Page 54 of Unstoppable You

She smiled and my chest did this little disconcerting fluttering thing that confused me.

We were quiet as we reached my car and I unlocked the passenger side for her. Good thing my car was clean and there wasn’t a pile of books sitting in the passenger seat like there usually was. There were some in the trunk, but she couldn’t see those. I also had a few boxes of shirts in the backseat.

James slid into the passenger seat and her scent overwhelmed me. How did she still smell so good? I really wanted to know what it was.

“Now I get to see whereyoulive,” I told her.

She exhaled shakily and then gave me her address. It was on the edge of the city in one of the more historical areas. Just knowing that part of the city I was already jealous. Sure, she wasn’t as close to the downtown, but she had lots of cool places and art galleries and other interesting places nearby.

James was quiet for the ride, so I turned on the radio, searching until I found a good station. The ride wasn’t going to be that far, but with normal traffic it was going to take longer.

The GPS directed me to park in front of a lovely Victorian. No fair.

“What a gorgeous building,” I couldn’t stop myself from saying.

“Would you, I mean, do you want to see it?” Hell yeah I did. I loved getting a chance to look in other people’s homes. It gave me ideas for my own and I definitely needed ideas. Connor had always held me back from doing any major decorating. He’d even tried to force me to get rid of some of my books. His idea of decorating was…nothing. Literally nothing. Blank walls, no rugs on the floor. Frat house chic.

“Yeah, I’d like to see it.” Maybe I could also sneak into her bathroom and find out what her perfume or cologne was.

“Okay,” James said, getting out of the car and waiting for me to join her.

We looked silly, with her still in her outfit from last night and me in my joggers and T-shirt. Her building had a shiny elevator that we rode up to the second floor. James let me into an apartment toward the front of the building and I almost gasped at all the natural light that spilled in through the massive windows.

I was officially jealous.

Everything inside was a mix of old and new. Stone counters, stainless appliances, but the floors looked like they might be restored originals.

“Damn,” I couldn’t stop myself from saying.

James had decorated with lots of neutrals and soft colors. It was much more feminine than I expected.

“I’m just going to, um, change. You can look around if you want.” She edged toward a door which I assumed held her bedroom.

Of course I made a beeline for her bookshelves that took up space on either side of the windows.

She also had a gorgeous white desk facing the window with her laptop, printer, and a number of files on it. James’s workstation was more organized than I would have expected too.

Her bookshelves were arranged by color in a rainbow and I couldn’t get over the visual. I wondered how she found anything.

I was so lost in the books that I didn’t hear her come out of the bedroom.

“See anything you like?” she asked, and I jumped about a mile into the air.

“Fuck, you scared me. How do you walk so silently?” I asked, turning around to face her, my heart still trying to recover.

James nodded down at the fuzzy socks on her feet. She’d changed into a pair of baggy flannel shorts and a faded T-shirt. She looked slouchy and cozy and I remembered that only a few hours ago, she’d been wrapped around me.

“How do you find anything with them organized by color?” I asked.

“These are all the books that I’ve read. My TBR is in my bedroom and organized in order of how I’m going to read them, but I’m also a mood reader too.” Interesting. I was pretty strict about how I did my reading, but sometimes there was a new release that you just had to put everything else aside for.

“Do you want anything?” she asked.

“Um, water maybe?” We’d just had breakfast, but I was feeling a little dehydrated for some reason.

James brought me a glass of water and it reminded me of her bringing me one early this morning.

“Thanks for taking care of me last night. Again.”

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