Page 50 of The Bookbinder's Guide to Love

He put his hand under them, grasping one of her butt cheeks and lifting her at an angle. She held him closer, arching as he ripped his mouth from hers and drove into her with a frantic energy that was different from hers but just as intense, and then she felt him come inside her.

He thrust and she arched against him a few more times until he collapsed against her. He shifted so his head was against her breasts and she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, running her fingers along his back.

He didn’t say anything and neither did she. A few minutes later, he stood and lifted her into his arms. “What are you doing?”

She had no memory of anyone ever carrying her anywhere.

“Taking you to my bed. I want to hold your naked body against mine tonight.”

She rested her head on his shoulder as he carried her up the stairs and into a room she’d never been in. He turned on the light after he set her on the floor. “You can use the bathroom through there. Want a T-shirt to sleep in?”

“Sure,” she said, walking to the bathroom. She couldn’t help noticing he had stacks of books on the floor and on the dresser. She saw his open suitcase on a chair near the window.

She washed up, her body still pulsing. The combination of the funeral, wine and sex had left her feeling drained. She wanted to curl up and go to sleep. The scary part was that she wanted to curl up next to Wes. She wanted to sleep with him, cuddled close all night, and then see his face in the morning.

She’d never allowed herself to sleep with a lover. She’d never wanted to get used to sleeping with anything other than a pillow.

People left, she reminded herself.

She looked into the mirror and met her own gaze.

“He’s not staying.”

As if that was going to make her not go in there and curl next to him tonight. As if knowing he was leaving was doing anything to stop her from caring for him. As if she was going to listen to reason when, for the first time in her life, she didn’t want to.

She wasn’t making a list of pros and cons where Wes was concerned. One side was going to be way heavier than the other.

But she wanted him. She wanted this thing she couldn’t define that was happening between them.

She wasn’t about to deny herself.

Leading lady energy...she couldn’t find it. This was the one fear and vulnerability reason couldn’t really abate. The fear of losing someone at the exact moment you couldn’t live without them.

He knocked on the door and she went out into his bedroom. Trying to leave her doubts and fears behind her.

Thirteen

The next few weeks flew by, and Wes found himself enjoying his time in the WiCKed Sisters shop. Merle had invited him to join his D&D group, a game he’d never played. But on a lunch break in the back room of Poppy’s tea shop, Merle had explained the basic premise, and honestly, it sounded like something Wes would enjoy.

He talked to Sera as he was creating his character for the game and asked if she’d thought of playing.

“I’ve never really been much of a joiner,” she admitted. She’d been a little bit off today, and once the morning rush had died down from the Amber Rapp–inspired fans, she’d kept to herself as she worked next to him.

“Why not?”

He wanted to know more about her. The few bits of her past she’d shared intrigued him, but really hadn’t given him enough information to figure her out. He reminded himself she wasn’t an old antiquarian book he’d stumbled upon. But at the same time...figuring her out, seeing the parts where he could help, was what he craved. Fuck. He’d never trusted women, but he was looking for a way to trust her with the feelings he was struggling to deny.

There was a part of him that wanted to let go of the past. He knew his lack of trust in women was rooted in his relationship with his mother and the devastating effect her leaving had had not only on their family but also on his father. Wes didn’t want to be vulnerable the way his dad had been.

But Sera, with her gorgeous curly hair, sexy smile and body that made him hot and hard, was difficult to resist.

She shrugged. “Just the way I am.”

Her voice was not like her. “What’s the matter?”

“Nothing.”

“Do you not want to talk, or do you want me to keep asking until you do?”

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