Page 6 of Control Line

“Until You Set Me Freeby D.M. Davis. Hmm, sexy cover.” Barney placed the paperback on the table beside the box and pulled out another. “Reburn, Kimberly Knight.” Barney turned the book around, holding it next to his face. “Kinda looks like me, don’t you think?”

She struck like a viper and snatched the book from his hand. “Looks aren’t everything.” Even with his attention back on the contents of the box, he heard her grumbling. He expected her to be embarrassed as he pulled out title after title with half-naked men with rippling muscles on the covers. It did not shame her in the least if the set of her jaw and glint in her eye were any indication.

Again, he smiled, and his respect for her grew. People tried to shame him for his literary choices, too, and it never worked.

“True, they’re not, but if you plan on being on one of these, they play a pretty big role.”

“It’s not about the cover. It’s about what’s inside, about the world the author paints with words so intense that you see the colors of every syllable. The red of the anger or intense words. The blue in the peaceful moments and the yellow in the happiness.”

She was lost in her passion for books, and Barney was lost in her. He’d not known someone that passionate about books since his grandmother and her love of the Fabio-covered ones she kept discreetly in her sitting room.

For a moment, he let his mind wander to other ways she might let that passion out.

“I stand corrected.” Without waiting for Zee to notice he was rising to the occasion so to speak, he turned and headed back toward the trailer.

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