Kelly came awake with a start.
“Geezus,” she groaned as the day she had came rushing back to her.
She was still in Jay’s arms. Her hands smoothed down his chest to feel him breathing as though asleep and then his arm to find it bullet free. The throbbing of her back that had followed her into blackness was gone.
Looking around she realized they were back in the break room.
She checked the clock and saw that only twenty-five minutes had passed. Break wasn’t over yet.
“We made it back.”
That jolted Jay awake. He sat up, nearly spilling her off the couch. Realizing the suddenness of his movements, he grabbed her and hauled her into his lap.
“We made it.” He gave a loud whoop. “Fuck yea!”
He grabbed her face in both hands and kissed her senseless. Kelly literally felt like the room was spinning in a far different way than when they fell into the book.
“Woo,” she breathed when he finally released her. “I’m happy to be back too.”
The smile on his face made her heart flutter.
“That was wild! Can you recommend a good book for me? I’m dying to read something interesting.”
Kelly didn’t even want to look or touch a book let alone pick one out. It must have shown on her face because he smiled.
“We’ll say no on the book for now. How about dinner tonight instead?”
She found her smile matching his as that flutter in her chest transformed into something that made her whole body feel warm.
“I’d love that. Since you saved the day and everything.”
The book choose that moment to fall from her lap to the tile floor. It was like a shot being fired and Kelly nearly jumped out of her skin.
They both looked at it, the cover of a woman in a period gown and a man on a horse facing up.
“No fucking way I’m picking that up.”
“I’m sure it’s fine now, Kelly.”
Fine, her backside. They just had a whirlwind of hell in that book and she was not taking her chances. She was definitely only dealing with audiobooks for a while until she was sure whatever curse was on her passed.
“No books.”
He looked at her like she was crazy. “Kelly, you work in a bookstore.”
Minor technicality. “I’ll have to just wear gloves then.”
