"The first round."
"Huh?"
"Well, I've been wanting to rearrange my books for forever," I said. "I just never had the time. But with this summer suddenly completely free, I thought, why not? It's just I'm not sure how I'll like it best. By genre was one of my top ways. But I also wanted to try color-coded. If you're up for it."
Tolliver nodded. "No problem."
"I was thinking I'd go rainbow."
"Sounds bright."
"Let me get a picture of this"—I snapped a few photos on my phone—"then we can start all over."
I nearly laughed as his eyes widened.
It took about 20 minutes to colorize my shelves, and Tolliver had a little sweat on his brow by the end.
"So?" he asked with a smile. "What do you think?"
"It's pretty. But..."
"But?"
"Honestly, I think I liked it better the first way." I buried my head in my hands. "I'm sorry."
"It's okay," Tolliver said.
"No, I know this is a lot. That's why I never tried it myself," I said, gesturing to my books. "They look beautiful like that. They really do. But...my series are all mixed up?—"
"Kent."
"—and my historical romances, YA, and romantasy are all together?—"
"Freya."
"—and yeah, the colors look awesome, but the heights are different, and..."
I trailed off as Tolliver placed a finger against my lips.
"It's fine," he said.
I frowned, not believing him.
"I want you to have what you want."
Those words replayed in my mind as his hand moved to cup my jaw, thumb softly caressing my cheekbone.
What I want...
What I wanted right then was for him to lean down and kiss me breathless.
As I unconsciously licked my lips, Tolliver's eyes caught the movement and flared.
"Kent?" he said roughly.
"Stone?" I breathed back.
"If you don't stop staring at me like that, I'm going to kiss you."
