In Bed with the Beast (Naughty Princess Club 2)

“Oh, yeah, of course you do! I mean, why wouldn’t you?” I laugh uncomfortably. “Well, then you obviously know I’m representing it’s raining cats and dogs.”

I hold my arms out to the side and spin around for him.

When I turn back to face him, I see his lip twitch and hope that means all is forgiven. The honk of a car horn out in the driveway has me finishing off the last of my coffee and then quickly shoving the mug into the dishwasher.

“That must be Ariel. She’s taking me to work today,” I tell him as I hurry into the living room and grab my duffle bag, which I had packed and left on the arm of the couch before taking my shower earlier.

“What’s with the bag?” he asks, nodding at it as I pull the strap up onto my shoulder.

“Oh, you know, just a change of clothes. I, um . . . I have another date tonight.”

The almost-smile on his face from moments ago disappears in an instant, and he growls under his breath, glaring at me as I quickly start walking backwards towards the door.

“Well, have a good night at work! I’ll see you later. Well, not later, since you’ll be at work. So, I’ll see you tomorrow,” I ramble, turning around and practically racing through the front door, not giving him a chance to lecture me about my date.

* * *

“I really loved how the ending tied everything together. As soon as I finished it, I started back over at the beginning.”

My date, Steven Luminous, chuckles as he talks about one of my favorite books, and I can’t help but laugh right along with him. To say this date is the polar opposite of the one with Gus is putting it mildly. Steven has been nothing but a perfect gentleman since he picked me up at the library earlier. I was so upset after my meeting with the board that I almost called him to cancel, not feeling in the mood for another disaster. The board just sat there, staring at me with bored expressions on their faces when I told them about my Dress Like an Idiom idea, as well as a whole list of others that would hopefully bring more people into the library. Author book signings, hosting field trips for local schools, creative-writing workshops presented by local authors, a used book sale; I had three, hand-written pages of ideas I knew would generate more interest in the library. It’s incredibly sad that we need to come up with gimmicks to get people in the door. What ever happened to showing up just for the good old-fashioned love of reading? They told me they just didn’t think any of those ideas would work, and it was time for me to realize that trying to save the library was a lost cause. But I refuse to give up. They haven’t shut the place down yet, and they begrudgingly gave me a month to “get my affairs in order”.

As soon as Steven walked in the door, it was on the tip of my tongue to apologize to him and ask if we could reschedule, but his eyes lit up as he looked around the first floor of the library. When he asked me to take him on a tour, my bad mood instantly lifted. With his short-cropped blonde hair, bright blue eyes, and five o’clock shadow, he’s definitely a very good-looking man. Wearing a nice pair of dark jeans and a brown, burgundy, and tan argyle sweater with a tan button-down underneath, he’s dressy casual. This tells me that he didn’t want to overdo it with a suit like that idiot Gus, but he also wanted to look nice and cared about making a good first impression.

We spent an hour just walking around while he pointed out all of the books he’d read, asking me which ones were my favorites. He didn’t talk about himself constantly or even mention one word about money, and he seemed genuinely interested in everything I had to say, even complimenting me on my work at the library. He took me to one of my favorite Mexican restaurants just outside of town, and as soon as we sat down, I asked him if we were going to split the check, secretly crossing my fingers under the table. Even though my stomach had started growling loudly from all the delicious smells as soon as we walked in, I had already resigned myself to ordering only a glass of water and inhaling the free chips and salsa, just in case. His eyes widened, and he asked me what kind of a gentleman would ever make a date pay for dinner. I instantly relaxed and wondered if it would be rude to excuse myself from the table to call Cindy and Ariel and let them know Steven more than made up for what they put me through with Gus.