‘Fuck!’ The word came out through gritted teeth. ‘Charlotte!’
My thighs slammed shut and I shot upright, pulling Joe to his feet then thrusting him into the chair. If it was even vaguely possible, he looked even more stunned than I felt. He shook his head sharply, blinking again and again as I hurled a copy ofButterfliesinto his lap to cover his raging erection.
‘OK, that hurt,’ he croaked with tears in his eyes.
‘I hope it’s you,’ Charlotte yelled. ‘Otherwise I’ll assume it’s burglars and you should know I’m a black belt in Krav Maga. I will kick your arse if I have to.’
As her footsteps echoed down the corridor that connected the shop to the stockroom, I positioned myself on the edge of the desk, but I was still far tooclose to Joe to be capable of rational thought. Grabbing my bag and cardigan, I bolted all the way across the tiny room, assuming what I hoped was a completely natural position, right as Charlotte burst in. Her grin faltered as she looked at Joe, shellshocked and swiping at his already perfect hair, then over to me, buttoning my cardigan, grinning like a maniac and leaning against a recycling bin with my legs tightly crossed.
‘What’s happening?’ Her tiny pixie face was furious. ‘What are you two doing?’
‘Nothing,’ we chorused in unison.
‘You’re both terrible liars,’ she replied. ‘Why are you so red? And why is he crying?’
‘We were arguing,’ Joe managed to say, still a little more high-pitched than usual.
Somehow, I managed to reset my face, raising my chin and pursing my lips to dispel any trace of desire. According to the dusty mirror on the opposite wall, it worked. I looked more like I’d been taste-testing cat food than preparing to … no, no, I would not think about it.
‘About what?’
He cleared his throat but his voice still cracked when he spoke. ‘About our favourite Elena Armas novel. I likeThe Long Gamebut Sophie’s dead set onThe Spanish Love Deception.’
‘That makes sense because you probably love football and if I’d gone out with CJ as long as she did, I’d be fantasising about Aaron Blackford as well. But you’re both wrong. True fans know all aboutThe American Roommate Experiment.’ Charlotte stood with her fists resting on her skinny hips, a pose I too had inherited from our mother but she definitely pulled it off with more authority. ‘Soph, would you mind fucking off? Ineed to have a proper conversation with Este and you’re bringing down the vibe.’
‘Happy to,’ I said, slinging my bag across my body without another glance in Joe’s direction. ‘See you both later.’
When I stepped out of the shop and onto the street, I was relieved to discover I hadn’t slipped into an alternate dimension where I almost had sex with a man I barely knew on the cold concrete floor of my sister’s bookshop stockroom. There were cars and buses and people carrying reusable shopping bags and not a single soul with their hand very nearly in my knickers.
Head rolling all the way back, I rested against the wall of the neighbouring building, a florist owned by a former touring guitarist for Led Zeppelin called Heavy Petal, and waited for all the chemical reactions popping off in my body to dissipate. Why hadn’t I paid more attention in biology? Ali Hazelwood would know the scientific reason why my heart rate was sky-high, my pupils were dilated and I could still feel Joe’s handprints on my thighs. Imagine writing romance novels and being a literal neuroscientist? English wasn’t even her first language, the bloody overachiever. I needed to get a very serious grip on myself.
‘Sophie! You’re still here!’
And Joe flying out of the shop looking like he’d just seen inside the Ark of the Covenant wasn’t going to help matters.
‘Shouldn’t you be talking to the shopkeeper, Este?’ I asked, fussing around inside my handbag, a classic avoidance technique and possibly the only reason why women still carried handbags.
‘That’s why I need to talk to you.’
He grabbed hold of my forearm and my body betrayed me again, neurons firing, hormones releasing, legs wavering. ‘What are we going to do about this situation?’
‘Which situation?’ I asked with a suddenly dry mouth.
‘The situation in which your sister and the rest of your family think I wrote your book.’
He looked almost as annoyed as I used to feel and, I had to admit, I definitely preferred the expression on his face when it was looking up at me from in between my legs.
‘Yeah, um, I think we’re going to have to go with it for now,’ I said, producing a claw clip from my bag to pull back my hair.
‘Go with it,’ Joe repeated. ‘What do you mean, go with it?’
‘I mean, you told everyone you’re Este Cox so until one of us comes up with a decent explanation as to why that was a lie, guess what? You’re Este Cox.’
‘But I don’t know what to say.’
‘Twice in one day. There really is a first time for everything.
For the first time since we’d met, Joe looked completely at a loss. He did this to help you, I reminded myself, still avoiding his piercing blue eyes that had turned large and limpet, a move I was willing to bet he only ever pulled out for truly desperate occasions.
