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A thousand butterflies kick into flight in my stomach, dancing Swan Lake. My girly bits join the ballet, arousal flooding my system in a rush of heat. I gasp in shock as electricity rolls through me, turning my nipples to hard points.
"Fuck," Finn growls. "You smell good."
"You can't say that in the children's section."
"I can't say you smell good?" he asks, sniffing me.
"No. I mean yes." I try to untangle myself from his arms, but he growls again and wraps me up in him even deeper. "I mean, you can't say that other word. Um, are you going to let me go so I can find your princess books?"
"Go out with me tonight."
I freeze. No, I don't freeze. Mysouldoes.
"You mean on adate?" I ask, horrified.
"Fuck yeah," he growls. "Go out with me tonight, pretty baby."
"I can't…do that." I duck out from beneath his arms, quickly putting space between us. "Definitely not." I rapidly shake my head, my heart pounding like a war drum calling the troops to battle. "It's not allowed."
"Why the fuck not?" He turns a lethal scowl on me, arms crossed, feet planted apart, looking way too hot to deal with right now.
I spin toward the shelves and randomly start plucking books from them, blindly shoving them toward him. He grunts as I poke him in the chest with one, and then grumbles under his breath and reluctantly takes them.
"My aunt needs me," I rush to say. "She can't be alone. It's bad for her health." In all honesty, I'm pretty sure she's a menace to society, but I don't tell him that. I wouldn't dream of telling her that either. She may be sick, but she's feisty. She has more energy than I do most days. But if I tell him that, then I have to tell him the truth…and no thank you.
This man does not need to know that I've never been on a date in my entire life. And he definitely doesn't need to know that the mere thought of going out with him makes me want to break out in hives. Men want women with experience, not twenty-four-year-old virgins who spend all their time reading. Which is dumb if you ask me. We should be enough exactly the way we are. But we never are, not when it seems to count.
I like Finn. I'd rather not go out with him, only for him to decide he's not interested later.
"Then I'll bring dinner to the two of you," he says.
"She can't be around people," I lie. "Too much excitement isn't good for her."
He eyes me skeptically. "Your aunt is Ophelia Crawford?"
"Yes," I say slowly.
"Who lives on Drury Lane?"
A smile flits across my face. "I swear to God if you make aMuffin Man joke right now…."
"What?" His lips pull down into a frown, his eyes narrowing. And then he realizes what he said and laughs abruptly. "Too damn cute," he mutters, shaking his head. "I wasn't going to make a Muffin Man joke, pretty baby. I was just going to say that your aunt is banned from half the businesses in this town. How is too much excitement possibly bad for her health?"
"She is not," I gasp.
He smirks at me.
"Oh my gosh, she is."
"Your auntisthe excitement in this town, Scarlett Crawford." His gaze rakes up and down my body, his eyes heating. "At least she used to be."
I squirm under the weight of his gaze.
"You don't know me well yet," he says. "So I'll let you get away with telling me no this time. But I'm not giving up on you, pretty baby. Sooner or later, you'll agree to go on that date with me." He strides forward, stopping inches in front of me, and then dips his head, putting his lips against my ear. "I'll be dreaming about you until you do."
"You will not," I whisper.
He takes a step back and winks at me.
