Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 84670 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 423(@200wpm)___ 339(@250wpm)___ 282(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84670 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 423(@200wpm)___ 339(@250wpm)___ 282(@300wpm)
“Ummm…” It was all I could manage. Once again, Rome Ashbridge had shocked me into stupidity. This was not how we were supposed to run into each other. He wasn’t supposed to surprise me. I was going to surprise him and have the upper hand. Instead, I was sitting on the floor as Rome and two librarians stood by me, a mix of amusement and anger crossing their faces.
“Sorry. About this. I-I’ll clean this up.” Jerking my gaze free from Rome, I shifted to my knees and began picking up the books scattered across the beige carpet. I set them on the cart someone had picked up.
“Stop. Stop,” Rome hissed, smacking at my hands. “You’re making a bigger mess. The books on the return cart are arranged in a very specific order to make putting them away faster and easier. You’re creating twice the work by haphazardly slapping them on the cart.”
“I’m not trying to. I only want to help,” I snapped at him, matching his volume. Even though I knew I was in the wrong, everything about Rome set my teeth on edge, and I couldn’t control my temper.
“Pain in my ass,” he muttered and turned his attention to the librarians, who were watching the entire exchange as if it were their favorite soap opera. “Megan, Lily, I’ll clean this up and handle putting them away. Don’t worry about it.”
“Are…are you sure?” the brunet with purple glasses inquired.
The other one grinned. “I saw the whole thing. It was an accident. Are you sure you don’t want us to help?”
“Nooooo!” Rome groaned and made a shooing motion that caused both women to giggle as they hurried to the reception desk, where the third gray-haired librarian was waiting for an update on what was happening.
I looked away from the librarians and focused on the books. If I couldn’t put them on the cart, I could at least stack them into neat piles so that they weren’t scattered across the floor and in danger of tripping patrons.
“What are you freaking doing here?” Rome growled.
“What do you think I’m doing here? It’s a library. I’m searching for a book to read.” Oh, I was such a big, fat liar. But it wasn’t like I could tell him the truth and admit that I was there for him.
“Really? You’re not stalking me now that you know I live here?”
“Stalking you?” I scoffed, brutally ignoring how my voice jumped high enough to shatter glass. After clearing my throat, I pushed on. “I’m considering moving to a new place to live. I had no idea that you lived in the city. And the library? Who would ever think that the great Rome Ashbridge even knew what the inside of a library even looked like?”
“So, you live in Boone County, Kentucky?”
I cleared my throat again. Was that where I was? I’d been in the Cincinnati area for only six months. That hadn’t been enough time for me to learn all the counties in the region. I was lucky I knew I resided in Hamilton County in Ohio. Who knew what the hell the counties were in Northern Kentucky?
“Um…yes,” I replied, inwardly praying that I made it sound like a statement.
This was a disaster, and every moment I remained was making it worse. Grabbing the stack of books I’d gathered up, I stood and shoved them into Rome’s arms. “Look. I’m sorry about the mess. It…it was an accident. Sorry.”
And I walked out of the library as fast as I could.
It was only when I was in my car and sitting at a red light on the way to the expressway that I released the pent-up breath that had been lodged in my chest since I’d first spotted Rome. Disaster. Every second of that excursion had been an unmitigated disaster.
There was no way in hell I was ever showing my face in that library. It would be better if I handed in my resignation and started searching for another job. I couldn’t imagine any way I could convince Rome to donate money to the museum.
5
ROME ASHBRIDGE
Two weeks after my interesting encounter with Liam at the library, I found myself at Union Terminal with a smirk and a wicked plan. If the man was going to harass and stalk me at work, why shouldn’t I return the favor?
The shouts and laughter of a few hundred children echoed off the high, arched ceiling of the main rotunda as the various groups gathered for this somewhat impromptu school field trip. Through my connections at the library, I was familiar with several elementary schoolteachers in the region. It had taken little coaxing for them to pull together a spur-of-the-moment field trip to see the dinosaurs and other science exhibits at the Museum of Natural History and Science. Especially if I was the one footing the bill for the school buses, museum tickets, and lunches for the kids and the chaperones. It was an expense I was all too happy to pay if it meant happy kids, education, and the chance to make Liam Rose squirm in his own domain.