I paused.
“When we were on our cookie crawl, I noticed that the Little Free Libraries around the city were pretty empty. I figured we could get a haul and go restock them.”
My eyes widened, and I bounced with excitement. “Really?”
“I mean, what better person to shop for books with than an author?”
I darted through the door as bells jingled overhead.
“Good morning, darlin’,” the gray-haired man behind the counter said as he put down the book he was engrossed with. “Anything I can help you with, or are you ready to browse?”
I glanced around the tight entrance that led to two floors of literary goodness. “Any chance you have shopping carts? I plan to do some serious damage today.”
He grinned from ear to ear. “My kinda woman.” He looked at Ryan as he joined us, and pointed to me. “Don’t let this one get away from you.”
Ryan slipped his arm around my waist. “I don’t plan on it.”
“Hate to break it to you, but we don’t have shopping carts or baskets. Most people just come in for one or two titles. But I’lltell you what—just bring whatever you want to get down to the counter and I’ll keep ‘em here until you’re ready to check out. We’ve got some cardboard boxes around here that I can stack ‘em in for ya.”
I left Ryan in the dust and immediately bolted for the children’s section. Before he was able to find me in the maze of shelves, I had loaded my arms full of my childhood favorites. I grabbed board books for babies, early readers, and beginner chapter books. The picture book stack I had started on an empty shelf had some real gems.
“I’ll take those up front,” Ryan said as he took the teetering stack I had tucked in the crook of my elbow.
“And these?” I said, grabbing the picture books and adding them to his pile.
Ryan buckled under the tower. “I underestimated bringing you here.”
I patted him on the arm. “You’ve got all those nice gym muscles. Put them to good use.”
A grin split across his face. “Yes, ma’am.”
The next time Ryan found me, I had made my way to the middle grade shelves. I had a curated collection of graphic novels, fantasy, and mysteries. He waited to take another haul up to the counter until I had gone through the YA shelves, adding on romances, some sci-fi titles, and more dragon books. Teenagers love dragons. I’d have to get some fantasies from the romance and fantasy section so there were dragons for the whole family.
“I’m warning you,” I said as he escorted me up the stairs to the romance section. “I’m going to be here for a while, and your thighs are going to burn from going up and down the stairs.”
Ryan chuckled. “Why don’t you stack them up outside the door? I’ll check out the mystery section while you clear theshelves, and then I’ll take them down.” He paused and inhaled deeply. “I love the smell of books.”
I beamed. “Me too.”
We divided and conquered. I dove into the W section of the romance shelves, and immediately snagged all of Whitney and Wander’s titles.
When I rounded the end cap, I caught sight of Ryan hunched over in the mystery section. The jeans he wore today were pale with age and stretched tight across his ass. He grabbed a title and straightened, thumbing through it before tucking it under his arm. It must have been a good one.
Something bubbled inside of me, warm and effervescent. I dipped behind a shelf and watched him as he shuffled down the row of books.
Today was a good day. I wasn’t entirely sure if today was supposed to be a date, but the semantics of it didn’t really matter. It felt good to get out of the house and work on something together. I liked the feeling of being a team. Having someone on my side.
It felt like having a partner.
Before I could think better of it, I darted around the shelves. Ryan spun around just as I popped up onto my tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek.
His smile flashed bright and brilliant as he caught me around the waist with his free arm. “What was that for?”
I chewed on my lip and shrugged.
Ryan cocked his head as he turned and pinned me against the bookshelf. “You don’t know?”
“I just wanted to,” I admitted as I studied his lips.
