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“Uh, I guess it's fine. It's not inaccurate.”
Tony nodded. “I’ll leave it for them, then. I’ll call you by your name, Nicky.”
His voice was smooth as melted chocolate, like velvet in my ears, and I swallowed hard. He stepped past the threshold and took his cup from Billie.
I accepted my cup in turn and hovered in the entryway with them. “You don’t have to stand here with me. You can sit down somewhere.”
“Standing with two beautiful betas isn’t exactly a hardship.” Tony gave me a mischievous smile, hiding it with a sip of his drink.
I took a nervous gulp. Sweet, spicy cream the temperature oflavaflooded my mouth and it took every ounce of willpower to not spit it out onto the floor. I swallowed the liquid fire and huffed in some cooler air, my eyes watering. “Burned my tongue.”
Billie took the cup from my hands. “Go run some cool water over it for a bit.”
Embarrassment was defeated by the searing burn and I dashed off to the bathroom and cupped some cool water into my mouth.
Good job, Nicky.
I rolled my eyes at my reflection. What a great first impression I was making on my patrons. At least I was getting all the embarrassment out of the way. No need for them to think I was suave and put together only to shatter the illusion down the road.
2
BILLIE
Iwaitedimpatientlyforthe return of my pretty librarian. True, I already had four lovers, but I’d never been able to take my eyes off of a beautiful person. Nicky had nerdy librarian written all over her, which ultimately meant I wanted to getmeall over her, too. She had that sweet, flustered, sexy vibe that hooked me and yanked me in. Jasper had been as equally flustered when I’d met him. I dunno what it is about that whole vibe, but hot damn did it do something for me.
“What do you think?” I asked Tony.
He shrugged. “She's cute. Bit nervous, is all.”
Cute.
Uh huh.
I pushed further. “I think Jasper would like her.”
Tony sighed. “We’vejustmet her. Slow your roll a bit.”
My rolls weren’t capable of being slowed. They were like a snowball going down a hill, only getting bigger until I got smushed by them.
I huffed. “I can’t help it if I get insta-crushes.”
“No, I know.” He smiled indulgently. “Let her know you more than an hour before you start laying it on, though.”
“Fine.” I caught sight of Nicky returning from the bathroom, her cheeks pink and her expression sheepish. I wanted to squeeze those flushed cheeks. I flicked my gaze over her, taking in her dark brown hair that was so tidy I wanted to muss it up, soft curves tucked into chic business casual clothes, and big, brown eyes I could drown in. “You okay, Books? Do we need to amputate?”
Nicky giggled nervously. “I’ll survive. Gonna let the drink cool for a bit.”
“A wise choice.” I handed her cup back to her. “How’re you liking the job so far?”
“So far, so good. I like quiet spaces with minimal people and lots of books.”
Tony hooked an arm over my shoulders and tapped his cup against Nicky’s. “Not to rush out on you, but we’ve got to head out to pick up our boyfriend for work so he's not late.”
Nicky raised an eyebrow. I thought she might ask about theourboyfriendportion of the statement, but she latched onto the rest instead.
“In the middle of the night? What does he do?”
“Jasper runs his own bakery,” Tony supplied.
