of your eyebrows disguises the fact that you’re being an asshole?” She paused, raising her gaze with her chin still angled down, and holy hell, if she didn’t look like a sexy librarian in that moment.
“Nope.” I shook my head and forced a light-hearted laugh. “I don’t think that any more than you think rolling your eyes hides the fact that you’re attracted to me.”
Her brow furrowed as she licked her plump, pink lips. “Anyway, I can cover for you most Tuesdays if Sophia needs help. Other volunteers can also pick up the slack on Thursday if I’m not here. Otherwise, we’ll expect you to be here. I looked at her homework list today already, and it’s not much. You’ll have an easy start, and the two of you can get acquainted.”
“Today?” I let the chair drop to the floor, and it clacked against the linoleum. “Huh. I just figured today would be fast. Like an orientation of sorts.”
“It is.” Shelby dipped the edge of the pen into her mouth, chewing lightly on the tip. Holy. Shit. The tip of her pink tongue peeked out at the edge, and her lips curved around the plastic. My dick jumped in my pants, and I was feeling about ten degrees warmer than two seconds ago. “It’s also your first day on the job, and you’re expected to work. A word that I’m sure is foreign to you…but then again, you’re good at languages, so I’m confident you’ll decipher its meaning contextually.”
My smile twitched higher. “Christ, who pissed in your lemonade today?”
“I told you earlier. You bother me.”
“Well, Betty—”
“Shelby.”
“Yeah, I know. I have a solution that could help both of us. You don’t want me around here…clearly. I don’t want to be here any more than I have to.” I lowered my voice, glancing around the room, just in case. “Just sign off some extra hours, and I’ll be out of your hair sooner rather than later.”
She gasped, those brown eyes widening to orbs. “I can’t do that.”
“Sure you can.” I tapped the papers with two fingers. “The assistant program director can sign off on hours, according to the woman out front. I’ll still show up, make appearances so that your superiors don’t get suspicious. I’ll still do the work…it’ll just be an extra hour here, thirty minutes there. And I’ll be out of your hair a month earlier, easy.”
From behind tense lips, she ran her tongue across her teeth. It was so easy to get under her skin it was hilarious. I knew girls like this from prep school. They were wound too tight. Came from money and privilege and justified their own luck in life by helping those less fortunate. It was nice and all. But clearly the girl needed to let loose a little.
Before she answered, a man walked into the room, giving me a quick nod and leaning down to Shelby. He was tall and wore ironed khakis and a button-down shirt. One hand sprawled out on the table and his other rested on her upper back. What a tool. She couldn’t possibly be interested in a geek like that, could she? She tensed at his touch but quickly eased into it. My fists balled around the arms of the chair, and I bit my cheek. His nose was wickedly close to her ear as he whispered something, and his eyes drifted briefly to her rounded breasts beneath the fitted T-shirt she wore.
I felt the primal urge to grab her from his hold and crash my lips down onto hers. Tearing my gaze away from them together, I forced the barbaric feelings to take a backseat to common sense. As much as I’d like to think I could, there’s no way I could go around grabbing random women and claiming them with my mouth. Especially not a woman like Shelby. Opening my eyes, I blinked slowly at her, meeting her challenging stare with my own, and felt the grin turning up the corners of my mouth.
Her skin flushed a rosy color from cheek to cheek and across the bridge of her nose. The faintest freckles appeared with her flush, and I held back a chuckle. She was mad. Again. Clearly there was something about me that sparked her flame, and I was looking forward to setting that fire ablaze.
Chapter Seven
SHELBY
“What the eff, right?” I crossed my legs, leaning forward in the booth toward my warm plate of pancakes. I was lucky that I hadn’t run into Tate since Monday