First Marcia had called Kelly starry-eyed. Now Nina. Was he that blind? “You misread her.”
Nina cocked one scarlet eyebrow. “You think? Well, don’t say I didn’t warn you.” She pushed off the stool. “Good luck,” she murmured before disappearing into the scantily dressed crowd.
He didn’t leave right away. That would’ve looked pathetic. But then again, staying for another hour only to brush off anyone who even glanced his way didn’t exactly make him seem less desperate. By the time he left the club it was nearly eleven and going home seemed like the least appealing option he’d ever contemplated.
So he went to The Book Nook.
For years, the store had been everything to him. His wife, his most faithful lover, his family. For a man who’d never before found all-consuming passion in work, The Book Nook and what he’d found there had been a revelation.
But for the last couple of months, he’d been fighting itchy feet. Things were changing in the bookstore game. More stores were failing than succeeding. And his pushing for suggestions hadn’t been welcomed from the higher-ups. The owners, Diana’s parents, weren’t interested in fixing something they didn’t see as broken. To their eyes, this new digital craze would pass and they could go on as they always had. The Book Nook had a loyal customer base. Now they could coast.
As far as Spencer was concerned, they were fooling themselves. He only hoped there would still be time to right the ship once they realized their folly.
Kelly saw the handwriting on the wall. Even if he was resistant to admitting what that meant, he had to acknowledge her legwork. She was bright and forward-thinking, exactly the sort of ally a business needed during these challenging times. But a phone call this morning had proved the Sinclairs weren’t interested in her ideas.
And he was too interested in the rest of her.
They’d passed each other a couple times in the break room that afternoon but she hadn’t said so much as hello. She refrained from sending him any suggestive looks and she definitely didn’t bend over to show him her thong. If she’d ever been cooler to him, he didn’t remember it. They might as well not have been lovers at all.
What you wanted, remember? That’s why you kept her off-limits for so long. Because work comes first. Always.
It was probably for the best. Her teasing last night had rubbed his last nerve raw. As had her insults about his performance. One-minute man? That was low. She’d come every damn time. Not that he blamed her for being pissed at him and striking out.
In the light of day, he realized he’d been transferring—or whatever mumbo jumbo it was called—his own motives onto her playful comments. He’d finally accepted that she hadn’t been behind leaving her PDA on his desk. She wasn’t built to be deceitful and he was pretty damn sure she wasn’t sleeping with him to get ahead. He knew her better than that, his stupid knee-jerk reaction aside. But the snatches of himself he saw in her made him wonder if she’d guessed the truth behind her taunts. Maybe she really did figure he’d be the kind of boss to play fast and loose. Hell, he’d certainly been the sort of employee who used any available avenue to get what he wanted.
Once upon a time, he’d traded whatever commodity he had at hand. His mind, his body. That he’d gotten snared in his own trap had served him right. For a while, he hadn’t been sure he’d make it out of it with his wits intact. Maybe Kelly would be better off if she learned now she shouldn’t play when the cost of winning was too high.
And maybe this late-night philosophy of his sucked ass.
He parked in his usual spot along the side of the building, surprised to see a couple of lights on in the back of the store. Who would be there now? Usually most of the employees couldn’t get out of there fast enough after closing time, except for the stragglers.
He couldn’t say he blamed them. Most of them had social lives to tend to. Families, friends, spouses, kids…
Ever
ything he didn’t have. By his own choice mostly, but still. Normally he didn’t think about what wasn’t a part of his life, because he’d set things up just the way he wanted them. But tonight he could only see the gaping holes work would never fill.
He’d never been good at juggling girlfriends, not when his job took so much of his time. But Kelly got him. She knew how committed he was to the store and she felt the same. In that sense, they couldn’t have been more well-matched.
In every other, they were fucked.
Spencer got out of his car and walked through the insufferable wall of heat to the front door. Once again, the temperature had to be near eighty and the humidity was off the charts. He slipped his fingers into his collar and pulled the fabric away from his skin. An ice-cold shower would feel heavenly but it would have to wait. He had paperwork to get caught up on, after he figured out who the hell was camping out in his store.
Finding the door locked, he pulled out his key and entered to the sounds of blaring hip-hop music. At least he thought it was hip-hop. He never listened to anything other than classical or opera so he couldn’t be sure. He’d heard variations of music like this at the club though he never stayed downstairs long enough to get the point.
“Hello?” he called over the din. He waited a moment and tried again. Nothing.
He pocketed his keys and walked up the center aisle of the store, skirting the large glass tower of new releases and sidestepping the promotional end caps of bookmarks and trinkets. The scent of wildflowers mixed with lemon polish hit him just before he reached the romance section and saw Kelly sitting cross-legged on the floor. His breath caught but luckily she was too engrossed in the novel open on her lap to notice him.
Watching her suck down the book brought him infinite enjoyment. She looked so damn adorable in her cutoff white overalls with her hair twisted into two stubby tails, he didn’t trust himself to speak.
“What’re you reading?” he asked finally, bracing a hand on the shelf beside him. It helped support him when her gaze flew upward and he realized she was wearing glasses, little round frames that made her eyes look absolutely huge.
He hadn’t seen her wear glasses in years. Probably a good thing, because he’d just discovered he was hot for them. Or hot for the woman in them.
“Spencer.” She closed the novel and shoved it on a shelf. “I was just rearranging this section as you asked me to.”
He bent and retrieved the purple-spined book. “Taken?” He cocked an eyebrow and flipped to the first page. The writing was snappy and he’d read three paragraphs before he realized. A quick glance at the back cover copy told him it was about a woman on a sexual discovery with a man she’d never “tame”. He cleared his throat and reshelved the book. “How is it?”