The Bookworm's Guide to Dating (The Bookworm's Guide 1)

“I just told you.” His shoulders shook with his laugh. “Putting fictional things that make you love romance so much into action so I look like a nice romance hero.”

“Oh, yeah. I can just see you on the cover of some historical novel, shirtless, with long hair flowing like a majestic highlander.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. I’d be on one of those sex books on Amazon.”

“If you refer to romance novels as sex books again, we’re breaking up.”

“What should I call them?”

“Romance novels,” I said dryly. “You know, their name. What they are, instead of a derogatory term designed to diminish their place in society and the women who read them.”

“But they have sex in them.” I could almost hear his frown.

“It’s also a billion-dollar industry, and arguably the only one that truly empowers female writers. Usually, they’re dismissed as wannabe authors with no credibility and left to write under an alias with initials so nobody knows they’re female. Ironically, it’s also the most viciously attacked, and that’s probably because of the fact it’s primarily female led. If sex in a fictional novel bothers you, I’d like to introduce you to the porn industry which is far more questionable than novels about two consenting parties.”

Josh paused, shifting almost uncomfortably. “Well, that’s the last time I call them sex books.”

“Thank you. If you’d like a sex book, I’m sure I can find some in the non-fiction section in the store. Or, you know. Buy you a Playboy.”

“I haven’t used Playboy since—well, never.”

“Liar.”

He laughed again. “Okay, we’re off topic.”

“You got us there.”

“Anyway,” he said, steering the conversation back to where we were before our little detour. “I did some research about romance novels and the most popular scenes. And, I’ll have you know, rain kisses were one of the most popular kiss scenes.”

“Look at you, Mr. Romance.”

He dipped his head to meet my eyes, grinning. “I’m trying.”

My lips pulled to one side. “Shall we go?”CHAPTER TWENTY – JOSHrule twenty: sometimes, the best conversations are the ones where you don’t say a word.“Why? This is nice.”

Kinsley pouted a little. “Because it’s wet and getting cold.”

I sighed. I wasn’t really ready to go back to the world just yet, but she clearly was. “All right, let’s go. I just have to pick this all up.” I shuffled out from under the umbrella and stood up.

Kins didn’t move. “We don’t have to. The rain seems like it’s stopping.”

It wasn’t a lie. It was getting lighter all the time, and it did look as though it was about to stop any moment.

“No, you’re cold. You don’t need to get sick. Come on.” I held out my hand for her to take so I could pull her up. She slipped her hand in mine, and as soon as I tightened my grip on her, she yanked me back down.

“What are you doing? You just said you wanted to go.”

“Well, you don’t want to, so we don’t have to. And it’s nearly stopped raining. We can relight the fire if it does. There’ll be dry wood around here somewhere.”

I blinked at her. “You sure?”

“I’m sure.” She smiled and tucked her hair behind her ear, only for it to fall back free. “Besides, it’s nice to be up here alone. Kinda feels like nothing else exists, huh?”

My lips pulled to the side. I felt exactly the same, which was why I didn’t want to go back down the trail yet. Up here, in the dark, where there was nobody and nothing else, there was just me and Kinsley.

Where I could pretend like this wasn’t all a secret, like we weren’t hiding our relationship from everyone else.

By hiding up here, we didn’t have to hide us.

“That’s how I feel,” I said softly, tucking her hair away again. “With you. Nothing else exists when I’m with you.”

She dipped her head, briefly breaking eye contact, and I knew she was blushing. I reached out and cupped her chin, drawing her attention back to me. Even though it was dark, almost pitch-black, I could still see the shine in her eyes.

Kinsley covered my hand with hers. “We can do this, can’t we?”

“We’re not going there again, are we?”

“No, I mean… We can do this. No matter what my brother says or what anyone else thinks. We can make this work.”

The rain had stopped, so I took the umbrella from her and closed it before I put it down on the other side of the log that we’d all long used as a bench.

Then, leaning down, I rested my hands either side of her face and looked down at her. “Kins, I promise you that I’ll do everything I can to make this work. No matter what your brother says. No matter what anyone says. I don’t give a fuck about anyone else. I only care about you.”