“I’d say stupid,” chimed in Mr. Hart as he settled back into his chair. Audrey and Ronan exchanged amused glances a second later as the sound of snoring filled the bookstore once again.
Ronan shook his head, chuckling to himself, and set about sliding the bookshelf back into place from the opposite side. From her position crouched on the floor, Audrey watched, her hands fluttering uselessly over the books as her heart thumped in her chest. Ronan’s body was…magnificent.
His arms bulged, the muscles flexing and working, as he pushed into the bookcase. The way he was angled, leaning in with his shoulder and bracing his legs, made his ass look like David-esque perfection. Audrey groped for another book to add to her stack, her fingers brushing nothing but air.
“Might be easier if you were looking at what you’re doing.” Ronan’s voice jolted her back into the present, and she snatched her hand to her chest as though she’d touched something hot.
“I am looking,” she grumbled defensively, scooting along on her knees to the next upended stack of books.
Yeah, you were looking all right.
“I know you can’t keep your eyes off me, what with all the llama spit glistening on my face.”
Audrey grinned. “How could you possibly know that was my personal catnip?”
“I could tell that about you from the moment you accused me of being a scam artist. I thought to myself, she’s a llama-spit woman through and through.”
A deep, genuine laugh shot out of Audrey—so loud, in fact, that there was a startled snort from behind the desk and a brief pause before the quiet snoring started up again. “The professor has a sense of humor, I see.”
“It came free with my elbow patches.”
Okay, so he was hot, strong, sweetly looked for books for his grandma, and had an epic sense of self-deprecating humor? That was an unprecedented combination. So unprecedented, in fact, that it had only previously existed in Audrey’s head, filed in a box marked “perfect men who don’t exist.”
Ronan nudged the bookshelf again, sliding it mostly back into place. How the hell he could move the damn thing when it was packed with books was beyond her.
Well, it wasn’t quite beyond her imagination. Something told Audrey she’d have to make an effort not to imagine it when they were back in class next Wednesday.
“So tell me,” he said, bending down to collect a few books that had toppled off shelves in the move. “What do you know about llamas?”
“Are you going to quiz my knowledge on everything now?” She looked up at him, ready to meet the challenge.
“I’m curious how long it will take before I find a topic you don’t know anything about.”
“Llamas have a gestation period of three-hundred and fifty days. They don’t bite, but they can spit up to fifteen feet.” She shuddered. “Actually, spitting at humans is rarer than people think, and it’s often a sign that the llamas were over-socialized during rearing. Typically, llamas spit at each other, but if they’ve been overhandled as crias—which is what you call baby llamas—then they tend to treat humans as they would other llamas. Hence the…glistening.”
Ronan bobbed his head. “Well, that shut me up, then, didn’t it?”
“The spitting or my facts?” She got to her feet and dusted her hands down the front of her dress.
He served up the most delicious lopsided smile that crinkled the corners of his blue eyes and made him look even sexier than he already did. “Both.”
Why did he have to be her professor? Even if it was only a visiting, temporary thing. Why couldn’t he be some hunky tourist in town for a month…or four? Why couldn’t he be the new owner of a bakery or restaurant or the hardware store?
Why did the universe see fit to constantly tempt her with things she couldn’t have?
Happiness is wanting what you get.
Her mother had told her that once when Audrey was young and crying over the fact that she had old sneakers instead of the cool new ones the other girls wore to school. Her mother was one of those serene people who could always find the silver lining in things. Since she was young, Audrey had tried to emulate her.
It’s better that he’s off-limits, because you know you don’t want anything serious. What would you do, anyway? Invite him back to your house?
The very thought of it sent a shiver down her spine. No way