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)
“Oh, hell no!” Rome’s face twisted up, and his eyes swept up and down the length of me as if I were the one here who’d lost his mind. “I want to put my own twist on it. Come up with a new arrangement.”
“Fuck.” I exhaled, and that made the bastard smile.
“Five dates for five million dollars. Don’t worry, I know you’re married. Your wife won’t mind.”
“Divorced,” I blurted out of habit. My eyes squeezed shut, and I cursed myself a hundred times. Rome did not need to know that. When I opened my eyes at Rome’s extended silence, it was to find an odd, unreadable expression on his face. It lasted only a second, and he was shaking his head, seeming to clear it like wiping the image from an Etch A Sketch.
“I want five chances to torment you. Nothing illegal or that would jeopardize either of your jobs. I enjoy seeing you flustered and pissed at me. It relieves some of my old anger at you. Think of it as karma finally catching up.”
“Karma? You self-righteous son of a—”
“Ah, ah, ah…” He waved a single finger back and forth in front of my nose. “Is this really going to help your department and all those kids? It’s a fair trade, don’t you think? Five little dates, and you get your five million dollars to go dig in the dirt to your heart’s content. But this is an all-or-nothing arrangement. If you don’t go through with all five dates, you won’t see a dime from my foundation.”
“Rome,” I growled as the wave of rage built within me.
“And I think before we go on our first date, you have to ask me out. In public.”
“No!”
“I’ll be at the library on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. Just try not to disturb story time.” The smug bastard smoothly turned and walked along the hallway we’d come down, heading to the main exhibit area.
“Rome! I’m straight!” I shouted after him, not caring who the fuck heard me.
“So?” Rome glanced over his shoulder, his eyebrows raised as he stared at me as if I were a moron. “I have no intention of ever kissing you. I made that mistake once. Never again.” He continued walking and disappeared around the corner.
I slumped on the wall, my knees almost giving out. My heart was pounding so hard I thought I was in danger of having a heart attack. What the fuck was I supposed to do?
Five dates?
No, I couldn’t think of it that way. He was only using that word to get under my skin. These weren’t dates. They were appointments to allow him to torment me. And he already said he wouldn’t force me to do anything illegal or that would endanger my job.
I could put up with some light torment in order to protect my job and the paleontology department at the museum. Rome was annoying, but he wasn’t truly evil. Right?
Oh God, this was a horrible, terrible, embarrassing arrangement. I couldn’t possibly consider it.
Except what other choice did I have? What were the chances I was going to make the acquaintance of other rich people who had five million dollars to throw at the museum? Probably not that good.
I needed to talk to Emily. Maybe she could come up with another way out of this mess. There was no way I could go on five horrific dates with Rome Ashbridge.
7
ROME ASHBRIDGE
Why the hell had I given Liam a range of days?
I should have told him I would be in the library on Tuesday. That way, I wouldn’t have to spend all my working hours on pins and needles, waiting to see if he caved to my ridiculous demands.
Pierce thought I was a madman and condemned my evil scheme as soon as I told him later that same evening. He predicted I was going to get Liam fired, which I would then feel guilty about, and would be forced to go to the museum, where I would have to beg them to give him his job back.
Not fucking likely.
Let him rot.
I didn’t give a shit about him or his job.
Except maybe the kids at the museum had seemed to enjoy his presentation. Out of all the docents and volunteers at the museum, he’d been the one I’d seen them the most engaged with. Those inquisitive little monkeys had asked him some of the most outlandish questions—most of them the result of movies they’d watched—but he’d never batted an eye or hesitated for a second. He’d had answers for everything.
But I didn’t care. Nope. Not at all.
I pushed all those weird feelings in the pit of my stomach away and focused on what needed to be done at the library. There were books that had to be reshelved from the return bin, and more that had arrived which needed to be added to the system and given a new home. Most of my days were spent on the first floor, where I answered questions and put books away. However, three times a week, I ran story time, and I loved it. Hearing those cheers and those squeals of laughter were the highlights of my week.