Model Behavior

by Carter, M. E.

  I have no idea what Matthew and Calypso are up to tonight. When I asked, he got kind of shady about it, so I let it go. With any other man, that would have freaked me out. What I’ve come to know about my two favorite Roberts though, is it usually means they have some kind of surprise up their sleeve. A couple months ago, it was matching ugly Christmas sweaters for all, including the pets. The time before that, a pink and purple squirrel box for Sven to get used to before he was released and the box was nailed to a tree. The surprises are always random and each makes me smile. So I just bide my time until they’re ready to show me what madness they’ve come up with this time.

  Luke’s eyes suddenly roll in the back of his head and he falls over, asleep.

  “So much for any companionship,” I mumble, and gently place him back in his cage. At least I don’t have to worry about him falling asleep in a random place tonight. Last time it was on top of the fridge which I didn’t know until Matthew opened it and Luke fell on him.

  I may have laughed way too hard at how loud and shrill my boyfriend screamed.

  Matthew is much more comfortable with Luke now. And by comfortable, I mean he doesn’t automatically assume Luke is going to attack him anymore. But he still startles whenever he jumps. At this point I think Luke does it on purpose.

  I gather all the pet supplies in one pile, ready to put them away when a knock at the door distracts me.

  “Hmm,” I say to no one since I’m by myself. “I wonder if my little schemers are finally ready to share their latest idea.”

  Beating feet to the door because I’m always curious what they’re about to do, I swing it open and find Matthew and Calypso, fully decked out in the same Elsa and Anna costume they wore the first time I met them.

  I laugh because, come on. Matthew looks funny in drag. “What are you guys up to this time?” That’s when I notice they aren’t alone. And I don’t mean Olaf, who is also with them, although without a carrot nose. No, what makes this time different is the addition of Matthew’s parents. His mom is standing off to one side with a large box in front of her and his dad is on the other, holding up Matthew’s phone. That can only mean one thing—whatever is happening is live on Matthew’s social media. This is about to get interesting.

  Before I can think more about it, Meghan Trainor’s Dear Future Husband begins playing, the beat catchy. Then Matthew begins to shimmy. Badly.

  Now I’m really confused. And highly entertained because this dancing really is atrocious. The blond wig is barely holding on to his head as he twists and turns and pops his manly hips. I’m almost surprised the dress isn’t ripping open from all the random high kicks. RuPaul needs to give him some lessons on dancing in heels and glitter.

  As the song continues, Calypso dances her way to her grandma, clearly trying to keep in step with whatever pre-planned moves they’ve been practicing. She then turns and dances to me, handing me a bouquet of flowers.

  “Thank you, Sprite.”

  “Shh,” she reprimands. “No talking yet.” And then she dances away, but not for long.

  Through the entirety of the song while Matthew is shaking his groove thing, or at least attempting to, Calypso keeps getting more gifts from her grandma and bringing them to me—a bag of pecans, a signed JR Ward book (which almost made me scream regardless of the performance in front of me), a pizza…

  And then, as the song begins to wrap up, Calypso surprises me one last time by holding up a giant sign that reads, “Will You Marry My Daddy?”

  It’s right about this moment that I stop breathing. Yes, my mouth is open, but there’s nothing going in or out. I suddenly understand how people pass out at moments like this. Because no air goes in or out!

  Trying desperately to curb my internal freak-out, I focus on Meghan’s words as she belts out, “Buy me a ring. Buy, buy me a ring.”

  Ohmygod. This is really happening. THIS IS REALLY HAPPENING!

  As if he can read my thoughts, Matthew begins doing some weird cha-cha movement towards me, a huge grin on his face. His father is following his movement with the phone, and I can barely believe what is happening.

  Dropping down on one knee, Matthew pulls out a velvet box and opens it, presenting a princess cut diamond ring that I can’t see very well through the tears that have suddenly sprung up in my eyes. But I don’t care what it looks like. This moment is about so much more than a diamond.

  “Carrie, there is no one I want to publicly humiliate myself for more than you.”

  That makes me laugh and the squinting of my eyes forces the tears down my cheeks.

  “While this is a public declaration about wanting to spend my life with you, some things should be kept private, between the two of us. So I’m just going to ask one thing.”

  I nod vigorously, probably answering the question he hasn’t asked yet, but trying very hard to be patient.

  “Will you marry me? Be my wife and the person to tame Sprite’s unruly curls? Will you move in with us and bring your scary squirrel? Will you keep me grounded and make fun of the neighborhood gawkers every morning and let me show you every night why how they see me means nothing compared to how you see me? Will you say yes?”

  I take a deep breath now that the air is finally moving again and get ready to answer the most important question of my life. This man has proven to me over and over who he is and how he treats those he loves. And for some reason, reasons that are never real clear for any of us in situations like these, I’m one of those people.

