Page 40 of Booked on a Feeling

The bell over the door tinkled brightly, and Shannon breezed into the store. “Thank you so much for holding down the fort.”

Again, he was saved by the bell. He was embarrassed by how relieved he felt about the interruption, but he needed time to digest what had happened.

“No problem,” Lizzy said with a tight smile on her face.

“How was the play?” he asked, picking up the books strewn across the floor. He needed to keep moving.

“It was adorable.” Shannon laughed. “Elliot only had one line, but he got to scream his head off at the end. I felt a few of the parents jumping in their seats. He was so happy when I told him after the play.”

“Way to go, Elliot.” Lizzy smiled more easily this time and waved toward the bag from Comfort Zone. “Have you had breakfast? Jack brought us muffins.”

“Wow, thanks, Jack. I’m starving.” She smiled a little sheepishly. “I really should provide you guys with breakfast for everything you’re doing for me.”

“You’re welcome, and don’t worry about it,” he said sincerely. “You’re raising a kid and running this bookstore all by yourself. You deserve what little help we can give.”

“He’s right.” Lizzy put her arm around Shannon and gave her a sideways hug. “Besides, I know I can get a little nutso with checking things off the to-do list, but I’m honestly having a great time. It feels amazing to work on something with my hands and see the changes come to life. It’s nothing like writing and deleting things off a dull legal document all day long. This is so… rewarding.”

“It’s an odd way to spend your vacation, if you ask me, but knock yourself out, hon.” Shannon hugged her back. “Though I have to agree, this work is doing you some good. You have more color in your face, and the dark circles under your eyes have all but disappeared. You looked so exhausted your first day here. I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself, and the store is already looking fantastic—so much open space.”

“Speaking of open space, Lizzy mentioned that you have some furniture we might be able to use out front.” Jack was desperate for some busywork. It was impossible to take his mind off their kiss, especially since he could still taste her on his lips. “Can I take a look?”

“Sure,” Shannon said, leading them to the back room. “But be forewarned, most of them are pretty old and worn.”

A cluster of furniture sat together at one corner in the back. There were wooden chairs, small tables in different shapes and sizes, and a couple of bookshelves that came up to his chest. They were chipped and scratched with patches of paint peeling off, but they had good bones.

“Where did you get these?” he asked Shannon just as shewas taking a big bite out of her muffin. She held up a finger and chewed.

In the silence, he had to acknowledge that he and Lizzy hadn’t spoken directly to each other since Shannon came back. His mind whirred. Could he still salvage their friendship? Or would everything unravel now that he’d given in and kissed her? No. It wasn’t too late. Their friendship was strong enough to recover from one impulsive kiss.

He snuck a glance at Lizzy and got caught red-handed because she had been staring right at him. She arched an eyebrow and held his gaze. He looked away first.

“I inherited them from the old owner,” Shannon finally said after swallowing. “Some came from the apartment upstairs, and some were in the bookstore.”

“They’re really great.” He ran his hand over a chair with a curved back and spokes. Both women gave him dubious looks. “I’m serious. All we need to do is sand them down and stain or paint them.”

“And that’s easy?” Lizzy’s eyebrows rose up high. “That sounds like a shitload of work.”

“What she said.” Shannon nodded in solidarity with her.

“If we work together, it shouldn’t take us more than two days to refinish the ones you want to put out front.” He rubbed his hands together, getting excited. He loved working on old furniture and seeing them turn out like new. “Let me run over to my house and grab some tools.”

He thought he heard Lizzy whisper,Please not that,but when he glanced at her, she was busy picking out furniture with Shannon. This little project was a lifesaver. He planned to use an electric sander so they wouldn’t be able to talk. He was a huge asshole.

CHAPTER TEN

Jack with tools makes Lizzy a very horny girl.

Goddamn it, he brought his tools. She couldn’t think straight when Jack was in the presence of tools, which wasn’t ideal since she was already dizzy with lust from their kiss. As she watched him sand a table—with his arm muscles flexing and manly veins bulging—it was all she could do not to jump him right there in the back lot of the bookstore. But she had her pride.

The bastard was acting like nothing happened between them. They were just two buddies refinishing some furniture under the warm sun.La-di-da.She also had a sneaking suspicion that he was using the electric sander to avoid talking to her about the kiss. She scowled at the innocent chair she was stripping and rubbed her palm-size sandpaper viciously against one of its spindles.

Lizzy belatedly noticed the blissful silence surrounding her. Jack had turned off the damn sander. A shadow fell across her chair.

“Just do the best you can on those,” he said ever so kindly.“You won’t be able to get them perfectly sanded with all those curves and dips.”

How could he stand there and give her helpful, practical advice? She sanded harder. She was huffing and puffing so much from the effort that she breathed in a lungful of wood dust and started coughing.

“Do you need a mask?” He knelt next to her and peered into her face. “Let me get you a mask.”

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