Lukas plunks a key on my defunct typewriter. It makes a clunk before the arm sticks. Out of instinct, I reach out and carefully lower it before pushing his hand away. The pads of my fingers tingle where they touched his and I yank it back, making a fist at my side. Definitely no touching. Not if I want to keep my dignity intact.
“That’s broken,” I say unnecessarily.
“I see that,” Lukas says, his smile pulling up on one side, smirking at me. His green eyes sweep over my face as he leans closer. “You have freckles.”
I freeze, staring at him and blinking. “Yes… Can I help you with something?” I ask, truly confused. Did he really come here just to rub in how much I’m not his type? That seems unnecessarily cruel.
He runs a hand over his jaw, the bristles of his short beard rasping quietly as he watches my face, still smiling at me.
“Yeah, I think you can, Parker. I want a book.”
“Ooookay…” I answer slowly. “For whom?”
“For me.”
There is a lot of blinking going on right now. How much do I normally blink? Because this seems excessive. I tap my fingers against my leg and get a hold of myself.
“This is a romance bookstore. Are you a big fan of romance novels, Mr. Donovan?”
“I told you to call me Lukas. And I’ve never read one, so you get to pop my cherry.” He grins at me, cocky as all hell and I hate that it looks so good on him.
I’m sure my eyes bug out of my head, despite my best efforts not to react. Because that’s what he wants, right? To get a rise out of me? To shock the sweet little midwestern girl with his dirty mouth? Oh God that mouth… I read dirty romances all day long but when the living, breathing embodiment of my fantasies says something like that, it’s hard to keep a poker face.
“Great,” I squeak. “How about science fiction?”
He chuckles, rubbing his hand through his beard again, distracting me. “Sure. Pick something for me.”