Page 20 of Unstoppable You

I hadn’t meantto bring up the book club, but she’d been right there and I’d wanted to make sure it was okay with her. She’d said that it didn’t bother her, but I wasn’t so sure. No doubt if she really didn’t want me there she would have told me to fuck off.

I had Delaney on the brain for the rest of the weekend of course. As if having her appear in my life again had opened up some forgotten corner of my brain that had built a shrine to her.

Another work week passed as I did my best to keep my mind on my work and my clients and giving them my very best as always, but I was absolutely more distracted than usual due to the Delaney issue.

On Friday I finally decided to visit Between the Sheets. With any luck, Delaney wouldn’t be working and no one else would know who I was. Just another random book lover.

The shop was cozy and bright, with light streaming in through the windows and painting patterns on the haphazard rugs and cushy chairs. It was almost like walking into someone’s home and I couldn’t help but smile as I looked around.

My smile fell the second I saw who was at the register on the right side of the store. Delaney.

She was talking to a customer, putting several books into a tote bag, and I might have been able to turn around and sneak out if several people hadn’t piled in behind me and blocked the door and my escape route. Delaney looked up, her smile falling the moment she spotted me.

Great. Now I’d ruined her workday. Well, I was here now, and she’d seen me so the least I could do was buy a few things.

The group of women who’d come in behind me were loud and giggly. Delaney stepped out to help them and I made sure to give them space and browse on my own.

Between the Sheets had an excellent selection, including a display of Delaney’s shirts and tote bags, book sleeves, bookmarks, stickers, and all kinds of other bookish merch. There was a little curtained off area that I was curious about and quickly learned that was where they kept the more adult items. That was unexpected. I ducked in and looked at the various items. They were all in fun colors and shapes and I seriously wanted to grab a few but I would rather ram one of these monster dildos into my ear than buy one or more in front of Delaney. I took a picture of the business name and decided to look them up later. I needed some of those fun toys in my personal collection.

I emerged from the little toy area to find Delaney standing on the other side with a smirk on her face.

“See anything you like?” she asked.

“Maybe,” I said, trying to keep my face neutral.

She looked like she wanted to laugh or say something else, but then one of the giggly women asked her something and she had to go tend to them and I was off the hook.

Phew.

I moved to the shelves and took my time going through them, looking at the employee recommendations (Delaney’s especially), pulling anything that was of interest.

They had a nice variety of the more popular titles and some more underground books that I’d never heard of, and I considered myself pretty well versed in what was out there for romance, but there were just so many books and so many authors that you could only scratch the surface before you were crushed under a pile of unread books. Not a bad way to go, though.

Before I knew what had happened, my arms were trembling from holding a stack of books. Something had come over me. I’d been possessed by the spirit of the bookshop and she wasn’t letting me get out of here without buying more than a few. Plus, my new apartment was bigger, so I had more room for books. Ergo, I needed the books to fill the space.

It just made sense.

Sometime later I ended up at the register with Delaney as she added up my purchases and I tried not to wince at the total. I’d also gotten some bookmarks and stickers and an ebook sleeve that I just had to have that was black with pink-and-purple ombre flowers.

“If you’re trying to buy your way into my good graces, it isn’t going to work. This money doesn’t go directly in my pocket,” she said as she filled two canvas bags with my items.

“I know that, Delaney,” I said. “Can’t I just love books?”

She glared at me, but she wasn’t going to find a lie. I did really love books.

“I don’t trust you,” she said, pushing the bags across the counter at me and snatching the receipt from the printer with a bit more force than was necessary. She held it out to me, and I took it from her carefully, sliding it into one of the bags.

“You don’t have to trust me. I can live with that.” I’d promised myself that I wasn’t going to lie to Delaney anymore, but I’d just broken that promise.

“Good,” she snapped and then gave me a dead-eyed smile. “Thank you for shopping at Between the Sheets. Have a wonderful day.”

Well. She definitely wasn’t happy with me for coming into her work, but she hadn’t thrown me out, so I think that was a win? Progress, at least. It was something. Got her used to the idea of me coming to the bookshop in time for book club next week.

Seeing her in person made me feel giddy. I loved getting to see her face and drink in her expressions. Being around her was addicting after going cold turkey for so many years. How had I been able to function around her in high school? It was a blur. And she hadn’t beenthisback then. The years had only intensified her innate beauty. By the time she was forty, she was going to be so glorious that you wouldn’t be able look at her without major injury. Helen of Troy territory. As it was, her face could definitely start a small war. A skirmish at the very least.

Hunched over due to the weight of the books, I struggled to get back to my car, but I made it without doing too much shoulder or back damage. Lifting weights. I needed to start lifting more weights.

I went home with my books and dove right into one of them until my stomach screamed at me to tend to it. I made myself a dinner of chicken enchiladas with rice and beans and devoured it, putting the leftovers in the fridge.

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