But when a tall, muscular man with sunglasses and a baseball cap walked through the door, my jaw crashed to the ground.
No. Way.
It can’t be.
‘What the hell areyoudoing here?’ I snapped as my stomach bottomed out.
‘Sarah?’ Jess looked at me and frowned. ‘What’s wrong?’
‘That’s him!’ I shouted, pointing furiously as I tried to process what was happening. ‘He’s the twat who was talking shit about romance books on the train!’
2
BEN
So this is the famous Sarah?
She was hot.
Sarah had deep brown eyes, smooth black hair that skimmed her shoulders, medium brown skin, and full lips, and those fitted jeans and white T-shirt she was wearing perfectly accentuated her gorgeous curves.
Theo and Jess had spoken about Sarah a lot, so I’d been looking forward to meeting her. But judging by the way she was shooting daggers at me right now, the only way Sarah wanted to see me was buried in a ditch after I’d been mauled to death by a pack of hungry lions.
Lesson learned.
Next time I was trying to console a mate whose girlfriend had just dumped him because he wasn’t, as she’d put it, ‘book boyfriend material’, I’d avoid doing it on a train where a passionate romance reader was apparently documenting my every word.
I’d barely caught the train in time and I swear I’d only seen a few pensioners in the carriage when I’d boarded.
I hadn’t even realised Sarah was there. And even if I had, what were the chances of my conversation being heard by a woman who not only loved romance novels but would be working in the same building as me?
Probably one in a million.
Believe me, if I’d seen a woman who looked likethatsitting there, I would’ve called Hugh back later. I’d already spent last night at his place in London listening to him bitch about his ex, so he would’ve understood.
Now I’d just made my life difficult.
I took off my sunglasses, hoping that if I fluttered the long lashes that the ladies always told me they loved, Sarah might forgive me, but if anything, she looked even angrier.
Right now, she was glaring at me like I’d just cracked the spine of her favourite novelanddog-eared the pages, which Jess had recently told me that according to Readers’ Law was a criminal offence.Who knew?
Speaking of Jess, she didn’t look happy either. She was scowling at me with her arms folded, and Theo’s face was crumpled with confusion.
Yep. This wasn’t looking good.
‘I can’t believe thatyou’reBen!’ Sarah shouted. ‘You’re a fraud! We can’t have people like you here polluting the library with your narrow-minded views. Jess, Theo, back me up!’
‘Is this true?’ Theo barked. ‘Were you talking shit about romance novels?’
‘Gimme a break, guys.’ I flashed a weak smile. ‘It was just a misunderstanding.’
‘Answer the question!’ Jess’s nostrils flared.
‘Notshitexactly…’ I said cautiously, feeling like I was on trial and giving the wrong answer would result in them stringing me up and chopping off my balls.
‘Er, hello?’ Sarah interrupted. ‘Pretty sure you called itbullshit.’
Ah, yes. I’d forgotten about that…
