Chapter 3

THREE

T he bell above the door announced Lena's entry with a cheerful jingle, a stark contrast to the flutter of nerves she felt stepping into the old bookshop her mother had recommended. "You'll love it," her mother had said, a knowing twinkle in her eye that Lena had learned to mistrust.

If she didn't know better, she'd swear she was going on another of those terrible blind dates, but her mother had never set her up at a bookstore. That would be a new one.

The shop was a reader's haven, the air thick with the scent of leather and paper, whispers of countless stories waiting to be told. The scent alone calmed some of her anxiety. Lena's gaze swept over the space, and that's when she saw him. Holy crap.

Behind the counter stood a man with an aura of quiet strength, his eyes as sharp as the edge of a page. He was the kind of handsome that writers described in romance novels, which immediately sent Lena's hormones into a tizzy. Tall, check. Broody, check. Hot as hell, double check.

"Hi," she said, her voice a mere whisper.

"Hey, I'm Alex. Can I help you find something?" His voice was a rough warm timbre that seemed to resonate somewhere deep inside her, and she felt a pull. She'd have to control herself or she might say something stupid, like…out loud.

Lena cleared her throat, willing her cheeks not to betray the heat she felt. "Alex. Um, hi. I'm Lena. And yes, I'm looking for The Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King. I heard through the grapevine—well, my mother—that this is the place for hard-to-find books."

"The grapevine is correct," he said with a smile that hinted at hidden depths. "Follow me."

Oh, boy. She wanted to fan herself but stopped short. The guy was a rugged kind of hot she hadn't seen in her life. She'd tried to stop herself from checking his hand for a wedding ring, but who was she kidding, she'd looked. There was none.

As he led her through the labyrinth of shelves, Lena's heart thumped a rhythm that echoed the steady tap of her boots on the wooden floor. She tried to focus on the spines of books they passed, anything to distract herself from the magnetic energy of the man in front of her.

Was he real? How could a man this tall, good-looking, and sexy not have a few wives? He probably had a girlfriend. Yeah. He was probably a player. A woman in every corner. A few baby moms. She'd be his baby mom. No. Wait. That's not at all what she meant to think.

"I was told to expect someone looking for that book." He grinned at her and she almost threw herself in his arms right then and there like a sex-starved old maid.

"Oh?" she cleared her throat. Thank god he couldn't hear her thoughts.

Alex stopped in an aisle shrouded in half-light, the titles on the shelves bathed in a soft glow. He reached toward a high shelf, and Lena couldn't help but notice the way his shirt stretched over his muscles, a physical echo of the tension winding inside her. Down, girl.

"This should be it," he said, handing her the book. Their fingers brushed, and a spark of connection sizzled up Lena's arm, setting her pulse racing. Good god.

"Oh, King," she quipped, trying to steady her voice as she met his gaze. "Always stirring up trouble, isn't he? First with horror, now with me trying not to embarrass myself in front of a cute guy."

Alex's eyebrow lifted, heat and sexual awareness in his eyes. "Is that so? Well, I assure you, there's nothing to be embarrassed about. It happens often here—books have a certain... effect on people."

The corners of Lena's mouth twitched into a smile, a mix of embarrassment and intrigue coloring her cheeks. "Well, I guess I should be grateful it's just a mild case of biblio-induced infatuation, then."

Her attempt at humor seemed to bridge the gap between them, a silent acknowledgment of the tension they both felt. Alex's smile was slow and deliberate, the kind that suggested he was both a cause and cure for the symptoms she described.

She didn't understand why he was causing this reaction in her. She'd seen good-looking men before. None ever looked at her like she was dessert and he wanted to gobble her up. Then a thought sprung into her mind.

Name-forgetting orgasms.

She wondered if Alex could give those. She almost wanted to ask but she still had enough common sense to stop herself. She followed him back to the register and tried to get her mind out of the gutter and her brain back in working order.

"There's no charge for the infatuation, but for the book, let's say thirty-five dollars," he said, his voice holding a note of warmth that felt like an invitation.

Holy moly. If the place got any hotter those books were going up in flames.

Lena laughed. Hot, funny, and possibly single. She handed over the money, and he held her fingers in his grasp. The heat from his hand sent electricity up her arm.

"You wouldn't happen to have a signed copy would you?" she asked, breathless. "I really want it."

His intense gaze held her immobile. Her heart thudded hard in her chest and when he licked his lip she almost melted to the floor.

"You really want it?"

God, yes!