Bonham (Pushing Daisies Book 3) by Heather Young-Nichols (read people like a book txt) 📕

ten minutes to work my way back around to the romance section. I’d wanted to give that guy time to clear out. Hopefully to leave the store.

Finally, I could look through the books I was interested in.

Until my own personal stalker popped up again.

“I thought you left,” he said as he leaned a shoulder against the bookcase. “Lucky me that I stuck around.”

“Lucky you?” I asked.

He nodded. “If I would’ve left, I wouldn’t have this second chance.”

“You didn’t have a first chance,” I told him, dead fucking serious. “I’m not interested.”

His jaw tightened. “You don’t even know me yet. Let’s change that.”

“I have a boyfriend,” I lied as I set the books back down. This guy was going to keep me from finding the books I wanted to buy. Damn it.

Still, he narrowed his eyes on me and cocked his head to the side. He didn’t believe me about having a boyfriend.

“Do you now?” he pushed. Nope. Didn’t believe me for a second.

I groaned internally and stomped my metaphorical foot. How I wished I could stomp my real one on his toes. Instead of giving him another second of my time, I turned on my heel and hurried away.

Leaving the store immediately crossed my mind, but I’d be doing that alone and it was more secluded outside than in. If I called my sister to come get me, that would put her in a potentially bad situation and pull her away from her night out. She didn’t get many of those.

The café was a perfect spot to try to lose this guy. There were more people congregated in that small area, so at least I’d feel somewhat safe.

Maybe the manager would walk me out if I ordered a ride share. But damn, the store was busy and why wouldn’t this creeper keep following me? No, leaving the store with him still around was a terrible idea.

As I fled the romance section, the man followed me. I began glancing around, for what I didn’t know, until I saw it. Or him, rather.

A tall man with dark brown hair and tattoos covering both arms was standing at the outside bookcase with a coffee in one hand and a book in the other. The book was flipped around as he read the back. He was big too, muscular, but not roided up like the guy following me.

It looked like he was alone and it was time for me to test out all of those TikTok videos that I’d seen from guys saying that if women were alone and someone was bothering them, they could go up to another guy and he’d be whatever she needed to feel safe. And the guy trailing me a little too closely was definitely making me feel unsafe.

I really hoped this worked.

With a courage I didn’t normally have, I scurried over to this stranger and wrapped my arms around his waist from behind, then said, “Hey, baby.”

4

Bonham

I was standing there minding my own business when someone came up behind me, wrapped their arms around my waist, and said, “Hey, baby.”

From the voice, I immediately knew it was a woman. From her arm placement and the way she felt against my back, I knew she was rather small. Her hands were dainty against my stomach, though she was doing her best to try not to actually touch me.

There were a few people this could’ve been, but the voice sounded nothing like any of them. My gut told me that I didn’t know this woman. That didn’t mean she didn’t know me or maybe had mistaken me for Van. That had happened more than once. I hadn’t had a true incident of a crazed fan yet so maybe this was that. It was bound to happen one day.

I just hadn’t expected it to happen in a bookstore.

After dropping the book back onto the shelf, I turned in her arms, careful not to spill my coffee. Though it was half-gone anyway.

Nope. Didn’t know this woman and didn’t remember seeing her with Van at any point. She was short, as I suspected, and was almost the perfect height for me to rest my chin on her head. Though with her, I still had to bend a little. She had this reddish-brown hair and deep green eyes that were looking up at me with apprehension.

Damn, she was beautiful. The kind of beautiful that could knock a guy off his feet.

I opened my mouth to say something, but she pulled me down and put her mouth to my ear, and said, “Please pretend you’re my boyfriend.”

I snapped back up to look her in the eye. Was she serious? She quickly wet her lips and swallowed hard. Everything about her told me to go with it.

“Hey, baby,” I told her. “I’ve been looking for you.”

There was a muscle head to my right who groaned and threw his hands in the air, but I noticed he didn’t go far.

“He why you want me to pretend to be your boyfriend?” I asked quietly. To indicate whom I meant, I flicked my eyes in his direction.

“Yes.” She let out a breath as if she’d just run a mile. “Please.” But she didn’t even glance at him.

I nodded slowly and decided we were going to run with this for a bit. At least until the guy making her uncomfortable moved on.

Looking at this woman, I thought of Daisy and how I would feel if she were in this position. They had to be around the same age and I’d felt too big for my skin when Daisy had had trouble with a stalker earlier this year. Fuck that. I was going to make sure this woman got home safely.

“Want a coffee?” I asked.

She nodded, so I slipped an arm around her should casually and led her to the café. We waited in line like that and she was stiff as hell. She might not have looked for the other guy, but I sure as fuck did. He was