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He smiled affably at Daniella, stopping in the middle of us to face both of us. “I’m Nathan,” he said to her. “Nathan Hemingway.”
Daniella brightened, reaching up to play with her hair. “I know who you are,” she purred. “I’m Daniella Gopaul. Charmed.”
If I wasn’t so afraid of getting fired, I would gag.Charmed?Ew.
As if he could sense my disdain, Nathan’s eyes flicked toward me and away. A hint of a smile brushed his lips before he quickly suppressed it. I blushed at the thought that maybe we’d had our first secret exchange without words. It was something I had dreamed about—having a connection with a partner that was so strong, all it took was a look.
And what a look it was. From the moment Nathan stopped by the table, I knew I was going to have fun looking at and drawing him. Long, thick eyelashes that I would die for brushed the tops of his cheeks. He had bushy eyebrows, and a strong jawline and chin. And his lips…I knew I would savor every moment his lips pressed against mine, even if he were only pretending to want to kiss me.
“I’m sorry if I made Ciara late,” he said to Daniella. “We were discussing our relationship.”
My eyes widened before I choked on air. I was wholly unprepared to announce our relationship to my own father, let alone Daniella, my snake of a boss.
She seemed as shocked as I was, tilting her head the way a dog does when they don’t understand something. “Relationship? With Ciara?” She smiled so wide, you could see her canines. “Surely, there’s a mistake. I didn’t even know she was…dating.”
“Well, we’re both very private people,” Nathan explained, sounding just short of apologetic. I squinted at him as he drew me into his side and pressed a kiss to my forehead as if it were the most natural thing in the world. I was sure he was holding me up because all I could do was swoon.
A forehead kiss from Nathan Hemingway,I thought to myself.Who’d’ve thought?
“Surely, there’s a mistake,” Daniella said again, clearly baffled.
I looked up just as Nathan’s smile turned from friendly to slightly puzzled. My heart thumped in my chest, hoping he didn’t cause any trouble. Daniella was bad enough as it was.Don’t make waves,I pleaded silently.Please don’t make waves.
“I’m not sure why that’s so unbelievable,” he said. “Or why it’s any of your business.”
I patted Nathan’s chest a tad frantically. “Oh, don’t worry about it…honey,” I said, inwardly flinching at the endearment.Honey??“Daniella’s never seen me with anyone, so it’s probably a big surprise.”
Nathan swung his gaze to mine, his eyebrows slightly raised as if to say,You okay?
My heart continued to beat rapidly in my chest, my panic rising.
But also…I was slightly mollified, knowing someone was in my corner. And not just anyone—Nathan Hemingway, the Prince Charming of our town.
I gave him a slight and short nod, and he reciprocated, turning back to Daniella. “Well, anyway, I don’t want to hold you two up any longer,” he said. He pressed the supplies kit into my hand with his free hand, squeezing my waist gently with his other hand. He looked at me with a reassuring smile. “I’ll see you later, okay?”
I smiled back. “Okay.”
And with that, he swept out the way he came.
I stared after him for a while, not sure what to say. I could still feel the imprint of his hand on my waist and smell the soft masculine cologne he must have sprayed directly on his clothes. I closed my eyes, reveling in it for a moment, forgetting that I was at work with a very irritable Daniella at my back.
But when I opened my eyes and looked back at her, she seemed as flustered as me.
“Well,” she sputtered after a moment, “what are you doing still standing here? Get to work!”
I nodded and floated to the back to put away my stuff.
Throughout my shift, I kept looking at the door, hoping Nathan would stop by for an encore of our earlier performance. But every time I let my eyes roam to the front, he was nowhere to be seen.
“Who are you looking for?” my friend and coworker, Estelle, asked when I looked at the door for the fiftieth time.
“Nothing—no one,” I answered, still watching the door. A tall, darker-skinned man entered the bookstore, and I squinted trying to see if it was Nathan. They had a similar gait and cool confidence, but I couldn’t be sure. I put down the Hemingway College keychains in my hand, slowly making my way to the front.
A hand reached out and grabbed me, pulling me back roughly. “Are you crazy?” Estelle whispered fiercely. “You know Daniella’s watching you like a hawk.”
I grimaced, my consciousness slamming back into my body with a dizzying quickness. She was right; I couldn’t let my faux marriage get in the way of me doing my job. Even if Nathan had offered to pay for my college tuition, that wasn’t a guarantee. He could always change his mind or insist that I get the money at the end of the six-month period. I still needed this job to pay my current bills.
I picked up the keychains, putting them on the rung one loop at a time. “I just thought I’d seen someone I knew,” I muttered. “But you’re right. I need this job; I can’t afford to be fired. I still don’t know why Daniella hates me.”
