Page 123 of Whisper Sweet Nothings
“Damn. We’re impressive,” he said with a laugh. “But I do have the world’s best nanny helping me balance my life, so that makes a big difference.”
I chuckled. “We’re a good team, Archie.”
“The best team, beautiful.”
“Okay, I need to get going. I have a meeting with Laney, my agent, in an hour. She said she has a lot to go over with me today.” I stood up.
He came around the desk and kissed me. “Have a good meeting, beautiful.”
He took my hand and led me out of his office.
“Where are you going?” I asked.
“I’m walking my woman to her car.”
I’m here to say that chivalry does not only live in the pages of a fictional book.
He helped me into the car, reached over and buckled my seat belt, and then kissed me again.
Normally, I liked to be independent. I would never have let Jaden buckle my seat belt, nor would he have wanted to.
But with Archer, I liked the way he cared for me.
The way he paid attention to my needs.
I had more needs than I’d ever realized, because I’d been so used to taking care of myself.
Archer had taught me that just because I could do something on my own didn’t mean that Ihadto do it on my own.
And I liked doing things for him as well.
No one was keeping score. It just came naturally.
“See you at home later,” he said as he closed the door.
I drove the short distance back home, where I put a roast in the slow cooker, tossed in some laundry, and then sat down for my Zoom call.
“Hey,” Laney said. “I’ve got big news for you.”
“Okay. I’m here for all the big news.”
“First off, the preorders forWhisper Sweet Nothingsare off the charts. The reviews coming in from early readers and all the shares, they’ve just magnified things. Apparently a few TikToks have gone viral, and needless to say, the publisher is absolutely thrilled.”
“Oh, that’s amazing. Great news. I’ve seen a big uptick in sales on my dashboard for the first two books.”
“Yes, they said the print versions are flying off the shelves faster than they can stock them.” She clapped her hands together twice before continuing. “They’ve had a ton of stores reach out, and they want to extend the tour.”
“Extend the tour? What does that mean?”
“It means everyone is hustling to get you some graphics, assuming you agree to a three-week tour.” She shook her head and smiled. “They want you to add New York, Philly, Virginia, North Carolina, and a few Midwest cities, including your hometown of Chicago.”
My heart raced. “What? I’d be doing all of that on this tour?”
“Yes. And I’ll be going with you for part of it. If you agree to the itinerary I just sent over, we’ll get things booked. They have a few news stations that want to have you on as well. So it’s going to be a ton of PR for this release. This is so exciting, Winnie,” she squealed. “Why do you look like a deer in headlights?”
I laughed. “No, I’m just caught off guard. This is amazing. Very surprising and exciting, and of course, yes, I’ll make arrangements to get things covered here. I’m on board with whatever they want to do.”
My stomach was in knots. This was incredible news, but I was also nervous about being gone that long.
