“It’s short for bookworm,” I explain before she can hurl a hardcover at my head.
That doesn’t diminish the horror in her expression.
Damn. It’s not like I said shelookslike a worm.
“I’m not exactly good with nicknames,” I defend. “I call my friends by their last names. And before you ask, no, I am not lumping you into that group.”
I’ve already been friend-zoned, and the whole point of giving her a nickname is in the hope that it’ll transition into a pet name. Calling her by her last name just further cements me as a friend. A person can’t call someone they have sexual interest in by their last name. It defies the laws of physics.
“It seems we’re at an impasse.” Maya’s eyes meet mine over the rim of her coffee cup as she takes a long sip.
The name comes to me like a flash of lightning. “Bean!”
Her lips twist in concentration as she lowers her cup. “As inflick the bean? Because of the smutty books?”
If I had my own coffee, it 100 percent would be decorating everything within spitting distance. “What?” I cough out. “Christ. No, Maya. Bean as incoffee bean.”
Her face flushes fire-engine red. “Oh. Well… I don’t hate that, then.”
“Great. Bean it is.” I nod once, then twist the knife in a little deeper. “So, bean. If I had asked you out on a date before I disappeared, would you have said yes?”
Focus downcast, she pets Goose’s thick fur. “Honestly? Probably not. I just got out of a relationship. And I like you.”
“Isn’t liking me agoodthing?”
“Depends on how you look at it.” She cocks her head, her lips tipped up in a wistful smile. “Now, are you actually going to read the alien book? Or should we find something less anatomically creative?”
“I’ll take the book,” I confirm. “And your friendship.”
If I need to tread lightly, take this slowly, in order to prove myself, then that’s what I’ll do. Maya doesn’t know it yet, but in the short time she’s known me, she’s accomplished something no one else has. She’s made Cole show up. Not the player, not the teammate, not the captain. Just me.
And if reading about purple aliens falling in love proves that I’m interested in her? So be it. I’ve never walked away from a challenge and I won’t start now.
CHAPTER TEN
maya
“Out of all thebooks in the store, you sold himthat?”
A slow, moody song hums through the store’s speakers. I let it wash over me, tuning Katrina out. She saw Cole’s name on a receipt and, being a die-hard Bobcats fan, nearly fainted in the stockroom. And for the last few days, the staff has been gossiping about how I sold him an alien romance.
“Does he read other paranormal romances?” Katrina props a large stack of books against her hip like a baby. “Shapeshifters? Vampires? Witches? Oh my God, do you think he knows about knotting?”
“Kat,” I groan, rubbing my eyes. “I’ve already recounted our conversation. More than once.”
Well, the highlights at least.
Cole’s insistence that he read a book I already have so we can talk about it still makes my pulse race. And we’ve texted every day for the past week. Well, he’s texted me and I’ve answered. He asks about my day, what managing the shop is like, how I pick what book to read next.
It’s… confusing, to say the least.
Maybe Logan was right, and Cole was freaked out by the Kiss, but that doesn’t change anything for me. My whole childhood, I was caught in this vicious cycle of hoping my mom would stick around, only to watch her disappear time and time again. Now, as an adult, I distrust situations where there’s potential to get what I want.
And I want Cole. Badly. Hence why I’ve relegated him to the friend zone and padlocked the gate that keeps him there.
“Do you think he’ll come back for the next one?” Katrina asks. “There are, like, eleven books in the series.”
If she’d asked me a month ago, I would’ve said absolutely not. But with the attention Cole’s been doling out?
