Chapter 15 #2
I grinned. “Welcome to the South, where the architecture makes sense because it doesn’t.
” He shook his head again and stepped forward.
I went to follow him when my gaze snagged on a patch of tulips.
It looked like some kid had tried to pull them up.
Tulips were sensitive enough to maintain here without some brat messing with them.
So, of course, I squatted down and carefully re-secured the roots, murmuring gentle words of comfort to the undoubtedly distressed flowers.
The saddest part being that it was a miracle they’d held out this long. Tulips were not a summer flower.
By the time I made it inside, after dusting off as much dirt as I could manage, I wasn’t remotely surprised to find JD already at the counter for Latte Da, the cafe portion of the bookstore.
He gave me a goofy grin, and I left him to his latest source of tooth decay to peruse their gardening books.
Not too long later, I had a couple of contenders and went in search of my friend.
I briefly contemplated asking for directions to the Romance section, then I spied my giant redhead.
Really, who needed signs to find you when you were a walking one?
Chuckling to myself at my arguably not funny joke, I wove around the other patrons to get to him.
He was completely immersed in a paperback with a small stack beside him when I got there.
Grinning, I walked into his bubble so we wouldn’t disturb the other shoppers by talking too loud.
He wasn’t the only one enjoying some casual reading.
“Find anything interesting?”
He whipped the book down so fast and tucked it behind his back, you’d have thought I’d caught him with a copy of Hustlers or something.
“Really, JD? I already said I wouldn’t judge what you read. I, uh, might be curious?” Did I mean to say that? The look on his face echoed my thoughts.
“Really?” If he raised his eyebrow any higher, he was going to need a replacement.
I shrugged and went for broke. Truth be told, I was dying of curiosity after our—altercation? conversation? interaction?—whatever you wanted to call it this morning. “Yeah. How’s the selection? Any of your favorites here?”
“Not as many as I would like,” he admitted, though his dubious expression remained.
I sighed, but refused to give up. Maybe I was shit at flirting, but this was books for Christ’s sake.
“Any recommendations?” I asked, reaching toward his stack of paperbacks, which he promptly moved further out of my reach.
Ouch. That hurt. I withdrew my hand, shoving it into my pocket where it could hopefully get me into less trouble.
“Sorry. I’ll, um,” I swallowed thickly, “just leave you to it.” Jesus, I was so bad at this.
Why did I ever think he was actually interested in me?
I backpedaled as quickly as the packed store and my wounded pride would let me.
Somewhere behind me was a hissed, “Shit,” followed by a ruffle of books. God, why were there so many people here? I knew the place was popular, it always had been, but this was ridiculous. Where the hell was the exit? How had I gotten so turned around? It wasn’t that big a store.
Something that I refused to label as panic was setting in when someone grabbed my elbow. If I hadn’t been clutching the nature books for dear life, I’d have lashed out. As it was, I had no choice but to make a scene or let myself get dragged off to the side. One guess which one I went with.
By the time I stopped moving and dared to look around, I was in an area roped off for what looked like an event.
Pretty sure I wasn’t supposed to be here.
I shuffled my feet and scanned the ground to see if I could figure out the way to an exit without having to look up.
It didn’t take a genius to know who’d grabbed me.
I’d recognize his firm grip anywhere, even before this mess I’d made for myself.
Alex was going to have a field day with this.
No, that wasn’t true. She’d commiserate with me over yet another failed attempt at making a romantic connection, then help me put myself back together with the optimism only your twin can have.
“Marc, please look at me.”
I clutched the gardening books to my chest as if they were Kevlar that could protect my bruised heart, even though I knew it was already too late for that. This was why I didn’t try. What even was the point? “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t… I’m sorry.”
JD’s heavy sigh was like a punch to the chest. “No, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that the way you took it.”
I snorted. Hard to take it another way. He’d been everything short of outright hostile.
“Okay, that’s fair. You might have caught me in the middle of a particularly spicy scene, and I lashed out.
I’ve been told I can be a bit of a cranky reader.
” I could hear the attempt at humor and could only surmise what he meant by spicy, but that didn’t explain moving the books away from me. “Please look at me, baby boy.”
I really needed him to stop calling me that. It was confusing, and I was already horribly out of my depth. Yet, I still found myself meeting his gaze. “Why’d you move the books?”
He closed his eyes with a wince and gave me a sheepish half-smile. “Yeah, I could have handled that better. Give me your hand?” I narrowed my eyes at him, and his grin gained strength. “I promise, nothing untoward. I just want to show you why.”