Page 446 of Seasons of Love
I opened the backpack and brought out a box with a chopped mango I got in the market first thing this morning.
“How did you become a writer? Was it something you always wanted to do?”
“I guess talking about my grandmother is a boner killer,” I chuckled.
Jake bit his lips as if to stop himself from laughing and gestured for me to continue.
“Okay…let me see if I can give you the short version. I always loved reading, and as a kid, I used to make up stories a lot. My grandmother made me write them down because she was afraid that if I kept saying them aloud, I’d get in trouble.”
“Why’s that?”
“Let’s say that making up a story about the next-door neighbor and the mailman going on an adventure in a hidden room inside her house would cause all kinds of trouble with her husband.”
Jake snorted.
“So anyway, by the time she was sick with cancer, I was already living with her. My mom had died a few years before, so it was just us. I started by reading her the books she liked, but she got bored with them and told me to write her a real romance. One where she could imagine someone like me having a happy ever after. So I did. I wrote three full novels before she died.”
“Did you publish them?”
“Not initially. I was too upset to publish them at first, but the practice of writing made it easier to write my first published romance. After I met Mal, I finally published the three books. They’re my Because I Love You series.”
Jake turned to me. “That’s the first series you wrote with poly characters.”
“Yeah.”
“And you wrote that for your grandmother?”
I smiled. “I added the sexy parts after if that’s what you’re wondering. But yeah, even though she didn’t believe that a happy relationship between three or more people was possible, she didn’t want me to stop believing in it myself.”
“She sounds like an amazing woman.”
“She was.”
Jake gazed back at the ocean and was quiet for a moment.
“I’m scared.”
I took his hand, not caring in the least if anyone walked and saw us. If there was one thing I couldn't stand, it was watching one of my men hurt.
“What scares you?”
“That this thing between us won’t last because I’m already in way too deep. That it could last, but that the world isn’t ready for us. That we might have to hide, or worse, that we won’t be able to hide.”
“Hey, hey, take a deep breath, baby.”
I heard a rustling noise, so I let go of his hand, thinking someone was walking nearby, but when I looked around, I saw it wasn’t a person.
“Look, baby. We have a curious visitor.”
I hadn’t come across many of the island bunnies because they lived mostly on the side of the resort and into the grassy area beyond, so it always amazed me when I saw them come so close.
“Oh, that’s Jake.”
“Huh?”
“I didn’t name him,” Jake grumbled.
The bunny stared at me. “I can see the resemblance. It’s the big blue eyes.”
