Why not Wyoming? (Wyoming Wilds Series Book 1) by Anneliese Brand Page B

Finn sounded downright smug.
    “All I’m going to say is, it’s about damn time!” 
    “Yeah right,” Annie scoffed, still waiting.
    “What else is there to say? It’s long overdue. You’re a young,
vibrant, beautiful woman. Batteries shouldn’t have to suffice!”
    “Nothing else to say, but yet, you keep talking,” Annie said
dryly.
    Finn ignored her.
    “So, how serious is it? You said you didn’t come home. Are you really
planning on staying in the Cowboy State?”
    “I haven’t even known him a week. I think it’s a little
premature to be calling movers.”
    “But you’re thinking about it.”
    It didn’t sound like a question when Finn said it and,
truthfully, it wasn’t. She was thinking about it.
    “I have to come back. My book launch is Friday afternoon.”
    “You don’t sound too damn happy, kiddo. Is that what you
thought I was calling about?”
    “Yeah.”
    “You know this is your best yet, right?”
    “So you tell me,” Annie said watching CJ swing down off the
tractor.
    “Not just me. The suits are buzzing. You know they don’t do
these launch parties for hardly anyone anymore. They know this is going to be
big. Why do you think they insisted on sprucing up your back catalog? When your
name hits the big time they want to be ready to capitalize.”  
    “I know, and I know a lot of people have worked their ass off
for me.”
    “This is about you, not them.”
    “You’re one of the them .”
    “I’m your friend. Besides, no one is going to see me at the
grocery store and scream, oh my God! You’re that editor!”
    Annie buried her face in the arm of the couch.
    “If anyone does that to me, I’m going to die.”
    “Makes a move to mountaintop nowhere Wyoming sound pretty damn
good doesn’t it?”
    “You have no idea,” she mumbled into the leather.
    “I know you. So I kind of do.”
    A door opened somewhere beyond the kitchen. Probably the
maligned mudroom.
    “He’s back. I need to go. You’re going to be at this thing,
right?” she asked, praying for one friendly face.
    “We’ll be there. It’s only an hour drive, but the hubby is
spoiling me. We’re staying the night. You know what that means?”
    Annie shook her head with a groan. “Hotel sex.”
    “I knew my favorite romance writer wouldn’t fail me.”
    “Just make sure you leave the room long enough to attend this
thing so I’m not alone. Crystal is going to freak when she hears she missed my
first and probably last launch party.”
    “You’re going to be fine. Read an excerpt, answer a handful of questions.
Smile, shake hands and sign a few hundred books. Then, you’re out of there. Trust
me. You can do this.”
    “I hope it’s open bar.”
    “You, drunk in a room full of literary critics, book bloggers,
and VIPs. That I would pay to see.”
    “It’s either that or see if my aunt can hook me up with a couple
of Xanax.”
    Finn laughed, her gravelly delight bouncing off cell towers to
wrap around Annie like a favorite sweatshirt.
    “Get through the promotional poo-poo. Make a ton of money and
then you can go back to Wyoming and hide with your big game stud.”
    Annie watched CJ pour a cup of coffee and wrap his cold hands
around the mug. He smiled at her, raising the steaming brew in thanks.
    “That sounds like heaven,” she murmured. “I’ll see you Friday.”
    CJ walked into the living room as she tucked the phone away.
    “I didn’t mean to interrupt,” he said, sinking down onto the
couch next to her.
    “It was just Finn checking up on me. Besides, it’s your house.”
    “I told you to make yourself at home. Did you get something?”
he asked, nodding toward the coffee as he took a slow sip.
    “Not yet. I knew you’d be cold so I started a pot, and then the
phone distracted me.”
    “Finn’s your editor, right? No problems I hope.”
    “Good memory,” Annie said, shifting against his side. His arm
moved behind her. “ Mackinac Monday is long past the editing stage and my
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