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But I had two more days before the book was due back to the author…and I only had a few more pages that needed a second pass.
“It’s not goofing off either. Research. This is research.” For both jobs, really.
I should know the type of books that our customers were buying, and understanding a new genre would give me more editing opportunities. Yes, this was research and helping out an almost friend. This would help me understand Bex.
Hopefully.
“Oh…” How were there so many of these books on Amazon? “One step at a time.”
Research.
Start at the beginning.
Pulling out my phone, I looked at the pictures I’d taken and picked a random one the ladies had been giggling over. It looked sweet but once I’d started working at the bookstore, it hadn’t taken me long to realize that just because there wasn’t a half-naked man on the cover, it didn’t mean the inside would be a slow burn.
Covers shouldn’t be deceiving…but they often were.
I seemed to be the only reader who didn’t appreciate false advertising, so I’d learned to keep that opinion to myself. It didn’t mean I’d ever understand it, though.
“Oh, that looks stressful.” The reviews for that one said it was hot but the characters were stubborn and there was lots of drama. “Nope, not for me.”
Bex would not be filled with drama and angst if he were a Dom.
That was his parents’ job but I had no desire to read about them.
“Oh, this looks…yes, this is much better research material.” The reviews were happy and they said that the Dom was sweet. Becker was sweet. Well, Bex the Baker was sweet but I couldn’t see Bex the Dom being mean or gruff either.
I wasn’t sure I knew him well enough to be completely sure about that but logically it made sense with what I knew of him.
Bex liked giving treats.
He smiled a lot.
He was funny.
Ignoring the way my stomach was growling, I decided to start my research and not put it off. Knowledge was important. I couldn’t be a good friend to Bex if I didn’t understand him. Yes, understanding friends was important.
“Oh…” Well, this jumped right to the interesting part. “No fear. Research is important.”
I could do this.
Chapter 3
Bex
“You look like you’ve lost your favorite puppy. I didn’t know you were even seeing anyone.” Jake, the owner of the bar I was currently pouting in, raised an eyebrow as he planted himself across from me.
Maybe the fact that I’d been hiding in a booth at the back of the bar hadn’t been subtle enough for him?
Fuck it.
“No, probably not a pup and he’s avoiding me.” Again.
Since it looked like Jake had no plans to go anywhere, especially since it was a Wednesday night and it wasn’t busy, I didn’t bother telling him to mind his own business. He wasn’t good at that anyway, and he was one of the only people I could actually vent to who wouldn’t think I was a degenerate or just pathetic. “I think someone outed me as a Handler to a guy I was trying to get to know and he’s been avoiding me for the past week.”
At first it’d been subtle. Payton would wave if he saw me but always had somewhere else he seemed to need to be. But when Amanda had come into the bakery twice in the last few days and hadn’t dragged him along, I knew it’d been deliberate.
She hadn’t confirmed or denied my suspicions because for some reason she’d declared herself Switzerland, but I also thought she wasn’t sure what to say. Payton had made it clear his personal life was not to be talked about at work and she knew not to talk about my personal life with anyone…so yeah, she was stuck.
And I had no idea how to help her without making Payton uncomfortable.
Rock, meet hard place.
As Jake winced, I nodded. “It might’ve just been the fact that I’m a Dom in general, but either way it seems to have scared him off.”
“Shy or just vanilla?” His question had me shrugging.
“Maybe confused? Part of me says I’m just pathetic and part of me says he’s a confused sub who doesn’t understand that part of himself, so I should be more patient.” Leaning back, I took a swig of my beer and imagined Payton. “He works down the street from the bakery at a bookstore.”
Which was the cutest job for a sub ever.
Like dirty romance novel perfect.
Not that I read anything like that.
“One of the first times I ran into him, he was mumbling to himself after something had gone wrong. I think he’d shelved books in the wrong section or something, and a customer had been fucking rude about it.” Amanda had nearly dragged that asshat out by the ear, but it’d hurt Payton. “His whispering was basically all about how pathetic he was and that one day he’d man up. He seems to think that the default state for anyone with a dick is confident and assertive.”
