Flutter (The Discover Series) (35 page)

I remember when I had spotted her book store and the minute I had laid eyes on her sign, I knew I was going to work there.

Dragonfly Books

It was like it had been put there for me, it was destiny, fate, whatever you wanted to call it, but I believed Margaret had been put here for me. I felt a bond with her, a closeness that was so natural. Her life was fascinating and always was telling me stories about her home and her family, a lot of it felt embellished for my entertainment, but I never got tired of hearing them. I had been meaning to ask her why she called her store ‘Dragonfly Books’ but I always somehow forgot.

I picked up the last of the books from the box and couldn’t help but slam them in their place. No matter how much I tried to distract myself, there still was that bubbling annoyance just under the surface and just like that I was back to thinking of Adan. Who was I kidding? He was never far from mind even when I tried to push him as far away as I could. I don’t know how it was possible, but there he was calming and fueling the flutter inside of me. I slammed another book and just couldn’t wait to be out of here.

“Has anyone ever told you how beautiful you are when you’re angrily slamming innocent books away?” His voice was low, teasing and sexy behind me.

I froze in the process of putting away another book and tried to control the pitter patter of my heart at hearing him. I had spent so much time being angry at him that I had totally ignored the part of me that actually missed him.

“Can I help you find something?” I asked putting away the last book
,
gently this time.

“Is that the only greeting I get?” He asked with a hand over his ‘wounded’ heart.

“It’s the only greeting you get when you walk inside a book store.” I tried to keep my voice level, but even I could hear the irritation that crept up at the end of my response.

“If that’s the way you base your greetings, I can’t wait to see the welcoming I get when I walk inside your bedroom then.” He laughed out loud when I blushed and leaned against the bookshelf facing me. “You’re not still upset about this morning are you?” his voice was one of innocence.

I scoffed. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. I was never upset.”

“Could have fooled me,” He said clicking his tongue, “but the fireworks inside your eyes sold you out.”

I rolled my eyes at him. “It doesn’t matter what I do, you’d find some way of turning it into a swooning session for you.”

“You know two can play at this game Sara. You don’t have to be the only one swooning.” He raised his eyebrows at me a few times.

I walked past him. “I have no interest in trying to make you swoon-”

He caught my arm, bringing me flat against his chest. “Oh, but don’t you? You know we never did get to finish addressing my dare this morning before we were rudely interrupted.”

My hands were flat against his chest and I could feel the energy flowing once again. It felt like now that it was released, I couldn’t control it when it started flowing. I could feel my hand burning against the firm muscles of his chest and it took every ounce of self preservation not to flex my fingers into the hard tissue.

“Rudely interrupted?” I asked, trying to control my breathing being this close to him. “You got a date out of that ‘rude interruption’ if I remember correctly.” I hated the jealousy that stained my words.

“All you had to do was say the words and that all could have been avoided.” He said matter-of-factly.

I tried to push away from him then, but his grip was warm and firm on my arm and there was no escaping it. “Your free to do whatever you want Adan. Why would I try and stop you from making a few friends here.”

He stared at me for the longest time and I started to become uneasy under his gaze, but I couldn’t turn away. I wonder what he saw or what he was trying to see the way he peered at me that way. It was like he was trying to get inside my head, to figure out just what I was feeling
,
thinking
,
despite what my words were saying. I started to panic for a minute wondering if it was possible for him to see past everything I was trying to hide from the world.

“Ahem!”

Margaret cleared her voice and I jumped, pushing away from Adan guiltily for the second time in two days. Margaret wasn’t one to judge and especially not me, but I still didn’t like being caught in another boy’s arms when she knew I had a boyfriend. The smile that played on her gentle lips as she looked from Adan to me, told me she had as easily forgotten about Scott as I did when I was around Adan.

“I’m sorry I didn’t know you had company Sara,” She replied as she walked down the last of the steps from her office.

I blushed hotly. “Margaret, this is Adan. Adan this is my boss Margaret.” I said tightly hoping he would try to be on his best behavior.

He smiled at me and reached over to take Margaret’s hand in his. There was a small exchange between the two of them and I frowned confused. “That’s code for ‘be good’ Adan.” He said and Margaret beamed at him and I knew that she was gone. ‘It’s a pleasure to meet you Margaret.” I wasn’t sure, but he looked like he did a little bow.

“Please call me Maggie.” She made a tsking sound at me. “Sara knows I like Maggie better.”

I did know that, she had scolded me many times since working here to call her Maggie.

“I thought Maggie was only for special people to call you.”

She laughed at me fake pout. “It is dear and there is something special about this boy.” She was talking to me, but she was lost in Adan’s face and I hated the ping I felt against her.

“Do you think you could try convincing Sara of that? She seems to be the only one who doesn’t see that.”

“Wow.” I said.

Maggie laughed. “I’ll see what I can do Adan.” Maggie looked at me and there was a mischievous sparkle in her green eyes. “Goodnight Sara. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Her tone said I had a lot of explaining to do. She paused on her way out the door. “Oh and try not to distract her too much Adan, she still has to close up.”

“Oh don’t worry Maggie,” I said, “he was just leaving.”

She laughed and walked out of the door.

I turned to glare at him. “Your turn
,
” I said.

“She seems nice.” He said ignoring me. “How long have you known her?” he sat down in one of the plush chairs and looked at me, a small grin on his smug face.

I sighed in defeat and rubbed my hands over my face and through my hair, messing up my curls. “What am I going to do with you?!”

