“Oh. Um . . .”
“Jesus, this is painful to watch,” her friend muttered in a whisper that was intentionally loud enough for us to hear. She pushed to her feet, standing a good three inches shorter than Sunshine, if not more. “Tanner, this stunning vision right here is my sweet, kind-hearted,gorgeousfriend, Holiday Bradbury. But we all call her Holly, so feel free to do the same.”
“Naomi!” Sunshine—also known as Holly—hissed, her face growing redder and covered in a look of horror.
Naomi bugged her eyes out at her friend. “What?” she whisper-yelled. “Is anything I just said a lie?”
“Don’t you have a job you need to get back to?”
Naomi flopped back down in the chair, kicking her legs up over the arm and swinging them from side to side. “Oh, not a chance in hell.”
The muscle in Holly’s jaw ticked wildly as she mimicked her friend’s bug-eyed look, and I got the feeling they were having some sort of silent argument.
“Holiday,” I said quietly, breaking into their mental fight. “That’s a beautiful name.” My eyes locked gazes with hers. “It fits.”
Naomi’s jaw dropped for a second before she smiled a Cheshire-cat smile. Meanwhile, Holly looked like she wanted to hide away all of a sudden. And something inside me screamed not to let that happen.
“So, the thriller section?” I reminded her before she could do something like take off running in the opposite direction.
“Right!” Her body jolted back into reality and she gave her head a shake. “I’m so sorry. It’s right this way.”
I followed after her like a magnet being drawn to its polar opposite. As I trailed behind her, I caught a whiff of her scent, it was like oranges and cloves, warm and sweet with only the slightest hint of spice. It was a scent that reminded me of sunshine, just like her, and I caught myself inhaling deeply topull more of that smell into my lungs, holding on to it for as long as I could.
“I think you’ll find everything you’re looking for on these shelves here,” she said with a flick of her delicate wrist before turning to face me and giving me a smile that hit me like a punch to the solar plexus. God, she really was beautiful. “If you need anything else, just holler.”
“Do you read thrillers, Holiday?” I asked, unable to help myself.
“You can call me Holly. And, yeah. I actually read a little of everything. Alotof everything, actually,” she answered, and the way her face lit up as she talked about books told me she had a real passion for them. “Reading has been my favorite thing to do basically since I learned how. I read anything.”
“I get that. Isn’t it the best way to wind down?”
Her eyes sparkled as she nodded excitedly. “It really is. Add in a glass of wine and a bubble bath and we’re talking heaven.”
A low chuckle rattled my throat. “Oh, that’s the only way I read.” Her giggle sounded like windchimes. “Do you have any recommendations?”
Her hand came up, her fingers dragging through her long golden hair as her eyes traveled to the side in thought. She hummed as she trailed her fingers across the colorful spines of the books, searching for one she liked. “This one was really good. The twist near the end caught me by surprise. Oh! And this one. It’s a little spooky if that’s your thing. I’ll admit, I was reading this one late at night and it kind of creeped me out a bit. I had to sleep with the lights on.”
“I love a good creep out. I’ll take both. Anything else?” I followed her like an eager puppy as she spoke passionately about books she enjoyed. In less than ten minutes, I was holding a stack of seven books, and I was fully prepared to buy anythingelse she liked. Hell, if she’d recommended the phone book I probably would have bought it.
I tucked away for future use the knowledge that talking about books brought Holly out of her shell and made her shine brighter, because I absolutely planned on using it again later. Anything to make her comfortable enough to go on and on the way she was just then.
“I’m sorry,” she said on a small laugh. “I didn’t mean to talk your ear off. I tend to ramble when it comes to books.”
“Please. Don’t apologize,” I assured her. “I get the same way. The reason I’m here in the first place is because I’ve already read through all the books I brought with me.”
The way she smiled at that made my insides tighten. “It’s always nice to meet a fellow book junkie.”
I would have gladly stood there and listened to her talk until my arms got tired holding all those books. Unfortunately, the bell over the door chimed, alerting her to a new customer, so she left me to browse by myself while she got back to work.
I found another book I’d been meaning to read, as well as a couple more that looked interesting, then headed back to the register a few minutes later.
Holly had just finished checking out her other customer as I stepped up to the counter and set down my purchases to be rung up.
“Wow.” Holly’s friend, Naomi, came up beside me, propping her hip against the front of the checkout counter. “That’s quite the haul you have there, hockey boy.”
My brows rose up on my forehead. “Hockey boy?” I asked, humor laced through my voice.
She shrugged casually. “Don’t know you well enough to get more creative just yet.”
