Chapter 2

When I die, I want my epitaph to read: “Everything went better than expected.” I don’t want a life that will be talked about for generations, or a life of misery. I just want a life in that nice Goldilocks zone in the middle. That is the polar opposite of Paul. He always has to push the envelope, be a pioneer, create the next big thing. To his credit, it’s worked out great for us; I make a decent living myself, but we could both sit around the house all day for the rest of our lives without thinking about money ever again. But that doesn’t stop him from spending twelve-plus hours a day at his computer, tinkering away on his new creation.

I learned early-on in our relationship that he would come up with the Next Big Thing (TM) about once a week, like clockwork; the boy has more ideas in an afternoon than I have in a year. But occasionally I’ll realize that I haven’t seen him for 36 hours and find him propped up on his desk, typing furiously away. That’s where he is right now, and I know better to interrupt him when he’s like this. Instead, I run down to the kitchen, make him a quick plate with one of the burgers I just cooked, and put it on his desk quietly.

He sees me put it down and spins his chair around, his characteristic, exhausted grin breaking across his face. “Thank you, lovely! I’m sorry, I’ve been in my own little world all day. You will not believe the shit I’ve got in the works.”

“I know how this goes. Just message me if you need anything, okay?” I give him a kiss and wander back to my office to relax for a bit. I pop open Facebook and see a dozen notifications; not common for me. Turns out, all but one are from that Dani Collins fan group. Having never heard of her before Erica loaned me her first book, I didn’t realize just how big – or at least rabid – her fanbase was. I couldn’t help but feel like an outsider, having just found out about her now; I hate feeling like I’m at a disadvantage in joining a social group, and it made me hesitant to really jump in.

However, most people who joined the group seemed to write an introductory post to say hello to everyone else, so I figured I should do the same. It took me close to an hour to write two tiny paragraphs, not because of the writing itself, but because I didn’t want to seem like a raving lunatic fangirl… even if that’s how I was feeling.

Hi Collective! I’m a new fan compared to most of you guys, but Erica got me into her recently and I’ve read every. single. thing. So that brings me here, with the other superfans. I’m still recovering from ‘Velocity’, so please take it a bit easy on me!
A bit about myself: I’m Sarah, an avid reader, a biotech researcher (just like Toni from ‘Out on a Limb’!), living in Denver with my boyfriend and four cats. I enjoy long walks on the beach and– woops, this isn’t my dating profile. I look forward to getting to know everyone, and thank you for letting me join. :)

It took all of about 30 seconds before the comments started streaming in from – seemingly – all over the globe. So many ‘welcome’s, I could hardly keep track. A few people jokingly warned me about the risque nature of the group, and a few others apologized for Erica having subjected me to “us weirdos.” I couldn’t have felt more at home!

Things began to slow down pretty quickly, so I figured it was as good a time as any to walk away from the computer, lest I be glued to my screen any longer. I pushed away from my desk and walked towards the door to the hallway. As soon as I cracked the door, Paul’s snoring echoed its way to me. I walked over to his office and glanced in, to see him there with his head laying on his hands, neatly clasped together on his desk, cuddling his keyboard.

I could hear him mumbling something unintelligible to himself as I walked up to him; the more tired he was, the more likely it became that he would end up talking in his sleep. All it took was a light nudge and he woke with a start, turning to face me. “Did I say anything embarrassing?” he said, slurring his words as he wiped the drool off his mouth with the back of his hand.

I chuckled and couldn’t help but think back to his ramblings about his mother fighting a dragon, a few nights ago. “Not this time, sleepybutt. Let’s get you to bed.” He nodded and followed me to our room. He stripped out of his clothes and fell into bed. I leaned over and gave him a gentle kiss and quietly told him, “sleep well and sweet dreams and I’ll see you in the morning. Love you.”

He barely got the words “love you too” out, before promptly passing out again. As I walked to the bathroom and stripped down, I heard his snore-mumbles begin again and smiled at his peaceful form. Reaching into the shower to start the water and get it nice and hot, I began thinking of one of the sex scenes in Velocity, the book I was rereading at the moment. I’m not sure if the girl was just very tiny or her boyfriend was super strong, but either way he managed to lift her up and press her back against the shower wall as they made love.

As hot as the idea was to me as I shampooed my hair, the reality of shower sex was far, far less appealing. I remain impressed by the sheer fact that neither Paul nor myself ever broke anything trying to make it work. We’re both on the fluffy side, and Paul – having never done a day of real work in his life – couldn’t have lifted me if he tried, and he certainly had. We’re both sexual creatures by nature, so we’ve done our share of experimenting. It hasn’t always been the best, but we’ve had a lot of amazing sex over the years and we seem to just keep getting better at it.

As I soaped up my body, my thoughts drifted from Paul to Dani. I couldn’t help but be curious about the author behind the words; I’d be lying to myself if she hadn’t turned me on like crazy at least a few times. What was she like? I didn’t even know what she looked like, how old she was, whether she was a mother, a wife. I really didn’t know anything about her. All I know is that, based on what she writes and how she writes it, she’s someone I might really click with.