Page 7 of Awaken My Heart

That jaw tenses again and the muscles in those sexy forearms tighten. He nods. “I can work with that.”

“Excellent.” I hold my hand out. “Your phone?”

He frowns. “What about my phone?”

“I was gonna put my number in it so we can communicate, and you can send me directions or the address. We can better coordinate our schedules.”

He puts his phone in my hand, and I can’t help but notice the way his enormous palm engulfs mine. This man is big, thick, sex on a stick. And demanding to work with him instead of just letting him do the set himself is stupid. I am stupid.

I send myself a text from his phone, then save his contact information. But it’s a done deal now.

chapter

six

Emma

After yesterday’s impromptu meeting with the hot grandpa—nope, I can’t even think of him in those terms—the meeting with Mr. Whitmore, I was tempted to find Luna and call her out for clearly setting that scenario up. She obviously knew ahead of time that he was Taylor’s grandfather.

She wanted an update on how it went so that’s exactly what she’s gonna get. I’m heading to the bookstore for the romance reader book club, and my favorite author, Anita Dix, is gonna be there with her brand-new release. She’s the reason I moved here.

Wow, that makes me sound like a stalker. But several months back, I attended a book signing here to meet her. I fell in love with Saddle Creek that day and went home to Houston and started the ball rolling with a letter to the school district that next day. A few months after that, I had rented my little house and moved here as a mid-year hire to the middle school.

The bell above the bookstore door jingles as I step inside. I immediately spot Luna and she smiles at me.

I point at her and force a scowl. “You’re in trouble.”

“Me?” she asks, feigning innocence.

“You knew exactly what you were doing. Report back to you about how it went; you are the worst!”

She tilts her head back and laughs. “Oh my gosh, I wish I had been there to watch the sparks.”

I scoff. “Whatever. We don’t like each other. That’s how things went. Then like a damned fool, I suggested we work together on the set. Why? Why would I do that, Luna?”

“From what I saw at Ace’s the other night, that was not dislike flowing between the two of you.”

I roll my eyes. “Whatever. That man hates me. He glares and growls and frowns and scowls. Teddy bear, my ass.”

“But he sure is pretty,” Luna says.

I bite at my fingernail as we walk over to the chairs set up for the book club. We still have another fifteen minutes before it actually starts. “So, what’s his story, anyways?”

“Bram?”

I nod. “I’m just curious.”

She gives me a ghost of a smile. “Of course. Absolutely nothing wrong with being curious.” She turns in her folding chair to face me. “Married his childhood sweetheart right after high school graduation. A few months after that, their first kid was born. That’s Grady. He’s Taylor’s dad.”

“Oh, the one married to Jess Munoz, right? Taylor talks about her all the time, and it just seems so magical to me for her to have ended up with her hero as her stepmom.”

“Jess is more of a mom to Taylor than her real mom ever has been. So yes, it’s damn magical. That kid is amazing.”

I smile. “She truly is. She’s one of my favorites,” I whisper.

“Same,” Luna agrees. “Okay so then came Dane, Garrett and Daphne. Dane is my sister’s fiancé.”

“Oh my God, so you’re practically related to that family.”