Chapter Two
“So, what are you going to do about it?” Emily asked.
“Nothing. It was a brief moment of insanity, and it meant nothing.”
“He followed you into your bookstore, pursued you until you were cornered, and then proceeded to kiss you until you couldn’t think straight or even know your own name?” Emily asked.
Mae glared at her friend. “Stop it,” she whispered and looked around to see if anyone was paying them any attention, which they weren’t.
She scored the top of a box from the delivery, and looked in at the titles she had ordered from the recent releases.
Mae always kept a display for weekly best-selling releases.
From time to time, she’d have to change every title.
More often than not, several titles would remain, and she’d have to change one or two. They were on the bestseller lists.
“Come on, you’ve got to admit this is exciting. Caleb is into you.”
“No, he’s not.”
Emily let out a frustrated growl. “That guy never allows a woman to sleep over. Not only did you stay the night because you had to sneak out the next morning, but he pursued you. You can ask a lot of women in this town. Caleb Dowd never pursues a woman.” There was a beep, and Emily glanced down at her watch.
“That’s me, and I’ve got to go. I’ll talk to you later. ”
“Yeah, I’ll be here.”
Her friend laughed. “Oh, and before I leave, you might want to know that Caleb wants to know what we’re talking about right now.”
“What? How do you know that?”
“My husband is co-owner of their tattoo parlor, and he texted me. Caleb is going out of his mind wondering what you’re talking about. He wants to know if you’re talking about him.”
Mae got to her feet and tucked some of her hair behind her ear. “What did you tell him?”
Emily smirked. “That it’s time for the two of us to start playing matchmaker.” Her friend winked at her, and then turned on her heel to leave.
Mae continued to hold a couple of books. At first, she didn’t know what to do. Everyone in town knew what a bad boy Caleb was. He was not known as the settling-down type.
She didn’t want to just have random hookups.
Last night had been a mistake. She wanted what Emily and Pete had been able to find.
They loved each other so completely and she would love to have something like that.
She tried not to think about it, but the more she thought about her and Caleb, she knew it was a mistake.
After finishing off the display, she took the boxes out to the recycling bin and made her way inside, straightening up the shelves as she went.
Her grandfather used to take such good care of this shop.
Even before her grandmother died, she would do the same.
Mae knew it broke his heart as they started to struggle.
He was too afraid to make changes. His real belief had been that people would start to value tangible goods, like books.
Mae understood the need for an e-reader with the number of books it could store.
Especially if you worried about dust, book bugs, and stuff like that.
Not to mention space. After growing up at this bookstore, there was just no way she would ever enjoy an e-reader.
She had always been a paperback girl—holding it in her hand, feeling the weight of the book, knowing when it was coming to an end.
Also, the smells. Used books, new books—all had a particular smell, and she was addicted to them all. She couldn’t get enough.
During the day, she helped several customers, processed orders, and even handled the online orders as well. People came in, bought books, sat down, enjoyed coffee, and started to read their purchases.
She made little changes to the shop, to help make it modern and brighten up the place.
Her grandfather had loved beige and painted the whole shop that color, with a brown carpet.
Mae had changed it to a vibrant magnolia, and a black carpet.
The main part of the shop, where customers could have coffee, had a wood floor. It felt warm.
She used the window displays to their full potential.
She had two windows, either side of the main door.
Each season—or each bestseller—would bring about inspiration to change them.
Right now, they were approaching the end of summer, and she already had plans for autumn. It was going to be a lot of fun.
However, although she was thinking about the future window displays and orders she needed to place, how inviting she could make her shop, her mind kept drifting to Caleb and their night together.
She couldn’t get him out of her head. The way his hands felt as he touched her, running down her body, making her feel so many different emotions.
She loved the feel of his hands on her body.
He’d not asked for permission, at least not verbally, but Mae knew she had begged, just a little.
She didn’t even know why she had gone to the bar last night.
One foot in front of the other had found her right there at the bar, without a single care in the world.
Then, she was in Caleb’s company, going home with him, and sneaking out the next morning.
Did she regret it? She honestly didn’t know what she did and didn’t regret anymore.
Running a hand down her face, she did know she had to come to grips with her thoughts, because she was so distracted.
Also, it didn’t help that thinking about Caleb was also making her very horny.
****
Caleb had spent the day trying to convince Pete to tell his wife to invite Mae for dinner. Pete refused.
Emily didn’t.
