You Are Mine Little Sister (by Syra Tucker) novel Chapter 179

VOID

The night went thin, and by degrees, dawn replaced the bulbs.

My back and hips reminded me I'd been in the driver's seat too long. Beside me, coffee cooled in the cup holder without ever being sipped.

I checked the time she left the house: Eight fifteen.

She was in a different set of jeans today, loose, boyfriend-style. She wore a gold camisole and over it a sheer mesh nude jacket.

This lady could've been bald and wearing an eye patch, and she'd still be the prettiest thing around.

She seemed to be in a hurry. Her fingers dug through the bag slung across her shoulder while she clipped up the street toward the main road.

I let a half-block bloom between us before easing the car after her, my tinted window rolled up to the hilt.

Looking at her felt like one of those dreams that hurt when you wake up from it. I was afraid to blink, convinced she'd smudge out of the world the second I looked away. How had I survived these past months without her? And worse, what would I have done if she had truly died in that fire?

A world without Rali? That was just an empty map where Void had no place to stand.

At the road, she produced a thin wad of crumpled dollars. She rummaged deeper, came up with nothing, and frowned, muttering into the morning. Whatever she needed, it looked a few notes out of reach.

She scratched her scalp, scanned both ways, then flagged a cab. Normally, you just yet in, but Rali bent to the passenger window and talked and talked. The female driver listened, her eyes flicking to the money, then back to Rali's face.

She seemed relieved as she opened the door and climbed in.

Why was she hell bent on taking a private cab when she could easily take a bus which was way cheaper? I couldn't wrap my head around it.

I followed her to her location which turned out to be one Grandma Haini's Bookstore.

Okay... Did she leave her house this early to get books?

But the shop sign still said Closed. It finally clicked when I watched her go through the doors: she worked here.

.....

The only reason I was back in this hotel was because the trio managed to convince me I couldn't walk into the bookstore looking like I'd slept under a bridge.

"You're meeting her for the first time. You need to look presentable," they said.

They weren't wrong. I looked and smelled like a night parked on a curb.

So I steamed the road off me with a hot shower, razored overgrown hairs I'd ignored all these weeks, put on a good looking pair of jeans and white top with a black jacket I'd gotten on my way to the hotel, and sprayed some really good cologne.

"Wow. You could be crippled right now and a dozen women would still beg to ride you, boss," Katya complimented from the couch as I walked in.

Eric scoffed at her. "Didn't know your new nickname was a dozen women."

She flipped him the bird.

I stopped before the large mirror in the room. I wasn't the type to care about reflection, but today was different.

"What will you do if she recognizes you?" Miles looked up from the dog-eared magazine he'd been engrossed in.

"I already told you she wouldn't. She didn't recognize me," Katya said.

Brielle skidded over. "Oh my God! He's so fucking cute! Jesus, Torontea don't make such men. I haven't seen his type my whole life."

"Brielle, he's coming here! He's coming to our bookstore?"

"What the hell? Men like him actually read?" She giggled.

I watched them from my corner, curiosity tugging at me.

I'd have loved to handle the next buyer so I could boost my sales, but it was obvious the girls were going to have that one.

I sank my eyes back to the page. The bell over the door chimed and the giggling cut off like a wire had been snipped. The air shifted to serious.

"Good morning, sir. Welcome to Haini's Bookstore where we have everything your eyes need to stay busy," the other girl sang out, syrup-sweet.

I bit down a laugh.

He didn't answer. Instead, a ribbon of scent moved through the aisle toward me—smoke, cedarwood, whiskey.

It grew stronger. My eyes finally left the book, lifting to run into cold gray ones.

The air suddenly stilled around me. A cool current brushed over my skin as he stopped in front of me.

"You work here?" He asked in a kind of voice most men didn't possess. A deep, honeyed baritone that could only belong to Alpha males.

My heartbeat didn't sprint the way it usually did around men; it lowered, beating too slow.