The same shy guy who’d asked if we wanted to go for dinner was there too. To make his day, Asher and I posed, both of us kissing one of his cheeks, crushing him between us. He couldn’t have smiled wider.

Some people asked us to sign their book covers, and there were a bunch of people with postcard-sized images of us that had been featured in a few teasers. Jay had informed us earlier that they’d given them away during the signing by the hundreds.

We signed a lot of those little cards, some T-shirts, bookmarks, and one woman’s Ender and Elliot calendar she’d made for herself. Most requested that we sign our real names, while a few asked that we use the characters’ names. It was cute and exciting.

After we’d entertained for over an hour and a half, Jay announced his intention to shut the event down. The line had dwindled, but there were easily fifty or more people left. Asher and I shared a look and shrugged.

“Let’s finish up,” I said to Jay. “Close the doors so we don’t accumulate more people, but we’ll take care of the ones who’re in line. They’ve waited a long time. It’s only fair.”

So that was what we did.

We finished in time to take a quick reprieve in our room and get ready for dinner. We bounced from one activity to the next.

In our room, Asher shed his tux since we weren’t required to wear them for the meal. Standing in his underwear, he stared at his reflection in the bathroom mirror while I dressed in something a little more casual in the large bedroom.

“You okay?” I asked, tucking my dress shirt into my slacks.

“Yeah. Just thinking.”

“About?”

“Later tonight.”

“Oh. Something bothering you about it?”

He didn’t respond. When I caught his eyes in the reflection in the mirror, I noted the grooves in his forehead were deep trenches. I abandoned getting dressed and went up behind him, wrapping my arms around his middle and resting my chin on his shoulder, watching him in the mirror.

“If you can’t do this, I won’t judge you. We owe them nothing. We’ll tell them we changed our minds. Nothing to it.”

“No. It’s not that. I don’t care that they’re coming to watch. I’m not self-conscious like that. It’s … the other stuff. What you’re gonna do to me. I just…”

I kissed his bare shoulder. “You know I’ll be gentle, right?”

“I know. Atti?”

“Yeah, baby.”

He flinched then scowled. “I’ll throat punch you if you don’t stop calling me that. I swear to fucking God. I’m not your baby.”

I laughed, my chest vibrating against his back. “Noted. What did you want to say?”

“Thanks.”

“For what?”