Page 165 of Bookworm

"I wasn't bored," he said. "Just looking for you."

"Why?"

"Why do you think?"

Gathering all my courage, I turned to face him with a smile. "I saw you with Bianca. I'm…really happy for you."

"You don't look happy," Bo said.

"Ah well, maybe it's the lighting."

"No, you look miserable, Kent. Like someone just tore out the pages of your favorite book and burned them."

He stepped forward.

"Tell me who didit," he said. "I'll make it better."

Shaking my head, I ran a hand through my hair. "No one did anything, Stryker. Honestly, I'm good."

"Then why are you hiding?"

"I'm not," I said.

"Yeah, you are," he said. "You always come here when you're down."

"Can you blame me?Some of the best romance authors are right here, G through H. Garwood, Hoang, Hibbert, Hazelwood—"

"Kent."

"—but of course, the L's areamazing too. Liv Lamoreaux, Julia Anne Long, L.J. Shen—which is technically an S, but whatever—"

"Stop."

"—and then there's YA romance authors like—"

"Charlotte," he said, placing a hand on my shoulder. The combination of him using my realname and touching my arm stunned me into silence. "It's not that I don't want to hear about all the authors you love.I do.I just want to talk to you about something else first. Okay?"

I nodded and stepped back, watching his hand fall to his side.

"I already know," I said sadly. "And it's fine."

"What's fine?"

"I know you're with Bianca."

He was frowning again, but that was normal, so I hurried on, desperate to get the words out before I did something stupid like cry or beg him to stay with me.

"She's the one you told me about, right?" I said. "The girl whose attention you've always wanted, the one you love. I knew it when I saw you two dancing. And I'm happy for you, really I am. She seems nice."

"She is," he said.

"And she obviously has good taste if she's into you."

I bit my lip to stop myself from saying more.

Bo stared at me then said, "She's also very much married."

"Married?" I repeated.

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