Page 32 of The Intimacy of Control

“Aw.” Forrest put a hand over his heart. “Are you asking me out on a date?”

I lifted a brow at him. “A friend date, handsome. A friend date. But I want you to show me around properly first.”

“There isn’t much to see, really. Just the bookshelves with the different categories. We have some cute stationery items for sale, too.”

I pointed at the tables in front of us. “What’re these for?”

“Oh, yeah.” He picked up the same book I just had. “These are spotlights. I work with a couple of indie authors every month to see if they want to do a spotlight in the store. They provide me copies of their books at no cost to me or at a discounted cost, I try to sell them, and then they get all the proceeds. If it goes well, I stock more of their works on a regular basis, and they get royalties like normal.”

I blinked at him for a second. “Wait, do you have to keep up with every author’s sales and how much they’re owed?”

“Me? Not as much anymore. I’ve been able to hire someone to do all that for me. I keep up with the stock; she handles the royalty payments and accounts management.”

“That sounds like a lot.”

He shrugged. “It used to be. I’m very fortunate to be able to hire people to help out with this kind of stuff, though. Takes a lot of of pressure off me for admin work. You know how it is.”

Shaking my head, I moseyed over to one of the front bookshelves. “I don’t, no.”

“What do you mean?”

“I do everything myself. I haven’t hired an accountant or admin or anything like that. Just Mav and Melissa.”

“Jesus Christ.” He whistled. “Why would you do that? You’ve been open far longer than me, right?”

One of the books caught my eye, kind of like Double Coverage had. I reached for it, touching the front of the cover. This one felt more matte beneath my fingertips, rather than glossy and smooth like the other one. “I’m a bit of a control freak.”

“Uh huh.”

I turned around, glaring at him. “I am.”

“That’s really hard to imagine, honestly. From the way you act when⁠—”

“Shh!” I interrupted him, frowning. “Don’t start. I may let you have all the fun in bed, but I don’t like letting other people do most things for me. I’d rather do it myself so I can have control over it.”

“Interesting.”

I sighed, grabbing the book from the shelf. “I wanna buy this. Where are we going to go for lunch?”

He smirked at me. “You tell me, Mr. Control.”

Should I have taken it as an insult? Probably not. He was having fun. But it almost got under my skin. He had no idea the things I worried about daily solely because I felt the inescapable need to oversee every little thing and make sure it went the exact way I needed it to.

If I didn’t do it, it wouldn’t get done right. So, I did all the expense reports. I did all the stock. I kept up with the accounts. Hell, I didn’t like having someone else make my coffee because I couldn’t trust that they’d do it the way I needed them to.

Pushing the thought away, I let Andros check me out and put my new book into a bag. Forrest followed behind me as I made my way back to the front and stopped, putting a hand on my hip. “There’s a little place right by the boba shop down here. Let’s go there and eat.”

“As long as they have heating inside, I’m cool.” He started to pat his pockets and the neckline of his shirt. “I didn’t bring my jacket today. And I seem to have lost my work glasses.”

“Work glasses?”

“Yeah. I’ve got a pair I keep here and a pair I keep at home. I lose them all the time, but two is harder to lose than one.”

I tapped the top of my head. “They’re up here.”

His brows came together as he felt the top of his head and pulled them down. “Oh. Yeah, that makes sense.”

“You need one of those beaded things you can wear around your neck. That’s what my grandma always wore.”