The corners of his eyes crinkled slightly as he smiled. “There is no such thing as too many books. I’d buy you the entire store if you asked me to.”
He had such an easy way of being in that moment with her, and she felt herself relax bit by bit until she was leaning into him just as much as he was her. She didn’t care that they were being one of those embarrassing couples who showed public affection.
Someone let out a dreamy sigh behind Kara. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw a young woman, with a half a dozen romantasy novels stacked in her arms, watching them. Kara blushed, burying her face against Angelo’s neck and curled her fingers into his sweater. His soft, warm chuckle rumbled out of his chest, vibrating her body with his delight. He reminded her of a lion, stretched out in the sun, golden, warm, and playful but also so protective.
“Now, pick out as many books as you want, and maybe a journal?” He nodded toward a shelf full of incredibly beautiful looking journals and notebooks. “I know that you could use a new one.”
“You did? When?” She hadn’t pulled her notebook out in front of him. How could he know she had only a few pages left to write on?
“I… may have gone through your backpack when I was unpacking your clothes and putting them in my drawers.”
She arched a brow at him. “You know… we never did talk about that. About how you just moved me into your room like that.”
When she’d heard him arguing with his friends, she’d rushed to pack and found none of her clothes were in her suitcase. It had taken her a few minutes to find them in the chest of drawers where Angelo had put them. She hadn’t really had time to think about that until now.
Unabashedly smiling, he only rolled his eyes. “You were staying with me. I made room for you.I have room for you,” he emphasized. “I won’t apologize for that.”
“I heard that most men don’t like giving up the proverbial drawer when a woman moves in,” she said, attempting to tease him and it worked.
“Well,” he laughed softly. “I am quite ready to give up anything for the right woman. For you.” And just like that he was burrowing deeper into her heart and she couldn’t find a way to keep him out. That terrified her more than anything else. If she got too attached… her heart might not survive the loss.
Finally Kara released her hold on Angelo’s arms as she walked away to look at the journals. She wrote poems, sometimes short stories, and until now she’d used cheap spiral notebooks. The bookstore didn’t carry any basic, affordable notebooks. They only had beautifully decorated ones with gilded edged pages.
“What are you looking for?” Angelo joined her at the journals, his face scanning the shelves.
“Something cheap, like you can find in a grocery store?” She cursed silently when it came out as a question.
His face turned back to hers, his brown eyes warm and fathoms deep. “Choose one with a cover that speaks to you, to your soul.” He waved his hand before the selection. “Which one saysKara?”
It caught her off guard that he pushed her to think about who she was, what she wanted, what she dreamed of. Whereas her mother’s lessons for survival had so often suppressed those things, not because her mother had been cruel, but rather because she’d been a mother trying to keep her child alive and safe. Her mother was gone, and this gorgeous man with a smile that made her knees wobbly, was asking her to find herself, find the Kara that should have been if she’d never had to live on the run.
Nibbling on her bottom lip, Kara turned to the journals with a serious focus and studied each of them carefully. She finally settled on a journal that had a beautiful illustration of the night sky with constellations on the front and back covers. Delighted at the promise of all of the pretty empty pages, she returned to Angelo. He accepted the journal when she asked him to hold it, then she returned to the romance section.
Whenever she picked up a book and glanced his way, he’d wave her over to have her give him the book. She stopped trying to argue with him after the fourth book. If she lingered too long on one and then tried to sneak it back on the shelf, he would join her. With a serious look directly at her, he’d remove the book from the shelf and make a deliberate show of tucking it in the basket he’d found somewhere that was now full of books. It was a silent battle and she started to like losing when it came to buying books. Losing meant she came home with more books.
“I think that’s enough,” Kara said with a flash of embarrassment but Angelo only grinned back at her. He was almost always smiling. It had unnerved her at first, but now… now she realized that it was simply because he was happy and she longed for some of that joy to come her way. And that smile, while it could be seen for the rest of the world, seemed to feel like it was really just only for her, a smile that she brought out in him, a smile that bore her name.
He sees me, really sees me. He’s not walking away. He keeps coming back for more of… me.
What a scary, terrifying, wonderful feeling…
“We can always come back for more,” Angelo said matter-of-factly.
Always.
Oh how that single word promised her so much and hurt her at the same time.
“What is it?” he asked as he set the basket down cupped and her cheeks in his hands. Rather than try to hide she leaned into his palms. “Tell me,” he whispered. “What did I say to put that sorrow in your eyes?”
His gaze sought hers.
“I…” his concern was almost too much.
“Kara, talk to me. I need to know what not to say again.”
“It wasalways. I won’t be coming back here, Angelo. We both know that.” His concerned expression turned suddenly fierce. “You have to stop pretending I’m not leaving at some point.”
“You don’t know that. I’m going to keep you safe. I’ll do whatever I have to so you can stay.”
