Page 8 of Don’t Fall For Your Ex-Boyfriend's Brother

Chapter 5

Millie

I want to know everything about you. Every thought that floats through your mind. Your dreams. Your hopes. Every wish you’ve ever made. I want to know everything.

I set my kindle down, letting out a deep breath I didn’t even realize I was holding. Tripp’s words move me in a way no other author has ever been able to do before. It’s scary how badly I want to keep reading and reading his work.

I’ve never been this hungry for an author before.

“You okay?” Hazel asks me.

I nearly drop my Kindle into my lap. “I’m great. Great. Absolutely great.” I definitely sound like I’m hiding something.

I’m sitting behind the counter of my shop. I should be paying attention to the customers here, but instead I’m entrapped by Tripp’s words.

Hazel raises a brow. “You sure?”

I sigh, pushing back a stray strand of hair out of my face. “Just a new book I’ve been reading.”

“Do share.”

I clutch my Kindle close to my chest. “No, it’s actually an author, a friend of mine, well, he’s not really a friend, per se. He’s just someone I know, in passing. I’m reading his stuff,” I’m rambling, nonstop.

Hazel just studies me, her eyes locked on mine. “He?”

Of course that would be the one small detail she’d pick up on. “He’s nobody.”

Hazel doesn’t believe me. I’ve known her long enough that she’s absolutely not buying anything I’m telling her. “Sounds to me like you’ve got a little crush.”

I stand, setting my Kindle on the counter. “I do not,” I say, adamantly. “Absolutely not. I couldn’t possibly…” my words falter as Hazel’s smile grows wider. “I really don’t,” I say as my last ditch effort.

“Is it romance?”

I blink. “What?”

“The book? Is it romance?”

I blush, and I try to hide the red that I’m sure is lighting up my cheeks. “Yes,” I say, realizing there’s no point in lying. “It’s romance. Which is strange because he doesn’t seem the type, ya know? I guess I don’t know him that well, but still.”

Hazel can’t stop smiling, and I wish we could talk about anything else but this. “A man who writes romance? A man who writes about his feelings? Don’t let him get away, Millie.”

I glance at the counter, wiping away an imaginary smudge. “It isn’t like that. He’s not writing about me.” And why does this thought upset me?

I shouldn’t want Tripp writing about me, but for some reason I do. I just want a man to want me like the man in Tripp’s story.

“I’m sure it isn’t.” Hazel winks and heads to the back of the shop to get ready for this week’s book club meeting.

We had started out with monthly book club meetings, but the ladies like meeting a lot more frequently. Most times we don’t even discuss books. Like tonight. This evening we’ll be voting on our next group read.

Honestly, I don’t think anything will be able to hold my attention quite like Tripp’s book.

I head to the back of the shop, following after Hazel to make sure everything’s ready for this week’s meeting. I pull a few more chairs together, making a nice circle with them.

All the ladies chatter away animatedly. I’m about to settle in and start the meeting, but the bell above the entrance chimes with a customer.

“I’ll be right back,” I say, glancing over at the door to see who’s entered. My jaw literally drops as I bound from my chair. “Be right back,” I say again in a rush.

Tripp Atwood smiles at me from the front of my store, and I try to hurriedly rush over to him so I don’t have to answer Hazel’s questioning glares. I’m sure she’d be able to put two-and-two together to know Tripp is the one writing the stuff I’m reading.