Page 1 of His Sacrifice

Chapter One

Jada

“She’s gone.”

I looked up from the papers on my desk. “She?” I asked.

“The woman who asked me about fifty different books and then didn’t buy any.” Tatum flopped into the beanbag chair in the corner of my office. “I thought I had her with the newest Diana Palmer since she looked it over for a solid three minutes, but she put it down just like all of the other ones.”

“Maybe she’ll come back later?” I suggested.

Tatum furrowed her brow. “Um, are you feeling okay? Normally, you tell me good riddance.”

I shrugged and sat back in my chair. “I mean, maybe I’m feeling nice today? I guess we can’t be chasing away potential customers right now, especially when we’re going to be expanding into Wisconsin.”

Tatum rolled her eyes and tipped her head up to the ceiling. “As if Murphy will let anything stop him from investing in Happily Ever After. You could never sell a single book again, Jada, and he would open another store tomorrow.”

“Your mafia boy toy is rather smitten with you,” I laughed.

“The feeling is mutual,” Tatum sang.

“I still find it very interesting that I never once heard about Murphy before he kidnapped you.”

She held two fingers in the air. “He was the second to kidnap me, but I wouldn’t really call it a kidnapping. He was just trying to keep me safe until he figured out just what the hell was going on.”

“Which he still doesn’t know,” I drawled.

Tatum flitted her hand in the air. “I have all the faith in the world in Murphy. They’ll find Candace, and all this unpleasantness will end.”

I raised my eyebrow. “Have you been reading Regency romances again?” I laughed. “You sound like a proper lady of the ton.”

Tatum sighed lightly. “I might have gotten lost in the Julia Quinn display the other day. What I wouldn’t give to have ten minutes in a carriage with Colin Bridgerton.”

“Girl,” I laughed. “You can have Colin. I will spend my ten minutes with Anthony.” I fanned my face with my hand. “The things that man could do to me.”

Tatum wrinkled her nose. “It’s a good thing we have different tastes in book boyfriends, otherwise we would spend all day arguing over them.”

“Arguing over who?” My eyes shot to the doorway where Murphy was leisurely leaning against the doorframe.

“Good god, man,” I gasped. “Clear your throat or something to announce your presence.”

“If you two weren’t so enthralled with talking about fictional men, you would have heard the bell above the door ring, and I did clear my throat.”

I tipped my head to the side. “Seriously?”

Tatum laughed and rose from the beanbag chair. “Did you decide to move from the car to actually inside the bookstore to watch me?” she asked.

Murphy flattened his lips. “Are we really going to argue about this again?” he drawled. “As long as Candace is out there, you are going to have my eyes on you twenty-four-seven.”

“And if you can’t be with me, one of the guys will be,” Tatum recited. “Blah, blah, blah. I know, Murphy. I just think Candace isn’t going to mess with me. Who am I in the grand scheme of all of this?”

Murphy reached out and pulled her into his arms. “The woman I love. They already came after you once, so who’s to say she isn’t going to try again.”

Tatum buried her face in Murphy’s chest and sighed.

“I really need to record you two when you’re together. You got some smooth lines, Murph.” I tsked and shook my head.

Murphy rolled his eyes and tucked Tatum under his arm. “You done with my woman for the day?” I asked.

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