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πππ ππππππ β writer, bookstore owner, divorced, mostly lonely. he writes one shot romance for a magazine & also writes successful suspense/noir novels under the pen name ππππππ πππππ.
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βOh, too bad, right ? Guess you'll be stuck with silly old me.β
He chuckled playfully, leaning forward to make the kiss easier for her. In a hum, he shook his head.
βOh, no. Or he'd want them. I want to keep all the kisses for myself.β
"Oh, okay."
Annie shrugged, signaling she'd respect his wishes - even if a little bit frustrated. Crowe was probably his favorite writer.
"Yeah, I was thinking of giving him a kiss in the cheek too. But I guess I'll have to kiss you again."
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He called her his archenemy, nemesis, the devil and whatnot, but it was never serious. He actually liked her of all people, because she was sincere and didn't cared about it.
"A little, yeah. But hey, I was born to be a failed writer." +
He started to speak his heart out when the pies arrived. Annie didn't even noticed them; her whole attention was on Lee.
The man seemed so fragile and so strong at the same time. . . Opening up to her, even if he was supposed to dislike her due to the reviews.
+
He chuckled softly, clicking his tongue as he watched her.
"Thank you, archenemy."
Lee spoke playfully, finally eating a piece of pie, smiling at her. +
"Well, why not? Contract stuff?"
Annie chuckled, baffled by such revelation. Of all people, Lee was the last she'd imagine had a relation with Crowe.
"Or you were afraid that I was. . . I don't know, Gonna stalk him?"
"Yeah ? And here I thought you'd make a good detective, the way you talked about him."
Lee smiled playfully, happy to hear her, even if he felt like he couldn't show it too much.
"Me ? Why ?"
"Yeah, he's really . . . Isolated, that guy."
Lee smiled, glad that he kept Crowe as a secret from his wife at the time. He already knew what she was doing, so he just cut her off completely. She could've used this against him now. +
"Well, I love them. . . I have been reading Crowe since his first book, actually; when I was dating my ex, he brought the first one home. He was his editor, but. . . He never even met Crowe. How crazy is that?"
Annie smiled fondly: Tucker Crowe's books were a nice
+
Still, he felt a fluttering in his stomach when she kept talking about his writing. It was painful for him to think about so many things, but it always felt so fluid that he kept doing it. He was glad about that. +
It as okay, she shouldn't quiet down her voice. He could take the harsh truth. Hell, he was used to.
"Huh."
Lee hummed, smirking at her words.
"No, I actually haven't, I didn't knew you read that guy. You don't seem like the mystery, noir kinda person." +
Seeing Lee being so sweet to her made Annie's heart feel warm - and a bit guilty. She shouldn't have been so harsh on him. Maybe, on his next oneshot, she'd choose nicer words.
"Yeah, Tucker Crowe. . ."
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He would appreciate that very much. Very, very much.
"Yes ?"
The man answered and smiled at her, in a shrug.
"Oh, yes. I do. Shouldn't have said that, but yeah."
Oh. . . If only Annie vould hear his thoughts. She'd give him an earful for thinking so low of himself; then, she'd kiss all of his fears away forever.
Now, however, she was very very wary of his behavior - quite strange in fact.
"Lee."
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Lee would like that very much β yet part of him believed he didn't deserved her or that she deserved someone better than the mess he was.
She was his archenemy, but she was nice, in the end.
βHuh ? What ?β
Lee answered, a little awkward and smiled shyly.
Annie thought of saying that, actually, he wouldn't need any of the work. She was more than willing to kiss him anytime, if Lee wished to.
However, when he mentioned Crowe's name - quietly, almost as if he didn't wanted to -, Annie's thoughts disappeared. She stood
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