Chapter 7 Lottie #2
“A special order for the local bookclub,” I tell him. “We don’t really sell a lot of mainstream books in here, so I special order them for certain people behind Walter’s back. Or did.” I smile, remembering how he pretended not to notice.
“And who might you be?” Adriana asks, suddenly noticing the gorgeous tattooed man behind me. She sticks her hand out and bats her lashes at him, turning her flirty mode on.
I roll my eyes as I ring her order up.
“Hey,” Knox laughs, taking her hand. “I’m Knox. I’m one of the new partial owners of this place.”
Adriana gasps and drops his hand, turning to look at me with delight. “This is the guy you slept with?”
Knox bursts out in laughter as I flush crimson. “Adri!”
“What?” But her faux-innocent eyes do nothing to calm my sudden ire.
“He’s standing right. There,” I hiss.
“What? He knows he slept with you, doesn’t he?” She raises a brow in Knox’s direction, who chokes on a laugh before nodding. “See? So it isn’t a secret from him—or Ceres Cove, for that matter.”
I gawk, mortified.
“This is a small town, Carlota. You went out on a date with the man. What did you expect?”
“Who told you?” I ask, eyes narrowed.
“Lizzie McCallister.” She shrugs, nonchalant.
Lizzie-fucking-McCalister.
The blabbermouth.
“It wasn’t a date and Lizzie McCalister can—” I stop dead in my tracks. “Wait. But who told you about him being the one who inherited the store with me? I haven’t told anyone yet.”
From the corner of my eye, I watch as Jenn shifts uncomfortably, her eyes locked on something above our heads.
I will kill her later.
Knox laughs in astonishment, sipping on his coffee as he watches this entire interaction unfold.
“I cannot believe that—”
“I’m Adri, by the way,” my sister says to Knox, interrupting me. “Lottie’s sister.”
“Sister, huh?” He takes her hand, but his eyes are on me as he shakes it, smile hopeful. “I’ve already met your entire family, and we haven’t even been on a second date. I think it’s the universe’s way of telling us to do it. Maybe this afternoon? After closing?”
“Oooh, you’re not shy. I love a guy who knows what he wants.” My sister grins, wiggling her eyebrows at me.
“You do know you’re married, right?” I ask.
“And?”
“You don’t think your husband would mind?” I raise a brow. “Plus, I would appreciate it if you didn’t flirt with my business partner. It’s not professional.”
“He isn’t my business partner,” she says, almost snickering. “And John’s not the jealous type. But we clearly know who is, Miss Jealousy.” She laughs softly and shakes her head.
“I’m not jea—”
“Whatever.” She pulls her card from her wallet. “How much do I owe you for the books, you big baby? And don’t forget to give me the receipt so I can give each of the girls a copy.”
I huff, muttering the total while Jenn bags the books.
“So,” Adri starts again, her eyes trailing up and down Knox.
“You said you’ve met other family members?
Like who? I haven’t read anything about it in our family group chat.
” She leans her elbow on the counter, chin resting on the palm of her hand.
Wanting her to leave as soon as possible, I pry the credit card from her fingers and slide it into the reader.
Knox smiles at me before answering—that stupid, gorgeous, heartwarmingly boyish smile of his—and asks “The bartender?”
“Ah. Alejandro.” She nods somberly. “And how did that go? Because Ale can be just a little overprotective of her, you know? He’s seen Lottie at her worst. She basically moved in with him and his family right after the divorce, so—”
“Adriana!” I cry, mortified. Knox looks at me in concern, any trace of humor in his eyes long gone. I run my fingers through my hair, silently begging her to stop talking about my personal life, but miracles are hard to come by, aren’t they? “Knox doesn’t—Ugh.”
“Doesn’t what? Doesn’t care?” She laughs once. “I doubt that because by the looks of it, he seems very interested in—”
“He doesn’t know I’m divorced,” I whisper-yell, as if he isn’t two feet away. “Didn’t know.” I sigh, squeezing my eyes shut.
