Meet and Greet
Chapter 4

Making the jump from fan fic writer to published author had been surprisingly easy.In fact, Kimmy didn't really have to do anything because an editor for a small e-book publisher approached her after reading Deny Nothing and practically begged her to write something original.At first,she shrugged off the idea;she didn't think gay erotic romance was something people actually read. Yeah, sure, her fan fic storiesgot a ton of feedback, but who really bought that sort of stuff? Then she started doing her research, and it turned out there was a huge market in erotic romance,particularly in e-books.All pairings,too. Hell, multiple pairings, if she were up to that sort of thing. Which she wasn't.Give her two sexy guys and she could get 'em together, no problem.But three or four or more,with a few women thrown in for good measure, and robotsand werewolves and vampires...that wasn't exactly her cup of tea.

So when the editor wrote back again,cajoling her to try her hand at something original,Kimmy thought, Why not?The secret was her first published story wasn't exactly“original,”per se.She was so out of practice writing her own characters—and she knew her fandom so well,lived and breathed her paranormal investigators, knew them inside and out-that she wrote the"original"story as fan fic first but didn't post any of it online. Then she changed the names of the characters, changed their jobs,too,and switched up their features so no one who read it would find anything the least bitfamiliar about them.She submitted it to the editor with baited breath,sure someone would call her out on what she'd done.The editor obviously knew her fan fic,right?If anyone were to notice...

But no one did.

She woke the next morning with a gushing email in her inbox,an impressive-looking contract attached.As it was printing out,she knew her fan fiction days were behind her. Why write free stories when she could finally get paid to do what it was she always wanted to do with her life? She was so close to being what she'd dreamed of being when she❝grew up.”

In a way it was sad,but she knew she'd never really leave her characters behind.There would be a part of them in every couple she wrote,and if her fans followed her,they would be able to see glimpses peeking through in each story. At least, that's how she felt about her writing, and though she didn't hear from all of her readers, she knew Darryl felt the same.It was one reason why she looked forward to his emailsso much.If anyone"got"her,it was him.

****

Over dinner, Kimmy finally got the chance to learn more about Darryl and Scott without having to hear about how good her stories were every two minutes, though Darryl still managed to sneak in a few compliments when he could.It was flattering,to say the least, but it got old after a while.Even though she was only a small-time author,published by an electronic publisher and earning royalties on a quarterly basis—no six figure advances or worldwide book tours for her,that was for sure-Darryl's praise made her feel as if she should be rubbing elbows with Stephen King and Margaret Atwood at the next Pulitzer Prize awards ceremony,or something. Hell, she wasn't that big of a name. The only thing in six figures was her sales ranking on Amazon.com.

So she asked how the guys had met instead.Fortunately Darryl was just as passionate about Scott as he was about her stories,and once the question was out there,he ran with it.

"You know I'm in IT," he said, which she didn't but she nodded anyway to keep him talking, "which gives me an excuse to check out all the best fiction sites online when I'm supposed to be working.Wink wink,right?I mean,I wrote the algorithm that blocks everyone else at the company from accessing any webpage that isn't on our intraweb,so I can hack through it and cover my tracks in my sleep. Not that anyonegoes around behind me " "Focus, Dare, "Scott muttered as he crunched into his second taco.

Darryl laughed."Right, right.Anyway, so one day I come into work and my boss is all like, the server's down, so I check it and first thing I notice is no,our server's working fine.It's just offline.Now we're using some local mom and pop IP setup at this point because some sales rep had come around and sweet talked my boss into a deal that sounded too good to be true.I mean,something insane,like fifty bucks a month for unlimited data,and this was in the age of dial-up,when cable was still pretty much science fiction."

Kimmy frowned at him as she tried to keep up with the story."What's this have to do with how you two met? Did you work there, too?" she asked Scott.

With a shake of his head, Scott told her, "This is sort of a long and involved tale.I'm not in it until the end."

"You know I don't like short stories, "Darryl joked."How many times have I written to you and said—"

Scott interrupted him again."Stay on topic,babe.Internet's down, local IP isn't working, what did you do?"

"Right."Darryl took a deep breath and another bite of his chicken chimichanga before continuing."So I get on the phone to call the provider only to find their number's disconnected."

Kimmy almost choked on her rice and beans."What?"

“I know,right?”Darryl shook his head. “The internet was working the night before when I left work—I'd read the next chapter you posted of Deny Nothing, which was up to fifty-six or fifty-seven by then.They were in the Arctic looking at ice samples,and there was this really hot sex scene in the tent even though they couldn't take off their clothes or they'd freeze because the temperature was like minus forty outside—” Scott warned."Do you want me to tell the story?"

Darryl laughed again.“No,sorry!Anyway,called again,phone's out of service.Since it's a local business,I decided to drive on over to see what had happened,because it wasn't too far from our office.Only the moment I pull into their lot,I know something's up because there's a crowd of people outside.Like a freaking mob.I ask someone what's going on and find out the assholes apparently closed up shop without warning.Door's locked,windows are all soaped up,andnot only is ther an eviction notice taped to the front door,but before I left,a police officer showed up with a court orderfor some sort of summons or garnishment.Like,holy shit,right?"

Nonplussed, Kimmy grunted in surprise."That was it?"

"Took our money and ran,"Darryl said."I mean,literally.We'd just paid the next month in advance, too. When I got back to the office, my boss was pissed."

She glanced at Scott."So where do you come into all this? Don't tell me you worked for this fly by night outfit?"