  Finally feeling calm and sure, I smile. “Yes.”

  Calypso and Grammy cheer as Matthew stands up, slides the ring on my finger and goes to kiss me, the faint sounds of hundreds of social media notifications blowing up his phone in the background.

  Matthew leans in to kiss me but stops with an “ow.”

  “What?”

  “Maybe you should put the pizza box down first so it doesn’t jab me in the rib again.”

  Giggling, I toss all the presents aside, to hell with the thought that went into them. This moment is worth so much more than that.

  “You know that was more than one question, right?”

  “Is this how it’ll always be?” he asks, wrapping his arm around me.

  I meet him halfway and smile with a nod before his lips drop to mine. It’s gentle yet full of passion, every emotion expressed between us in the most earth-shattering, soul-scorching kiss. Sure, we keep it somewhat family friendly for the little eyes currently twirling around my yard.

  This moment. This relationship. This commitment.

  This man.

  It is everything I’ve ever dreamed of and more.

  He is my ultimate book boyfriend.

  And he’s totally getting laid tonight.

  The End

  Want to know more about Carrie’s friend Celeste and if she will ever meet her celebrity crush? Find out in Better than the Book by preordering here!

  Turn the page for a sneak peek.

  Better than the Book

  Carrie dances her way toward me, a huge smile on her face. Why wouldn’t she be smiling? She is marrying one of the most eligible bachelors in the world of cover models.

  Honestly, it still kind of blows my mind. I know I figured out she had a crush on him a long time ago, but it’s still hard to reconcile that my friend who has often shared very specific details of her latest book boyfriend, is marrying Matthew Roberts. The man who represents many of those same book boyfriends and is the leading man in many book nerd fantasies. It’s a little surreal.

  Throwing her arms around me, Carrie pulls me into a giant hug. “I’m so glad you could make it. It’s a long flight from New York City.”

  “Are you kidding? I wouldn’t miss this shindig. It’s like the hottest event in the book world right now.”

  “You think?”

  I look at her like she’s lost her mind and point at the couple Matthew is talking to. “Your cover model boyfriend, sorry fiancé, is chatting up best-selling author Donna More
no and NANA award winning narrator Hawk Weaver. Yeah. I’d say this engagement party is a big deal. By the way, why are the guys wearing those weird shirts?”

  Both Hawk and Matthew have on black T-shirts that are covered in what looks like pictures of boutonnieres. The only difference is Matthew’s says, “I am the groom” and Hawk’s says, “I am not the groom.”

  “That’s Hawk’s thing.” Carrie stares longingly at her fiancé. It’s kind of nausea inducing, to be honest. If she really does eat him up like her face indicates she wants to, I’m outta here. “He buys these ugly shirts for charity or something, and since Matthew loves charity as much as the next guy, he always requests one whenever they see each other.”

  She giggles. Carrie actually fucking giggles. People in love are so weird.

  Suddenly she gasps and grabs my arm. “Did you see what Matthew got me for our honeymoon? Tickets to Australia! Can you believe it?”

  “I actually can. I’d have to put a stop to this relationship if he didn’t realize it would be the perfect place to spend a couple weeks consummating your new marriage.”

  Carrie’s face turns a bright pink and my eyes widen.

  “Carrie Myers, you bad girl,” I chide playfully. “You gave up the goods already.”

  She flips her dark hair over her shoulder and tries to play off her embarrassment. “We are engaged. It’s almost like being married.”

  “Oh no it is not,” I say with a laugh. “But I’m not judging you. The whole point of your celibacy was to make sure the next man you were with was completely and utterly serious about you, no matter what. I think waiting for over a year to get in your pants and publicly humiliating himself to propose means Matthew’s pretty solid.”

  I shudder when I think of the dance I watched him perform for his proposal. He may be a decent dancer in pants, but in heels? Not so much.

  “Yeah. Oh hey,” Carrie blurts out shifting gears, “did you get your tickets for the con?”

  Taking a sip of my wine, I shake my head. “Nope. And I’m not going to try this time.”

  “Why?” she whines. “You’ve been trying to get there for three years. You deserve to go.”

  “Exactly. I’ve tried for three years and something always stops me at the last minute. I don’t feel like wasting the money just to be disappointed again.”

  “Disappointed about what?” a deep voice asks, interrupting our conversation. I guess I should give him grace. He is the groom to the bride standing next to me.

  Carrie wraps her arms around her man’s waist and proceeds to answer for me. “She’s been trying to go to the Prince of Darkness con for a few years and every time she buys tickets, she ends up having to cancel last minute.”

  “Because the universe doesn’t want me to go,” I insert, not that I’m bitter or anything. I’m more, trying to keep a silver lining or something.

