Austensibly Ordinary Read Online Free

explanation? He doesn’t like people sneaking up on him. Mine? He’s a gamer with a lithe, feminine avatar, and the new desk orientation gives him time to destroy the evidence should anyone swing by for a visit. It’s mostly facetious—I’ ve never caught him in the act, and Ethan doesn’t strike me as a gamer. But he definitely has secrets—this could very well be one of them.
    â€œKendall?”
    I tilted my head to the right, wanting to see more of him than a disembodied head sitting atop a computer monitor. From the waist up he was wearing a collared shirt under a deep red cranberry sweater. He looked cute . . . sexy, even. I shifted back, suddenly preferring the disembodied head. Evidently I had a very impressionable mind—one completely irrational suggestion, and I couldn’t help but imagine the what-ifs.
    â€œCould you run some diagnostics or a virus scan—anything really—on my computer and see if you can find out why I’m not getting my e-mails? I had two voice mails today from parents asking if I’d gotten their e-mails, really hinting that I should have replied by now.” I hoisted my bag farther up on my shoulder.
    â€œYou leaving?” He glanced at his watch.
    â€œI promised Mom I’d help her with the Halloween decorations at the shop.” And I needed to find a dress that would make me into a femme fatale. My thoughts buzzed with the reminder.
    â€œSure. I can do it after I finish up in here.”
    â€œWhat are you doing in here?” I asked coyly, tipping myself away from the door frame and slowly sauntering around the blockade.
    I saw Ethan’s finger flicker over the mouse and knew I didn’t have a prayer, but I looked anyway. A puzzle with a picture of three gray kittens. Upon further inspection, it became evident that it was the AARP daily puzzle and there were only a few more pieces left to place. I turned away from the screen to stare at him.
    â€œThis is your cover? Granny puzzles? What’s your screen saver? Teddy bears?”
    He fought it, but eventually Ethan’s grin was so wide that his dimple popped out. “I’ll get your e-mail working, chica. Just as soon as the kitty gets her whiskers.”
    Thoroughly provoked, I swung back around the desk and headed out the door. “Don’t mess with my desktop, Chavez. Physical or computer.”
    â€œYou’re killing me, Kendall.” I glanced back, and his face looked pained.
    I chuckled to myself, picturing the shirtless hardbody who now posed on my computer wallpaper. I’d switched it out on my free period, just for his benefit. Then there was the action-figure brawl playing out on my desk, with Jane Austen ninja-kicking Charles Dickens, and Shakespeare waiting his turn. Ethan was going to love that.
    â€œFine. Show me what you were just working on—kitties don’t count—and you can have your organizational way with my desktops—both of them.”
    A beat of silence passed between us, and then Ethan had the grace to grin. “Your mess is safe with me, fräulein.”
    I nodded, content, but with the vaguely itchy feeling that he’d won. In other words, very Tina Fey.
    The reflection of a car pulling out of the street parking space right behind me caught my attention. Well, damn! Three minutes’ more banter with Ethan and that spot would have been mine.
    In the middle of my frustrated growl, I had a vision for the November display. Paper-wrapped books! We could sit the mannequins on stacks of them, and even buy a bunch of cheapies from a garage sale and cut out or curl the pages into decorative designs. Maybe go for a sexy librarian look.
    I smiled to myself. Hmm . . . sexy librarian . . . or high school teacher by day, foxy rogue by night.
    I was grinning when I pulled open the shop door.
    â€œMom,” I called. “I already have an idea for November’s windows,” I said.
    â€œIf it