With a content smile, Valerie leaned back into the cool leather of her desk chair and slipped her hands behind her head. She’d just finished writing an incredibly steamy scene between the hero and heroine of her next romance novel. The chemistry between the characters was explosive. She couldn’t wait to finish the book so she could pitch it to her agent.
Just the reminder of having an agent was enough to send her into a spout of giddiness. It had taken her two years, a handful of manuscripts and an untold number of queries, but she finally had one. And Vanessa Harrison was one of the biggest romance agents in the business.
They’d worked together for several months getting her book, Secret Lovers , ready for submission, and it had been out in the wind for the past two, landing on the desks of various editors in the business. So far she’d gotten four rejections, but Vanessa told her that was normal, and they were nowhere near down for the count yet.
Even so, not every book was going to be able to sell, even if the agent had a rep as stellar as Vanessa’s. Valerie had to constantly remind herself that editors’ desks were piled high with manuscripts, and that the majority of the ones who’d been sent hers probably hadn’t even looked at it yet. Surely one of them would fall in love with her work and buy it.
“Oh, stop,” she muttered to herself. “You’re going to worry yourself to death about this if you keep it up!”
Sighing, she turned back to her computer screen so she could lose herself in her characters once again. After all, if this book didn’t work out, she was going to have to have another one, because one way or the other, she planned to see her books in print.
~ * ~ * ~
Alex Stone strolled through the front doors of Random House’s New York office with a cup of coffee and a smile on his face. There was a bounce in his step as his long legs ate up the polished lobby floor, and he even greeted and chatted with his co-workers as he rode the elevator up to his office. Normally at seven in the morning he was still not quite awake, but he’d emerged from his bed with the same cheery disposition. Somehow, he just knew today was going to be a great day.
“Hey Cheri,” he greeted his assistant as he walked into his office. “Got anything new for me?”
Cheri rolled her eyes. “Are you kidding?” she asked as he sat down behind his desk and fired up his computer. “You’re one of the top acquisition editors for Random House. There isn’t a single day new submissions aren’t flying into this office.”
Alex arched his eyebrows. “No need for sarcasm,” he replied with a grin, as Cheri dropped an enormous stack of manuscripts on his desk. “Jesus. Are these really all just for today?”
“Actually, there are more. These are the just ones that show promise. I’ve got all the other ones on my desk,” she jerked her thumb toward a stack twice as high, “since as your assistant I get to do all the dirty work.”
He smiled at her with a look of sincere appreciation. “Thanks, Cheri.”
Cheri couldn’t help but smile in return. Alex was sinfully handsome but better yet, his personality was equally attractive and she was grateful to be working for him. A mom of five and with her husband currently unemployed, she needed the job more than ever.
“You’re more than welcome,” she replied warmly. Alex beamed as Cheri picked up her empty coffee cup and walked off. He immediately began flipping through the pile of manuscripts. Of course he doubted he would get to reading any of them today—he still had plenty to go through, as well as several projects he needed to finish marking up so he could shoot them off to their respective authors for edits.
“Alright,” he muttered to himself as he glanced through the titles. “Thriller, thriller, mystery, lit fic, crime, chick lit… a romance novel?” He pulled it from the stack. “ Secret Lovers by Savannah
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