Even If the Sky is Falling by Taj McCoy

Author:Taj McCoy
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2023-03-14T13:35:15+00:00

Nick

It was hard not to stare at her.

Nick tried to busy himself behind the counter, pretending Shea Anderson’s visits weren’t the highlight of his week. The incredibly shy professor came by almost weekly, asking for books in that soft breathy voice that always seemed on the verge of an exciting discovery.

All he knew about her was that she was a native Chicagoan, who taught English at U of C. She managed to tell him that much before ordering her books and running away. What he never understood was why a woman who taught English was so obsessed with the KGB, the atomic bomb and the Warsaw Pact. It obviously meant she was a history buff.

And her beauty...well, it was hard not to admire. She usually came to his store wearing a nice blouse and dress pants. But tonight was an exception. Tonight, Shea wore a navy blue dress that kept him staring. The bodice hugged her full bosom, while the neckline was a modest V exposing the top of her nut-brown chest. The wrapped skirt molded the tuck of her waist before draping over her generous hips and down to her dimpled knees. She was a classic beauty, like an actress who shared the screen with Dorothy Dandridge.

Nick imagined photographing her on a warm summer day in Grant Park, beneath the dappling shade of an elm tree. Perhaps she leaned against its trunk, hands clasped behind her back while wearing a coy smile. He could pull dozens of shots of her... He had to shake himself from the fantasy. Focus his attention on his work, what little he had. She was only his third customer that day. Plus, he was no longer a full-time photographer. He’d had to leave the far-reaching wilds of the globe and come back home when his grandfather, Donnie, died. Running The Page Turner wasn’t part of Nick’s life goals, but he didn’t feel right ignoring a bequeathment.

That was a year ago, back when things felt simpler. The world still had climate change, disease and war to contend with. But no one had Imminent Space Debris Hurtling Toward Earth on that year’s bingo cards. When the world discovered that a dangerous amount of interstellar projectiles could impact the globe with cataclysmic effects, every world leader had to come together to prepare. This forced America to buckle down and invest in its infrastructure. A jobs bill and enough money to implement a state-of-the-art national alarm system and reopen bunkers from the Cold War.

Nick had read up on it when he left the jungles of Borneo and returned to civilization. While he was lying under sweltering brush and getting eaten up by fire ants, the world had come up with a plan. When his father, Ike, called him back home to accept the bookstore and the apartment above it, Nick had a jarring moment of confusion. He’d left Chicago, years ago, aching to see the world—to capture its image. Now he was back, stationary and unsure of how to run a business.

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