Billionaires Dollar Series

I frown at the lapels of his jacket. “What does that mean?”

“Nothing.” He steps away from me, walking down the aisles. His voice reaches me easily. “Things have changed since I was here last. The sale is nearly half the store!”

“We took your advice.”

“Are you flying through your inventory?”

I follow him. “Maybe not flying. Hurrying?”

“Good enough,” he says with a smile, stopping dead in front of the bookheart, positioned in the shelf. “I haven’t seen it in real life yet.”

I walk around to the other side, and we look at each other through the opening. Framed by a heart, he looks like he did on the kiss cam at the baseball game. My smile is soft. “It’s good, right?”

“Yes.” He rubs his jaw, leaning in to inspect it. “I was skeptical at first, but I can see how this is a draw. Especially for online marketing.”

“Our Instagram profile is growing.”

“So I’ve seen, yes.” He glances toward the front door and then back to me. Something in his smile deepens, stretches wide, humor and challenge both hidden within. “Before you close, I want a shot at the dartboard.”

“You want to shoot arrows at your own logo?”

“Yes,” he says. “There are days when I’m more tired of it than you can possibly know.”

I’m chuckling as I lead him into the storage room, leaving the curtain open to the main bookstore. “You’re very welcome to try.”

Cole steps into the small space, looking far too much for the cramped storage room by the staircase, ducking his head to avoid hitting the ceiling. I have to bite my lip to keep from laughing out loud at the image.Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

He pulls out the darts stuck to the board. “Oh, look at this poor logo. It’s skewered.”

“Kind of the point.”

He steps back, rolling the darts around in his open palm. “Ah. The angle isn’t very good.”

“You’re making excuses?”

He holds up his hands, lips curling. “I take it back.”

I grin, glancing back toward the front door. No customers. “Come on, then.”

He throws the first dart and it reverberates as it hits the board, just half an inch from the logo’s center. The next two are thrown in quick succession, hitting dead center both times.

“There,” he says, satisfaction in his voice. “That fucking thing cost me 50k to commission.”

What? “You’re joking.”

“I wish I was. Ready for some more great business advice? Find a cheaper graphic artist and ignore your business partner’s protests.”

I shove him lightly, like I’m twelve and don’t know how to flirt. My smile feels etched on my lips. “I’ll remember that for when I start a multi-million-dollar firm.”

He wraps an arm around my shoulders. “Look, just make sure you get as much of your inventory out as possible on sale, all right? All you need to show is that you’re profitable. Your profit margin can be razor-thin-it just needs to be there.”

“What’s this? You’re helping your competitor?”

He shrugs, the movement pulling me closer against his body. “I’m feeling generous.”

“Do you want us to succeed?” My words are a bit breathless, even to my own ears.

“Maybe,” he says. “Maybe not. Maybe I just don’t want you to hate me indefinitely.”

I have no idea what to say to that.

Cole sees it on my face, because he snorts and steers me back to the counter. “You, speechless. Now I’ve really seen it all. Come on, close up shop. I’ll throw some more arrows while I wait.”

“All right.” I clear my throat. “Would you like to come to mine afterwards?”

His eyes glitter in response. “I very much appreciate the offer, but no. I have a surprise planned.”

“Yeah. But I’m going to follow your instructions to show and not tell.”

“What? You can’t hint at a surprise and then say nothing more! We’re going somewhere?”

His smile is wide now, the picture of a man in complete control and loving it. “I like you frazzled.”

“You know my mind is going a mile a minute right now.”

He kisses my temple. “I know. You’re just going to have to try to keep up.”

“Cole!”

He doesn’t answer, laughing as he ducks back into the storage room. I grumble to myself as I close up the register, but it’s with a smile. The man is impossible. Larger than life. Absurd. The whole thing between us is absurd. A casual relationship that is feeling less and less casual by the day.

Cole helps me to turn off the lights and lock up. His hand is on the low of my back when we finally leave, Between the Pages dark and safe behind us.

“I still don’t like the fact that you work alone in the evenings.”

I roll my eyes. “We close at six, some days seven at the latest. It’s not exactly midnight. Besides, we have cameras installed.”

“They only help after an incident, not before.”

“There’s no money to hire anyone else. Besides, there are only two weeks left until we know if we’ll even stay open.” My words hang in the air between us, a truth we’ve both been avoiding. I force some cheerfulness into my voice. “We’re not discussing that. Tell me what we’re doing instead.”

He opens the car door for me, the crooked smile on his lips. He knows I chose to sidestep the landmine of a subject. “You might say no. It’d be completely fine if you did. I’d understand. It’s a bit… adventurous.”

Is he suggesting what I think he’s suggesting?

I narrow my eyes at him, and he gazes serenely back at me. “I’m open to trying most… things, you know. But now you’re making me imagine the worst.” I glance toward Charles in the driver’s seat before lowering my voice. “Can we discuss this later?”

Cole leans his head back against the headrest. “Your mind went straight there, didn’t it?”