The Summer Girlfriend (Heart Beach, #1)(18)
“But for real, though, I have read some books,” he said. “Self-help and business, stuff like that. My sister reads a lot of horror. I’m getting Dracula for her birthday gift. It’s one of her favorite books. She has a bunch of different versions.”
They came to a stop, finally arriving at the classics section.
“I like horror too,” Noelle said. “Do you know the names of some of the other books she’s read?”
“Umm, maybe. She likes gory shit about vampires and monsters murdering people. You wouldn’t know it by looking at her, though. Then again, she does wear a lot of black, so maybe what she reads isn’t that surprising. A few weeks ago, she was telling me about this book called When a Vampire Wakes or something like that.”
“Wait, I loved that book!” In her excitement, Noelle grasped onto Jeremiah’s bicep. His muscular, well-developed bicep. He glanced down at the point of contact, lifted his eyes to hers, and flashed an intrigued smile. Noelle’s cheeks immediately warmed. She yanked her hand away and busied herself with searching the shelves for last names that started with S.
She cleared her throat. “Um, your sister sounds cool.”
“Yeah, she’s dope,” he said.
She could feel Jeremiah watching her, but she couldn’t bring herself to look at him again just yet. Her thoughts were loopy and jumbled because she was fighting an internal battle with the butterflies for control of her brain.
She pulled the three copies of Dracula they had in stock. A 1986 paperback edition featuring an image of Dracula hovering in the shadows, a 2003 mass-market edition with a painting of Dracula’s Transylvania castle on the cover, and a more recent gray and black hardcover clothbound edition, published in 2011.
“Here’s what we have,” Noelle said, holding the books out to Jeremiah. “Only the 1986 edition is technically considered vintage, but all three are still in pretty good condition.”
Jeremiah accepted the books from her and inspected each copy. While his attention was elsewhere, Noelle took a moment to observe him. He had full lips, and his eyelashes were unfairly long. He wore a gold watch on his wrist. She didn’t know much about watches, but from the way he was dressed and from the look of his car, she would guess that his watch probably wasn’t cheap, even if it was fairly understated. His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed, and Noelle found herself admiring his neck muscles, of all things. She wondered what it might feel like to touch his skin there.
Wow. Was she really standing here lusting after a customer?!
“I’ll take this one,” he said, snapping her out of her thirsty-ass daydream. He held up the hardcover clothbound edition. “I think she owns the other two already.”
“Great!” Noelle’s voice was a high-pitched squeak. Jesus. She needed to ring this man up and send him on his way so she could think clearly again. She took the Dracula editions he didn’t want and returned them to the shelf.
Jeremiah leaned his shoulder against the bookshelf, making himself comfortable. “So, you said you read a bit of everything?” he said. “What’s your favorite book?”
“That’s hard. I have so many. The Mothers by Brit Bennett is probably my favorite literary novel. Definitely Indigo by Beverly Jenkins. That’s a romance novel.”
He smiled. “You like romance?”
She nodded and tried not to read too deep into the way the word romance rolled so smoothly off his tongue. Had he said it that way on purpose or was she imagining it? Her gaze darted from his throat to his large hands, back up to his brown eyes.
“What’s your other job?” he asked.
“Huh?” The butterflies had progressed to full-on chaos. They were gnawing on the wires of her brain and sending sparks flying in every direction. What was wrong with her? She wasn’t usually like this around men anymore. But maybe it was because she didn’t often meet men like Jeremiah. Men who looked put together and seemed like they knew what they were doing with their lives.
Her reaction to him was also probably due to the fact that she was both touch-starved and sex-deprived. She didn’t want a relationship, but she still had needs. The last time she’d hooked up with someone had been over eight months ago—a guy she’d met at a bar in New Brunswick while out one night with Tati. Tati knew him from college (and was able to verify that he wasn’t a serial killer), and he was cute, and Noelle had been horny. She’d wanted mind-blowing sex, of course, but she would have been perfectly happy with plain old good sex too. Unfortunately, the guy struggled to find a stroke rhythm and Noelle had ended up faking an orgasm. She’d been in such a rush to leave his apartment, she’d tossed her underwear in her purse and driven home commando. She hadn’t gotten any action since. Not that she’d actively tried to get any, though.
“You said you knew that guy earlier from your other job,” Jeremiah clarified.
Oh. Right. She considered how to explain her side hustle. Sometimes when she brought up her standin job, which wasn’t often, people didn’t know what to make of it. But at the end of the day, Jeremiah was a stranger, and she probably wouldn’t see him again after today.
“Sometimes I work as a bridesmaid for hire,” she said.
His brows lifted as his eyes widened. His lips quirked into a smile. “Really? How do you do that?”