y masking the thrill of adrenalin in my chest when I thought about the idea of talking to my new tenant. She was right; he was like a taller, hotter Charlie Hunnam and that was just weird to me. People who looked like that, they belonged on TV screens and in the beds of supermodels, not in my bloody shop.
“Well, the girlfriend might look like an airhead, but she bought all five of the amber pieces we had and asked when we were getting new stock in.”
“You serious? That’s almost five hundred bucks worth!”
“I know. I hope tall, blond and tattooed has deep pockets as his lady friend has expensive tastes. Want me to break the news to him?” Jez asked.
“Nah, I’m on my way out, I’ll make sure he’s OK with it.”
“Might be a good idea,” Jez said. “They’re really starting to make some changes in there.”
10
Pa and I loaded as many of the books I could fit into the car. There was another load there, but we were both tired and hot after the first lot. I called Tess and picked her up, happy to just close the shop early and head home. No surprises but Jez had taken up an offer from the guys to go to the pub.
“Try not to read anything or watch any movies,” I said with a groan as we pulled up outside her place. “I need a hot bath, a long sleep and no dramas in the morning. We have to move all of these into the new and improved storage facility without alerting the tenants that it exists tomorrow.”
“I’ll try . . .,” Tess said, her voice wavering a little.
“Tess . . .”
“What?”
“Definitely nothing about Merlin. If I have to wake up to him wanting to show me his sceptre tomorrow morning, I will be pissed.”
“I wouldn’t read anything about him! I shouldn’t have even watched that movie. They portray him in a completely unreasonable light!”
“Ah, someone’s hot for teacher!”
“You bloody . . .!” Tess raised a hand to whack me on the back of the head, then put it back in her lap with a curious smile.
"Tess?" She just continued to smile, mild as the Mona Lisa. “Tess, what are you going to do?”
“You’ll see.”
“No dinosaur porn or anything like that, OK? No matter what they think, it’s not physically possible.”
“Nope.”
"Or puppet porn, because eww."
"Nope."
“You’re not going to tell me, are you?”
She didn’t, which is why I woke up early the next morning, tired, sore and paranoid. Again, my apartment was peaceful and only had me in it. I whipped through a shower and change and ran downstairs. We could get breakfast from a drive-thru. I scanned the foyer, but there was no one except old Mrs Hughes, and she just gave me a grumpy scowl like usual. I grabbed my phone out and dialled Tess’s number, “You ready to go?”
“I’m the eldest, I can still kick your arse, you know,” I said to Tess, walking backwards towards the door of the shop.
“Bullshit! I’ve been training with the medieval fight club for . . . oh.”
“Medieval fight club? Dressing up in cosplay and pretending to hit each other with foam swords is not going to protect you,” I said, laughing. Tess’s eyes widened in alarm, I thought due to the singular viciousness of my repartee, then I traced her gaze over my shoulder. I spun around, all too late, walking straight into a wall of manly flesh. Arms went around my waist automatically, to stop me from going any further and then to prevent me from falling on my arse when I jerked back. I blinked, so bloody horrified my mind was temporarily unable to instruct my body to do the right thing and push itself away from the warm, hard body that was pressed against mine.
“You don’t want to go for a drink, then you throw yourself at me,” a familiar voice said. “I’m getting some mixed signals here, love.”
I shot a glare at Tess over my shoulder, who just grinned smugly. I pulled myself free from Gabe, or tried to, but was held in place by a pair of arms thick with muscle. I have to admit, for a moment, I stood there, a little limp. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought I'd end up pressed against a body like this. Like, maybe he kicked puppies or stole money from little old ladies, maybe he was some kind of meth-dealing biker, but right now his character was not foremost in my mind. Right now the animal part of my brain couldn’t get past the sensation of a big hard body touching mine, making me feel small, soft and ready for something I dared not articulate. Slowly, to be sure I knew he was making this happen, he let me out of my lovely prison, though his fingers tangled with mine as I finally moved away. He held my hand as he checked me out, ostensibly to check if I was in one piece. That damned gorgeous smile only widened when he saw my face. OK, this had gone far enough. I tried to jerk my hand free, but he just held it in his and dragged me with him as we walked through the doorway into the shop.
“You holding the boss’s hand? Are you going to hold mine next?” Flea asked me with a cheeky grin.