She’s right behind me and I have to exercise all my self-control to keep from dropping the books and pinning her against one of the shelves.

I lick my tongue across my lips as we venture deeper into the small library, the mid-day sun shining in through the high windows and casting bastions of light here and there. I can see the librarian give me the evil-eye as we walk around and I throw her a grin and a wink. She visibly gasps and looks away, her lips pursing.

“So what’s a bloodsucking lawyer like you doing in a place like this?” I ask, opting to follow my previous line of inquiry.

She laughs and it’s like bells are ringing. I love that sound. I get the feeling she doesn’t laugh as often as she should. Then again, who am I to judge?

“I’m prepping for a case,” she says, stopping me with a light tap on my shoulder as we reach one of the shelves deemed correct.

She snatches the book I’m carrying at the top of the pile and stands up on her tiptoes to put it away on the right shelf. She can’t be more than 5’4’’. I love a woman who’s short enough to be picked up and cuddled easily… or pressed against a wall, held up and fucked senseless. Either will do, both are preferred.

“Oh yeah? What kind of case?”

She gives me a little look and I smile.

“I get it, it’s a divorce case.” My finger twitches slightly underneath the pile of books, like I was electrocuted just by saying the d-word. “But, like, I assume it isn’t your average run of the mill split everything down the middle kind of deal, or otherwise you wouldn’t be here. I presume.”

I’m not usually this tentative, but a part of me really wants to play this right. I indulge that urge. It’s been a long, long time since I felt it last and I don’t really mind the way it makes me feel. I always loved the chase… as much as I loved the capture, of course.

She seems to think about that as she waves me along, this time taking lead. I get a chance to admire her plump, grabbable ass. Definitely a yoga kind of girl. Maybe even a lifter? I’d love to find out.

“Well, I’m not entirely sure yet,” she says. Before I can question her about that, she goes on. “It’s a new case and I haven’t gotten the folder yet. Yesterday, my boss came in and told me I’d be having a meeting at the beginning of the week to get me up to speed on everything, but I figured I could prep a little beforehand. I know the kind of cases my boss prefers and they’re outside my comfort zone.

“If this is her kind of case, then it means I have to step up.”

“I’m sure you’ll have no problem with that,” I say absently, only half-listening as I keep my eyes on her body.

I’m so distracted that I practically walk into her and for a moment, we’re face to face and very close. If I didn’t have the books in my way, I think my instincts would have made me grab her and pull her to me.

Her breath hitches audibly and I grin down at her, feeling that familiar predatory sense go through me. It’s been a hell of a long time since I had someone in my sights last, but this is not something you forget how to do.

“Um, I’ll take that,” she says, blushing a little as she wrestles another thick book out of the stack, having to wiggle it a little to get it.

All the while, I’m enjoying the way she’s squirming. My eyes trace the curve of her neck, her pale, milky skin… the way her auburn hair is in perfect contrast with it, and how the heather cardigan she’s wearing over a simple white blouse makes me want to run my fingertips over her skin as gently as the fabric is touching her.

I can barely suppress the growl rising in my throat when she has to stretch her body out a little to reach another high shelf. The desire to wrap her up in my arms and keep her there is overwhelming and I’m not even sure where the hell it’s coming from.

Just a few weeks ago I was certain that even the thought of being with another woman after Selina would make me feel dirty. Well, I guess that was true… but this is the kind of filthy I fucking want to be.

“Thank you, though,” she says, prompting me to follow her again as she turns her back on me. “For your entirely undeserved confidence.”

We both laugh. A self-deprecating sense of humor. I’ll have to remember that and make sure she doesn’t fall back on it too much. She’s far too fascinating to have a low opinion of herself. Maybe I can coax her to see that the next time we meet…

The next time?

The thought hits me out of the blue, like a sledgehammer coming out of nowhere. A little harmless flirting is one thing, but expecting to take this chance meeting somewhere further is a whole other thing. The tan line around my finger feels like its burning up all of a sudden. For a moment, I feel like I’m the one out of my depth here.

I shake my head.

Get the fuck over it.

“Don’t sell yourself short, honey,” I say, the endearment slipping out before I have a chance to rein myself in.

She gives me a look over her shoulder, but she doesn’t say a thing. I think I catch a hint of a smile.

“You still haven’t told me your name,” I tell her.

“Well, you haven’t told me yours,” she quips right back.

She frowns at that slightly, marring her bright expression as she puts another book away, all the while closely tracked by the eyes of the librarian. It’s like the woman thinks we’re going to set her precious library on fire if she lets us out of her sight for as much as a second. I have the good mind to make faces at her, which would complete my regression back to the teenage boy I currently feel like.

If I can’t keep my thoughts or my words straight around a pretty girl, I can’t be much better than what I was at sixteen, right?

“It’s Austin,” I say, deciding to be the bigger man here.

“Lily,” she then says with a nod.

