Page 1 of Possess

Chapter 1

“You have to come with me,” Dani begged Allyson.

Allyson Young regarded her friend. “Why?” Allyson turned away so her friend wouldn’t see her grin.

“Please.”

Allyson stifled her laughter. Dani could make one word sound like ten. “A new bookstore, you say?” Allyson worked as a building inspector for the city, and she hadn’t heard anything about a new bookstore. Since jobs were assigned, her co-worker probably got it.

“Well, sort of.”

Allyson turned to face her friend. “Explain, please.”

“It’s the expansion to Kleinman’s.”

“The adult store?” Allyson vaguely remembered something about it. Rudy, her co-worker, made some snide remark about being assigned to it instead of her. Especially since the construction had been done by Riggs Construction.

“Yes. They had a small book area and have monthly book club meetings, but since the book club meetings exploded, Damon decided to expand the shop.”

“What do they have book club meetings about?” Allyson was curious.

“Mainly romance books. The spicy, sexy ones.”

Allyson laughed. Dani loved those books. Allyson had read a few herself and liked them. “I see. Do I need to change?” She indicated her jeans and black knit shirt with puffy sleeves.

“It’s perfect.” Dani gave her a hug.

“Thank you for coming with me,” Dani said once they were in Dani’s small compact car driving toward the store.

“Sure. I don’t understand why you needed me to come with you.” Dani went silent, and Allyson glanced over at her. Dani’s features were tight, her lips pressed together, and her fingers clenched the steering wheel. “What’s going on?”

Dani stopped at a red light and looked at Allyson. “Remember when I told you I dated a guy in college?”

“Yeah, but you never told me who it was.” Dani had gone to the University of Washington and studied horticulture and landscaping. Allyson stayed and went to a community college in Pleasant Valley to study urban planning and development. “You left right after you graduated to intern with a company in San Francisco.”

“Right, and I came back when Gramps got sick last year.” The light turned green. “Well, my college ex is going to be there.”

“Oh? Do I know him?”

“You might. He works for Riggs Construction.”

“It’s not the owner, is it?” Allyson liked Zeke. His brown eyes would dance when he smiled and all those muscles…she wanted to run her hands over them. She and Zeke had been dancing around each other for months. Every time she thought about him, her body would go from zero to hot and bothered in about six seconds.

“No, it’s not Zeke,” Dani said.

Allyson breathed a sigh of relief. She could fall fast with Zeke, but she wasn’t sure if she was ready to leap head first into a new relationship after her last one crashed and burned, the latest in a string of failed relationships. “Wait a second. You’ve been back for almost a year, and you haven’t seen him?”

“No.” Dani’s cheeks turned red. “I’ve been avoiding him.”

“Why?” That wasn’t like her friend.

“It’s complicated.” Dani pulled into the almost full parking lot. “Wow, looks like there’s a lot of people here.”

“It’s their grand opening?”

“Kind of.” Dani found a spot and parked.

“What do you mean?” Her friend was holding something back.

---