Just like guys did in books.
Swooooooon.
“Is that better?”
“If I said no, will you keep going?” I raised my eyebrows and pointedly glanced down at his crotch.
He looked as if he were about to say something, but stopped himself, then smirked. “Either you’ve suddenly gotten sick or me holding that baby has addled your brain.”
“Addled my brain? Settle down over there, Mr. Darcy, no need for fancy words.” I took the cheap laptop we used for stock taking and set it on the desk. “Can you work a laptop, good sir, or should I call for your horse?”
He strolled across the room, deliberately slowly, and adjusted the belt of his jeans. My eyes dropped to his hands and, by definition, his lower stomach where those stupid ass ‘v’ lines were taunting me.
“I think I can figure out a laptop, ma’am.”
“It was fun ‘til you called me ma’am.”
He clicked his tongue. “Yeah, kinda sucked all the joy out of it, didn’t it?”
“Little bit.” I logged into the laptop and brought up the software. “It’s pretty simple. I have three boxes left from this week’s delivery that my delightful business partners never got around to doing—”
“Probably because they knew you would.”
“—So I’m going to call out the number, you type it in the search bar just here.” I tapped the screen. “And then I’ll count, and you just log how many copies there are right here.” Another tap. “Think you can manage that?”
“Can I take it to the sofa?”
I glanced at the sofa Saylor had just moved out here. Mostly so she could read while she was pretending to organize stock. “Sure. As long as you don’t mess up my stock intake.”
“That’s a lot of responsibility.”
“So don’t mess it up,” I repeated.
“This was a terrible decision,” Sebastian muttered, moving to the sofa.
“I know.”CHAPTER NINETEEN – HOLLEYrule nineteen: fake it. even when you feel something real, fake it.“That’s the most tedious thing I’ve ever done in my life.”
“It’s really not that bad,” I said, locking the store behind us. “And it only took that long because you messed up.”
Seb huffed. “I did not mess up.”
“You said we had ten thousand copies of A Night to Remember. We had three. I don’t even know how you did that.” I tucked the keys to the store in my purse and zipped up my coat. It was snowing again and it was way darker than I was happy with.
Ivy and Kai had picked Tegan up almost two hours ago. Seb and I had been stuck in the back after he’d somehow managed to create an entirely new formula in the software that had it doubling and tripling all our stock, then he’d inserted a whole new product line of takeout cups.
Don’t tell him, but I really liked that idea.
And I was going to take credit for it, so.
It’d taken me half an hour to find and restore the software to a backed-up version which, of course, had taken us right back to the beginning.
We switched after that. He called the stock numbers and put books on the shelves. It was a smart choice. I was about ready to beat him with my laptop.
“Okay, now you have to let me cook you dinner to say sorry for screwing up your day.”
I stared at him. “I don’t have a choice, do I?”
“Holley, I’ve just paraded around your stock room half-naked for the past three hours.”
“And the problem is…”
“You’re having dinner with me. I’m cooking.”
“You can’t cook.”
“I can cook.”
“You used to burn fried eggs.”
He paused as we reached his truck. “Well, I had to learn. I can make a mean lasagna.”
“Garlic bread?”
“What?”
“Do you have garlic bread?” I asked.
He hit the button on his key fob. “Yes. I think.”
I sighed. “That’s a big risk, baller.”
“Yes, I have it, and if I don’t, I’ll go buy some. How does that sound?” He opened the passenger side door. “Get in.”
“What about my car?”
“I’ll bring you back after dinner to get it.”
I got into his truck. I was running out of things to stall him with. “Do you have anything I can use to make dessert?”
“You’re going to bake?” he asked, starting the engine.
“I can bake. I’m a very good baker,” I replied. “I just don’t always do it. It’s messy and, well, I could be reading in that time.”
He slid his gaze over to me. His mouth pulled up into a half-smile, but he dragged his eyes back on the road as he pulled away.
I sat back in the seat and looked out. It was snowing hard now, and I was glad I wasn’t driving. I probably would have walked home anyway, just because the visibility really sucked and I hated driving in heavy snow.
Wow. Even the weather was working in Seb’s favor now.
We didn’t speak as he drove us to his place. I hadn’t seen his house up close, but as we approached, I was surprised. It was smaller than I thought and had an adorable modern-slash-mountain cabin vibe that shouldn’t have worked in the way it did.