Release Read Free Page B

wondered more than once what it would feel like for those eyes to look at me. But guys like him didn’t look at girls like me.
    The corners of his lips curved up in a smile and I came to my senses, looking back at my elderly customer. She’d found her checkbook and was slowly filling a check out. When she finished, I ran it through, and the sacker offered to help her out to her car.
    “Hi again,” Orion said, setting a huge bottle of an orange sports drink down on the conveyor belt.
    “Hi,” I said, avoiding his gaze as I ran the barcode.
    “How’s it going?”
    “Fine. How are you?”
    It was part of our training to converse with customers so they had a pleasant shopping experience. That was what I was doing here – not having a conversation with a very hot man.
    “I’m good. Just ran through the park.”
    “It’s two dollars and fifty-eight cents,” I said, looking up at him. There was a smile in his eyes as he ran his debit card.
    “You ever go to the Dugout?” he asked.
    I shook my head. I knew of the sports bar, but it was way outside my comfort zone.
    “Thanks for shopping at the Supersaver. Have a nice day,” I said, handing him his receipt.
    “You too.” He smiled and this time, I was annoyed. Playboy. He apparently just wanted all females to fall at his feet. Getting the freaky Goth girl from high school to fawn all over him would only feed his ego. And I didn’t fawn over any man.
    I wouldn’t let myself go slack-jawed over him again. This had been a weak moment. I’d been unprepared for a hot, sweaty man to show up in my lane. That rarely happened at the Supersaver. Sure, I’d stared and he’d seen me. But it wouldn’t happen again.

    Orion

    Drew and Chloe’s bickering in the back of my car made me smile. It sounded just like me and Liv had when we were kids. But Liv was the older one with us. Drew was seven and Chloe was five.
    “Stop touching me!” Chloe snapped. “Uncle Orion, he just poked my arm.”
    “Tattletale,” Drew muttered.
    “Alright guys, we’re at the library now,” I said. “No fighting in the library or we’ll get kicked out.”
    “Really?” Chloe asked, sounding a little scared.
    “Yep. I’ve also got a penalty box at home, and you’re gonna get five for fighting there, too.”
    “No you don’t,” Drew said, meeting my eyes in the rearview mirror.
    “Wait and see,” I said, grinning. “Come on, guys.”
    I’d taken them off Mom’s hands tonight because she’d picked them up from school and done homework with them before making dinner for all of us. This would allow her an hour of peace before their bedtime. Liv had class until nine tonight, so they were staying the night at Mom’s.
    As soon as we walked in the front door of the Henley Public Library, Drew took off toward a circle of kids in the Children’s Section.
    “Story Time!” he cried. Chloe was right behind him. I smiled, following them and finding a spot next to an aquarium to wait.
    I hadn’t been here in years, but the place hadn’t changed much. It was a bright space with colorful posters and worn-out gray carpet.
    I pulled my phone from my pocket, planning to cruise the Internet. But when I glanced over to see what face went with the smooth, pretty voice reading to the kids and doing a damn good owl voice, my e-mail was forgotten.
    It was Samara. Her caramel-colored hair was loose around her shoulders, and there was a smile in her eyes. Without the apron she wore at the Henley Supersaver, I got a better look at her. She sat on the floor, looking as enraptured as the kids who encircled her as she held the book up, turning it so they could all see the pictures.
    Damn. I wanted to go sit in that circle, just so I could be closer to her. I’d blurted out that she looked good at the Supersaver my first day home without even thinking, but seeing her like this – joyful, nurturing, carefree – was making my palms sweaty.
    “Whooo’s there?” she read in her owl voice. Drew and