Clearing his throat, he muttered something that she couldn’t quite understand.
“I’m sorry. What was that?” Kristen asked, watching as he turned his attention to the goodie bag.
“I said that I read them,” Garrett said, taking her by surprise.
“If you hated them so much, why did you keep reading them?” she asked as he helped himself to a brownie from the bag.
“I meant, I read them recently,” Garrett said, tearing open the brownie and took a bite.
“Do you mean after spending years ripping my books apart and making my life a living hell for nothing?” Kristen asked, reaching over and plucked the brownie out of his hand and finished it off.
Sighing, Garrett reached into his pocket and pulled his phone out, swiped his finger across the screen, tapped something, and then placed the phone in front of her. Frowning, Kristen glanced down at the phone and found herself reading a five-star review. When she was done, she clicked on the reviewer’s name and found herself scrolling through ten more five-star reviews forher books, all of them writing about how good her books were and-
That whoever Tristan was based on was obviously the epitome of manliness.
When she looked up at Garrett, his lips pulled up into an incredibly sexy smile that had her eyes narrowing dangerously on him as he shot her a wink.
Nodding slowly, Kristen said, “I still hate you.”
“You never stopped loving me,” Garrett said, absently gesturing to the authors surrounding them. “Your books are better.”
“Have you even read their books?” Kristen asked, still wondering why he was here.
“Don’t have to,” Garrett said, shifting his attention to her computer. “What are you working on now?”
“Nothing,” Kristen said, biting back a sigh as she reached over and closed her computer.
“I can see that,” the annoying bastard murmured.
“I’m going to need you to go now,” Kristen said, gesturing to the exit.
“You haven’t accepted my apology yet,” Garrett pointed out with a heartfelt sigh and a sad shake of his head.
“Will you leave if I do?” Kristen asked, sounding really hopeful.
Garrett seemed to think that over before he slowly shook his head and stood up. “No, but I will help you,” he said, sighing heavily as he reached for his shirt, leaving her sitting there, unable to help but frown in confusion.
That is, until he reached for the first button.
“Garrett, I really don’t think that you should do that,” Kristen said, trying not to panic as her gaze shifted to the small group of middle-aged women to her right. She watched as their gazes turned assessing while they slowly ran their eyes over him,taking in everything from his incredibly handsome face to his expensive shoes and everything in between as they debated whether or not he was worth giving up their spots in line.
“Shhh, not while I’m helping,” Garrett said, pulling his shirt free while she noted the exact moment they decided that he was more than worth it.
CHAPTER 7
He…
Slowly released a shuddering breath, he just…
God, he just needed a moment, Garrett thought as he stood there, hugging his shirt against his chest as he watched what he’d thought was a sweet, little old lady shoot him one last wink before she grabbed hold of her walker and slowly made her way to the exit. One minute, she was asking him to pick up the bookmark that she’d dropped on the floor and the next…
God, he didn’t want to think about what happened when he made the mistake of bending over to get it.
Swallowing hard, he shifted his attention to Kristen and watched as she took her time packing everything into a box before she grabbed her laptop and slid it into her backpack. When she reached for the box, he grabbed it from her and stormed off, leaving her with no other choice but to follow him as he made his way to the lobby. When he heard what sounded suspiciously like a snort of laughter, he looked back to find the small woman, who hadn’t said a word since this all started, looking bored as she glanced down at her phone.
The moment he took off his shirt, Kristen simply sighed, grabbed a small bag of M&Ms out of her backpack and settled back, watching as women lined up to take pictures with him. While she took her time devouring the bag of M&Ms, he worked his magic, introducing readers to her books and ensuring that her line never died down while readers asked to take pictures with him and fawned over him as they should.
That’s when she came, Garrett thought as his eyes narrowed on the little old woman in question when he spotted her waiting in the hotel lobby. When she saw him, her whole face lit up as she adjusted her hold on her walker, shifted it in his direction and-
