“I want to see every part of your existence,” he said, and stared into my eyes, “you may find it dull, but I find you and your life fascinating. It amazes me that you’ve been here all along, and I might have gone years without finding you if fate hadn’t brought us together.”
“I think you mean Chloe,” I said and laughed, “she’s the one who pushed me in front of you.”
“Then let’s thank Chloe, but let’s get you in there before you’re fired and forced to come work for me,” he said, “and I guarantee I won’t be half as easy as your current boss. I would make you work for your money, love.”
He slapped my ass as I stepped away from him and I giggled. I knew he was joking, but fucking hell, holy hotness…the idea of me working for him as some private sex slave…my god I couldn’t get that thought out of my head. What a fantasy to keep me going through my boring workday.
The bell on the door rang as we stepped through. My boss, Mrs. Whitfield, aka Marta, was standing behind the counter talking to Sylvie, the gorgeous French college student she’d hired just a couple of months before.
Normally I might feel a little threatened bringing my kinda sorta boyfriend around such a hot girl, but Sylvie was hard to hate. On top of being stunning, she was what Auntie Abby would call, “an absolute dear.” She was young, maybe nineteen, and had big, bright eyes that lit up at the slightest good news.
When she clued into who was standing by my side, I thought those big brown eyes were going to pop out of her head though. It was comical.
I knew Marta recognized him, betrayed by the slightest widening of her eyes, but apparently decided to play it cool. Sylvie, however, gasped and made annoyingly adorable squeaking noises while fanning herself.
“Aubrey,” Marta said, “how good of you to join us. Are you fully recovered from your…what was it, headache? Is that what kept you from work yesterday?”
She was a sly old bat, but I loved her. I laughed and said “Yes, thank you Marta, I have fully recovered.”
“Are you going to introduce us to your friend? Or is he your taxi driver? Do you need me to cover your fare? I’ll deduct it from your paycheck,” Marta said and gave Isaac a sidelong glance. She had a little smirk on her face that indicated she was enjoying this a little too much. She’d always worried that I wouldn’t find somebody, that I’d end up dead under a pile of newspapers at home or something.
Why is it when a woman was single over the age of twenty five, everybody in her life assumed she was on the long, lonely road to spinsterhood?
“I assure you, her ride has already been paid for,” Isaac said with a mischievous grin and held out his hand, “Isaac James, at your service. Is there anywhere I can take you today, ma’am?”
I thought Marta was going to lose it right there, she did her best to not burst out laughing and replied, “I do believe I’m rather good, thank you.”
“Anytime,” Isaac said and tipped an imaginary hat at her.
She finally giggled and turned to me, “My god Aubrey, where have you been hiding him?”
“She met him at the book event and she left with him and everybody said they slept together but I didn’t think Aubrey would do something like that but now that she called in sick for the first time in five years according to you and she walks in with Isaac James on her arm like it’s something that happens every day I think she might have slept with him don’t you think Marta?” Sylvie blurted out in one long, steady stream of uninterrupted wordage.
“My god Sylvie, take a breath,” I said and smiled. I grabbed Isaac’s hand and added, “He’s just a guy I like, it doesn’t matter that he happens to be on the cover of almost every romance we have in the shop. He’s a friend. Chill out.”
Now I was the one who was desperately trying to play it cool.
Sylvie looked like she was about to faint. She bit her perfectly adorable bottom lip and managed to look, well, perfectly adorable. I think I always looked a little like the hillbilly from The Simpsons crossed with a Shih-Tzu when I tried it. I’d practiced in the mirror for days after Fifty Shades of Grey had made the big time.
Marta eyeballed Isaac and said, “Are you, in fact, her friend?”
He nodded yes and gave my hand a squeeze. I had the feeling he wanted to say we were more than friends, but didn’t want to overstep his boundaries. I loved him for it. I mean, damn, I appreciated him for it. It was too soon to use the ‘L’ word in any context. Right?
