Page 13 of Midnight Surrounds Us

“Good, yeah.” He pursed his lips. “I’m good.” The motion had my eyes zeroing in on his mustache.

I didn’t love a mustache on every man, but on Rye Graves, damn, it lookedfine, and now I couldn’t help but imagine how those bristled hairs might feel against my skin in areas I definitely should not have been imagining them touching. And his beard was the perfect length—just long enough for a woman to drag her fingers through.

Not me, obviously, so why were my damn hands twitching?

“How’s your family?” God, how awkward was that? Next I’d be asking him about the weather. Wait, wasn’t this the exact conversation he and I’d had eight months ago, when he told me I’d be sorry for denying him.

I wouldneveradmit to him that he’d been right, and that I thought long and hard about him every night in my bed for months.

“Everybody’s fine,” he said. “Junior’s up in Seattle, still workin’ at that brokerage firm, and Shelby and his wife, Sorelle, are over in Wisconsin. Parents are fine. Your parents?”

I laughed under my breath. See? Roxi was wrong. This was not a conversation between two people who wanted to dirty up some sheets.

“My parents are fine,” I said. “They’re goin’ on a cruise. Was there somethin’ else you needed? I’ve gotta get back to work.”Right. Like there’s any “work” to do besides count all the books I’m not selling.

He took a couple steps forward, his electric blue eyes flashing and freezing me in place. “Yeah, actually. I’ve got a proposition for you.”

“Excuse me?”

He smirked. “A proposition… or an offer.”

Juneau was right! Here was the “offer” of whatever it was he thought I needed. Although, I really had no clue what it could be.

“Ryder Graves, there’s nothin’ you got that I need.”

“You sure about that?” he asked, his voice lowering to a feral kind of hum, but I was already turning, preparing to walk away. “I heard you need money.”

CHAPTER FIVE

AUBREY

I stopped so fastmy shoes squeaked on the floor.

But I wasn’t going to face Rye now. No way would I let him know just how desperate I was to save my bookstore. Who the hell blabbed? Roxi would be lucky if I let her live out the day.

“Rye, I don’t want your?—”

“Hear me out,” he said, and I heard his big boots on the tile when he moved closer. “What if we came to an arrangement? What if I pay your back taxes?”

That had me spinning in a second. “How do you kn?—”

He shrugged indifferently. “Just ran into your friend Roxanne down Main Street. She seemed a little flustered when I asked her about you. She kinda gave up the goods. Plus, it’s goin’ around that your shop may not be… viable. Small town and all that.”

I screeched, “You don’t even live here!”

He took one more step closer. “Aubrey, we’ve known each other a long time. Let me help you. Let me take?—”

“Stop. You stop right there. What gave you the impression I need a man to swoop in and solve all my problems? Lemme just get somethin’ straight right now. I do not.”

“That’s not what I was gonna say.”

“Oh no?” I countered. “You weren’t about to say ‘let me takecareofyou’?”

He shook his head. “No, I wasn’t. You got me all wrong. All I wanted to say was let me take some of your stress away. And if you’d just listen, you can help me too. We can help each other, and if things get a little… heated, well then, I figure it’s fate.”

Barking a laugh in his face, I said, “Fate? You’re out of your mind.”

But my condescension didn’t stop him. “Yeah, fate.”

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