Page 4 of Christmas By The Book

“Can I help you with anything?” I asked him, my voice coming out a little more sharply than I intended. I didn’t want to seem rude, but I was so thrown after our encounter, I didn’t know what to say.

His smile spread a little wider. “Yeah, I was hoping you could, actually,” he replied, extending his hand across the counter toward me. “I’m Seth, by the way.”

I stared down at his hand for a moment, and then realized he expected me to shake it. I took his hand, feeling like a total idiot, hoping he couldn’t see it written on my face.

“Jorja,” I replied.

“Good to meet you,” he remarked, and he gestured around. “I just moved to town. You have no idea how happy I was to see an old-fashioned bookstore like this one.”

I bristled slightly at his description, though I couldn’t tell why. I mean, he was right, it was an old-fashioned bookstore. But I didn’t like to think of it that way. It made my grandmother feel even more distant to me than she already did, like the very store she had set up was starting to fall out of fashion. I was never going to let that happen, not as long as I lived.

“Was there something specific you were looking for?” I asked.

He pulled off his jacket as he glanced around, and I couldn’t help but notice the way his arms filled out the sleeves of his tee. It shouldn’t have surprised me, that he was so strong, given how he had just scooped me up when I had been in the middle of a fall, but still.

“Yeah, actually,” he replied. “I’ve been looking for this book by Iain N. Franks. The third part in his sci-fi trilogy. I’ve had a hard time finding it in print anywhere.”

“You couldn’t find an ebook version?” I blurted out, before I could stop myself. Oh, yeah, just what I needed to do—tell someone that they should try looking elsewhere, when I could have been making a sale.

“Yeah, but they’re not the same,” he replied, waving his hand dismissively. “I want to be able to hold a book I’m reading.”

A smile crossed over my face.

“I’m with you on that,” I agreed. “Let me see if I can find it for you.”

I moved into the store, and he followed me through the bookshelves. I was distinctly aware of how close to me he was, how near to me he happened to be. I was pretty sure I could smell the scent of his aftershave in the air, something deep and woodsy and redolent, like amber musk. For a brief, crazy second, I imagined pressing my face into his neck to inhale it properly, as though I hadn’t made a bad enough first impression as it was.

I skimmed my fingers along the spines of a few of the books, searching out the one he was looking for. I had a feeling we had a copy of it in here somewhere, I just wasn’t entirely sure where to find it. That happened when you worked in this place long enough, you started to forget where everything was, these images of book covers haunting you when a customer came in looking for something you couldn’t quite remember the location of.

“Oh, here it is,” I murmured, as I finally landed on the book he was looking for. I pulled it out and checked that it was in sellable condition. We’d had it for so long, I didn’t want to hand over something that was frayed or scuffed, especially given that it was his first time in this place.

But it looked decent to me. I turned to hand it over to him, to find him watching me intently, checking I had the right book, probably, but something about his eyes being on me like that threw me for a serious loop.

He took the book from me, and, for the briefest moment, I felt the tips of our fingers come up against each other. I drew my hand back quickly, trying to ignore the sparks of electricity that were coursing down my arm.

“Perfect, thank you,” he murmured, as he looked down at the book and flipped through the first few pages. “I had a feeling you would have a copy of this.”

I wasn’t sure what that was supposed to mean, but I figured it was best not to ask too many questions. I had already been strange enough with him as it was, it was a miracle he hadn’t just turned around and walked out on me already.

He followed me over to the till, where he paid for his book. I bagged it for him, trying not to make eye contact with him as I went. There was something about those blue eyes that made it hard to think straight, and I knew I needed to keep myself together. Mastin Falls was a small town, and the chances of me running into him again were pretty high. I was sure he’d already made plenty of judgements about me, and I didn’t need to hand him another reason to think I was crazy.

“Thanks,” he replied, flashing me a grin as he took the bag from me. “I’ll let you know if I need help with any other books, okay?”

“Okay,” I muttered, and I watched as he left the store, pulling his jacket on once more. I could still feel that heat in my cheeks, and I willed it away, not wanting to explain to anyone else why that man had me blushing so intently.

As I busied myself with tidying up the counter, the door opened, and I glanced up to see Haley strolling in. She threw a faux-pout in my direction as she gestured toward the display in the window.

“I thought you were going to wait for me before you started on all of that!” she protested lightly, but, as she got closer, she frowned.

“Wait, why are you blushing?” she asked, cocking an eyebrow and glancing around. “I didn’t interrupt anything, did I?”

“I’m not... I mean, no, you’re not,” I assured her quickly. “I just came in from the cold. I guess my cheeks are a little pink, that’s all.”

“Hmm,” Haley replied, clearly not entirely buying it. “If you say so.”

“You want to get the display in the other window set up?” I suggested quickly, shifting the conversation to something else.

She clapped her hands together. “Yes, yes, I’ve been looking forward to it all day!” she exclaimed. “Where are the boxes? In the breakroom?”