“Would you come do a signing?” she asked, putting him on the spot.
“Marta, please, he’s just dropping me off,” I said, “don’t make the poor guy uncomfortable. I mean any more uncomfortable than Sylvie there drooling and sweating while staring at him with that weird look.”
I shot Sylvie a little warning glance, but she was too caught up ogling Isaac to notice. I know how she felt though, I had been like that before we got to know each other. I think the night we met I must have looked like a grinning bobble head of myself. Thank god he never seemed to notice.
“I don’t mind, love,” he said to me and turned to Marta. “What sort of thing do you have in mind?”
“Nothing too much,” she replied, a little too quickly which let me know she’d been thinking of this. I’m sure she and Sylvie had been going over the blog stories together and Marta’s brain had been formulating this plot. I couldn’t fault her for it though, she was an independent bookseller swimming upstream against the big digital book sites. “I was thinking like a meet and greet. So people could come here and have their books signed by you, the ones you’re on the front of.”
“I could do that,” he said and looked thoughtful, “and you know what? I’ll do it for Aubrey. No need to contact my agent, no need to pay me. Just promise you’ll give my girl here a couple days off when I need her and we’ve got a deal.”
Marta grinned like I’d never seen before and said, “Deal! It’s done. Let me work out our calendar and I’ll get back to you through Aubrey. Sound good?”
“Good enough,” Isaac replied and leaned in to peck me on the cheek. “I’ll see you in a bit,” he said, “I’ll come back after lunch and help you put books on the tall shelves.”
I blushed and turned away from Marta and Sylvie. I stood on tip toe and kissed Isaac, a proper kiss, no tongue, something I could have done in front of Auntie Abby or the President.
But it still sent that crazy electric shock from the roots of my hair to the end of my toes. It still made me feel woozy and light headed and like getting naked and leaping into his arms.
He waved goodbye as he left the shop, the little bell above the door signalling his departure.
I brushed my finger over my lips and could still feel him there. I shook myself out of it and turned to get to work.
Marta and Sylvie were staring at me wearing twin looks of absolute admiration.
“What?” I asked and pushed past them to put my purse under the desk in our employee safe. It doesn’t lock, by the way, in case you’re ever in the neighbourhood and looking for a quick buck.
Marta raised her eyebrow, shifted her weight to the opposite leg and said, “Seriously? Are you going to make us beg?”
I looked at Sylvie, she mirrored Marta’s stance and said, “Spit it out.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, not entirely sure where they were going with this.
“You spent the night with Isaac James,” Marta said and laughed, “Tell us everything!”
I smiled and walked to one of the aisles and started tidying up the shelves. The two of them stood behind me and I could feel their anticipation. Finally after a couple minutes, I decided I couldn’t leave them hanging any longer.
“He’s really nice,” I said, “a perfect gentleman.”
“That’s all you’re going to say?” Sylvie exclaimed.
“I’m sorry, I don’t kiss and tell,” I replied.
“Oh mon dieu! You kissed him!” Sylvie squealed and grabbed my arm.
“I’m pleading the fifth on this one
, ladies,” I said, “I’m sorry.”
They looked disappointed, but I wasn’t quite ready to tell anyone about the amazing time I’d had with him.
The world got Isaac James all the time, twenty four seven. He was stalked and photographed, talked about and ogled. Let him have a few private moments, especially if they were with me.
No matter how much the world wanted it, I wasn’t going to share the Isaac I knew with it.
I would keep him tucked away, deep in my heart and in the secret curve of my smile.
He was mine.
Chapter Seventeen
“When is he stopping by?” Chloe asked and smoothed her hair for the hundredth time. We were sitting in my room going over some blog business. Isaac had dropped me off at work and I’d gotten Chloe to pick me up in order to dodge the paparazzi. They’d been following me around from time to time, and my car was well known. They’d followed Isaac to his meeting and Chloe’s car wasn’t recognizable, so we’d managed to get out of the bookstore unscathed and unphotographed. Chloe had seemed upset by it, I swear she’d dressed for appearing on some gossip site somewhere.
