The inside of the resort looked like a cozy country bistro, with big wooden tables, high ceilings, shelves filled with books on every wall and in the back glass cases with cakes and sweets next to a coffee bar.
“This resort has horses and books?”she said spinning to see each wall with genres posted on hand-painted signs.
“The perfect venue?”
“Yes.This would make a great place to sit by a fire and write.It’s nice and toasty in here,” Shelby said, unzipping her coat and spying the fireplace on the other end of the room with big couches filled with people.
Wes ushered her up to the counter and ordered them two hot chocolates.
“Are you hungry for lunch yet?”
“No thanks, we can come back after our ride if you have time?”
“I’ve got all day and night for you.”
But before she could respond, a girl walked up to Shelby with a book in her hand.“Are you S.Shepherd, the author of this series?”
Shelby looked genuinely shocked.“Yes.”
“Would you sign it for me?I’ve read every book in the series, so I started it again.”
“Oh, wow.Sure.”
The little girl handed the book and a pen over to Shelby, who opened it to the title page and paused for a moment in thought before she jotted down a message and signed it.
“Are you going to write another series?”
“Yes, I’m hoping to release a book this time next year.”
“Oh man, that’s a long time to wait.”
“Well now that I know you’re waiting, I’ll try to write faster,” Shelby said.The girl’s eyes grew big, and she yelped a thank you.
Wes grabbed their drinks and found a table near the window in the corner where he waited for her to finish talking with the young fan.Her cheeks were flushed when she finally sat down with him.
“That was so strange—that has never happened to me before.”
“Well you’re out of your normal element in Atlanta and this is a big family-oriented ranch, lots of kids.”
She looked around and sipped her drink.
“Now I feel like I need to lock myself in a room and finish my new series for that little girl.”
Wes liked to hear her talk about her work.It was clear she loved it.
“You can get right to that, after our date.”
She smiled.“Do you always bring your dates out of town?”
“I actually don’t date much.I feel like I’ve been working for the last fifteen years and forgot to have a life too.”
“Hmmm I find it sort of hard to believe that the women of Sandy Point aren’t throwing themselves at you.”
“Guess I haven’t met anyone I wanted to catch until now.”He knew he was pushing her, but he didn’t want to risk another misunderstanding.
She looked at him as if she was trying to see if he was being honest and he met her gaze head on.The truth was Shelby terrified him a little bit, because he had never wanted someone so much to try.
“Okay,” was all she said and took another sip of her drink.
