Chapter 2

Aurora woke from her two-hour nap. Tuesday was her night off from work, so she didn’t sleep all day like she did on a workday. However, she had found if she didn’t take a nap in the late afternoon, she’d fall asleep during her writers group. It only took a couple of Sleeping Beauty jokes to make her determined to never let that happen again. So now she was up and refreshed.

She wanted to tease her writer friends before group tonight, and she still needed to post her amazing encounter on her FB page and in some reader’s groups. Including the Citizens of Phantom Horse reader’s group. She forwarded the photo of her and Rob to all writer friends with, “Look who I met today and talked into coming with me to group tonight!!!”

Since the other four writers were all women, she got back, “Hot guy, who is he?” “He’s cute. Should we know him?” Jan texted her, “He’s cover ready, but the group is not a place for dates. Is he a writer?”

She grabbed her copy of the book and flipped it open to the title page where he’d signed it. She read it before she snapped the picture. “Princess Aurora, it was a genuine pleasure having coffee with you today. Maybe we’ll meet again ‘Once Upon a Dream.’ If you ever need a Prince to come rescue you from an evil witch who put a sleeping spell on you. My lips stand ready for the task. R.G. Donovan (Rob).” The man was truly a romance author through and through. She snapped the picture and typed the following message with the text. “Here’s a hint, Chica’s.”

Which quickly followed answers of, “OMG! So jealous!” Followed by Jan’s, “That’s acceptable; I stand corrected and jealous.”

Then she emailed herself the picture and the cover, sat down with her laptop, and put them both in an album on FB and captioned it. “Look who I had coffee with today! He was even nice enough to sign my copy of Phantom Race. Thanks, R.G. Donovan.”

That lead to a slew of comments and she answered questions about their encounter when one comment caught her eye. “Are you the Disney Princess he was talking about on his author page a bit ago?”

She jumped over to the R. G. Donovan author page and, sure enough, he’d posted a picture of Princess Aurora with the caption. “Met the real-life Princess Aurora at my favorite coffee shop today. She’s even sweeter and prettier in person.”

That comment did things to her in all kinds of interesting places. She couldn’t wipe the smile off her face. She remembered she needed to text him her address, and then thought to ask him about group tonight.

“Hey Rob, if you want to share a chapter for critique tonight, email it to me and I’ll forward it to the group. We do that to help not kill the rainforests. One of the baristas has become sort of an eco-warrior, so we try not to do hard copies. It gives her fits.” Then she gave him her email and real-life address.

He texted back, “I’ll share the chapter that I’m stuck on in a WIP. I had put it aside because of writer’s block. Maybe you and your friends can help me jumpstart it.”

She thought about suggesting the seven-sentence sprint trick for writer’s block. However, she figured he already knew that trick. Jan had shared it with her, said an author named Janelle Daniels shared it a few years ago. But Janelle said she learned it from a workshop or conference or something. He’s an actual author. He probably knows all the tricks for getting past writer’s block. She hadn’t even published her first manuscript yet.

She would not think about that, instead she was going to get a shower and figure out what to wear that would scream, “kiss me” to Rob. While not screaming, “I’m trying to get kissed” to her friends. That was going to be a challenge. Nevertheless, she was up for it. Both the challenge and the kiss. After all, according to him, his love was her Happily Ever After. She wanted to see if that was true.

First to check her email and send her chapter to the group and forward his as well. She wouldn’t send him everyone’s, but would make him share her iPad screen with her tonight. Getting him that close to her, along with her signature scent, which her mom had made for her at the cosmetic show last year, should get her that kiss.

With that, she hit the shower. Time to chase her Happily Ever After.

*****

Rob smiled at the text he got from Aurora. She was sweet and funny. And if his heart wasn’t already beating a mile a minute, it would be just from thinking about getting to spend time with her. In the six years he’d been writing and publishing, he’d never faced a blockage like this. Nothing he wanted to write would come except for the story he’d started based on his chance meeting with Aurora. “Love at the Coffee Shop” was pouring out of him like the Java leaving the pots at Java Cupid. Somehow, the pretty Disney Princess with Bubblelicious colored lips sparked his inner muse. That excited him almost as much as the thought of tasting those lips did.

He shot her an email with the chapter he was stuck on. He didn’t have high hopes for this writers group. Most of the ones he’d been involved in were just newbies stroking each other’s egos, and nothing constructive ever came of them. However, he wasn’t really going there to get help. He was going to spend more time with Aurora, and hopefully get that kiss he so desperately wanted.

Uploading the cover of the next Phantom Horse book to his tablet, he was sure that she would be thrilled to get a sneak peek before anyone else ... He then went into his closet to pick out some clothes that were a bit more flattering than what he’d worn to Java Cupid that morning. A gray, long-sleeved, three-button T-shirt that fit snugly across his shoulders and chest, paired with tight jeans and polished cowboy boots, was his choice. He wouldn’t wear his usual Stetson and leather vest that he wore when attending book signings or meet-the-author events. He just wanted to entice the pretty princess to give him a few kisses before their date ended. After a quick shower and a fresh shave, he dressed and was ready to impress.

With a half-hour to spare before he needed to pick up the princess, he swung by his florist and picked up a dozen pink roses. The good thing about being a romance writer was he’d done his homework on how to woo a woman. Truthfully, he hadn’t had to woo a woman for a while, thanks to his popularity as a man who wrote romance. He’d actually had to hire a female assistant to help extract him from unwanted attention from readers at conventions and author meet-and-greet events.