Page 97 of Our Secret Moments

He rolls his eyes and slings his arm around my shoulder instead. “Not yet,” he whispers and my whole body tenses. “Come on. Let’s get you these books and fill your room up even more.”

The bell chimes above the door as we push through into the warm store. It smells so inherently like books that my stomach swarms with butterflies just at the thought of what I would be able to find.

I always get that extreme sense of adventure just by walking into a bookstore. I never go looking for something in particular. Mostly because I wouldn’t be able to handle the disappointment of finding out that it’s not there and because it gives me the opportunity to explore different genres and books I never would have imagined having in between my hands.

One day I hope to have compiled enough journal articles into a book that will be on these shelves. I’ll get to do a book signing of some sorts and have all my friends line up to take photos with me and maybe some strangers too. I want that kind of recognition. Not fame or celebrity status. Just the thought of being known is enough.

CONNOR

If I knew a bookstore could make my girl this happy, I would have taken her a long time ago.

I’ve never really been on a date before and I don’t understand the exact rules for them, so I tried to come up with something fun to do today.

The hike was unexpected, but totally worth it. Watching Cat watch the sunrise is going to be an image I’ll burn into my memory forever.

She looked so peaceful and content beneath me. It’s been a while since I’ve felt that way. With the season now in full swing and the semi-finals coming up soon, this date couldn’t have come at a better time.

The best part of having a girlfriend is by far holding hands. Yes, I might have one hand occupied with a basket full of books as we make our way through the shelves, but my other hand is completely tethered to hers. I’ve never truly enjoyed these small acts of intimacy until I met her.

She makes the simplest of touches feel like my whole body is about to erupt. Her kisses are soft and smooth. Her hand-holding is God-like and it makes me want to curl up into a ball and snuggle into her forever. Her hugs make me want to die and come back to life and I can barely fathom the sex.

She tugs on my arm a little tighter as we make our way through another fiction aisle, this one has a lot more cartoon covers than before. Is this a kids' aisle? My mind tries to make sense of it as I stare at them.

“What are you thinking about?” Cat asks me when we get to a table of books. She looks up at me, tilting her head to the side as she twists a paperback in her hands.

“I’m wondering why all these books have cartoon covers, but they don’t look like kid’s books,” I say, turning one over and reading the blurb. A teacher and student romance novel. Interesting. “I don’t get it.”

She laughs as if this is the funniest joke she’s ever heard in her life. I just blink at her dumbfounded. “Do you really not know what these are?” I shake my head. She places her book back down and steps in closer to me. “So, a lot of author’s make cute book covers with illustrations on them, but they actually just havealotofsexinthem.”

I blink at her again. “Sorry, didn’t get the end of that, sweetheart.”

She sighs, rolling her eyes. “Isaid, they just have a lot ofsexinthem.”

They have a lot of….

Oh.

Oh.

I gasp dramatically, looking inside the basket which has two books with cartoon covers. “Do you secretly have a porn addiction?” I whisper, leaning our faces so close that I could taste her.

“It’sbookporn,” she corrects me, unable to stop smiling. My eyes lighten with surprise. Well, I shouldn’t be surprised. She can act as proper as she wants in person, but I’ve seen what she’s like when she’s a wreck beneath me, moaning my name. “What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Nothing,” I say, shaking my head. “I’m just thinking about how I’m going to prove to you that I’m better than all those men that you read about.”

“It’s not a competition, Connor,” she replies. I let out a short laugh, removing the distance between us as she backs up onto the small table, her hands dropping to either side of her and I let the basket hit the ground.

I lean into her, breathing in her vanilla scent until it feels like it’s all I’m going to become. My nose brushes against her neck and I inhale. “Tell me, Cat, have you ever read about a guy finger fucking his girlfriend in a bookstore?”

Her breath hitches. “N-No. Not yet.”

“Want to make that into a reality?” My hands find themselves unbuttoning her coat and she helps me button it down until my hand finds her warm skin under her sweater.

“We could get kicked out,” she whispers, tilting her head away from me as I press kisses across her neck, feeling the heat of her skin beneath my mouth.

“Since when don’t you want to break a few rules?” I whisper, biting her neck slightly.

“Since my dad is the mayor and if we get caught I will be in a lot of shit,” she challenges. Oh, shit. I almost forgot.

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