“Well, maybe I want to renegotiate.”
“I promise you don’t,” I warned as I steered her from the kitchen with my hand on her spine.
Coby stumbled a little, twisting around to glare at me. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Palming the sides of her face, I kissed her lips firmly and smirked when she melted against me. “You’re trying my patience, sweetheart,” I whispered. “Keep walking before I lose my composure.”
“I’m not afraid of you,” she retorted with a frown.
“I know,” I said with a smirk. “Why do you think my dick is this hard?”
Coby’s eyes flew to my crotch before they widened. With a gasp, she turned around and tried to scurry away, but my hand on her nape didn’t let her get far. Grabbing one of the shopping bags I brought in with me, I steered Coby upstairs and through the open double doors. The maids must have just finished cleaning because the cavernous room smelled of fresh linen and lemons while the marble floor gleamed with our reflections.
I couldn’t see my baby’s. face, but I felt the tension trapped under my fingers leave her at being back in here.
“I still can’t believe you did this,” she said in awe as she stared around the library like she was seeing it for the first time. Her soft voice echoed a little, reminding me that it was still waiting to be filled. “This must have cost a fortune. What if I said no to marrying you?” she asked curiously.
She wouldn’t have said no.
“Then you would have been a well-entertained, long-term, involuntary house guest. And the library would still be yours.”
“You mean your prisoner.”
“Call it whatever you want,mo aingeal, but you would be alive. Safe. Protected. My father is going to find out what yourbrother did. This is the only way I can protect you. At least for now.”
Coby’s confusion at that last part had me releasing her and setting the bag on the coffee table. Her gaze fell on it, and when she recognized the logo from the local bookstore she frequented, I knew all questions about my father had vanished.
I watched her internal struggle over keeping her attitude or finding out what was inside before her addiction spurred her forward. Squeezing by me when I refused to make space, I held in my laugh as she gave me the stank eye before lowering to sit on her heels and eagerly pulling out the stack of books.
“I thought we might christen your library,” I said as I took a seat on the couch next to her spot on the floor. One of the staff arrived like clockwork with a tray bearing a single drink. I took it and sipped from the glass while Coby oohed and aahed over the pretty covers.
“I’ve read some of these books,” Coby whispered as she fingered one of them open. “They’re my favorites. How did you know?”
“I have my ways,” I said as I leaned against the back of the couch.
“More internet stalking?” Coby asked with her gaze fixed on a random page.
“I prefer sleuthing.” Picking up one from the stack, I ignored Coby wrinkling her nose at me and flipped it over to read the back. I only read a couple of sentences before the weight of her gaze drew mine away from the book. “What?”
“Nothing. You just think you’re so smooth,” she said with a giggle.
“Smooth ain’t got shit to do with it. I just know you even though your pretty ass wants to believe I don’t.” I pinched Coby’s cheek, and she blushed before turning away. Quietly, I knocked back my drink before standing and grabbing the rest of thebooks. “I’m hungry as shit. Come on. Let’s find somewhere to put these so I can feed you.” Coby’s eyes were glowing as I helped her to her feet before grabbing the books and walking over to the closest bookcase. “This looks like the motherfucking spot right here,” I said, hyping her up. “What you think?”
“Mmmh…yes, that’s good.” Taking the first book from the stack, I started to put it on a shelf in the middle when she yelled, “No, wait!” Pausing with a book mid-air, I raised a brow. “Maybe we should put them over there.” She pointed to the bookcase by the weeping cherry tree, and I followed her over to it. Peeping that this wasn’t going to be as simple as I thought, I handed her the book and let her choose a shelf. “There,” she said with a bright grin aimed at me after putting it in its place. I nodded my approval and tried to hand her a second book, but she frowned at it, then at the bookcase, before taking it and hurrying to another bookcase on the opposite side.
Coby placed the book on a shelf only to decide a second later that she didn’t like it there either, grumbling something about the lighting and the color gray before finding another shelf. It went on like that for another fifteen minutes until she finally picked a spot.
Two goddamn hours later, we finally had all twelve of the books shelved while I was thanking God I hadn’t bought more.
Apparently, Coby wanted them all categorized by the books shereallyloved and the ones she only sort of liked, then by genre, and finally by color. I made the mistake of asking her what she was going to do with the books she hadn’t read yet, and a look of horror crossed her expression before she started studying the shelves again with a different eye. It took another twenty minutes before she designated a shelf for unread books that she may never read and unread books she’d definitely maybe read. I almost cussed her ass out until Coby suddenly turned and threw her arms around my neck. I was trapped by myown astonishment as she peppered my face with kisses. Just as I was considering bending her over the back of the couch, Coby placed a final kiss on my lips and stepped back.
“What was that for?” I asked to keep from snatching her back.
Coby only grinned harder, looking sweet as fuck. “Best evil fiancé daddy ever,” she answered with a twinkle in her eye.
I was still imagining her coming on my dick when her title for me finally clicked. A what?
COBY
