Page 95 of Safe With You

He laughed without looking at me.

“Of course it does.”

I carried the cup over to the table.

“So what’s first?”

“Exterior while the light’s good. Then I’ll get the store before people start coming in—the café, shelves, displays, all the little details.”

“Okay.”

His eyes moved around the bookstore once more before coming back to me. “Then you.”

My confidence disappeared immediately.

I took another sip of coffee. “Maybe people will start coming in early.”

“They won’t.”

“You don’t know that.”

“You’re not getting out of it.”

“I wasn’t trying to.”

“You immediately tried to manifest customers.”

“I was making an observation.”

Ellis pulled one of his cameras from the bag and attached a lens.

I ran my thumb along the seam of my coffee cup, suddenly a lot more interested in it than I’d been thirty seconds ago.

“Relax.”

“I am relaxed.”

He looked up.

The camera stayed in his hands.

His expression changed just enough that I knew he didn’t believe me.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“That wasn’t a nothing look.”

“You have different looks categorized?”

“I’m a photographer.”

“That’s not an answer.”

“It’s the only one you’re getting right now.”

I narrowed my eyes at him.