“You did?” Again, the words were out before Jenna could think about them. Again, her disbelief was obvious.
“I did.” Sawyer seemed very satisfied to have proved Jenna wrong and looked damn good doing it. Dressed in tight-fitting jeans—which left nothing to the imagination, as far as her ass went—and a black ribbed turtleneck that seemed to enjoy every curve of her upper body, she looked absolutely delectable. Her dark hair was slightly tousled, as a light breeze had kicked up outside, and her dark-rimmed glasses only added to her look of authoritative sexiness.
“Jenna?”
Jenna snapped out of it, the uncertain sound of Marina’s voice making it clear she’d said her name more than once as she held up a Sharpie. “I’m sorry. What?”
“This one’s dead.” Marina smiled as she held up a Sharpie, and there was a spark of…something in her dark eyes.
“Oh. Sure. Got it.” She took the pen as Lily signed with the second one she’d left, then hurried to the counter where Delia was busily ringing up customers. Once behind it, Jenna inhaled deeply and took a moment to steady herself. What the hell was wrong with her?
“You okay, boss?” Delia asked, scanning books with the little gun attached to the computer.
“Yup. Great. Peachy. No worries. I’m fine. I’m good.”
Dee looked up at her then and narrowed her eyes. “Really? ’Cause that was an awful lot of reassurance.”
“I’m fine,” she said, more to convince herself than Delia. She stretched all ten of her icy cold fingers out and “shook the stupid off,” as Shane had taught her. Weird, but it worked. She took in one big breath, straightened her back, dropped her shoulders into relaxation, and repeated “I’m fine,” with confidence this time.
Delia scrutinized her for a moment before saying simply, “Good.”
Heading back toward Lily’s table with two more Sharpies, Jenna had no choice but to face Sawyer, who reached out to hold her upper arm. “Hey, is it okay if we hang for a bit? My mom and sister want to look at other books, and honestly, I’d like Courtney to sit for a bit.”
“Of course,” Jenna said, putting her hand over Sawyer’s without thinking about it. Sawyer’s skin was warm and soft, and her hand felt strong as it held Jenna’s arm…which did weird things to her insides. “As long as you like. The line’s dying down, finally, so it’ll be less congested shortly.”
“Awesome. Thank you.” Sawyer squeezed lightly, and Jenna felt it right in that spot below her belly button, a pleasant fluttering that forced her to swallow.
She pointed across the room to the donut table. “I’ll grab Courtney a donut and some cider.”
“Oh, no, let me.” Again, her grip tightened, but never in an uncomfortable way. The opposite, in fact, and it kept Jenna riveted to her spot, close enough to Sawyer to draw in the scent of her, woodsy and mysterious, with each quiet inhale. “You’re working. I can do it.” She gave her a warm smile, then let go, and Jenna felt the loss of her grip much more than she expected to. Or cared to admit.
She watched Sawyer walk across the store, followed her with her eyes. When she finally tore her gaze away and moved it to her left, she met another gaze. Lily’s. Lily, with a knowing grin.
Jenna cleared her throat and forced herself back into work mode. It wasn’t as if there was nothing to be done or no customers to take care of.
Come on, Jenna, get your shit together!
She mentally scolded herself, even as she threw herself back into her work. An evil part of her brain simply would not allow her to put her fantasies about Sawyer Hall back on a shelf where they belonged, and so they replayed in her head on a loop. Like having a TV on in the background, not taking all of your attention but still snagging it here and there. She literally walked into a bookshelf at one point, and Delia gave her a worried look.
Goddamn it.
Thankfully—holy shit, thank God—things died down slowly, and Lily managed to sign everybody’s book. Jenna had had one or twosignings in the past where either she’d miscalculated and run out of books for signing or, the dreaded opposite, hardly anybody showed and she was left with an overflow of books nobody wanted. That was always rough on the author, and Jenna always felt terrible for them, sitting there at the little table with their pen and stack of books, basically twiddling their thumbs. A huge blow to the writer’s ego, that.
Such was never the case with Lily Chambers. Any appearances she made at BookLove equaled an excellent sales day for Jenna, and tonight was no different. By the time the last person in line had their book signed, Jenna had less than ten copies left, and everybody breathed a quiet sigh of relief.
“Well,” Lily said, capping the pen she’d been using. “That was incredible.” She pushed to her feet as Marina moved the chair out of the way for her. “And how are you feeling?” She turned her attention to Courtney, who was still sitting nearby and held up a half-eaten donut.
“This is my fifth one, I think,” she said, “so I’m great.”
Ally appeared from between two shelves. “You ready to go, honey?”
Courtney nodded. “Yeah, or I’m gonna end up sleeping right here in this chair. I’m so tired.” She reached out a hand to her mom and was pulled to her feet with some effort.
Sawyer had been scanning shelves, too, much to Jenna’s surprise, and she appeared from the back. Jerking a thumb over her shoulder, she said, “That loveseat back there is super comfy. You should’ve rested there, Court.”
“And miss watching the signing?” Courtney said. “As if.”
Lily laughed. “I can’t imagine anything more boring than watching me sign books.”
