Playing with Words (Boggy Creek Valley 2)

“And this is where I duck out,” Candace stated as she spun on her heels and headed back toward the front of the bookstore.

Brighton and I watched her walk away.

“She doesn’t like historical romance?” Brighton asked.

I frowned. “No. It’s the only negative thing I can find about her.”

I nearly jumped out of my skin when Candace snuck up on me and whispered, “You know, if you dust these bookcases anymore, the stain is going to come off.”

I shot her a dirty look. “Isn’t your shift over?”

An evil glint appeared in her eyes as she glanced past me toward the study room where Mr. McDreamy was still typing away on his laptop. “I was supposed to leave like an hour ago.”

Rolling my eyes, I pushed past her. “Then why are you still here?”

“The same reason you keep finding something to do in this particular area of the bookstore. I’m also staring at the handsome man in there who looks really frustrated.”

I chanced a look over my shoulder at him. Goodness, the man was handsome indeed. His light brown hair looked as if he had ran his fingers through it a number of times. He was built, but not overly built. The perfect amount of muscle. And the way he was chewing on his lip as he thought. Deep breath, Greer. Deep. Breath. I nodded. “He does, doesn’t he? I wonder why.”

Candace drew in a deep breath and slowly exhaled. “I don’t know, but at one point about forty-five minutes ago, I thought he was going to throw his laptop out those windows.”

“I saw that too,” I whispered before I looked back at her. “We need to stop spying on him. What is the matter with us?”

I grabbed her arm and pulled her back to the front of the bookstore. The bell over the door rang, and Maggie Goodman walked in. Her mother, Tess, owned The Coffee Pot over on Main Street. Like Brighton, Maggie went to high school with me. We graduated the same year and her mother’s restaurant was a local favorite. It wasn’t the only restaurant in town, but it was by far the best. All the locals went there, and if anyone from out of town asked where the best place to eat was, we all sent them to Tess’s.

“Hey, Maggie, what brings you in today?” I asked with a bright smile.

Maggie walked over to us and held up a list. “I need some new books to read to the kids at the community center during reading hour. What do you have in that’s new?”

“He’s coming! He’s coming!” Candace whispered as she started to hit me on the arm with her flailing hands.

“Who’s coming?” Maggie asked.

“Shh!” Candace and I replied in unison.

Maggie’s eyes widened in shock as her mouth dropped open. She caught sight of Mr. McDreamboat—who was moving toward us through the aisles—and went into a state of utter shock.

See? It’s not just me after all.

“Who is that?” she whispered as the man of the hour approached us and stopped directly in front of me.

“Thank you for the use of the study room, Ms.—?” He lifted his brow as he waited for me to say something.

What was I supposed to say? You’re pretty. I like your smile. Your eyes look like the color of cognac, and I want to take a long drink of you. Do you have some sort of magical spell you put women under? What do your lips feel like? Are they as soft as they appear?

Candace elbowed me once again and pulled me out of my wandering…weird…thoughts. It wasn’t like me to daydream about a guy. I never daydreamed about men.

Okay, that was clearly a lie. I often daydreamed about the characters in the books I read. Sometimes. Not always, but a girl needs some fantasy in her life, after all.

Another elbow, this time in the ribs.

“Um, I’m sorry. What were you saying? Asking?” Ugh. I internally kicked myself.

“Do you have a name?”

His voice was so freaking sexy, how was anyone supposed to think clearly around this guy?

“Greer. Greer Larson. I own Turning Pages. The bookstore. That’s the name…of the bookstore. That we’re in. That you’re in. Well, we’re all in it. Ha!”

Oh my God. I am the biggest dork who ever walked the face of the planet. Could I get any more awkward?

He tilted his head and smiled at me. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Larson, owner of Turning Pages, the bookstore. My name is Hudson Higgins. I’ll be staying in Boggy Creek for a few weeks.”

“Greer. Please just call me Greer.”

Candace reached around me and extended her hand. “I’m Candace, Greer’s assistant.”

I snapped my head around as I looked at her. “Assistant? When did you get promoted?”

Candace rolled her eyes. “Please, if it wasn’t for me, you wouldn’t eat lunch everyday. Or go home when the bookstore closes.”