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Well, fuck. I can't look him up without a name. But I make a note to do some digging and see what I can come up with. Hopefully, it's nothing and I'm just a possessive, overprotective asshole. I can live with that. But our MC has had more than our fair share of problems over the last year, and the bookstore recently had some problems of its own with the former owner. I'm not taking her safety for granted. Fuck that.
"Where's the romance section?"
"You really want to read the book?" she asks.
"Scarlett, where's the romance section?"
Her expression softens. "Go to the back wall and hang a right. It's all the way over in the corner." She laughs quietly. "Look for all the hot men with no shirts. When you find them, you're in the right place."
I mutter a curse under my breath, which only makes her laugh again.
"Hey, wait! What's this favor I owe you?" she says before I make it two steps away from the counter.
I want to demand a date, but I don't want her to agree because I forced her into it. When she says yes, I want it to be because I earned it. So I don't do that. Instead, I come up with Plan B. "I need a quiet place to work," I say, a broad smile stretching across my face. Hot damn. I am a genius. "At least for a few days."
"A fewdays?" she squeaks.
"You won't even know I'm here."
Chapter Three
Scarlett
"Yourauntisinrare form today."
"Please tell me that means she was on her best behavior, and everything went smoothly," I say, already knowing that isn't going to happen. Aunt Ophelia is a firm believer that well-behaved women rarely make history. And Silver Spoon Falls won't be forgetting her anytime soon.
"Oh, dialysis went fine," Cora Hargrove, my aunt's dialysis nurse, says with a rueful laugh. "She's doing really well."
"That's good," I say, breathing a tiny sigh of relief. Aunt Ophelia, my dad's aunt, is the only family I have left…my only real connection left to anyone else in this world. I looked for my biological mom after my parents died, but the adoption was closed. The agency wouldn't tell me anything. If I have any other family, I may never know. I'll never get the chance to ask my parents why they never told me I was adopted. I'll never know where I came from. Having Aunt Ophelia helps. Her kidneys may be failing her, but her mind is still sharp as a tack. She still remembers how excited my parents were to bring me home from the hospital, and how much they adored me.
"Did you know your aunt posed nude in the sixties?"
I press my lips together and make big eyes at Cora. I did not know that.
Cora grimaces, tucking strands of hair behind her ears. "You may want to start checking her bag before you drop her off." She reaches beneath the reception desk and fishes out a photo album before passing it over to me. I immediately recognize the faded cover. It's been sitting on the very top shelf of Aunt Ophelia's bookcase for as long as I can remember. "I would not recommend flipping through those."
"She's naked? Likecompletelynaked?"
"Your aunt was impressively limber."
"Heavens to Betsy," I whisper, staring at Cora in shock.
And then we both burst into peals of laughter.
"I can't believe she brought this! Oh my gosh, Cora," I cry, shoving the photo album into my bag and wiping my eyes. I want to be half as cool as my aunt when I grow up. She's a little bit wild and untamed, but she lives her best life every moment of the day and never apologizes for who she is. She marches to the beat of her own band, and you can't help but want to march along with her. She also fights for what she believes in, no matter how if she has to fight alone. "Did she show it to everyone?"
"I confiscated it before too many people saw it," Cora says, her light eyes dancing with humor. "But she flipped it open right there in the waiting room and gathered the patients around for story time." Cora's body shakes with laughter. "I thought the janitor was going to keel over, Scarlett."
"Oh my god," I mouth, covering my face with my hands.
Cora laughs again. "It's been an interesting day."
"I'll say," I mumble. First, Finn sets my whole body on fire by whispering dirty things in my ear and then spending the whole day sitting at a table reading mafia romance. Now, this. I don't know what game the universe is playing with me, but I'm not sure if I should thank it, or if I should hide under the covers until it picks someone else.
I mean, seriously. The hottest man I've ever met is reading my favorite books because they're my favorite. He spent the entire day at the bookstore because he needed a quiet place to work, yet he didn't work at all. He flirts with me and calls me pretty baby. If this isn't a game, it's reality. And if it's reality, I'm a crazy person because he asked me out and I turned him down.
Why did I do that?!
