“I’m in the store’s office. There’s a stick-it note on my computer that says to revamp the book section, that the books shelved aren’t selling.”
“That’s right. They’re the same four titles you’ve been selling for a hundred years.”
“Hey,” his dad said, “those books are on wilderness, exploration, and the history of the region. They’re fascinating.”
“Dad, they were written in the 1970s and are out of date.”
“I like them.”
“Then take them home, stick them in your bathroom, and read them during the three hours you spend in there every morning.”
“I’m not going to take them home.”
“Because . . . they’re not riveting?” Levi asked dryly.
His dad sighed and hung up.
Perfect timing. He could see Jane walking toward him in dark jeans, a sweater the same gorgeous green as her eyes, and some seriously sexy boots, and suddenly he knew staying awake wasn’t going to be a problem. Just one look at her and he felt more present than he had since . . . well, since the last time he’d seen her a few days ago, screaming with laughter in his ear all the way down the rock wall.
Best climb ever.
The weight of his stress and exhaustion faded, making him feel light for the first time since she’d agreed to this farce. And not just because she was saving his ass once again. He felt light whenever he was with her, pretend or not, although certain parts of his body told him there was nothing pretend about this attraction between them. And for once, those body parts and his brain seemed to be on the same wavelength.
Jane sat down across from him and without preamble, swiped her iPad awake and pushed it across the table to him. She’d loaded a site called How to Get to Know Someone in 100 Questions. He looked at her. “Seriously?”
“Okay, so we can skip the obvious ones, like how do you react in a life-or-death situation?”
He snorted, making her smile. “Just pick a random one,” she said. “Here.” She let her finger land on the screen. “Number fifty-two. What’s your most unusual talent?”
He smiled. “In or out of the bedroom? Oh, and hi, by the way.”
She softened with a low laugh. “Hi.” She pointed at him. “Now answer the question. And OUT of the bedroom is all I’m concerned about.”
He smiled.
“It is!”
Her defensiveness had him laughing. “Okay, okay, my unusual talent . . . Gadgets. Robotic gadgets.”
“I said out of the bedroom!”
God, he adored her. “I was actually being serious. I like to build robotic gadgets.”
“Oh.” She blushed. “Sorry.”
Their waitress turned out to be an old classmate of his. Kendra smiled warmly at him. “Hey, hot stuff,” she said. “Heard you went off and made good on that fancy brain of yours. You get paid to tell all those big CEOs in the Bay Area what to do with their data now, right?”
“More like I offer suggestions,” he said. “In a consulting capacity.”
Kendra grinned. “Still, gotta be fun.”
“Sometimes,” he admitted, and gestured to Jane. “Kendra, this is Jane. Jane, Kendra.”
“We went to high school together,” Kendra told Jane. “We sweated out AP Chemistry. And then blew off steam in the back of my daddy’s truck a couple of times.”
To Levi’s relief, Jane laughed. “Nice way to get through the worst class in the history of worst classes,” she said.