‘Cool. I’ll have a new book ready for you by tomorrow.’
‘Whoopee-do! I cannotwait!’ he said sarcastically.
I was tempted to give him another dirty look, but considering I was about to ask him for his help,again, that wouldn’t be a good idea.
It was a relief that at least I had some kind of direction to help me choose his next novel. I had my work cut out for me trying to convince a giant cynic like him to see the light, but I was determined to do it.
‘So…’ I paused as I tried to work out how best to phrase this. ‘You know how Jess and Theo said that I needed to help you out with the property stuff and you had to help me out with social media?’
‘Yes, unfortunately I do recall that.’
‘Well, I have your first assignment,’ I said, wondering whether he’d be open to being the library’s pin-up guy, which obviously was optional.
‘Go on…’
I explained the videos Jess had seen online and showed him an example.
‘So let me get this straight,’ Ben said. ‘First you want me to pretend to be your boyfriend at your brother’s wedding, and now you want me to pretend to be your boyfriend on social media?’ He raised a thick eyebrow.
‘No! I mean, yes to the wedding thing, but not the social media bit.’
‘But they’re in bed together.’ He pointed at the screen. ‘I already warned you not to fall for me, Jeffries!’ He chuckled.
‘That’s just an example! We wouldn’t dothosekinds of videos. I was thinking we could do them in different places around the library. So, maybe I’m curled up on one of the sofas and you come up to me and say, “What are you reading, Sarah?” Then you sit beside me and I give an overview of what the book’s about, then you say, “That sounds great”. Something like that.’
‘Hmmm.’ He rested his finger on his chin. ‘I’m not sure it’ll be as effective. There’s no intrigue, excitement oremotions. What works with the examples you just showed of that couple is that you get the impression that the book has inspired them to do something naughty afterwards…’
‘I know, but they’re an actual couple, and despite what you think, I have no interest in pretending that you’re my boyfriend outside of the wedding fake plus-one thing. And like I said before, I don’t want to lie to our followers.’
‘I respect that. I’m sure we can think of something else,’ Ben said.
As we sat there in silence, I racked my brain. This was insane. I shouldn’t have to rely on Ben to help me. I was supposed to be the social media manager. And I was the one who was adamant that I could do this all on my own. Yet here I was, mentally blocked.
I started doodling in my notepad, trying to make myself look busy. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Ben scrub the back ofhis neck with his hand. Then he pulled out his phone and typed something in.
Stealing a sly glance, I spotted that he was watching more of the videos from the couple that I’d showed him. His brow furrowed like he was deep in concentration.
He had really lovely eyebrows. They were thick and dark and untamed in the most beautiful way.
And his lashes were long and curled up at the ends.
God. If I had lashes like those, I’d save a fortune on mascara.
So unfair.
My gaze travelled down to his lips, which were full and they looked so soft. I wondered if he used lip balm. I remembered dating a guy whose lips got so cracked that I used to get bits of his skin in my mouth when we kissed. That relationship didn’t last long. Not because of the dry lips thing. He was just an arsehole.
‘Are you staring at me, Jeffries?’
Busted.
I snapped my gaze back to my notepad.
‘No! I was just… I was trying to see what you were looking at on TikTok.’
‘If you say so. I have a question.’ He locked his phone, then slid it back in his pocket and faced me. ‘If you had to choose between staying in and reading a great book or going out, say to a bar, what would you go for? Be honest.’
‘Staying in to read of course!’ I answered without hesitation. ‘I know you won’t understand, but nothing beats curling up in bed with an amazing book, a blanket and a nice cup of tea and some snacks. That’s a million times better than being in some noisy bar, where you can’t hear a word anyone’s saying, trying to make small talk with people who don’t really give a toss about you.’
