Home for Christmas: New Adult Holiday Dark Suspense Romance by Emme Rollins Read Free Book Online

right, she realized. She just knew he was some kind of P.I. She wouldn’t be surprised if he’d been hired by Brody to gather intel on her.
    “Lunch break,” he replied, leaning back in his chair and looking at her. He reminded her of someone but she couldn’t quite identify who. His sandy brown hair and dark, brown eyes were nondescript, but he was a good-looking guy. He had that going for him. And the biceps showing under his tight-fitting black t-shirt told her he worked out. A lot. Which would jive with her feeling that he was a cop. “Not your usual quiet day at the book store, huh?”
    She startled at his words. My God, he’d practically just admitted he was following and watching her!
    “I have to go,” she murmured, shouldering her backpack. Just being in his presence threw everything off. She didn’t know why—maybe just her suspicions. But he made her feel hot and cold at the same time.
    “Do you want to meet the author?” He raised his eyebrows at her in question as she stood. It was a nice offer, maybe even a real one, but she wanted to get as far away from this place as fast as she possibly good.
    “No.” She gave him a wan smile. “I... I have to go.”
    “Not a Chloe Clay fan?”
    She was already starting to walk away when his words stopped her.
    “Who?” she breathed, not quite believing her own ears, glancing over her shoulder at him. “Who did you say?”
    “I would have thought, the way you draw...” He nodded toward her backpack where her sketch books were tucked away. She didn’t like the way he knew things about her.
    “Chloe Clay is... here?” Ginny blinked at him in disbelief. It couldn’t be. Could it?
    “The book signing,” he reminded her. “Want to meet her?”
    What could she say to that? It was a once in a lifetime opportunity. She felt like someone had just stepped up and offered her a million dollars. She looked around like Ed McMahon had just knocked on her door with a giant check.
    “I... yes.” She couldn’t say no. Even if this guy was someone Brody had hired, she couldn’t say no. She knew she’d been distracted, but how had she missed that Chloe Clay was coming to Barnes and Noble? She was here practically every day! Why hadn’t Robbie mentioned it?
    “So you are a fan?”
    “I... yes.” She looked at the brown-haired stranger with slanted eyes, reaching down to put the banana and cookie into her coat pocket. Was he putting her on? “Is Chloe Clay really here?”
    “Where have you been?” He laughed, pulling something out of his pocket and putting it on the table. Ginny glanced at the flyer, seeing her favorite author and artist’s smiling photo. “Come on, I’ll sneak you in.”
    Well, he was telling the truth about the book signing, anyway. Ginny followed him toward the back of the store. They had to weave their way through a crowd of people. When she looked up, she noticed it—a banner with Chloe Clay’s face on it with that day’s date. She had seen the banner before, but hadn’t really paid attention to the date, or that it advertised a book signing. She knew Chloe’s new graphic novel was out this month, and maybe subconsciously she’d been ignoring it, because she knew she couldn’t afford the damned thing, and it would be six months before she could check it out of the library, even though she’d put her name on the waiting list two months ago.
    “Are you sure we should be...?” she whispered, tugging on his sleeve as he opened a door marked “employees only.” The man’s bicep was like rock.
    “It’s fine.” He winked down at her as they slipped through the door. “She already signed a book for me. I’m sure she’s bored back here...”
    “You got that right.” Chloe Clay looked up from her Kindle, taking off a pair of reading glasses perched on her nose. She was a chubby woman, compact, wearing a rather unflattering navy pant suit, her dark hair pulled back into a messy bun, but she was the most beautiful sight