Page 29 of Christmas By The Book

I frowned, glancing down at it—and then, finally, everything clicked into place.

It was Seth. Seth, smoldering, on the front of that romance cover. One of those sexy models I had barely glanced at before putting the books up on the shelves. This was why he had been so reticent about talking about his past! This was what he had been doing! I couldn’t believe it. I stared at the cover for a long moment, then back up to Seth, then back to the cover again, feeling dumb. How could I not have seen this? How could I have let this go completely unnoticed for so long? I had been stocking these books in my store, for goodness sake! I should have recognized him the moment he stepped through the door.

But I brushed that thought aside, and made my way to Seth, who was taking a quick break from the line of women in front of him. I raised my eyebrows at him, pointing to the stack of books sitting on a table in front of him.

“What on earth is going on?” I demanded. I couldn’t believe this. None of this felt as though it could be real, not by a long shot.

“I took a few copies from the store,” he admitted. “Hope you don’t mind.”

“What’s all this for?” I asked him, gesturing around. “What... what’s even going on here? I don’t get it.”

“I got recognized while I was manning the table today, and it gave me an idea,” he explained. “I didn’t want to make a big deal of my modeling work, but I figured, hey, if I could get the word out, I could pull in a crowd, sign a few books, take a few pictures, and make some money.”

My heart skipped a beat. Make some money? Was he doing this for the store?

“Here, let me show you,” he told me excitedly, and he cracked open a small lockbox that was sitting just a few feet away from him. It was filled with checks and crisp bills. I squinted down at the amount, trying to crunch some quick numbers inside my head.

“This is...”

“Enough to keep the store and the house?” he finished up for me. My eyes nearly bugged out of my head.

“You’re doing this for...?”

“For you, Jorja,” he replied, grinning. “You’ve worked so hard. You deserve to be able to keep the house and the store. You shouldn’t have to choose.”

I clamped a hand over my mouth. I could hardly wrap my head around this. It was...it was more than anyone had ever done for me before, at least since my grandma had passed. The kind of sweetness, this investment in me, his willingness to go this far to make sure that I had everything I needed, it was almost more than I could take.

And, as I cast my eye over the rest of the women waiting to have their picture taken with him and for him to sign their books, I calculated a little more. I didn’t know exactly how much he was charging, but I could take a good guess based on the money he already had. If I was anywhere close to right, the cash he was going to bring in would be more than enough to pay for everything.

A rush of emotion overwhelmed me, and I reached up to give him a hug. I didn’t know if I would ever be able to express just how grateful I was for everything he had done for me—I didn’t know if I would even be able to come close.

“Thank you,” I whispered to him. “Thank you so much, Seth. I... I don’t know what I would have done without you.”

“I’m just glad I could help,” he replied, as he gave me a quick squeeze. “And tomorrow, if the weather’s not too bad– I told everyone to come by the book fair, too.”

“You did?” I replied.

He winked at me. “It would be rude not to give them something else to look forward to,” he remarked.

I laughed. I had no idea what he had in mind, but I was more than happy to help out with it any way I could. After what he had done for me, I was willing to do anything to show him how grateful I was. I was just so happy that he had found this way to keep the store alive, even in the face of everything Wharton was trying to do.

“Is there anything I can do to help?” I asked him, and he shook his head.

“You just relax,” he replied. “I’ve got this, okay?”

“Sure,” I agreed, feeling a little giddy as I cast my eye over the queue waiting impatiently for him to turn his attention back to them once more. I couldn’t believe it. Seth, a model? Let alone a model for book covers—let alone romance book covers! I had always been so certain that men like that didn’t exist in real life, because I just couldn’t believe they would have been able to. Someone so perfect, so handsome, so charming, it didn’t feel like they could exist out here in reality with the rest of us.

But I should have known there was something special about Seth from the moment I saw him. Something different.

And now that I knew what it was, well, I was damn sure I was never going to let him go.

Chapter Seventeen

Seth

“DAMN, WHERE’S HALEY when you need her?” Jorja laughed, as she heaved another box of books from the back of the store.

“You’re doing a great job,” I told her, as another flood of customers entered the store. She dumped the box on the counter and caught her breath.