“An hour or so, for dinner,” I said, “he’s taking me to some new Asian fusion place he’s heard about.”
“Not Red Ginger, is it?” she asked.
“Uh, I think so, why?”
“That is the hottest restaurant in Seattle right now! How did he get reservations?”
“I don’t know, I think he might know the owner, or one of his bodyguards arranged it. Something like that.”
“You are such a lucky cow,” Chloe said, “do you know that?”
“I do,” I replied, but at that moment I didn’t feel so lucky. At least Chloe didn’t make me feel as though she felt I deserved the luck I had. I know she was envious, but there was something more to it, something meaner that I hadn’t seen in her before.
Chloe was a bitch. There, I said it. I had never realized how much of one until Isaac came into my life.
We’d been together for almost a month now, and it never failed to amaze me when I woke up next to him. He was charming and loving and of course, so blazing hot I felt like I was sleeping next to the sun.
He claimed he felt the same way, every morning he told me how amazing it was that he’d found me…as though he’d been looking for me all along. It was starting to dawn on me that he was serious, that I was as beautiful as he said, and he was a lucky to have me as I was to have him.
The blogs were starting to be a little kinder to me as well. Jezebel had done an opinion piece on how enlightened he must be to choose brains for once. I felt a little awkward, being the brainy one instead of the hot one, but I’d take it. At least they weren’t calling me Nerd Girl like TMZ still seemed to be doing.
I was learning to ignore it all though, and stop Googling Isaac and my names every morning before getting out of bed. I was starting to feel like a normal human being, and sometimes even like a sexy, luscious woman.
And then I hung out with Chloe and once again felt like a frumpy beggar eating table scraps while the rest of the world was at some wonderful buffet.
“So what did you think of my review?” Chloe asked, and I was happy to let her change the subject.
“It’s good,” I said, “but honestly, I only put three stars or above on the site. If the author contacts you directly, offer the reasons you didn’t enjoy the book, but don’t post it on the site.”
“You still haven’t given me admin powers anyways,” Chloe said, “so I couldn’t post it even if I wanted to.”
“I’ll get to that,” I said, “how did you like the final book in the Burning Ink series?” I had already read her glowing five star review on that one, but wanted to deflect her insistence that I give her control of my blog.
She had a good argument, I wasn’t reading much these days and had zero time for the blog, but it was still my baby and I’d worked so hard on it. People depended on me to find their next book boyfriends and worlds to escape to. Before Isaac, that had been the most important thing in my life, but now I’d become that awful stereotypical girl who dumped everything for her man.
I hadn’t meant for it to happen like that, but apparently even I wasn’t immune to the overwhelming nature of love.
Love, yes, I said it. I was falling in love with him a little more every day.
I hadn’t said it yet, and neither had he beyond his little pet name for me, but we’d begun skating around the issue. We would say things like, “I love your hair, it looks great,” or “I love that you read that book.” We’d drop those little L bombs in our daily conversation as if trying the word on for size.
Lately it was feeling more and more like a perfect fit, I just didn’t want to be the first one to say it.
Chloe droned on about the story and I smiled, nodded and made appropriate noises where necessary. She wasn’t half bad at reviewing, better than I’d thought to be honest, but I still couldn’t hand over the reins to my baby.
“And so that’s why I think she’ll write one more,” Chloe finished up her assessment.
“But she said she’d never write another one,” I told her.
“I don’t mean to sound cynical, but I think that’s a way for her to make money,” Chloe replied.
“You might be right, but I think you should keep that out of your review.”
“I’m not an idiot, I would never put that on the blog. Fuck, Aubrey, you are so controlling. I thought you’d loosen up after a little sex, you know? Is it not that good?”