She’s now grabbed the last book out of my hands and I stick my hands in my pockets, feeling a little awkward. Yup, this is high school all over again. But back then, I was tall, gangly and had the social presence of an amoeba, and all the confidence of one. Now, I’m a self-made millionaire, one of Forbes’ 30 under 30 this year, and I’m through one long relationship and a slew of others.

So how come this woman can still make me feel flustered and like a confused puppy dog? Fucking hell…

“You know, I’m originally from Texas,” she tells me, referencing my name.

“Oh yeah? Was Austin your favorite city? I bet it was.”

She’s considering the shelves tentatively, weighing the book in her hands.

“I’m not gonna lie, it was,” she says.

Lily gets up on her tiptoes again and tries to reach for a shelf that’s way out of reach.

“I can put that away for you, you know,” I tell her, a hint of bemusement leaking into my words.

“No, I’ve got it,” she says stubbornly.

A woman who’s used to doing everything on her own. I’m not surprised one bit.

“As you wish,” I say with a mock sigh, standing back and giving her free rein of the stage, which of course is a narrow path between two overstacked shelves, which I fill pretty much completely with my frame.

She puts a foot on one of the shelves and then hoists herself upwards, trying to jab exactly at a gap between two books where the heavy book she’s holding could fit. Of course, it doesn’t, instead knocking a number of volumes out the other side and then disappearing right along with them as she loses her grip on it.

Lily yelps and her arms flail as she falls backwards. Without thinking, I’m there immediately, scooping her up in my arms. Automatically, she grabs a hold of my shirt, as if she thinks she’s going to keep falling.

“I’ve got you,” I whisper to her, finally so close to her that there’s not an inch of space between us.

Her hazel eyes are wide and her lips are parted in surprise. They’re pink and oh-so-inviting but before I can act on my desires, a loud screech kicks us both out of the moment.

“What are the two of you DOING?!” the librarian bellows, rushing towards us through the mostly empty library.

“Shit,” I mutter, and Lily squirms out of my hold. “Run!” I tell her, laughing as I grab her by the hand and make a mad dash for it.

We sprint through the library and we’re way faster than the librarian. She makes a beeline to inspect the damage and I make it to the far more familiar shelves housing international markets and stock exchange information, hiding the both of us between two of them that run perpendicular to where the librarian is.

I can hear the woman muttering and lamenting the folly of youth from where we’re standing, but I really don’t have the mental capacity to pay attention to it. Not when Lily’s looking up at me with those beautiful eyes of hers, her cheeks lit with a blush from the running, and her chest rising and falling heavily.

She’s mesmerizing, there’s no other way to put it.

“I can’t believe we just did that,” she half-whispers, half-giggles as we crowd together, trying to make ourselves as small as possible.

I’m 6’4’’, so the concept of ‘small’ is up for debate here, but I don’t mind the process of trying.

My arms are on either side of her encircling her as we’re both laughing and trying to not be too loud. It has to be some sort of a flashback to simpler, more innocent times as kids. It’s not like either of us could really think an annoyed librarian could do anything to us.

“What, don’t you get in trouble on a regular basis?” I ask her, feigning surprise.

She gives me a look that tells me she probably hasn’t been off the straight and narrow all her life. What I wouldn’t give to make her take a trip down the wild side for a little while…

Our eyes lock and her expression clears, the giggles evaporating. Now we’re just staring at one another, like we’re seeing each other for the first time. But I haven’t taken my eyes off of her since the moment I spotted her across the room, her nose in a book, worrying her bottom lip.

I brush a hand through my hair, trying to give myself a moment to think. Every fiber in my being is telling me to kiss her, but I don’t want to scare her off. Her hazel eyes follow my left hand immediately and her expression freezes. I frown and look at what she’s looking at – my hand.

My ring finger.

My tan line.

Shit.

And the moment’s gone. Not just for me, but her as well. She doesn’t have to say a word. What started off as fun and exciting has suddenly turned uncomfortable.

I don’t like having put her in that situation, and I sure as hell don’t like the reminder of my all too recent past. It’s not Lily’s fault, though.

She dips out under my arm and straightens herself. There’s more distance between us than I’d like.

“I’m going to go help her with the books,” I say, before she can utter something similar.

“Oh, no, that’s okay. I can-“

“No, I’ve kept you long enough.”

I hold up my hand and smile. She nods, her lips pressed together. Those lips that I still want to kiss…

“You better get back to your work. That case won’t handle itself.”

That gets an inkling of a smile out of it and dammit, that feels pretty okay.

“Okay. It was nice meeting you, Austin.”

“It was nice meeting you too, Lily.”

I don’t add the things I might have said if she hadn’t noticed my ‘scarlet letter’, the memory of the wicked witch in my past. It’s like a kick in the gut, just that simple reminder.

She makes herself scarce, disappearing into the library, and my eyes track her as long as I can. Then, I make my way over to the librarian, apologize, and try to get Lily’s name.

I might be a hard sell at first, but I’ve never met an older woman who I couldn’t charm one way or another. Especially when I’m on a mission.