“Oh.” Her eyes dart back and forth between us. “Well, it’s not like it’s some dirty thing. It happens. Sometimes you end up marrying the wrong person. Someone who turns out to be an inconsiderate piece of shit who promised to stick with you through everything but then—”
“Just take your books and leave, will you?” I beg.
“It happens. It’s not even that big of a deal.
” I know she means well with that comment, but…
Way to invalidate the catalyst that led to the crumbling of my entire life, sis.
Like being abandoned by my husband because I couldn’t give him what he wanted was standard practice and something easy to get over.
She rolls her eyes at me again. “Jeez Louise, you’re such a baby.
Fine; I’ll go. But you better not be this big of a bitch next time, or I’ll convince every single member of Touching My Shelf—that’s our romance bookclub’s name, by the way,” she says, smiling and fluttering her lashes at Knox, “to start shopping for their books from you-know-where, instead.”
We glare at an each other as I bite my tongue, using every bit of energy in my body to keep from really giving her a piece of my mind.
Support your indie bookstores, kids.
Jenn laughs softly before walking into the stockroom, shaking her head in disbelief.
Ungrateful little thing.
Adri takes her bag from me, but stops before heading out. “Hope to see you again soon, Knox.” And with another bat of her full eyelashes and a toss of her dark hair, she exits the store leaving as much damage to my psyche as a tornado.
“God, I’m so sorry about that,” I tell Knox. “She’s so embarrassing.”
Knox gently wraps his hands around my wrists, pulling my hands away from my face. “Hey.” I look up into his eyes and, for the first time since this morning, really let myself look at him. “You okay?”
“I—I… Yes, I’m fine. I just…”
He nods in understanding. “Sorry if that was uncomfortable for you. I was only teasing, but then—”
“Yeah, the D word came up.” I wince, just the memory of the past five minutes making me nauseous.
“I didn’t mean that. I just meant how she…
” He sighs and shakes his head. “But yeah. I didn’t know you were divorced.
” The look in his eyes—is it pity or something else?
—crushes me. It’s not enough that I’m thirty-four and barren (though he certainly doesn’t know that part).
Add to that the fact that I’m divorced, and you’ve got a fully formed heap of damaged goods that could scare even the most persistent of men away.
Because that’s what’s happening, right? That look in his eyes?
He’s backing away. And though a part of me has been wishing for him to do so since having him come back into my life, I didn’t expect to feel so disappointed.
“Yes, I’m divorced. That’s what happens when you sleep with someone older than you, Knox,” I say, unable to help the curtness in my tone. “They tend to have more… history.”
“Why are you so hard on yourself?” he asks, voice gentle. “Having a past isn’t a bad thing.”
I pull my hands from his and pretend to busy myself by shuffling papers around the register.
“How much older, by the way?”
“What?”
“How much older are you? I just want to know whether you qualify for cougar status?” he jokes and I can’t help the way my lips quirk—or the way my heart swells at his distraction.
“Shoot me now.” I roll my eyes.
“C’mon. You can’t be that much older than me.”
“I’m not, but… Well. Let’s put it this way: ‘Just the Way You Are’ by Bruno Mars was playing on the oldies station the other day and it’s the song I lost my virginity to the night of my senior prom, so…”
“I remember when that song came out,” he smiles in encouragement, though I doubt he could even talk to girls back then.
“I lost my virginity in the back seat of my mom’s RAV-4 when I was sixteen to Sadie Lawrence.
It was awkward and weird and short.” He laughs in spite of himself, before stopping abruptly.
“How long it lasted, I mean. Not my dick. You know what my dick looks like already, and it isn’t short,” he adds quickly.
I burst out into laughter for the first time since seeing him again, and I swear I feel about twenty pounds lighter. I shake my head, a smile on my lips. “Knox.”
“I know. The store. We can’t. Blah, blah, blah.
” He waves his hand dismissively, his eyes roaming over my face as if memorizing every inch of it.
“But if you ever wanna break this stupid rule, let me know. Because I’m more than up for it.
” He smiles his trickster grin, and I can’t help but laugh once more.
“C’mon. We should prep for our meeting with the business manager today.”