After closing his shop and telling his friend he hated him, which wasn’t true, he went and hung out near Mae’s shop.
The lights were still on, and the sun was fading fast. It wouldn’t be long before the streets were aglow for Halloween. The town would get a little crazy during the month of October. It was where he made a great deal of money, with the random drop-ins.
Halloween Point knew how to take advantage, and there were a lot of people worldwide who loved to celebrate the ghoul season. Much to Caleb’s surprise, Halloween never seemed to go out of style, and he figured that was due to all the horror movies that came out.
Shoving his hands in his pockets, he didn’t care about the town gossip. He couldn’t get Mae out of his mind—the feel of her body against his own, even the tightness of her cunt as he slid inside her.
There had been a couple of women who entered the shop today, wanting to hang out. Actually, they hadn’t wanted to hang out at all. They only wanted to fuck, and he told them to get lost.
He saw the lights go out, and seconds later, Mae appeared and let out a little gasp when she saw him.
“You scared me,” she said, putting a hand to her chest.
“Sorry. I figured you’d turn this place into a twenty-four-seven if you knew I was waiting to talk to you.”
Mae smiled. “You want to talk?”
“I know your place is above the shop, but how about we go have some dinner? I’ll take you to the diner, my treat, or the Italian place.”
He saw she was attempting to come up with some reason to decline.
“You know we’re already the subject of town gossip.”
“I don’t care about that,” Mae said.
“You don’t read it?”
“Not since the rumor of Pete and Emily getting a divorce, because he was seen leaving his home early, but he was actually taking lessons to do something for your place, right?”
Caleb laughed. He remembered that. Pete had been so pissed that they would talk shit about him and his wife.
They had a client who wanted some extensive ink done, and they had a reputation for being the best. It took practice to be the best. Pete spent a lot of time practicing so he would be amazing at it.
The rumors were worth it. They had one happy client who had been back multiple times for new ink or touch-ups. It was some of their best work.
This was why they went into business together. Halloween Point had needed a tattoo parlor. Although Caleb had wanted to leave town, he saw the value in staying, and they made it work. Since then, they had customers from around the world. That was how good a reputation they had built.
“That was a crazy time,” Caleb said.
“Emily was so pissed. She wanted to start setting traps because she was convinced someone was sneaking around, watching them.” She shrugged. “You know what, yeah, let’s go to the diner.”
He held out his arm for her to take, and Mae looked at it, then hesitated just a second before sliding her arm through his.
He wanted to breathe a sigh of relief, but instead they made their way over to the diner, which was already busy.
They were able to find a small table near the back.
It was a booth, which offered some privacy.
The moment they were seated, Suzie was there with her order pad.
“What can I get you two lovebirds?” Suzie asked.
Mae looked at him and Caleb laughed.
“I’ll take a chocolate milkshake with extra fudge sauce, do not skimp on it. Along with two cheeseburgers, and fries with all the trimmings.”
“That sounds good,” Mae said. “I’ll have that, but with one cheeseburger, thank you.”
Suzie wrote it down. “I’ll be along shortly. You know, we’re a prime destination for proposals.”
Mae’s eyes went wide and Caleb just laughed. He was not about to admit to these ladies that the sound of proposing to Mae was a pretty good idea. He’d never felt possessive of a woman, and he was done with any woman who showed signs of attempting to claim ownership of him.
He didn’t want to share Mae. She was a catch, and he was aware of a couple of men who wanted to date her.
Her thick, auburn hair cascaded around her shoulders in waves, and it always looked thick and glossy, with a natural curl.
She had the prettiest green eyes he’d ever seen. And then, her full figure.
He couldn’t recall ever seeing her in jeans. She was always wearing dresses or skirts. In the winter, it was always with tights and boots. He couldn’t believe how much attention he paid to the little details of this woman.
“How was your day?” Mae asked.
“It was good. It’s better now. I don’t have to put up with Pete’s ugly face.”
Mae laughed. “Does this have anything to do with you wanting to know what me and Emily were talking about?” she asked.
“Ah, so Emily doesn’t keep secrets from you either?”
“No, she doesn’t. Why did you want to know what we were talking about?”
“You haven’t dated a lot of men, have you?”
“I think I proved that last night,” she said.
Did she have any idea how sensual she was? Caleb felt himself getting hard just talking to her.
“Yeah, you did. I’ve never had a woman run from me, Mae. Call me intrigued, and I want more.”