“Well, she doesn’t like that you’re talking to me,” Molly said.
He smirked and glanced over his shoulder. “Oh really? So does she get mad when I do this?” He took a step closer to her and wrapped an arm around her waist.
Molly’s face flamed, but she couldn’t tear her eyes away from Eli’s to see her reaction. Katie snorted beside them. “Yep. She’s mad.”
But Molly could barely hear anything outside of the blood pounding in her ears. Her back tingled where his hand pressed against it. The warmth of his touch had her leaning into it.
“Am I making you uncomfortable?” he murmured.
Molly shook her head. “No.”
“Okay, she left,” Katie said.
Eli and Molly didn’t step away from each other. Her eyes were still locked on his. His thumb slid back and forth over her back, and she swallowed hard.
“Hey, you two, she left,” Katie said louder this time.
Molly snapped back to the present and looked at Katie before taking an exaggerated step away from him. “Okay, I should get back to work.”
Eli cleared his throat and furrowed his eyebrows before nodding in agreement. “Me too.” Then he moved to walk away before looking back at her. “Thank you for playing along. I’m sorry I put you on the spot.”
Molly’s face flamed. “It’s no problem.”
She hadn’t minded at all.
3
The next day, Eli stood at a bookshelf, restocking new inventory that had arrived. He would have been done before the lunch rush if he had been paying attention, but he couldn’t focus. His attention constantly strayed to the redhead behind the counter.
Telling Molly about Lauren was the most he had heard her speak since she had been hired. And it hadn’t even been that much. He knew he shouldn’t have used her to chase Lauren off. It felt great, but he knew he needed to apologize. It had been highly inappropriate, and the last thing the bookstore needed was a lawsuit for sexual harassment.
But he wasn’t sorry he did it. Aside from it feeling amazing having her in his arms, he also got rid of Lauren that much sooner.
The door to the store opened and closed as the bell jingled. Eli looked up from the shelves to see Lauren. He groaned and ducked back down, hoping he hadn’t been spotted.
It didn’t take long for her to find him. “Hi, Eli.”
He looked up from where he was squatting in front of a shelf. “Hi, Lauren.”
She squatted down beside him. “What are we doing?”
He nearly rolled his eyes at her use of “we”. “I’mrestocking the shelves.”
She reached into the box on the floor and pulled a book out. “Need any help? I’d be fantastic at this. I know where all the different books go. You’d be impressed with how I’ve memorized all the titles.”
He stared at her. If she had memorized the titles, he’d be impressed, but he also didn’t want to ask because then he would be showing interest. The last thing he needed was to encourage her behavior. Especially after she had interviewed for a job there and didn’t get it.
“I’m not in need of any help.”
“Are you sure?” She leaned in closer to him, so he stood quickly, taking the box with him.
“I’m sure.” Then he walked back toward the register where he dropped the box behind the counter. He would restock the shelves later.
Eli’s eyes strayed toward the counter where Molly was helping a customer. She smiled and laughed at whatever they said, and it was breathtaking. As if she could feel his eyes on her, she looked up and blushed.
“Is she your girlfriend?”
Eli’s eyes snapped to Lauren, who stood in front of the counter. She crossed her arms and stared expectantly at him. If he didn’t know any better, he would have thought she was also tapping her foot like an impatient mother annoyed with her child. Or perhaps she was, and he just couldn’t tell.
