Thwack!
Another book is gone.
“Mother-of-pearl,” she shouts.
She circles back around to where she started.
“Why choose?” I ask her, pointing at the sign. “What’s that?”
“It’s when there’s more than one love interest for the female main character or male main character, and they get their happily ever after without having to pick,” she says, adding one to the pile.
“Kinky,” I tease.
“You have no idea,” she says, spinning to the small-town section.
“I’m all for getting inspiration from books to spice things up, but just so you know, I don’t share, baby.”
“What was that?” she calls over her shoulder.
“I said you have sixty seconds left.”
“Freaking hell,” she hisses as another book falls off her pile. “Not the cowboy,” she whines.
She’s fucking adorable, and I could listen to her all damn day.
“I’m tapping out,” she says, halting her steps. “I’ll stay like this until the timer runs out. You didn’t say I couldn’t do that in the rules.”
“Not bad, Bookworm,” I say, assessing her stack of books.
“How do we pay if there’s nobody here?” she asks, trying hard not to move.
“I paid already.”
“You did? How’d you know how many I’d get?”
“I just made a fifty thousand dollar donation.”
“WHAT?” Erin balks and the books tumble from her arms to the ground. “Fish sticks!” she yells, throwing her hands up in the air.
I bend over in laughter, swiping at my tears as Erin pouts at the loss of her winnings. She folds her arms and lets out a huff.
“Look what you made me do.”
“I think you’re the one that dropped them,sweetheart.”
“Yeah, because you just told me you donated fifty thousand dollars to a bookstore so we could play a game.”
“It was a pretty fun game, though, right?” I wink.
“Chase,” she sighs, shaking her head.
I take a step forward and tug her away from the pile of books littering the floor.
“If it helps ease your mind, I donate to Happily Ever Booked every year. Teamed up with them a while ago. I donate, and they provide books to every school in Michigan,” I say proudly.
“They do?” she asks, her face lighting up.
“They do. Now let’s get your books home.”
