm’s length and glared at him. “Do you have any idea how long I’ve been looking for you? Do you know I’ve been through hell and back for the last ninety minutes searching for your dumb, fluffy arse?”
Winston said nothing. He merely hung there in her grip while I watched on, more than a little amused.
“You stupid thing,” she murmured, pulling him back into her body. He meowed and wriggled until she had no choice but to let him burst free.
Winston landed on all four paws, shook out his fur, and shoved his arse in the air in an excellent imitation of the downward dog to stretch before trotting out of the room without a care in the world.
Ellie slowly turned to look at me. “You’re sitting at my laptop.”
“Cleverly observed,” I said, relaxing back into the leather chair. “Purely by accident, I can assure you.”
She raised her eyebrows. “Did you trip and fall into the chair?”
“I did. It was seeing my name in the title that tripped me up.” I cast my gaze over her face, but she didn’t even twitch. “Naturally, I was intrigued.”
“It’s rude to read someone’s private documents. Not to mention that’s a first draft and full of mistakes.”
Slowly, I nodded. “I did notice a few typos. There are a couple of paragraphs in third person in there, too, so you should probably check on that.”
“Oh, my God!” She reached out and waved her hand through the air as if she was going to swat my arm before pulling back. “You can’t just read that! That’s my work!”
I ran my tongue over my top lip. “Then don’t put my name in your title. I must say, I did enjoy it. You seem to be quite the fan of the hero.”
Ellie folded her arms across her chest. “I have no idea what you’re insinuating.”
“Let’s see.” I turned around and reached for the mouse, but she darted forwards and grabbed it away from me. “It’s a laptop. There’s a trackpad.”
“Shit!”
I scrolled back to the point where the heroine described the hero. “Ah, here we are. ‘He was exactly as I remembered. He was tall, and he towered over me by a good few inches, even though I had heels on. His jet-black hair was a stark contrast to his bright blue eyes, and when his gaze met mine, a jolt of nerves shot through me and set my stomach on fire with butterflies. His lips curved into a smirk, as if he knew what that fleeting moment had done to me, and the smug, arrogant aura that surrounded him reminded me why I’d given him the nickname The Duke of Arseholery.’”
Ellie cleared her throat, and her cheeks were the kind of bright red that was usually reserved for embarrassed teenagers. “I’m glad you liked it. Now, if you don’t mind, I’m already behind on my word count for the day so I’d appreciate if you could leave me to it.”
I spun around again. “So you watch porn to get inspired for your sex scenes—nice touch with the library, by the way—and apparently your hero bears a striking resemblance to me. Anything you want to share?”
“I can assure you it’s purely coincidental. I already knew what my characters looked like before I started writing.”
“Didn’t you come here because you had writer’s block?”
Her throat bobbed as she swallowed. “I did. But I keep ideas and character descriptions in a folder in my drive and go through them when I need them.”
I stared at her. “And the one you chose is one who looks like me? Who’s a duke? And owns a house that looks like mine with a library that’s almost an identical match to mine?”
“That’s what a coincidence is.” She shifted, adjusting how she had her arms folded over her body. “Now, like I said, I have to write, so—”
I got up and walked over to her, cutting her off by cupping her chin. She swallowed again, and I tilted her head back until she had no option but to meet my gaze.
“I don’t think that’s all a coincidence,” I said in a low voice, stepping closer to her. “Change the hair colour of your protagonist, and she’s you, Ellie. So that’s a heroine just like you, and a hero just like me, with a setting just like Windermere. Still think I’ll buy that it’s a coincidence?”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
ELLIE
Oh, Shit
“You’re so full of yourself.” I shoved his hand away from my face and walked to the laptop where I closed down the lid.
Shitty shit shit.
How was I supposed to get out of this one?