  “Or it could be coincidence,” she argues back and turns to look up at Matthew. “She’s been a huge fan of Hunter Stone since she saw him in some off-off-Broadway show.”

  “Hunter Stone?” Matthew sounds confused, but I’m not sure why. Hunter is practically a household name these days. “I just had that cover shoot with him a few weeks ago. We hit it off. I bet I can just ask him for some.”

  He looks down at his phone, completely oblivious to the fact that my jaw has just hit the floor. Matthew knows Hunter? My blog partner’s fiancé is friends with my celebrity crush? How is this happening? More importantly, how did I not know this sooner?

  “Oh I forgot about that!” Carrie announces, and I throw my hands out.

  “You forgot? How could you forget about something like that? That’s like me forgetting that, that… that you have that weird squirrel or something.”

  “Luke is not weird,” she shoots back. “Just disabled. And I didn’t think about it because it was like a one-day job or something. Matthew didn’t even leave town.”

  I open my mouth to keep playing this tit-for-tat game with her, but Matthew speaks before I can argue.

  “Done. You have tickets to… hang on…” He zooms in while I blink rapidly a few times, in serious disbelief that this is happening. “Looks like it’s an all access pass to the event, all the pictures and one round-table of your choice. Will that work?”

  I’m not sure how it’s possible, but my jaw drops even further. I turn quickly to Carrie and point at her. “If you don’t marry this man, I will.”

  Pre-Order here to find out what happens next.

  Acknowledgements

  Megan A., Ally M., Marisol S., and Rachel G. Thank you for always giving honest feedback and making sure we don’t get too ridiculous (just enough to be the most fun authors you work with!).

  Kayla Ann. Thank you, for, your eagle eyes, and hard work, to find the lack, of commas. See what we did there? Really, thank you so much for taking the time to help us polish our words.

  Aly H. Thank you for your vast knowledge of Christmas and Hanukkah traditions. You saved us from looking more ridiculous than we do on our own anyway. If we made any errors it’s not your fault. It’s our parents for not being Jewish.

  Alyssa with Uplifting Author Services. Don’t forget to save that other font for the next book entitled “Because We Like This Font”. Thank you for always joining our level of insanity and never judging us for being “complicated”.

  Karen with The Proof is in the Reading. Thank you for giving us resource information. At least one of us read up on the Oxford comma. We likely won’t use it but we read it. (Or at least Andrea did.) We’re so sorry for all we put you through with Matthew’s sacrifice.

  Jennifer Van Wyk and Mary L. Thanks for not making us beg and indulging our neurosis to be our last set of eyes.

  Thank you cover models for all your hard work and smoldering looks. Please accept our sincerest apologies for any inappropriate ab touching you’ve experienced from romance readers (and authors).

  Bloggers. Just know we fangirl over you as much as you fangirl over us. Without you this book community would not be the same. Our wish for you is that you find your own Matthew, complete with abs.

  Wildlife Center of Texas. Thank you for saving all the animals, especially the baby Lukeys of the great state of Texas.

  It goes without saying, Carter’s Cheerleaders, Sassy Romantics, and Nerdy Little Book Herd, you all are the best readers and supporters around. We love you as much as Luke loves a pecan.

  We’ve forgotten at least three people in this section. None of you are surprised and if you are, you aren’t those three people.

  About the Authors

  M.E. Carter and Andrea Johnston are romance writers who share a love of the written word. Combining their sense of humor, beliefs in love, and sarcasm, this writing duo has joined forces to create the Charitable Endeavors series. With the sole purpose of bringing laughter and love to their readers while tapping into their charitable hearts, a portion of the release proceeds will be donated to charity.

  Other books by M.E. Carter

  Hart Series

  Change of Heart

  Hart to Heart

  Matters of the Hart

  Texas Mutiny Series

  Juked

  Groupie

  Goalie

  Megged

  Deflected

  #MyNewLife Series

  Getting a Grip

  Balance Check

  Pride & Joie

  Amazing Grayson

  Charitable Endeavors

  (Collaborations with Andrea Johnston)

  Switch Stance

  Ear Candy

  Model Behavior

  Smartypants Romance

  Weight Expectations

  Other books by Andrea Johnston

  Country Road Series

  Whiskey & Honey

  Tequila & Tailgates

  Martinis & Moonlight

  Champagne & Forever

  Bourbon & Bonfires

  Military Men of Lexington

  Promise Her


  Standalones

  Life Rewritten

  The Break Series

  I Don’t: A Romantic Comedy

  Small-Town Heart

  It Was Always You

  Charitable Endeavors

  (Collaborations with M.E. Carter)

  Switch Stance

  Ear Candy

  Model Behavior