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“The what?” Genuine confusion brought his brows together. “What is that?”
My jaw dropped, but then I remembered I wasn’t in Kansas anymore. Also, not everyone probably studied that stuff anymore. With everything available online including the information in a library, very few people my age would have any need to know. But in our town, we still had the little drawers with the index cards listing the books by that number system. It had always seemed kind of magical to me. “Never mind. It’s not important.”
Ciara was still talking, but it was hard to concentrate or even listen with Adair sitting next to me. The square table, dark polished wood that looked as ancient as everything in this place, seated eight, two on each side, but he’d chosen the chair to my right, and his thigh was not quite touching mine, but it seemed as if I could feel his body heat anyway. And my pulse was fluttering in my neck, making me worry a bit about my blood pressure. I’d never been the kind of girl to faint over a cute boy, but this wasn’t just some kid on the football team who thought he was the gods’ gift to women.
Something deep inside me insisted he was the gods’ gift, and that any girl who found herself in his bed would be very grateful afterward.
“Your name?” The words of the guy I was picturing naked pierced my lustful fog, and I gave myself a little shake. “Hello?”
“I’m sorry, I was listening to Ciara,” I lied. “That is why we are here after all.”
“Oh, I was looking at you and missed part of what she said. Can you repeat it?” His unrepentant reply showed I wasn’t getting off that easily.
“No. You should listen.”
He merely chuckled and leaned close to my hear. “I asked your name, pretty lady. Or I could call you that if you prefer.”
“No, it’s Endymion, but my friends call me Endy.” I faced forward again, hoping to get a little of the lecture and try to remember that this man belonged to someone else.
“I’m Adair.” His breath, soft and fragrant with herbs like mint maybe, caressed my ear, and I gave a little shiver.
“I know,” I blurted out before I could stop myself. Loudly enough a few students at nearby tables turned to look.
And one stood up and marched over to us. Nissa stopped beside Adair and bent to speak to him in a low voice. And I disappeared from his awareness as if I’d never existed. He stood and followed her toward the door like the lap dog he apparently was. A lapdog who liked to flirt with other mistresses, apparently. Tempting, gorgeous, and probably only talking to me to make her jealous. Didn’t stop me from being short of breath while he’d sat so close to me.
Adair opened the door for Nissa to precede him and held it another second while Alara scooted through, looking around as she did. Then the happy couple left, and the air returned to the room. I revised my happy couple assessment when, just before the door closed, I heard Nissa start to give her opinion of me to her affianced one or whatever he was to her. It was anything but complimentary.
Alara spotted me and waved then came and sat down where Adair had been. “What did you do to her? She hates you.”
I shrugged. “I dared to be sitting here, and her sweetie decided to flirt with me.”
“Not a good enemy to make so soon in your academy career,” she warned then faced forward. “So, what have I missed?”
“I have no idea. The librarian is Ciara, but I suspect you already knew that, and right after she introduced herself, Adair joined me, and that’s all I know. Why are you late?”
She flushed. “Oh, I was being tutored and the session ran over.”
“Classes are just beginning and you’re already getting tutored? On what?” In my experience, tutoring only happened when you were failing a class. And it took a while to accomplish that.
“Let’s just say, they sent my parents a bill for the broken glassware, and let it go at that.” She pressed her lips together, but I was really curious.
“You’re being tutored for clumsiness? What is this, a ladies’ prep school?”
“Not exactly.” She lifted her chin and stared toward Ciara. “Can we just listen? I for one would like to know what Ciara has to share with us.”
Luckily, there was a handout available by the door because just then Ciara closed the session and asked for questions. There were a couple, I had a lot, but to ask them would have revealed my complete lack of awareness of anything she’d explained. Maybe one of my other suitemates would fill in anything the handout didn’t cover.
Because unlike everyone else here, I really wanted to get my hands on these books and had a feeling that any goof in handling them would get my library privileges revoked.
Chapter Eleven
“Is there coffee around this place?” I asked Alara. She had been up since the butt crack of dawn and had changed outfits more times than hours of sleep I’d gotten the night before.
“We don’t really drink coffee. Do you drink coffee?” she asked after placing a perfect purple wing on her eyelid. It was the finish of her routine, or so I assumed, since she clapped and began to put away all of her makeup.
“Not really. I would regularly down one of those heavily caffeinated sodas in the morning, but I suspect they don’t have that, either.”
Alara shook her head. She was dressed in a flowy, flowery shirt that had cute little wavy capped sleeves. She paired it with mauve pants and matching shoes.