His smile was slow and he raised his eyes at me. “Now see if you were in a better mood that question would have been very, very dangerous Sara, but since you’re still throwing daggers my way, I beg that you ask me it again in the future and I would be glad to list off several different examples.”

I tried to fight my smile, and I hated the way my heart tripped over his oozing charm. “I have to get ready to close.” I stated.

He shooed me with his hand.  “Go on, you won’t even know I’m here.”

He spotted the book on the small table next to him and picked it up winking at me over the edge of. I couldn’t help, but laugh when he slowly turned it right side up and grinned at me.

I walked away to pick up the trash that had been left from uploading the new books and knelt down very conscious of Adan’s eyes on my back. I ran my hand down my bottom making sure every thing was in place and then finished picking up the wrappers and receipts. When it was all put back into the cardboard box I stood up and turned, I tried not to look at him, but my eyes had a mind of their own and they crashed into his.

Even from here I could see the spark sizzling inside the dark blue irises and my breath caught at the reaction they had on me. The flutter grew and pulsated over every inch of me and my skin flushed under his intense gaze before he finally dropped his eyes back to his book. My body still tingled even after and I walked to the back with the trash and hoped to gain some composure while I was back there.

I slipped into the restroom that was for employees only, but had been used often enough by Maggie’s loyal customers.  Once in there I checked what little make up I had on and grabbed a tissue from the box on the table inside and ran it under my eyes. I ran my fingers through the tangle curls and hoped to fix the strand in the back. I took in my flushed cheeks, neck and chest and tried to fan away the evidence of what he could do to me. I wrapped my hair up into a messy bun and pulled a pen from the pocket of my sweater dress and pinned my hair up. There was nothing I could do about the small whips of hair that fell out in fact
,
I kind of liked them.

I slipped out of the bathroom and cleaned up the back before returning to the front. Adan still sat there quietly reading his book when I emerged from the back and he looked up briefly and caught my eyes. His expression was gentle and sweet and it made my heart melt.

“I like your hair like that,” He said softly and looked back at his book, “but you’re making it awfully hard for me to pretend like I’m not here.”

Yeah like I could pretend he wasn’t there.

I walked around him and behind the cash register and from here I had a perfect view of Adan and I realized then I was going to have to double count everything. I watched Adan through my lashes as he concentrated on the book he was reading. I tried to squint hoping to see the title, but I couldn’t see anything. He looked like he was really reading it, but I couldn’t tell for sure.

His hair was short on the sides, but he left it longer on the top in a sexy tousled look. I’m sure he put something in his hair to give it that look of messy perfection, but it looked soft to touch and I wanted to run my fingers through the silky disarray. I loved the way it stood out against his tanned skin.

His expression changed as he continued to read and I loved the way his eyes reacted to each sentence. He seemed to be pleased by whatever he was reading. His eyebrows were just as dark and they looked just as soft. They came over his eyes to give him that flawless brooding affect. His lashes were average and the darkness of them made his icy blue eyes stand out all the more. He had two lines that curved around his mouth that fascinated me and every time I saw them soften when he smiled I was so tempted to reach out and trace them with my finger.

I could see the muscles of his jaw as it clenched and unclenched and I wondered what he was thinking that caused the agitation. I didn’t like the tightness there and I wanted to nuzzle the smooth skin to take away whatever was bothering him. I could see his jaw relaxing and wondered why it bothered me that I hadn’t been the one to take away his irritation. Would I have had the nerve to do it in the first place?

Silently observing him now I realized he had changed from the casual clothes he had worn this morning. I had noticed what he was wearing when he had walked in, but I didn’t stop to think why was all dressed up. Did he change for Jasmine this morning or did he have plans with her tonight? Maybe he was just here to waste some time until he had to pick her up, maybe while I sat here panting after him he was thinking of someone else.

He looked up at me then and I didn’t have time to drop my eyes away before being caught staring at him. I was trying not to read too much into his gaze, but I already knew I was because he looked like he was denying everything I had just thought. I knew that I was happy he was here with me, whether he had went with Jasmine or not, whether he was meeting up with her later; he was here with me now.

“Like what you see?” He asked grinning.

“That’s not pretending not to be here.” I reminded him while avoiding his question and he laughed going back to read his book again.

I went through the closing process and made sure to count the drawer twice just to make sure everything was accounted for. When I finished closing out the register I closed the drawer and took everything else up to Maggie’s office and put it in the safe. When I came back down Adan was leaning against the counter.

“What now?” He asked.

“Now I escort the last of the customers out, close the store and go home to my bed, I’m beat.” I walked over to the door and flipped the sign.

“Is that an invitation?”

“Hardly
,
” I said, ignoring the flutter.

“Too bad. What about dinner?”

“What about it?” I asked looking at him.

“You haven’t had it.” He said with out a doubt.

“How do you know?”

He walked over to me. “Because I bet if I said cheeseburger and fries-“

My stomach growled loudly.

“My point,” He said gesturing toward my stomach.

I walked past him and grabbed my scarf from the coat rack behind the cash register. “I can’t have dinner with you Adan.”

“Why not?” He asked genuinely confused and I tried not to focus on how cute his face looked when his brows scrunched together like that.

“Because, I can’t go on a date with another guy when I have a boyfriend.” I explained wrapping the scarf around my neck.

“Who said it’s a date.”

I tilted my head to the side and gave him a look that said I wasn’t stupid.