Page 7 of The Cinnamon Bun Book Store

‘Hey, Noah!’ Jeanie greeted him with a hug before he grabbed a beer from the cooler and joined the rest of the group. ‘So happy you could make it.’

‘Uh, yeah, of course. I’d do pretty much anything for a s’more.’

Hazel thought she was sufficiently hidden in the shadows but somehow Noah’s gaze found hers and his mouth tipped into that confusing smile. She looked away and focused on her s’more which she had to admit was pretty good despite the charred flavor. When she glanced up again, Noah was watching her lick marshmallow goo from her fingers.

‘Hey, Noah, I’ve been meaning to ask you something.’ Annie’s voice tore his attention from Hazel’s fingers, thank God, because Hazel was about to turn as gooey as the marshmallow she was licking off of them.

‘Oh?’ He lifted an eyebrow and smirked in that way he did when he was amused. Hazel paid attention to her sticky fingers and not his face.

‘How come you never smell?’

A laugh burst from Jacob’s mouth. ‘What the hell kind of question is that, Annie?’

‘He’s on a stinky fishing boat all day and I’ve never once smelled fish on him!’

‘So are you accusing him of lying about what he does all day?’ Jacob asked, taking a sip of his beer.

Annie shrugged. ‘I don’t know, it’s kind of suspicious.’

Noah laughed. ‘I find showers work pretty well.’

Annie narrowed her eyes, studying him. ‘You must have some really strong soap.’

‘I scrub really hard.’ He winked at her and Annie laughed.

Everyone was laughing now, actually. Except for Hazel, who was using all her mental energy to not picture a soapy, naked Noah scrubbing himself in the shower.

‘What did I miss?’ Isabel asked, re-entering the ring of firelight.

‘Just discussing Noah’s showering habits.’ Annie gestured to Noah with her beer and he held out his arms as though to let Isabel admire his cleanliness.

She didn’t seem impressed, which was strange because Hazel could swear the heat of the fire increased when Noah’s biceps flexed against the sleeves of his T-shirt.

‘Wow, my first night out away from the kids in months and we have to talk about Noah showering?’

‘I also vote for a change of topic,’ Logan muttered, standing from his crouch near the fire. Jeanie planted a kiss on his cheek.

‘How about our August book choice?’ Jacob chimed in and Logan groaned.

‘We’re going to go from discussing Noah in the shower to smutty books?’

Jeanie giggled. ‘Yep.’

‘We need something summery. Ooo, maybe pirates!’ Isabel’s eyes lit up with her idea.

‘Hazel was reading an interesting pirate book the other day.’ Noah met Hazel’s gaze with a playful grin.

‘I wasn’t reading it. I was reshelving it.’

He shrugged. ‘It looked good.’

‘What was it?’ Jacob leaned forward, all interested now in this smutty pirate book and Noah was still looking at her and another mosquito landed on her thigh. What fresh hell was this?

‘Kidnapped Lover... Or no, that wasn’t it ... Trapped? Caught?Bound up by the Pirate?’

Oh. My. God.If Noah uttered another word about this book or being tied up by pirates, she was going to skewer him with this marshmallow stick.

‘It wasLove Captive,’ she ground out, happy for the semi-darkness to hide her heated cheeks.