FOUR
GWYNETH
I’d been standing in the children section of Newman’s Books for at least an hour, carrying enough books to last the kids more than a few months, but it still didn’t seem like enough.
I stared down at the stack of books overflowing in my arms and then the four stacks of books on the push cart I’d asked for when I first arrived at Newman’s. I still needed to get to the young adult section, so I knew I needed to wrap things up here sooner rather than later.
After another twenty minutes, my four stacks had grown to six, but I was done. I tried to maneuver the stack of books on the cart so I could put the ones in my arms down, but even as careful as I was, I watched them tumble over, spilling on to the floor.
“Crap,” I hissed, bending over as much as I could in my skirt to pick up the mess of books.
I saw the shine of the dark, polished shoes out of the corner of my eye approaching, but I expected them to walk right past me, and my attention quickly focused back on my task. I stacked the books closest to me, one by one, and then reached for the farthest.
Long, dark fingers tangled with mine against the spine of the book, and my head lifted quickly. My chest constricted, feeling as if a wrecking ball had struck me as I stared into startling blue eyes.
Long midnight lashes framed them, making the color pop. My eyes roamed his face, greedily following every curve, including the deep dip of a dimple that showed even without a hint of a smile. Thankfully, he wasn’t smiling. I wasn’t sure I would survive him smiling at me.
He was beautiful.
The most beautiful man I had ever seen, which sadly included my very handsome fiancé.
My eyes dipped to his lips once more, and I exhaled the breath I was holding.
“Thank you.” My voice sounded breathless and weak, and I cleared my throat.
Adjusting to my full height, I left the last book in his hand.
I waited for him to follow, but instead of standing along with me, he remained kneeling in front of me. His eyes traveled over my ankles, scorching a path up the length of my legs and stopping briefly over my lap. My pussy clenched, the muscles of my vaginal walls contracting and aching.
My reaction startled me, and the need to cover myself from his eyes was real. It was as if he could see every inch of my skin through my clothes. I was fully clothed, but I’d never felt more naked in all my life. Mitchell never looked at me the way this beautiful stranger was looking at me. Not even in the beginning when things were new and we could barely keep our hands off each other.
I cleared my throat again and held out my hand toward him, repeating my gratitude. “Thank you.”
His eyes finished their journey with a lingering stop on my lips, and then he was looking right at me. I realized staring into his blue eyes was much more unnerving than when he had practically stripped me naked with his gaze.
He finally stood, and his tall frame hovered over me so much I had to arch my neck to look him in the face.
So tall and gorgeous.
Absolutely breathtaking.
He brought the book up between us, taking a step closer to me, and the scent of his cologne swam all around me. He smelled of fresh laundry and sandalwood. It was nothing like Mitchell’s strong fragrance. Not that Mitchell smelled badly, but I just preferred the clean scent of man over the overwhelming smell of musk.
The edge of the book brushed against my nipple, and it hardened instantly, shocking me when it poked so obviously through my thin blouse. I sucked in a breath, took a step back, and snatched the book from his hands, using it to cover my aroused tips.
“Thanks,” I said tightly for a third time.
We were both fully aware it was the third time I had thanked him, and my cheeks filled with heat as embarrassment settled over me. I was annoyed I had let him unarm me within mere minutes and without a single word from him.
As if sensing my inner turmoil, a smirk played across his full lips, and he clasped his hands behind his back.
“You’re welcome, you’re welcome, and you’re welcome,” he teased.
His voice was deep and hypnotic with just a hint of mirth. The sides of his eyes crinkled with his smile, and the dreaded dimple sank deeply into his cheek, knocking me into a quivering mess.
I bit my lip to keep from smiling. Even if he hadn’t spoken to me, the grin on his face was so contagious I was sure I would have smiled back anyway.
“Did I get them all?” he asked, forcing me to put more than two words together.
“I think so,” I said. “It was nice of you to stop and help.”
He tilted his head the way I pictured a confused puppy would, and again, his tilted smile knocked me senseless. “Is that your way of thanking me again?”
A schoolgirl giggle rushed from my mouth, and I quickly covered my lips with my hand. “I guess, in a way it was.”
“Well, then, you’re welcome again.” He looked at the push cart with the stacks of books and then back up at me. “Do you need any help here …?” His sentence drifted off as if he was waiting for a response from me.
I stared back at him confused for a bit before I realized what he was waiting for.
“Oh, uh.” I shifted the books from one arm to the other. “Gwyneth. Well, Gwyn.” I knew I was probably coming off as a mumbling mess as I stuck my hand out toward him.
I realized too late what a mistake it was to touch or be touched by this startling stranger when his palm slid along mine in the most intimate way.
The contact of his heated touch was a rush of hot and cold all at once. Despite the shiver that ran along my spine, the heat that spiraled from his body to mine was scorching.
“It’s nice to meet you, Gwyn.” He held my hand captive in his longer than was socially proper, causing an innocent handshake to turn into something much more intimate.
The seclusion around us became more apparent at that moment. We were in the back of a dimly lit bookstore … alone.
It was the middle of the day, so besides the two of us, I wasn’t sure any other customers were in the building. The employees were nowhere to be found. As if everyone else in the world had disappeared, leaving only us and the massive selection of books around us.
Being alone with him was both a good and a bad thing. Good because no one could witness the engaged woman, me, interacting in such an embarrassing way with the helpful stranger scattering my nerves. And bad because no one could witness the engaged woman, me, interacting in such an embarrassing way with the helpful stranger who was slowly melting me.
I tugged at my hand, and with a strange look, he slowly let it go, but not before letting his fingers caress my palm and fingers. Desire scorched my bones, leaving me shaking in my heels and breathless.
His head shifted, and his eyes followed the movement of my hand as I clutched the books in my arms to my chest.
“I could actually use an extra pair of hands if—”
My sentence was cut off by his curt interruption, and if the cut of his icy tone wasn’t enough to stop me, the slight scowl that clung to his tightly pulled brows definitely was.
“I’ll let the people in the front know.” He glowered down at me. Anger moved across his expression the more his gaze shifted from my face to the books in my arms. His frown deepened, leaving me completely confused by his sudden change in demeanor. “I have places to be.”
Without another word, he walked past me, his shoulder bumping into mine, leaving me reeling with a combination of confusion and … rejection?
Nope.
That was definitely not it.
There was no reason you could feel rejected when you were engaged and no longer putting yourself out there.
I took several deep breaths and did my best to banish the whole incident from my brain. I straightened my shoulders and ignored the feelings burrowing in the pit of my stomach.
“Get a grip, Gwyn,” I chastised myself. “He’s a stranger. You’ll never see him again anyway.”
That seemed to mollify me during the rest of my time collecting more books. Looking for books for children had occupied most of my attention, but when I left the bookstore an hour later and started toward the hospital to deliver them, the calming feeling was nowhere to be found.