“You know how I want my woman, Atlas,” she said.
My heart started racing so fast I was certain it would burst right out of my chest.
I looked up without meaning to.
Those green eyes captured mine immediately, holding me prisoner as if she had reached across the table and grabbed me.
“I want them breathless,” she said slowly, her gaze never leaving mine. “The kind who forget to speak when I look at them. Who thinks too much about everything.”
Her voice dropped to barely above a whisper, but in the library’s quiet, every syllable hit me.
“The kind who shiver when I get too close. Who bites their lips when they’re thinking about things they shouldn’t be thinking about.”
Heat exploded across my cheeks, so sudden and intense I felt dizzy.
My throat tightened, and I started coughing—loud, embarrassing coughs that made my eyes water.
“Excuse me,” I croaked, stumbling to my feet so quickly my chair scraped against the floor.
Without looking at her, I held up one finger and practically fled towards the bookshelves, desperate to put distance between us.
But even with my back turned, I could feel her gaze following me, burning into my shoulder blades and sending shivers racing down my spine.
Each step I took felt unsteady, every breath shallow. I pressed my palms against the spine of a random book just to have something solid to hold onto.
Marley liked women.
That should have been obvious from the start.
I mean, who dresses masculine to pull men?
“Gosh, you’re so naive, KC,” I muttered to myself as I picked up a book on epistemological phenomena and flipped through it.
But my mind was somewhere else.
Why did I even run away?
Why did she make me nervous?
Why did I get flustered or hot whenever I was around her?
Why did my stomach flip every time she looked at me?
I had a hundred questions and not a single answer.
This was all shades of ridiculous.
“Hey.”
I froze, then turned and nearly collided with her.
She was standing only a few inches away.
Very close.
Calm down, Kelechi.
“Are you done with your call?” I asked, placing the book back on the shelf with exaggerated focus.
