Author Spolight - Excerpt from "Perfect on Paper"

"Are you going somewhere?" he asked. "I don't want to keep you."

"No, it's ok," she said tossing her purse and keys back on the little table by the door. "I was mostly looking for a diversion. Come on in."

"I was afraid of being too early." Jake looked a little sheepish, and she couldn't help but smile back at his disarming face.

"I've been up and at it for hours. I'm an early riser. My best work is done before
breakfast."

"What kind of work did you get into this morning?" Jake asked. "Creative difficulties
resolved?"

"Hardly." She glanced guiltily towards the pizza. "I unpacked a few boxes and ate cold
pizza."

Jake looked over at the pizza box on the table, then back at Anne questioningly. "Well,
shoot. You left the restaurant hungry last night. That really wasn't the plan."

It was Anne's turn to look sheepish. Just for a moment, she hoped he didn't notice that the pizza box was now empty... There were some things a lady never revealed, and one of those feminine mysteries was her ability to devour pizza.

"I was bitterly jealous of your steak," she admitted.

"I wish I'd known. Seriously, this wounds my small town boy sensibilities."

"Don't worry about it." She waved her hand, dismissing it. "The pizza also let me drown
my sorrows a little bit."

"That is sort of why I dropped by." His warm, brown eyes met hers and he held her gaze.
"Are you ok?"

"Why do you ask? I didn't think pizza was a cry for help." She gave him a quirky smile.

"Not the pizza," he chuckled. "I just noticed that things seemed... I don't know, strained
towards the end of our..." His voice trailed away.

"Business dinner?"

"Business dinner. Did I do anything to upset you?"

*****

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