Page 38 of Booked on a Feeling

“I’m willing to take one for the team and put off laundry for a few more days.”

“I have no right to monopolize your time like this.” She’d beenselfish to drag him into her project. He had a life in Weldon—a life she had no place in except for this brief window of stolen time. He probably had things to do. People to see. Dates to go on. She nearly creamed her half-eaten muffin in her fist.

“Maybe you don’t,” he said quietly, “but I have every right to spend my time any way I want. And being with you… I mean, helping you help Shannon… is what I want.”

“Oh.” She wanted to tackle hug him for wanting to spend time with her rather than date random women. But since that would seem somewhat odd, she smiled into her muffin as she took a bite. “This muffin is phenomenal.”

“Mm-hmm.” He washed down his last morsel with his coffee. “Aubrey is an amazing baker.”

“Tara’s best friend, right?” She studied her muffin from different angles as though she could figure out its secret ingredient just by looking at it. “So Aubrey is magic with baked goods, and Tara is an incredible brewer. They must give each other freebies all the time. How awesome is that?”

“We’re pretty awesome, too. I can give you free accounting advice or a refresher on calculus, and you can give me free legal advice.”

“Thrilling.” Lizzy rolled her eyes. “How can you even compare free beer and dessert to those things?”

“You’re right.” Jack chuckled. “Tara and Aubrey have it made.”

As they worked side by side, reshelving the books, Lizzy couldn’t deny how lucky she was to have a best friend like Jack. Her attraction to him had to be a fleeting reaction, which probably had a lot to do with the fact that she hadn’t gotten laid in over six months. She would be over it soon enough—she had to be. She couldn’t risk their friendship over some primal urges.

“Huh.” Jack’s bemusement snapped her out of her thoughts.

“What?”

He was staring down at a book in his hand as though he couldn’t figure out what exactly he was looking at. She leaned over and recognized the iconic historical romance cover right away. She snatched the book out of his hand.

“Oh, my God,” she whispered reverently. “I can’t believe Shannon has a copy of this. It’s so rare.”

“I see,” he said, sounding dubious. He obviously did not see.

“What? What are you thinking?”

“Nothing.” He scratched the side of his nose. “It just seems a bit unrealistic.”

“Two people who are passionate about each other is unrealistic?” She arched an eyebrow in challenge.

“No, it’s not that.” He gently retrieved the book from her and pointed down to the couple. “Look. Standing like that can’t be very comfortable. He’s holding her leg up to his armpit and has her bent over backward. That takes a whole lot of arm and core strength. And how is she even that flexible?”

“I am,” she said mutinously, refusing to allow him to diss the gorgeous cover.

He slowly raised his head and met her eyes. “You are what?”

“Bendy. Super bendy.”

His face went slack, and his eyes glazed over. Did he not believe her?

“Here.” She grabbed the book out of his hand once more and put it face forward on the shelf. “We can totally pose like them.”

“No, we can’t,” he said a bit huskily.

“Why not?” She planted her hands on her hips. “I’ve seen you lift these bookshelves without breaking a sweat. You’re strong enough. And like I said, I’m flexible.”

“Can you stop saying that?” he said in a strangled voice, clutching his head with both hands as though trying to keep it from exploding.

“Stop saying what?” She scrunched up her nose. He was acting weird. Wait. Was it because she said she was flexible? No… it couldn’t be. He probably didn’t want to be proven wrong.

“Never mind.” He wiped a hand down his face. “You’re not letting this go, are you?”

“Nope. We’re going to do this, and then I’m going to say, ‘I told you so.’” She could almost taste the words on her tongue. Like honey.

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