The Bookworm's Guide to Faking (The Bookworm's Guide #2) - Emma Hart Page 0,67
and tripling all our stock, then he’d inserted a whole new product line of takeout cups.
Don’t tell him, but I really liked that idea.
And I was going to take credit for it, so.
It’d taken me half an hour to find and restore the software to a backed-up version which, of course, had taken us right back to the beginning.
We switched after that. He called the stock numbers and put books on the shelves. It was a smart choice. I was about ready to beat him with my laptop.
“Okay, now you have to let me cook you dinner to say sorry for screwing up your day.”
I stared at him. “I don’t have a choice, do I?”
“Holley, I’ve just paraded around your stock room half-naked for the past three hours.”
“And the problem is…”
“You’re having dinner with me. I’m cooking.”
“You can’t cook.”
“I can cook.”
“You used to burn fried eggs.”
He paused as we reached his truck. “Well, I had to learn. I can make a mean lasagna.”
“Garlic bread?”
“What?”
“Do you have garlic bread?” I asked.
He hit the button on his key fob. “Yes. I think.”
I sighed. “That’s a big risk, baller.”
“Yes, I have it, and if I don’t, I’ll go buy some. How does that sound?” He opened the passenger side door. “Get in.”
“What about my car?”
“I’ll bring you back after dinner to get it.”
I got into his truck. I was running out of things to stall him with. “Do you have anything I can use to make dessert?”
“You’re going to bake?” he asked, starting the engine.
“I can bake. I’m a very good baker,” I replied. “I just don’t always do it. It’s messy and, well, I could be reading in that time.”
He slid his gaze over to me. His mouth pulled up into a half-smile, but he dragged his eyes back on the road as he pulled away.
I sat back in the seat and looked out. It was snowing hard now, and I was glad I wasn’t driving. I probably would have walked home anyway, just because the visibility really sucked and I hated driving in heavy snow.
Wow. Even the weather was working in Seb’s favor now.
We didn’t speak as he drove us to his place. I hadn’t seen his house up close, but as we approached, I was surprised. It was smaller than I thought and had an adorable modern-slash-mountain cabin vibe that shouldn’t have worked in the way it did.
“You look shocked,” he said as he pulled into the garage.
“I thought you’d live somewhere bigger.”
He turned in the seat and pointed his keys at the garage door. “I have a lot of land. It’s only me here, but there’s enough space for, you know. The future and stuff.”
I nodded slowly and got out. It was a triple garage, so I wasn’t entirely sure ‘small’ was the correct word, but it was mostly storage in here. Boxes lined one wall, stacked so haphazardly I wanted to go over there and straighten them all up. A fake Christmas tree was still up like he’d just picked it up by the base and carried it out here. Two bikes, some skis, snowboards—all kinds of outdoor exercise equipment that made me want to tie myself to a chair and never ever go anywhere like that.
“What?”
“It’s a big garage for one truck,” I remarked.
He met my eyes. “You want to sort those boxes, don’t you?”
“So bad,” I admitted. “They’re really irritating me.”
Seb took me by the upper arms and steered me toward a door. “Come on. Another time.”
“But—”
“Holley,” he said my name slowly.
“It’s just an excuse to get me to come back!”
“One hundred percent.” He laughed and pushed open the door.
We stepped into a laundry room that was thankfully much neater than the garage. From there, I followed Seb into a kitchen that was twice the size of mine and then some. The dark granite counters were shining, and the white cabinets were a stark contrast and added some much needed brightness.
“Holy shit,” I breathed. “I could live in your kitchen.”
“If I knew that, I’d have brought you here before.” He grinned and opened the fridge, pulling out two bottles of water. “I have to make the lasagna from scratch, so it’s going to take a while.”
“This seems like an elaborate ploy to get me to talk,” I said, opening one of the three eye-level ovens.
“Yeah. You’re finally in my house, and that’s what I have in mind. Talking.”