“Oh, I see you’re busy.” She raises an eyebrow at Barbie and smiles.
“She’ll be right out,” I say, and Barbie buries her face in my chest.
“See you later, Shaw,” Kayla calls over her shoulder as she goes back to the bookstore.
“Did you get my text?” I ask, and she looks up at me with confusion.
“No, but I’ll go check my phone.”
“Okay, text me when you can.” I kiss her one more time before I force myself to let her go. “I’ll see you soon.”
“See you soon,” she calls back, and I exit out the back door.
Damn, my mom might be right about her after all.
Chapter Nine
Barbie
“I love this smile you’ve been rocking all day.” Kayla bumps my shoulder with hers.
The store is starting to die down now that the last customer just walked out the door. We still have a few minutes before closing, but it was another busy day. To be honest, there might be a lot of people turning their noses up in town about my bookstore but I think it’s actually working. All day I helped women find the perfect book they were looking for and I kept finding myself lost in long conversations with them. It’s nice when you find others who share the same passion as you. It’s like connecting with an old friend.
“I’m really happy,” I admit. There’s a lot to smile about not only because of all the business today but I think I’m getting my own love story.
“He looked so smitten when I caught you…” She trails off, hoping I’ll finish for her.
“He was helping move some boxes in the back.”
“Ohhh. So that’s why your cheeks were red and you were out of breath.”
I snort a laugh, but I can feel my face start to heat all over again. If Kayla had walked into the back a few minutes sooner she would have gotten an eyeful of what she was wanting to know.
I still can’t believe we messed around in the back, but when Shaw is close I forget about everything else. He buried his face between my legs, and seeing him on his knees in front of me almost made me orgasm on the spot. When he put his mouth on me I lost it. At first I was sad I came so quick, but I ended up thankful for it because Kayla would have busted me in the middle of it.
“Look. You’re turning red again.” She pinches my cheeks and I smack her hand away.
“You’ve been hanging out here all day. I’m going to have to put you on payroll soon.” I grab a stack of books out of the box that got delivered today. Kayla grabs the other one and follows me to put them away. “Still hiding?” I ask.
“Yes.”
This time it’s her face that turns a shade pinker. Yeah, this is totally over a man. I’ve never seen Kayla blush in my life. I once complained that one of my favorite books wasn’t in audio so she picked it up and started reading it aloud. It was right in the middle of a super-sexy part and she didn’t miss a beat reading it out loud and not blushing once. She even added some of her own dialogue that had me thinking she should write.
“Still not going to tell me?” I put the books away one at a time, moving down the aisle.
“He’s back.” I look at her and I can’t read her face.
“I’m not from here. You’re going to have to be more specific.”
“You know the Bierman estate?”
“The giant castle-looking house that you told me was haunted?”
If you live here you have to know it. It sits on top of a hill that overlooks the town. You can’t miss it. I wasn’t sure anyone lived there, to be honest. There’s a winding road that leads up to it and there’s no way to see if anyone is at home. I never see any cars there, not that I pay much attention to it. It’s just there and looks cool.
“It is haunted,” she says again, and I’m starting to think it’s haunted in a different way to her. I take a few books from her arm and sort them on the shelves.
“I didn’t think anyone lives there.”
“There are a few people who look after it. It’s been empty since he left.” I take the last book from her hands. “Now he’s back.”
“Do we hate this person?” She shakes her head no. “Do we love this person?” It’s never been so hard to get something out of Kayla before, but if she wants to play twenty questions I will.
“I’ve loved him my whole life.” She turns around and walks toward the front of the store, but I don’t understand why she’s so sad if she loves him. Why would she be upset he’s back and why did he leave to begin with?