Me: You better be stretched and warmed up for go time. I’m not slowing down if you pull a hamstring.
The author event was a rousing success. Or “arousing” success, which was absolutely the pun I was going to make in the library newsletter for the week. The readers were excited, the author sold out of all the books she brought, and we ran out of wine before anyone got too tipsy.
“Go on home, Sloane. You’ve been here since opening. We’ll handle the clean up,” Blaze offered. As board members, she and her wife, Agatha, spent almost as much time here as the employees.
“Are you sure? I don’t mind.” I had another hour before Lucian would arrive to delight me with his penis.
“Positive. I’m sure you’ve got a handsome someone waiting for you.”
She was fishing for information, and I wasn’t biting. “What about you and Agatha?”
“We had our celebratory Valentine’s brunch this morning, then changed the oil in the bikes.”
“And they say romance is dead.”
“Go on. Get out of here. We’ll lock up,” she said, shooing me away.
“If you’re sure. I’ll just run up and get my stuff.”
I’d have time for a quick shower and another run at my legs with the razor before Lucian showed up. I could also spend some time overthinking the lingerie I’d picked out.
I was so deep in my head that I was halfway into my office before I realized there was someone sitting behind my desk.
“Cheese and crackers!”
Lucian Rollins, in disguise in a ball cap and a black hoodie, looked perfectly relaxed sitting behind my desk reading a book.
He raised an eyebrow at me. “Exactly what kind of defense is that?”
I looked down and realized I was holding my hands up in a cartoonish Karate Kid posture.
“What are you doing here? If someone sees you, the entire town is going to know that we’re doing the horizontal mambo before we even get started! I’ve already had to deal with a Knockemout inquisition for the past week with everyone and their brother asking me who I’m sleeping with,” I hissed.
“I got bored waiting. I thought this might speed things along.”
From any other man, it would be a compliment, a statement about how much he missed me. But Lucian Rollins was accustomed to getting what he wanted when he wanted it. And he was using me for sex. Lucky for him I wasn’t about to take the time required to teach him a lesson in delayed gratification, because I was also using him for sex.
“Blaze and Agatha are locking up. So we can leave as long as you stick to lurking in the shadows, because I do not want to deal with questions about whatever depraved thing this is between us,” I explained.
“Get your things,” he said, rising from my chair. He closed my copy of The Midnight Library. I noticed my bookmark was still in place…and he was several chapters beyond it.
“Are you actually reading that?” I asked.
“I do know how to read, Sloane,” he said dryly. The amused yet dismissive way his voice caressed my name made me want to smack him in the face with the book. Conversely, it also made me want to take his pants off and use his cock until I couldn’t walk.
I was still debating between the options when he rounded my desk, fisted a hand in my sweater, pulled me to my toes, and kissed the ever-living hell out of me.
There was nothing romantic or sweet about the way his tongue invaded my mouth. The way it conquered me, forcing me to follow its lead. My nipples budded, and my sex actually trembled. I lost the ability to breathe.
It was a kiss filled with carnal promises that I couldn’t wait for him to fulfill.
He released me just as suddenly. “Let’s go.”
“Yeah. Let’s do that.”
It took us twenty minutes to make it to the parking lot. There were far too many patrons still lurking behind after the event. After I was stopped for the fourth time on the first floor, Lucian managed to slip behind the circulation desk and duck out the side door without being spotted. “Sorry,” I said when I found him leaning against my Jeep.
“You’re inconveniently popular,” he said.
“Where’s your car?” I asked.
“I had my driver drop me off.”
I reached around him to unlock the passenger door. “That’s awfully cocky of you to assume my blind hatred of you didn’t overtake my need for you naked.”
“I liked my odds.” With that, he took the keys from my hand, opened the door, and tossed my tote inside. “I’m driving.”