Total pages in book: 60
Estimated words: 60711 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 304(@200wpm)___ 243(@250wpm)___ 202(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60711 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 304(@200wpm)___ 243(@250wpm)___ 202(@300wpm)
She had been here since half past four, and it was now six in the evening, but Andie was still in awe. Like, she had to remind herself several times to close her mouth because she had noticed the staff directing suspicious looks her way.
Not that she minded. It was their job to care for these books, like, like...um the Fellowship of the Ring, only this time, they were more like the Guardians of These Precious Books, and for real, every book in this place was exactly that.
Breathtakingly, mouthwateringly precious and gorgeous, and most amazing of all, all of these were free for the residents of Tranquil Acres to borrow!
Like, seriously?
All she had to present was her resident ID or guest pass, and that was it?
Guilt and pleasure warred inside of Andie as she ran her fingers over the spines of the books shelved under this year’s New York Times Bestsellers. She hadn’t forgotten her mission. She remembered what she came here to do, and while indulging in her favorite hobby obviously wasn’t a part of it—
One more hour in this place couldn’t hurt, surely?
She just couldn’t get enough of their texture. Soft vegan leather. Embossed letters that caught under her fingernails. Velvet so thick and luxurious it made her want to press her cheek against the covers like a weirdo.
And oh, wow!
Andie ran toward the shelf in the next aisle, eyes lit up like a kid with his first sighting of a life-sized gingerbread house.
Would you look at that?
An entire shelf dedicated to books with page edges decorated in full color. Limited edition box sets of her favorite romantasies. Foreign language editions with to-die-for covers. And oh my goodness, was that an honest-to-goodness first-edition of—
“I’m starting to dislike the way you keep surprising me.”
—devil with a Greek accent?
Andie crashed to a stop and spun around.
Make that, a devil dressed in another one of his obviously-expensive and perfectly-fitting suits.
As in...
The stranger who had kissed her in the dark
The seducer who had touched her secret places
Oh, will you please get a grip, Andie!
This...this man belonged to her aunt!
Joyce had claimed dibs on him, and one must always respect one’s elders.
Right?
Paul had one shoulder leaning against the end of a bookshelf, arms crossed over his chest. She knew he wasn’t posing or anything, but he still looked like he had stepped out of the pages of a Tatler photo shoot. He looked very much at home in Tranquil Acres’ members-only library, and even though she knew for a fact he wasn’t a resident here, why did looking at him made her feel like she was the one trespassing instead?
He straightened, and her heart skipped a beat. He slowly walked toward her, and Andie automatically started backing away.
The more she looked at him, the more she realized she was dealing with someone completely out of her league. The first time they met, shadows had softened his edges into something almost dreamlike. The second time she saw him, Joyce was with them, and she had never really allowed herself to stare at him...not even when...not even when he was doing what he wasn’t supposed to doing, and making her feel things that she wasn’t supposed to feel for the man that her aunt desired.
But tonight...
Tonight, he was devastating like...fire.
The kind that made your throat tight to the point that you couldn’t breathe. The kind that burned you alive even when its flames hadn’t licked your skin. The kind that devoured and devastated because somehow, even if you knew it would be the death of you...the heat was mesmerizing and tantalizing, the feel of it impossible to resist.
Whispers reached her ear, distracting Andie into looking away from the shameful source of her obsession—
Oh.
The woman behind the counter. The woman cleaning the windows at the far end. And the woman at the reading area with the couches. They were the only other women in the library, but all of them were staring at Paul like he had made them forget their own names.
As expected, Andie deliberately reminded herself. She had looked him up on the Internet, and so she knew she was far from being the only girl to find the billionaire attractive.
But...even so.
It somehow hurt to see the other women staring at him like he was theirs to consume, and it also hurt to know that they had to be captivated by the same things that captivated her.
There was his copper-tinted hair, and the way it gleamed under any kind of light. His chiseled jaw. His broad chest, his towering height, his aura—
Ah!
Fingers cupped her chin, and she realized too late she had been so distracted by other women’s interest in him...that she had let him catch up to her.
And now it was too late to escape, with Paul standing right in front of her, and...argh.