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ChapterTwelve
Adam heard the whistling and catcalls before he even entered the conference room. He stopped. The pieces snapped into place like magnets, and he groaned.
WTF was the matter with him? What was happening to his brain?
He strode into the room, where the monitors were all aglow with footage from various parts of the library. Half a dozen crew members were gathered around one of the monitors, their laughter rising amidst hoots and comments like“Nice work, boss,” and “Check out that move in slo-mo.”
He cleared his throat loudly. All six guys jumped and spun to face him, their expressions turning sheepish and embarrassed.
“Oh, hey, boss.” Harry fumbled to hit the stop button on the recording. “We thought you weren’t coming in until later this afternoon.”
Adam folded his arms and gave them all his darkest scowl. “What are you watching?”
“Nothing.” Jay held up his hand as if to prove himself innocent. “Just reviewing last night’s footage, that’s all.”
Adam jutted his chin toward the monitor. “Play it.”
“Uh, it’s really not—”
“Play it,” Adam snapped.
Wincing, Jay hit the rewind button and replayed the recording. Amidst ducking of heads and shuffling of feet, the men glanced at the monitor.
The grainy image showed a wide shot of the mezzanine, including the stacks and the seating area in front of the fireplace. The time stamp was 2:34 this morning.
On the left side of the screen, the camera had caught him and Bee on the sofa. First sitting silently, then moving, talking, turning toward each other…and then him swooping in on her with the speed of a cosmic ray.
He hadn’t realized how fast he’d moved, how burning he’d been to get close to her, to feel her lips softening and opening under his. Their parking lot kiss had started slower, but then fired up like a space shuttle launch.
Christ, he could still taste her. On-screen, after that one second of surprise, she practically melted against him. Her hand came up briefly as if she wanted to touch his face before she dropped it back into her lap. And then he drove his fingers into her silky hair and tilted her head back to—
Adam thrust his arm out and hit the stop button. The scene skidded to a halt. He encompassed every one of his crew with a cold, hard look.
“I’m going to say this once,” he said, his voice like stone. “Bee Delaney does not hear about this. Ever. None of you will mention it to her or even hint that this happened, much less that it was captured on camera. You will treat her with respect and protect her from embarrassment at all costs. No one will endeavor to do that more than I will. I’ve already apologized to her for acting in an unprofessional manner, and I apologize to all of you. It won’t happen again. Butthis—” he pointed at the screen, “—stays under lock and key.”
The men nodded. Adam trusted them, and he knew they all liked Bee and had no reason to embarrass her. They were also well-accustomed to Clyde’s complete lack of boundaries when it came to attractive women, so a kiss on a sofa was mild by comparison.
But the fact that it involved Adam—who let few people into his private life—made it headline news.
“You want me to erase it, boss?” Harry put his finger over the rewind button.
Adam almost said yes, then shook his head. “Not yet. If you’ve reviewed the rest of the footage, you can all take off for the afternoon. Be back at eight when the library closes.”
With mumbles of thanks, they started to disperse. Then Jay paused and glanced at him.
“For what it’s worth, we won’t hold you to it,” he said.
“Hold me to what?” Adam asked.
“Not letting it happen again.” Harry gestured toward the camera. “We kind of…um, get why it did.”
“Just do it off camera next time,” Tom added hastily.
Adam stared at them.
Jay shrugged. “She’s hot in a…conservative kind of way.”
“And we’ve all had librarian fantasies,” Bobby admitted.
