Over at the Evernight Readers Group page on Facebook, there’s a Flash Fiction Friday contest that features flash fiction written by Evernight authors for a specific prompt. This is a flash snippet from an MF contemporary romance story I’m playing with, about a cover artist and the photographer she falls for via email.

Lauren hung back, watching the crowds circulate through the bookstore. The thick clot of people around Nichelle’s table made her grin, and she could hear her friend explaining the story behind White Knight, Black Dawn‘s cover to a customer.

“Looks like a good crowd,” a familiar voice said behind her.

Her heart felt like it actually stuttered in her chest. She turned to see a tall, dark-haired man with glasses standing behind her, holding a copy of Nichelle’s book. Automatically, she looked at his hands.

Beautiful, strong and veined. The hands of a musician or an artist. Or a photographer. And a match to the hands on the cover.

“Alex?”

“Yup.” He moved closer, out of the way of passing customers. “I asked someone if you were here tonight. They pointed you out.” His hand reached for one of hers, taking and holding it. “I’m glad you came. I had my heart set on meeting you.”

She knew she was blushing like an idiot, and not just from the heat of his hand around hers. “But — I thought you lived in LA. Your area code–” Wincing, she shut her mouth with a audible click. Nice going, Miller. Way to sound like a stalker.

He grinned. “I was wondering why you never said anything about meeting up. No, I got the LA number for business reasons. I live here.”