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about my parents and suddenly I went from normal to orphan girl in less than sixty seconds.
    “So your parents reached perfection on the first try?”
    “Something like that,” I said and we laughed together. “How about you?”
    “Well, I’m the youngest of five. I guess it took them a while to get their perfect child,” he said.
    “Or they just gave up hope,” I replied and shot him a sidelong glance. I had a pretty dry sense of humor, I hoped I hadn’t gone too far.
    “Did you just dis me?” he asked and put a hand up to his heart in mock horror.
    “Why yes, I do believe I did,” I said and wondered where this easy side of my chatter was coming from. I took a sip of my drink and tasted the bitter tang of alcohol. Ah, that’s right, it was the booze. The drink was making me witty and nonchalant enough to keep his attention.
    “I like that,” he replied and twisted his glass in his hand, “I like you.”
    Chloe was listening, hanging on our every word. She was pretending she was on her phone, on Facebook, but I knew she was dying to hear what was being said.
    Just then somebody cleared their throat in the mic at the guest of honor table and they began to talk.
    God, I couldn’t focus on what was being said, I just didn’t care. All I cared about was that I was living out my fantasy, sitting in the VIP section at the biggest book event in our city with the hottest man in the world.
    As they droned on making announcements about the food, drink, and dancing, I sipped at my vodka and cranberry until it was all gone. Drink number three, and I didn’t feel that bad.
    I was feeling sleepy though; the event had just taken a turn for the boring. I wished we could escape and go off somewhere away from the prying eyes and annoying crowds.
    Isaac rubbed his hand up and down the side of his glass and tried to appear interested. He seemed as restless as I felt though, his leg jumped up and down under the table and his ran his hand through his short, thick hair every few minutes.
    “I hate this part of these things,” I whispered to him, “this is why I’m usually home by now.”
    “You’re a smart girl,” he whispered back, “I’m afraid I get stuck at this part most of the time.”
    “There’s your problem right there,” I said, “you’re wanted by too many.”
    “You fly under the radar, love?” he replied, “I don’t know how you manage, with your sexy librarian thing going on.”
    “You’re the second person to mention that today,” I said, “I swear it’s not deliberate. I like to think of it more as crazy cat lady bookworm in training.”
    “You are hardly a bookworm or crazy cat lady,” he replied with a grin.
    “I said in training,” I told him, “I have a few years before I officially join the club.”
    “There’s a club?” he asked, his voice still a delicious whisper. God I loved his accent.
    “Oh yes, there really is. Once I’m accepted I will complete the initiation and they’ll send me my crazy cat lady starter pack.”
    “What does that include, love?”
    Oh, the way he said love, like he meant it. It made me believe he meant it. “It comes complete with my membership card, an old moth eaten cardigan, and ten kittens in a box,” I replied and watched his face light up. I almost giggled when he started to laugh.
    Chloe’s evil glare shut me down. She said, “Shhhhhh,” and made an angry face at me over Isaac’s shoulder.
    “Sorry,” I mouthed at her and turned back to the front of the room where somebody was handing out a golden dildo award for the hottest sex scene in a novel. I was excited to see the latest book with Isaac’s abs on the front was in the pack.
    When they announced it, Rebecca Hawk stood from the head table and grabbed the mic. She was clearly already a little tipsy and gave a hilarious speech about her writing. I barely heard a word though, Isaac had moved his hand to mine on the table and I could barely breathe.
    I wanted to lean back and sink