Page 3 of Kodiak

“Shit,” I hiss as I crouch down on my knees and begin gathering my belongings. “Double shit.” I’m mortified that this is happening in front of an audience, I must seem pathetic in their eyes.

Muscular hands land before me, helping me wrangle up the things that rolled further away from where I’m kneeled.

“You okay?” his husky voice asks. It’s a soothing yet dominant tone that has my head snapping up.

When our eyes connect, the blood drains from my face. He’s possibly the most handsome man I’ve ever seen. He’s muscular in all the right places, his clothes are tight, showing off his powerful dimensions, and even though he’s wearing a ballcap on his head, I can tell his hair is dirty blond. His eyes are a piercing shade of green, they’re mesmerizing and drool worthy—he’s cover model material in the flesh. And I’m staring at him while making a fool of myself.

“Yes. Thank you,” I rush out, sounding out of breath before ducking my head.

Jesus, Luna. He’s a man not a Greek God, I internally scold myself.

When he reaches out, handing me my signing pens that weren’t within my reaching distance, and our fingers touch, I’m zapped with charged electricity. The hair on the nape of my neck stands on end as my throat dries out.

I’ve never had this sort of reaction to a man before and it has me feeling conflicted. I’m not good at flirting unless it’s being typed into a scene. My imagination is far better than I am during real life encounters.

“Damn, sorry,” he mutters. “I must’ve shuffled my feet on the carpet.”

“No biggie,” I reply, shrugging my shoulders.

Once I’ve replaced my items into my bag, I stand up on shaky limbs and send him a shy smile.

“I have to get in there and finish setting up my table, have a good day.”

“Marcum,” he remarks. “It’s my name.”

“Luna,” I state, holding my hand out and shaking his. “I appreciate your help, Marcum.”

“Anytime, Luna,” he asserts, sending me a smile that has me becoming oxygen deprived.

I need to remove myself from his company before dark spots begin floating in my vision. He is simply gorgeous, and men of his caliber make me panicky. As far as I’m concerned, I’ve made a fool of myself enough for one day and it’s time for me to make a hasty retreat before I’m the one he’s picking up off the floor.

“See you around, Marcum.” I quickly turn around and scamper away.

I shake the blooper off and square my shoulders. I can’t let what happened in the hallway affect the rest of my day. I need to come off as self-assured and relaxed. Otherwise, I’ll end up making deals and wondering afterward how I came out earning less money than I spent on merchandise.

When I hit my assigned table, I rush around and open up my tool box that has my swag inside of it and start to place them neatly on the table. Making sure it’s eye-catching and not cluttered, I’m finally satisfied even though I know it won’t remain the same once the readers arrive.

My eyes widen into saucers when the mass amount of attendees begin jogging in. I knew it was going to be a packed house, but this exceeds my expectations and we haven’t even begun letting in the general admission ticket holders yet. Giddiness strums through me as a line forms in front of me.

“Hi,” I say to the first person I see.

“Hey,” she replies, sounding just as anxious as I am to be here. “I have a preorder with you. My name is Linda Cardova.”

“Great! Let me get that for you, Linda.”

Thankfully, I had the forethought to sign them and put the goodies inside my preorder bags before leaving home. Otherwise, with the line before me, I’d be nursing my hand after the event winds down. That may still be a possibility, but I’ll gladly deal with it later if even a quarter of the folks in the room buy something.

CHAPTER TWO

KODIAK

A low growlleaves my throat when, not for the first time, I’m stopped while doing my duty and asked if I’m a male model.

“Absolutely not”, has been my answer every single time I’ve been approached, and it hasn’t changed this time around either.

In the beginning I was polite, but now I’m at the end of my rope, that shit has shredded and I know that I need to remove myself from this group of women before I lose my cool.

“If you’ll excuse me, ladies,” I say as I side step them.

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