“You know.” He opened the bag in front of me. “I always suspected that you carried around a book with you wherever you went, but three books? Now that has mecurious.”
The grin that spread across his face made mine turn beet red. He was reading me just like a book. I tried to make a grab for my bag again, and this time Max let me take it. I hugged it to my chest, trying to shield it away from pryingeyes.
“You know it’s not a bad thing, right?” I’m pretty sure he could tell how mortified Iwas.
“My books are something I like to keep tomyself.”
“I get that.” He took a step towards me, but I didn’t step back. “I’ve been collecting them since I was in middleschool.”
The way he said “collecting” made my heart sing. Did he feel the same way that I did aboutbooks?
“How many books do you have?” The question came out of me before I could stop myself. My hand shot up to cover my mouth. His laugh made me feel calmerthough.
“Around 10,000 now. They are split between my office, my penthouse, and my summer house.” Summer house? Who was this man? Also, 10,000 books?! I thought my thousand was impressive, and now I didn’t want to say anythingelse.
“How many do youhave?”
“A lot.” He squinted his eyes, not letting me off the hook that easily. Silence engulfed us as he waited for my answer. I could have just turned around and left him, but I didn’t want to. “Athousand.”
It came out quieter than I thought, because Max moved closer, cupping his ear, like he needed me to repeatmyself.
“I said, a thousand. That’s all I have.” I felt a deflated because it was my dream to have as many books as Max did, but it didn’t look like it was going to be a reality for quite sometime.
“Don’t worry, babe, I’ll help you get your collection up.” He smirked and then winked at me. Instead of swooning on the inside, like a normal human being, I swooned on the outside and started moving towards Max. Before I knew it I was in his arms, our faces close together, just like they had been in the conference room. Our eyes were locked, but I closed my eyes slowly as his lips moved closer to me. I smiled when they didn’t land on my lips but softly on my cheek, his stubble subtly scratching me in the best way possible. The thought of him with a beard made me cling to him tighter. I had told this man moments ago I wasn’t ready for this, and now I wanted to jump his bones. “Goodnight,darlin’.”
I was left with a whisper in my ear that almost seemed like a promise, and I was hoping that Max was going to keepit.
