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I pulled up my messages and typed out a quick message to Teag:Something came up. Can't make it. Use Finn instead. Let me know how the drop goes.
Then I pocketed the phone and jogged out the back door, because I'd just created the perfect opportunity to check in on Emilia.
The route to the bookstore was familiar although a bit different this time, now that I wasn’t running for my life and had time to take in the lay of the land. Her shop was a few blocks away from the T station, and the part of town it was in wasn't that bad, but it wasn't good, either. It looked a little rundown and sketchy, even in the fading daylight. The streetlights were old, and several of them had burned out bulbs. Emilia's bookshop was a narrow storefront between a bakery and an empty building. I tried the door, but the Closed sign was hanging on the window, and a dim light shone from the back room.
I went around the side of the building to the alley behind the shop, and, sure enough, the brick was still being used to hold the rear door open. As much as I didn't want to agree with Angel, it was a stupid move, leaving the back open like that. Any old lowlife might slink in, hell--I did.
The unease from earlier settled heavily in my belly as I approached the shop, but when a figure moved past the gap in the door, my heart started pounding for a different reason. Emilia's hair was down today, ebony curls cascading down to the small of her back. My fingers twitched. I could still feel the silkiness of her hair against my fingers. I couldn't see her face from this angle, but I got a real appreciation for the curve of her hips in the jeans she was wearing. My mouth went dry.
I knocked on the door. Emilia yelped, and her book dropped to the floor. I grinned and shoved the door all the way open. " Please don't throw a book at me this time."
Her eyes widened. She recovered fast, though, shooting me a glare that was undermined by the color that rose prettily to her cheeks as she stooped to retrieve the book. "What are you doing here?"
"Looking for book recommendations, what else?"
Her glare darkened, and her lush mouth pursed. She was even more beautiful than I remembered, and I had a hell of a memory. "We're closed," she said and turned back to her work.
I raised an eyebrow and leaned against the doorway. "You left your back door propped open again. Anyone could waltz right in."
Emilia huffed and looked up, and those big brown eyes narrowed. "And you're just the example, aren't you?"
"Come on. I'm not so bad."
"You're Irish."
"Last I checked, being Irish wasn’t contagious."
"Close enough."
I grinned, thoroughly enjoying the fire in her eyes. "Is that any way to talk to a customer?"
Emilia rolled her eyes and crouched to retrieve her book again. She stood and held it out. "There. Now go."
I stepped further into the shop. Emilia stiffened, but she stood her ground. The book was held out like a shield, and I took perverse pleasure in the way her breath hitched when I gently tugged it from her grip. I glanced at the cover. "Pride and Prejudice.Telling."
Her eyes narrowed. "How so?"
I leaned into her personal space, my heartbeat quickening when she didn't pull away from me. "Tell me, Emilia, is it your pride or your prejudice that finds me so repulsive?"
"I-I don't." Those big doe eyes were going to be the death of me. "Find you repulsive, that is. But you still can't be here."
Emilia's hand went to my chest, supposedly to push me away, but there was no force behind it. Instead, her palm settled over my heart and her eyes widened as if she could feel the frenzy beneath my ribs. Her lips parted, deep rose against her copper skin. I took it for the invitation it was and leaned in--
"Emilia! Put down the moldy old books, it's Friday night! Let's go do something." The bell to the shop's front door chimed moments before a younger version of Emilia bounced into the shop, followed closely by a huge guy with shaggy hair. "Come on, Luca says he'll take us to that new club."
Emilia's eyes were like saucers. "Oh, no."
"Who's--oof!" Emilia shoved me out of the way before I finished asking, pushing me into a corner of the back room I was all too familiar with. "Back in the storage closet I go, huh?"
"Shut up."
four
Emilia
Alfie Doyle was goingto be the death of me.
What could he have possibly been thinking, just showing up like that? He's lucky I didn't throw a book at him again. Thank God Luca and Sofia had shown up--I'd never been so glad to be interrupted. Asshole.
