A Novella MisTaken(30)

As they’d guessed, the item was a book. A familiar one at that.

“A Woman’s Education?” Andy read the title out loud.

“It’s the book.” Jay was more puzzled than before she’d opened the package.

“We can see that,” Andy said.

“No, it’s not a book; it’s the book.” It wasn’t exactly the same as the one she’d read from. The one that had sort of inspired her antics of the previous evening, not that she was about to admit it. This one was a smaller version of the same book, like the kind bought at grocery stores. But it was the same other than that. “We kind of got in a fight over it the other day. It’s an erotic story. You know, where the hero is all alpha male and the heroine’s submissive and whiney and … Well.” Jay’s usual rhetoric regarding the inferiority of women in these novels needed to be updated after her recent adventures in the bedroom. And/or the living room.

“She’s not whiney,” Lacy interjected. “She’s not really submissive, either. That’s just her role in the assignment that Mr. Holliday has given her in their sexual exploration class. Actually, she’s more of…” Lacy trailed off as she met her sister’s shocked expression. “What? I’ve read it. Obviously so has Mr. Sexy-No-Job. You haven’t, Andy?”

As interesting as it was to discover that equal-rights-supporter Lacy had read the book, Jay was more intrigued by Noah’s involvement. “But why does he have it? And why is it packaged up like this?”

“No idea. You could ask him.” Lacy sat forward and glared. “Except then you’d have to admit that you stole it from his closet.”

Andy shushed her sister. “You’re not helping. We need a plan.”

“I’m not trying to help, this is ridiculous! Your plans have a history of going awry, big sis.”

“Lacy, she’s struggling here. Be a little understanding.”

“Fine,” Lacy said with a huff. She nodded toward the book in Jay’s hands. “That’s the mass paperback edition. I don’t think that’s out yet. Let me look.” She grabbed her iPad off the coffee table and began swiping at the screen.

“You said there were more of them like this?” Andy asked.

“A whole box full.”

“Maybe he gives them away as gifts for some reason. And they’re packaged that way so that people won’t be embarrassed about getting an erotic novel.”

Hadn’t Noah said something about that same thing? He was a reader—he’d proven that—but it was odd that he had such a finger on the pulse of this particular genre.

“Yeah, that version doesn’t come out until next month. Then the sequel is out a couple of months later.” Lacy hugged the tablet to her chest. “I can’t wait for that one. N. Matthew is truly an artist with his words.”

“His words? The writer is a man?” Jay had assumed the author was a woman. She hadn’t even realized that men wrote erotica for women.

Lacy nodded. “That’s what it says in his bio, anyway. He lives in Boston, too.”

“He lives in Boston?” Too many coincidences. Jaylene was beginning to see the bigger picture. She swallowed, not quite believing that she was thinking what she was. “Do you know what he looks like?”

“I’ve never seen him. He doesn’t usually have a picture in his books. Maybe online…”

While Lacy typed away on her iPad, Jaylene flipped through the book. A scribble of black near the front of the book grabbed her attention and she turned back to find it. There, on the title page, in neat block letters were the words, All best. Followed by N. Matthew’s signature.

Neat block letters. Just like Noah’s handwriting.

“Oh, shit.” Lacy’s eyes were wide as she peered over her screen.

The exclamation echoed Jay’s own thoughts. Because oh, shit was exactly how she was feeling at that moment. The pieces fit together perfectly, but she still had to have confirmation. “You found a picture, didn’t you? It’s Noah, isn’t it?”

Lacy answered by flipping the tablet around so Andy and Jay could see it clearly. There he was—his bright smile, that floppy hair, his wicked eyes. Next to his picture, the headline of the article read: Bestselling author N. Matthew sits down for a rare interview.

Jay had to look away. She pinched at the bridge of her nose, her eyes closed, as she tried to fit her mind around this revelation. Noah was an erotic writer. Noah wrote books about sex. Noah wrote books about the very things that Jaylene had spent her life crusading against. It was one thing to say that what they did in the bedroom was private. It was quite another thing to promote it.