“I’ll be working in the bookstore all day.”
“I’ll make a deal with you. Put me to work today so you can spend the day with me tomorrow.”
“Tim—”
“One day, Zoe. I know how important this is to you and if you don’t get everything done, then I’ll be right back here with you to take care of it tomorrow.”
She chewed her lip and cataloged everything she wanted to get done today and tomorrow. If Tim helped her, they might be able to get it all knocked out.
“Okay, but if we don’t get everything done, the deal’s off.”
“I can work with that.”
If he kept smiling at her like that, they weren’t going to get anything done. At all.
* * *
“How long have you been awake?”
Zoe tilted her head back and found Tim looking at her through sleepy eyes.
“Not long.”
“What are you thinking so hard about?” He ran his fingers through her hair, brushing it over her shoulders.
“Mentally going through my checklist.”
“No checklists. You promised to spend the day with me. My plan doesn’t involve checklists.”
“That’s today. Tomorrow is a different story. I need to get ready for next week. I’m only two weeks away from a soft opening. I have employees to train and shelves to stock and all sorts of things to freak out about.”
“Why a bookstore? Why not a smoothie bar?”
Zoe snuggled into his shoulder as his fingers traced up and down her back. “A couple of reasons. We always spoke Portuguese at home before my mom married my step-dad. I knew English, but not very well. When we moved to the U.S., I struggled and had to take English as a second language in school.
“They paired us with older students to practice our reading and vocabulary. I was paired with a girl who loved fantasy books—dragons and witches, shapeshifters and faeries. We read those books instead of the boring material they gave us and my love of reading was born.
“My step-dad was in the Army and we moved three more times before we ended up here. Every time in a new school was hard, especially since I wasn’t a tall, white girl with blond hair.”
Tim rolled over so he was on top of her. “I like that you’re not a tall, white girl with blond hair.”
She smiled. “Anyway. Books were my escape when I was in that awkward, no-friends stage of getting to a new place.”
He peppered soft kisses down her neck and across her shoulders. “What’s the other reason?”
“Huh?” His kisses were distracting. Especially when she parted her legs and he settled between them.
“You said there were a couple of reasons. Loving books is one. What’s the other one?”
“Oh. Have you heard of The Ripped Bodice?”
His head popped up. “The what?”
She chuckled at the confused look on his face. “It’s an independent bookstore out in Los Angeles that sells only romance books. The name is a play on calling romance books ‘bodice rippers.’”
“Oh. No. Never heard of it.” He resumed trailing kisses down her chest, scooting lower until his mouth was centered between her breasts.
“Not surprising. I was inspired by them. I wanted to open a small bookstore that showcased independent authors.” Lifting her shoulder, she tried to direct him closer to her breast without grabbing his head and putting it where she wanted.
