Tolliver hummed while shelving a fantasy series of hardbacks.
"Oh, those should go on the first or second shelf."
"You sure?"
"Yeah, fantasy and urban fantasy go on the top shelves. Three and four are contemporary romance and rom coms. The bottom is for historical—though I'm still debating whether they should be placed higher considering how much I re-read them."
"Got it. I was thinking historical because of the crown on the cover," Tolliver said. He held up a different book, one with a guy wearing a hockey jersey on the cover, and a real smile bloomed across his lips. "What about this one?"
"Shelf three," I said, fighting down a blush.
"Hockey romance, huh?"
"It's a thing."
"Read many of those?"
"A few," I replied, leaving out the fact that I'd started paying a bit more attention to them recently. I didn't want him to think it was because of him. Even if it was. "But I like all sports romance—which is kind of funny considering I don't love sports."
"Huh," Tolliver said, flipping through, skimming a few pages.
He leaned a shoulder against the wall.
"Hey." I snapped my fingers, and he looked up. "No reading breaks. You've still got books to shelve, Tollie."
He winced. "Can you not? Only my sister calls me that."
I bit my lip then said, "Okay, but only if you keep doing your job and don't tease me about my reading tastes."
"You wouldn't care if I did," he said on a laugh.
"You're right. Still."
Tolliver got back to work, and for several minutes, I watched him through my lashes, pretending to read. It was a different book than the one we were on together. Because of our arrangement, I'd become one of those people who read multiple books at once. I was actually very into the dragon fantasy I was currently reading. However, I kept getting distracted by Tolliver. The way his arms flexed when he gripped the stack of hardbacks in his hands. How he slid each book into place just so. How his t-shirt rode up, exposing a tantalizing glimpse of his toned stomach, like it did now as he reached up.
"Freya."
"Mmm?"
"Did you need something—or are you just checking me out?"
Tolliver's eyes were shining as I looked up.
Caught.
I was so caught.
"I'm supervising," I said, speaking past the embarrassment.
"Oh yeah?"
I shrugged. "Those are my books. I have to look out for them."
"Right." Tolliver gave a quiet laugh then said, "Well, I'll be done here in a second, so you can stop worrying for their welfare."
I shook my head. "Oh, it'll take longer than that."
"Nah, you've got a ton of books," he said. "But after I put these up, it's all done."
