“Haven’t given it to him yet. Hey, I’ll need your help again,” Joel is saying, and I blink to find him gesturing toward the nearest shelves stacked with books.
“Anything.” I cough. “You need. Book-wise. Obviously.”
He gives me a long look under which my cheeks warm, heat, burst into flames and blister. “Yeah. I need a book.”
Of course he does. Of course that’s why he’s here. In a bookshop.
I can’t be trusted to speak with handsome guys in public. Or private. I mean, I’ll either stare open-mouthed, like it happened with Jethro at the concert, or talk until every stupid thing anyone on earth has ever come up with has seen the light of day.
“No bananas this time?” I ask and bite my tongue so hard my eyes water. “Or other fruit? Other recipes, I mean. Other…”
Shut. Up. Now.
I wait for him to speak, gritting my teeth.
“I’m looking for something about… history,” he says.
Come again? “History,” I make myself repeat. “What period?”
“Ancient.”
All right… He’s joking, right? Star athlete, graduated with a business degree, party animal and serial one-night-stander, that’s who he is. Not a history nerd. Is this… is he trying to impress me?
Haha, good one, Candy.
“An overview, right.” I tap my fingers on the shelves, unable for the life of me to remember if we have any such book. “Or did you want something specific?”
“Middle Eastern,” he says firmly.
“Mesopotamian?” I want to see how far he’ll go. “Assyrian, maybe?We have this one here.”
“What?”
When I turn back toward him, the blue of his eyes seems darker, and a light flush colors his cheekbones.
Right. He has no clue.
I’m disappointed.
And once more, what the heck, Candy? Expectations, again? Didn’t we decide they suck? Did you expect real-life Joel to not only be a hunk, but also interesting, interested in topics you like, sensitive and all-around perfect? Hello? Real life?
A threesome sex act probably sucks, too, in reality. I mean, you’re only just trying to imagine the logistics. In your head. With your imagination. Because it turns you on.
Doesn’t mean you’ll like it when you’re faced with the real thing.
I’m also flustered. I mean, here I was, thinking about threesomes, really filthy threesomes, involving the guy standing right in front of me, and his friend. Chances are, they’ve never ever thought about joining forces to please a girl, much less each other.
Of course not.
“I’ll try this one,” Joel is saying, pulling from the shelf the book I pointed out. His mouth twists in a lopsided smile. “It sounds good.”
“Doesn’t it?” I quip, and God, stop it, Candy. “Brilliant. Um.” I smile, giving him my full shark smile.
I’m still disappointed that he tried to impress me without considering I’d see right through him, and that it’s probably a technique he’s used before and it worked, but hey, he’s still eye-candy.
“You all right?”
“Oh yeah.” I wonder what my expression looks like for him to ask. Is my tongue hanging out? Am I making panting noises? “I haven’t had my coffee yet. It’s an addiction. Really bad. Withdrawal symptoms.”