Author's note: This was written for the Literotica
750 Word Project 2023
. It's supposed to be exactly 750 words. Hope you enjoy it anyway.
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At the second book signing, she looked familiar to him. At the third, he was sure: she was following him around the country while he promoted his latest thriller.
"You again?" he asked when she handed him a ninth copy of his book to sign.
"I'm your biggest fan!" she gushed. "Make it out to Lovely, okay?"
And she
was
lovely: late twenties, bookish, built. She seemed knowing, laser focused—not crazy. The crazy ones always smelled bad.
He signed and handed it back, jovial but wary.
"What do you do with all your copies?" he asked.
"Signed first editions? They'll be really worth something when you die."
His publisher hadn't budgeted for security—they barely budgeted for hotels—but soon a bodyguard went where he did.
Three cities later, she slid into his corner booth in the moody hotel restaurant.
"Hiya," she grinned, eyes boring into his.
He forced a smile while desperately searching the room.
Touching his hand, she said, "Your goon wakes up in about six hours, if I guessed his body weight right."
"Listen..." he said, wishing he'd order the steak with its knife.
"I only want to talk! They won't let me into your seminars anymore."
They talked. She knew all about his divorce, even what the press hadn't covered. She knew his books weren't selling anymore and his publisher threatened to dump him.
She pulled out a printed copy of his work-in-progress, though it existed only on his laptop. In the margins she'd crammed astounding ideas, turning his flaccid story edgy, raw, sexy—like his writing had been once.
"I can't write," she said. "but I'm good at ideas. Structure. Tension. You write beautifully! You'll be remembered forever. It's just your well is dry. Let me fill it! Let me help! But first I need you to fill me."
Something dug into his side. What she held was more serious than any steak knife.
In his room, cuffed naked spread-eagled on the bed, she hovered over him, admiring.