No pressure.
He whined again, his focus one hundred percent on the tasty treat reserved for him. “I know, buddy. Every time I look at that napkin, my stomach tingles, too.”
Despite my insistence that calling Zane would be a mistake, a buzz of excitement raced through my body each time my fingers touched that napkin. Every snitch of a treat I’d givenPercy since last night had me eyeing the note Zane had written. The strokes of his pen were as strong and bold as he was.
Vacation Wren was happy that I could visualize the entire note, complete with that priceless combination of digits. Throwing away that napkin wouldn’t be enough to make me forget his number. But Bookstore Wren was more than a little terrified.
What if I succumbed to a moment of weakness and actually called him? There were so many ways that could go wrong. Either I’d learn more about Zane than I wanted to know, or he’d learn more about me than he’d want to know. When I imagined how each scenario would play out to its logical conclusion, neither ended well.
He was a flashy professional athlete, used to action and excitement. Though I hadn’t shown it since arriving in town, I was a plain Jane, more comfortable with my nose in a bookthan I was with having my photos appear on the morning gossip shows.
He was attracted to a woman who wasn’t real. When I met Zane, I’d thought he was a handsome stranger I’d never see again. Flirting with him was only supposed to have been a bit of harmless fun. But once he got a peek behind my mask and saw what I was really like, the desire in his eyes was sure to morph into disappointment. That didn’t feel so harmless—not to my heart at least.
I couldn’t handle seeing that.
And I wasn’t so sure I wanted to know the details about why he needed a woman in public relations to work on his image. People usually had images for one reason; they’d earned them. Enough said.
Still, my insides fluttered and a goofy smile tried to creep onto my lips whenever I thought about that napkin. A boy hadn’t handed me a note like that sincethe fifth grade. It felt more special than a text message, somehow.
And I liked that.
I cranked my steering wheel all the way to the right, starting on my third attempt to slip into the last spot on the street.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” a male voice called out as I eased my car backward.
I stomped on the brakes, certain I was about to hit the car behind me. My heart leapt into my throat when I looked in my sideview mirror and saw Zane trotting toward my car, waving his arms in the air. If the look on his face was any indication, my parking really was as atrocious as I thought it was.
“You’re never going to make it into the spot with that angle,” he said, walking up.
“I blame the dog. I can’t see anything past his giant head.”
Zane bent down and rested his forearms on my door, his delicious scent wafting in through theopen window. “You sure it’s the dog?” he asked, his lips twitching with what I could only assume was barely contained laughter.
I rested my head on the steering wheel, chuckling at my abhorrent lack of skill. “No comment.”
“Chin up. We can do this.”
“We?”
“Sure.” He stepped in front of the car and started swinging his arms around, pointing, and pantomiming like some sort of overly caffeinated traffic cop.
I tried to keep up, but he lost me somewhere between the bumper of the car in front of my parking spot and my tires hitting the curb.
“Not my left,” he called out, “your left.”
I put my Fiat in park despite the awkward angle. “I think you’re causing more trouble than you’re alleviating.”
He rested a hand on the back of his neck. He might have swallowed his smile but the teasing twinkle in hiselectrifying eyes was alive and well. “Yeah, your parking issues are allon me.”
I burst out laughing and he joined in. “I’m a firm believer that every place that only offers parallel parking should also offer valet service. I’d pay good money for a valet right now.”
He came back around to my window, his eyes drinking me in. “You hiring?”
“Depends. Are you applying for the job?”
I sucked in a sharp breath when he stooped over and his face made a sudden appearance less than a foot away from mine. “What’s the pay?”
His minty breath kissed my cheek, making me hungry for more. I opened the door and slipped out, Zane barely stepping back to make room. “I can pay you in all the horrid cupcakes you can eat. I know a place.”
