Page 29 of The Bookbinder's Guide to Love

Poppy hugged her back just as fiercely. “No problem. Also...if you want me to read whatever you write about Ford so you don’t have to do it, I will.”

Sera sat back in her chair; she hadn’t thought of that. “Okay. I’m not sure if I want to share my thoughts at all.”

“Whatever you decide. We’ve got you,” Poppy said.

“I was determined to go because Wes had told me not to, but the more I think about Ford, the more I want to be there for him. I was afraid, though.”

Poppy nodded. “I would be too. But Wes’ll have his family there, and you’ll have yours. I mean, you did say he wasn’t so mean last night...and you did hook up, so where does that leave things?”

Her family. She let those words settle around her like a warm scarf. “Ugh. I have no idea. You know I really stink at being impulsive. Like, I do better with a plan.”

“We can’t all be Liberty, unfortunately,” Poppy said with a wry smile. “I guess you’ll have to see how today goes, right?”

“Yes. I really do need his help, and if he’s even a tenth as good at bookbinding as Ford always said he was, then I’ll be lucky to have him.”

“Ford talked about him? What did he say?” Poppy asked.

“Just odd stories every now and then about how bookbinding had given him a way to talk to the grandson he hadn’t known how to connect with.”

She thought about those times. Only twice had he mentionedthe grandson. He’d never used Wes’s name. But Ford said working together in silence had given them a chance to bond. He claimed that was the magic of books.

She’d thought at the time he’d brought it up to show how the two of them were connected. But now she wondered if he’d had another reason. Maybe he’d wanted her to know there was someone else he’d shared his skills with. Or maybe he’d just wanted to talk. Wes had admitted he had frozen out his grandfather.

Ford had turned to her because he’d been alone too. She had to be there for him—he was a part of her family.

Sera was at her workbench when he entered WiCKed Sisters. She looked up when the door opened, and his breath caught in the back of his throat as he took her in. Her hair was a riot of curls around her head and shoulders, and she half smiled when she saw him, giving a little wave.

He smiled back and realized he’d been right about today. They were both nervous. Neither of them knew what to expect from the other. Sex could be both cold and impersonal as well as very intimate and personal. But they were strangers despite it. There were no two ways about that.

They’d both lost someone who they had been close to. Wes at a critical point in his life. So how did they move forward? Maybe if they could both find a way to let go of Ford, it would help. Speaking of which, resisting each other would go a long way to making things easier. But he had no idea how he was going to keep his hands off Sera if she reached for him again.

It wasn’t lost on Wes that bookbinding was once again giving him a path forward when he wasn’t sure where to go. He didn’t love this part of books. He preferred repairing old, worn ones to creating something brand-new, but he could do this, and he was determined to.

He hadn’t written much in the journal back at Grandpa’s house, but what he had written had made him sure of working for Sera temporarily.

“Hope it’s okay I’m a few minutes early,” he said.

“One of my foster moms said on time was late,” Sera said with a laugh. “Come on over here and I’ll show you what I’d like you to do.”

He walked over to her. As he got closer, the scent of lavender was stronger. Today she wore a full-length skirt made out of tulle. She had on a formfitting scoop-neck, long-sleeved T-shirt that she’d tucked into the thick satin waistband. His eyes got as far as her breasts, and he wanted to linger, but he kept moving.

He remembered the way her breasts had felt against him last night as he’d been inside her and his blood felt hotter, his cock heavier, and he turned his attention to the workbench to get his mind back in the game.

But his body was slow to follow. She was so close that an errant strand of her hair brushed against his shoulder as she stepped next to him to pull the supplies forward.

Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath, which just made him hornier as all he smelled now was lavender, and he remembered last night when the sweet smell on her skin mixed with the scent of sex.

Damn. Now he was thinking of sex and how tight she’d been on his cock when she came.

“Wes?”

“Sorry. I need a minute,” he said.

“Sure. You okay?”

No. He wasn’t okay. But then, had he ever been? Something about Sera made him want to reveal these doubts and hear what she had to say. But he wasn’t about to start telling her that.Get. Your. Shit. Together.

“Yes. Being this close to you makes it hard to focus on anything other than you,” he said. He might be arrogant and an ass most of the time, but he was always honest.

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