Page 8 of Love at First Bite
“Sexy witch!” She grinned, and I rolled my eyes.
“What about you?” I asked. Rosie led me through the shop, talking a mile a minute about the options and choices she’d thought of and how she was between three. But that was Rosie—always weighing the pros and cons before going with the sensible option.
Ember called her, and she left me standing by the big window that looked out at the brewery. A man who stood there called my eye. He wasn’t dressed like the rest of the people out there in jeans and T-shirts. No. He had an air of dominance to him. Tall and built, the sexy stranger wore a white dress shirt with his sleeves rolled up, holding a clipboard. From where I stood, I couldn’t make out who he was, but my heart did some flippy thing inside my chest at the sight of him.
My body had never reacted to anyone like that.
Especially someone I hadn’t even fully seen yet. Not really.
I had no idea who he was, but there was something about him, the way he seemed to be in control, directing the other people dressed a lot more casually. It was kind of sexy. His arms dropped to his sides as Onyx Trejo and Austin Hart walked over to him. I couldn’t make out the features of the sexy stranger’s profile when he turned and spoke to them, but I had a feeling he was beautiful.
The definition of masculinity. Definitely a man a romance author would write to life. My face heated at the thought.
“Ooo, who are we checking out?” Abby asked. Her lips tickled my ears, and I almost jumped out of my skin.
“Jesus, Abby!” I shouted. My face turned hot at the attention we got as she laughed.
“Relax! Oh my god! I forgot how jumpy you can get this time of year,” she teased. I rested my hand over my chest.
“You almost gave me a heart attack,” I mumbled, and her sparkling eyes softened.
“I really didn’t mean to do that.” She winced, regret shining in her eyes.
“It’s okay.” I sighed.
“But seriously, who are we looking at?” Her eyes moved towards the brewery. “Austin?” she guessed then fanned herself. “He’s hot.”
“You don’t even know him,” I mumbled. We didn’t, but everyone in Moonlit Pines knew them.
“I ordered us a round of margaritas from him last time we went to karaoke.”
“Oh, well, in that case.” My lips twitched. “That practically makes you besties.”
“Shut up.” She laughed, hooking her elbow with mine. “Not knowing him doesn’t make him any less hot.” She sighed as we stood and admired the men talking. “Too bad he’s cursed.” I rolled my eyes.
“Curses aren’t real.”
“Tell that to the Hart men,” she countered. “Onyx isn’t bad, either,” she said. “Total eye candy.”
“Hmm,” I noted, trying to figure out a way to ask if she knew who they were with without making it obvious.
“Abby! Tab!” Ember called, and just like that, the men setting up the haunted house were forgotten.
We headed towards the dressing rooms, where we helped each other decide on what to buy and how to do our hair. By the time we were done and heading to our cars, it was late.
“Bye!” I waved at my best friends.
Two were walking to their own cars while the other was walking down Main Street with her bags in hand since she lived in an apartment above the small bookstore in town that had just opened.
A whisp of white caught my eye just intime to watch the same man I’d been checking out earlier walk to his Jeep. His back wasstill all I could see, and I stopped mid-step. There was something about him, something that made me wonder things I had no business thinking about.
Things like, what would it be like to have him hold me? Especially when I was scared, which happened a lot more than I ever wanted to admit. A small noise in my apartment creeped me out to the point where I hardly slept.
If it weren’t for Rosie, Abby, and Ember, I would be all alone in the world. A reminder that creeped into my head when I got scared. It was why spending the holidays together was always so important to me and why I’d been bummed out about the Halloween Book Club being cancelled.
But it was okay.
Maybe Rosie was right about shaking things up? Living a little louder and bolder?Being adventurous.I smiled at that point, shaking my head as I continued towards the car.
