I wouldn’t be anyone’s secret Friday night flingeveragain.Especiallynot a rugged, older mountain man with a deep voice and a steady gaze, and a mouth that looked like it could eat me right up.
Flint was watching me, and I realized I’d been silent too long.
“Right,” I said, straightening my spine. “Well, there’s not much for you to do. Marlene had interviews set up for tomorrow. I’ll handle those for her. I need to hire two new employees.”
He let out a scoffing chuckle. “Naw. Marlene already told me about the interviews. I’m doing them.” His gaze locked on mine. “All I need from you is to show me how everything works. After that, I’ll take care of the rest.”
My mouth dropped open as I studied him more closely.
He was leaning against the local books section with his arms crossed and a flat line where his smile should be.
Flint acted like heownedthe place.
An uncomfortable thought flew through me. Technically, he almost did. It was his aunt’s business after all.
But that didn’t mean I had to like it. Marlene had always acted likeIwas her right hand. It was true I didn’t have thetitleof manager, but I felt like one.
This man looked like he’d crawled out of the woods, feral and hungry. He’d scare off the customers!
And hewouldn’tbe able to give good book recommendations. I could tell that just by looking at him. Don’t judge a book by its cover? That advice didn’t apply to people. I’d learned that first impressions were often the right impression.
“Do you even read?” I asked, my tonewaysnarkier than I normally spoke.
A divot formed between his brows as he frowned at me. “Sure. I’ve read.”
“Something more than lawnmower manuals?” I muttered quietly.
Flint’s lips curled up into a dangerous smile, and his gorgeous hazel eyes turned into tight little daggers.
“Marlene said you were a sweetheart. I think she’swrong. You might look like an innocent little Alice in Wonderland, but there’s a viper hiding in your heart, isn’t there, darlin’?”
His assessment of me stung. I always stayed professional, even when Mrs. Burkowitz came in and tore up the romance section like she had yesterday, pawing through every book before deciding which one to buy.
But he was right, I was being downright nasty to him, all because he reminded me of Sawyer.
Swallowing hard, I said, “I’m sorry. This all caught me by surprise. Can we have a do-over?”
“Yup.” He kept the same amused glint in his eye, arms still crossed over his chest.
I stepped out from behind the counter, keeping a careful distance between us as I gestured toward the shelves. “The store is organized by genre, mostly. Fiction along the left wall, nonfiction on the right. Children’s books in the back corner. Romance has its own section near the reading nook. It’s our biggest seller.”
He followed me, and I was painfully aware of how close he was.
Tooclose.
His presence seemed to fill the narrow aisles, making the space feel smaller than it ever had before.
“The register is straightforward,” I continued, my voice steadier than I felt. “Card reader’s a little old, but it works. Weekends are our busy times, and shipments come on Fridays.”
I could feel the heat of him behind me, and when I turned to point out the storeroom, I bumped into his chest.
“Oh!” I stepped back quickly, my hip catching the edge of a shelf.
“Careful,” he growled, and his hand came up to steady me before dropping back to his side. A tidal wave of sparks flew through me where we’d touched.
My cheeks burned. I was always running into things, but I sure hadn’t wanted to run into this mountain of a man. He was making me feel frazzled by his presence. And I was usually frazzled just fine all on my own. I didn’t need him here, making it worse.
“Marlene’s office is through there, along with the stockroom.” I pointed down the hallway at the back of the store. “That’s where we hold the book club meetings.”
