Chapter 1
Avery
Where are you, Marlene?
There was something about bringing order to chaos that always made my anxiety ease. And Bookish was the perfect quiet, controlled environment for me.
Nothing ever changed here, except for the arrival of new books, which I considered treasures to be explored and shared with others.
I liked that about this place, knowing that it would always be the same, no matter what craziness was happening in the rest of the world.
So my boss going missing was throwing my safe little sanctuary into chaos.
Not that she wasreallymissing. Not yet. But Marlene never missed a shift without texting me, and when I arrived at work this morning, the store had been dark and empty.
I was in the middle of texting her again, a little knot of worry in my heart, when the bell on the front door jingled.
My eyes shot to it, hoping it would be Marlene bustling through with a new tan and tons of stories to share about her vacation week.
But that thought disappeared as a man stepped through the door, looking like he was dragging the wild woods inside with him.
The man was feral. Andbuilt. Tall and broad in a way that made the doorframe look narrow. He wore a flannel shirt rolled up to his elbows, revealing forearms thick with muscle. His shaggy hair almost brushed his shoulders, and his beard framed a jaw that looked like it had been carved from the mountain itself.
His gaze swept across the bookstore before finally landing on me, burning me up from the inside out.
I forgot how to speak as his eyes locked onto mine.
“Morning.” His voice was a low rumble that I felt deep in my body.
He was the hottest man who’d walked through this door in years. Maybe ever.
I swallowed hard, then forced my lips to move.
“Good morning.” Too breathy, I cleared my throat and tried again. “Welcome to Bookish. Where worlds await. Can I help you find something?” I imagined he might have gotten lost on his way to the hardware store. It was just a few doors down.
The man studied me with an intensity that made heat bloom between my thighs.
“You’reAvery,” he growled, as if my name already belonged to him.
My heart stuttered in my chest. “I… yes. How do you know who I am?”
He stepped closer to the counter, and I caught the scent of fresh air and pine, as if he’d walked here straight out of the forest that surrounded Red Oak Mountain.
“Marlene told me.”
Marlene.My worries rushed back.
“How do you know Marlene? Is she okay? She was supposed to be here this morning, and she didn’t call, and that’s not like her at all.”
Something shifted in his expression. Not quite softening, but close.
“She had an accident,” he grunted.
“An accident?” All the possible worst-case scenarios swept through me. “Is she okay?”
“Windsurfing.”
“Windsurfing?” The word came out strangled. “Marlene waswindsurfing?”