I blushed and said, “Of course it is!”
“Really?” Chloe asked and leaned towards me on the bed, glanced around with a secretive look and said, “how big is it?”
“Chloe!” I exclaimed, mortified, “I’m not going to talk about stuff like that.”
She sat back and screwed up her face, “Come on, you’d tell me every detail if he weren’t famous. What, are you afraid I’ll run and tell the tabloids that Isaac James has got a four inch dick? It’s just between you and me, tell me.”
“Seriously Chloe,” I said, “I would never tell you a thing about him, whether he was famous or not. Think about it, did I ever tell you the intimate details about my other boyfriends? They weren’t famous, and I told you nothing.”
“I probably never asked,” she said and smirked, “besides, if he had a big one, you’d be bragging about it, so my question is already answered.”
“Not everybody is you, Chloe,” I retorted, “I don’t need to tell you every damn thing about my sex life to have you validate it.”
“No need to get so huffy,” Chloe replied, “I was just joking you know. But seriously, if he was good at it, you’d be yelling it from the rooftops.”
“I’m done,” I said, “I don’t want to talk about this anymore.”
“It’s fine,” Chloe replied with a huff, “I’m kidding. Gawd, you never used to be so uptight. I think all the attention is getting to your head. Stop taking yourself so seriously!”
“I’m not,” I said, hoping she’d drop this before I was pushed too far. I didn’t understand her dogged obsession with Isaac and I…all the details, our sex life of all things. She’d never really cared before, had barely given my other boyfriends the time of day. She’d always over shared with me, but I hadn’t ever considered it a problem before today. Now it bothered me, I didn’t understand why she was so interested.
“What’s going on in here?” Auntie Abby interrupted, saving me from flipping out on Chloe. Thank god, thank Auntie Abby.
“Just hanging out,” I said and smiled at Chloe, hoping she’d take this as a sign to stop things from escalating.
“Yeah,” Chloe agreed and offered me a little smile back, “just talking about the blog and such.”
I sighed, relieved that Chloe apparently had decided to let it all go.
“When’s your hot boyfriend coming around?” Auntie Abby asked and leaned against my doorframe..
“Any time now,” I said, “he’s t
aking me for dinner.”
“Oh that’s nice,” she replied and sat down with us, “Chloe, do you have any plans for the evening?”
“I met a really nice guy,” Chloe said, “he’s taking me to the movies and then to a late dinner.”
“Good for you,” Auntie Abby said, “I think it’s about time you found somebody nice for yourself.”
“Thank you,” Chloe said, “his name is Jason, and he’s a really great guy. He’s super rich and loves to spend money on me. Plus, he’s got this crazy expensive car. I really like him.”
“I’m happy for you,” I said and smiled, but had serious doubts as to “Jason’s” actual existence. I had a strange feeling Chloe had made him up to compete with me, but it was absolutely ridiculous if she had. I’d gone years listening to her tales of love and sex without once feeling the least bit envious.
I was starting to doubt whether or not Chloe was a true friend, and the realization that she might not be sat heavy on my chest.
She was hanging around waiting for Isaac, that much was clear. But for what purpose? Did she think her fake boyfriend would illicit some jealousy in Isaac? Or did she want to flirt with him in front of me?
I couldn’t determine her exact motives, but I did know she was up to something.
“Shall I make us some tea while we wait?” Auntie Abby said and nodded towards the downstairs.
“Sounds good to me,” I said, grateful again for her intervention.
We followed her downstairs, sipped our hot tea and made small talk until Chloe stood and announced that she had to get ready for her big night out. I was still sceptical, but went along with it, helping her choose a little black dress and red shoes that made her a little taller and emphasized her figure. I hoped she was telling the truth. I truly did.
She headed for the guest bathroom to get changed when the doorbell rang. I leapt to my feet and rushed to the front door, opened it and fell into Isaac’s arms.
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