Opaline’s Discovery – Book Tour and Giveaway

Now she was waiting for her fourth and final date.

 Eamon.

 Goodness, anticipation is everything.

 She couldn’t believe he wanted to go out with her on a  real date. Most guys found her too  intellectual. It wasn’t  her fault she owned a bookstore and loved to read.  History, fiction, romance, fantasy, sci-fi—it didn’t matter.  Everything was interesting to her. No genre was off

limits.

 The buzzer sounded, and she waited for Eamon. He  arrived and took his seat. He didn’t say anything. She  didn’t either. They sat for a moment, looking at each other,  his blue eyes to her green eyes.

 Abruptly, the air surrounding her turned hot, but it  wasn’t the kind of hot that made you sweat. It was the  kind of sexual intensity that could consume a person, only  to let go once it had been satisfied. Opaline fought the urge  to fan herself.

 Like a foggy night, the room around the two of them became hazy. Eamon reached across the table and touched  her cheek. Her body had a will of its own, and she leaned into his hand, closed her eyes, and waited for him to  kiss her.

 “Opaline? Opaline, are you all right?”

 “Wha-what?”

 The room was clear again when she opened her eyes.

 Eamon hadn’t kissed her. She had imagined the kiss. He  hadn’t reached out to her. But he was now. He didn’t touch  her cheek. like she had envisioned. Instead, he was  touching her hand. Until he wasn’t.

 Goodness sakes alive.

 “Sorry. I guess the excitement of the night has gotten to me,” she said, recovering. “Did you ask me something?”

 “No problem. I asked what you like to eat. If we’re  going to go out on a date, I’ll have to find a restaurant  because I don’t cook.”

 “I haven’t technically agreed to go out with you.” She  laughed nervously.

 “I’m not going to let you say no.”

 “Oh, is that how it’s going to be?” Opaline reached  across the table and took his hand. “I guess I don’t have a  choice, then. Yes, I would like to go out with you.”

 “Great. Does tomorrow night work for you?”

 “You do work fast,” she said, lowering her voice, which  came out in a low silvery tone.

 “Only when I need to.”

 She knew he was implying other things, and she  smiled again, wishing he had kissed her.

 The buzzer ended their date, and Opaline stood. Most  of the other attendees had finished their dates too. “I hate  to rush things, but I need to wrap things up for the event.”

 “If you would like, I can help you with the cleanup,”  Eamon said.

 “That’s so thoughtful, and here I was thinking you  only liked to give the orders.”

 She saw by the way his head tilted to the side that her  reply had caught him off guard. He looked like a kid caught  with his hand in the cookie jar, and he was having a hard  time coming up with a comeback. He mustn’t be used to  word games like her customers at the bookstore were.  They usually gave it right back to her. Eamon, on the other  hand, was still at a loss for words.

 “Yes, I’d love your help. I have to stick around until  everyone leaves. I’ll make an  nnouncement to let them  know what time we have to be out of here. Then I can—no,  we—can start.”

 “Sounds good. I’ll round up my sister to pitch in too,”  he said.

 Opaline heard him chuckle and wondered if he had  offered his sister’s help without her knowledge.