Chapter 8
EIGHT
LIAM
The door slams shut with more force than necessary.
Progress.
Not that leaving a woman flustered and calling it a win is typical for me. But Juniper Jensen isn’t just any woman. She’s the one. And she’s determined to box me up as an old mistake she’s outgrown. Like I’m just her embarrassing crush she’s buried under shiny new dreams.
She has no idea I didn’t come here to sleep under her roof and tiptoe around old feelings. I came to reveal they were never one-sided like she thinks.
I flip open my laptop at her kitchen table, her scent still clinging to the sweater she left draped on the back of the chair. There’s already a message waiting in the Summit County Small-Business forum.
JuniReads: Hey! Just confirming the prosecco delivery for the Books I curse under my breath. Shit. Too specific.
Her reply comes fast.
JuniReads: How do you know I have a reading nook?
I stare at her words for a beat, fighting the urge to laugh at my own slip. Being around her again has made me careless.
I crack my knuckles and type.
PourChoices: Doesn’t every cozy independent bookstore have one?
A pause. Then her typing bubble pops up again.
JuniReads: You’re right. They should.
I blow out a breath, leaning back in my chair. The quiet creaks of the old building remind me she’s just below me. Close enough that if I wanted to, I could find her in seconds.
But I’ve got work to do. And not just the kind I can hide behind a screen for.