Page 42 of Presley's Christmas Catch
She scowls at someone near her who presses against her and then she takes the final step toward us. She holds out the book. “Would you mind signing my book for me?” She holds a Sharpie in her other hand.
Gideon Thornridge would certainly hate this if he knew, but a glance at the front of the store shows Alexis’s eyes on me. Ineed to show her my worth if she’s going to help me get Presley in to see Thornridge.
“Sure,” I say with a grin. I hold the book on top of a book shelf, pick a page that contains an important scene, and sign my name big across it. Hopefully if this woman gets a ticket, Thornridge won’t notice my signature there.
“Thanks.” She smiles widely at me. Her gaze turns to Presley, and the woman says, “Is this your girlfriend?”
“No,” Presley says immediately and adds a fake, “Ha, ha, ha. No, definitely not his girlfriend.”
Something pricks in my stomach, like her quick denial hurt my feelings. Which is stupid because I know exactly why she said something so quickly—she said she liked me last week, and I turned her down. Then she begged me to be friends again and promised it wouldn’t be weird. She’s making sure I know she’s not going to harbor some unrequited crush.
Only, I don’t like it.
Today is such a weird day. Maybe therewassomething in that burrito. I need to get a personal chef.
“I’m Presley.” She gives the woman a small wave. “Brock and I are friends. We bonded over the TOK books.”
“Oh, yeah?” the woman says. “So you’re a booktoker too?”
That seems like it might be a shot at me and what I said when we came in the store. Still, I keep a smile on my face. It would not do for me to get let go from another team because I got into it with a woman in a bookstore over a fantasy series that’s so obscure not even Hermione Granger’s read it.
“Uh, no,” Presley says. “TOK is what fans call The Obsidian Kingdom series. T-O-K.”
The woman flushes, and I want to high-five Presley. She said it so sweetly, but she took this woman fully down a notch and labeled her as exactly what she didn’t like me saying about her.
“Of course,” she says. “I’m Bella Reese.” She turns back to me. “It’s so great to meet you.”
I’m not sure what else to say.
She steps closer, waving her book around. “So you’re a big fan?” She seems to have forgotten that Presley exists, turning fully to face me. Probably because of Presley’s burn, even if she didn’t mean it to be.
“Yeah.” I nod toward Presley. “We both read it as kids. How about you?”
She doesn’t acknowledge that I try to keep Presley in the conversation. “I loveanythingromantasy, so when I heard about it, I had to read it right away.”
Romantasy? What does that mean? “Cool.”
Bella puts a hand on my arm. “What did you think of ACOTAR?”
“ACOTAR?” I look at Presley.
“A Court of Thorns and Roses.” She jabs a thumb behind her to the display.
“Ahh.” I shrug at Bella. “Haven’t read it.”
She squeezes my arm, where she’s still holding on. “You have to. You’llloveit.”
“Hey, Brock Hunter?” a voice says from behind Bella. Her eyebrows furrow at the interruption to our conversation. A hand appears with a notebook. Then a skinny kid who’s probably sixteen or seventeen squeezes between Bella and someone with their back to us.
“Can I get your autograph?” the teen asks.
Bella scowls at him but shifts out of the way. Or tries to. The line in here has gotten bigger, if it’s possible, and we’re backed into the spaces between the bookshelves. Which are also packed in here tightly. The kid’s wearing a New York Empire shirt so at least he’s a football fan.
“Sure,” I say, taking the notebook. He holds out a pen to me and I grab it. “You like TOK?” I ask. I can’t help but be curious about how much my worlds are intersecting right now.
He nods vigorously. “Yeah. Love it. My dad read it to us for bedtime stories when we were little, but I’ve read them all myself now.”
My smile stretches. “Oh, yeah?” I glance down at Presley to see that she’s staring at the kid with big emoji eyes. She’s smitten, and it’s adorable. “What’s your favorite?” I ask him.
