Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 91361 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 365(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91361 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 365(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
“On the house,” the younger woman adds, setting the cappuccino down with a flourish.
My eyes widen. “Are you sure?”
“You look like you need it. That page has been staring back at you for twenty minutes, and I don’t think either of you is winning the standoff.” Her eyes twinkle with good humor.
I wince and offer a sheepish smile. “Was I that obvious? I hope I haven’t driven away your customers with my doom cloud.”
“Rough semester?” she asks, tucking the empty tray under her arm. Her gaze flicks to my stack of ungraded papers and the red pen I’ve been tapping against the table for who knows how long.
“Something like that.” I don’t want to lie...but I don’t want to admit the truth either, which is how my unhealthy obsession over a certain student’s older brother has turned my brain into academic mush.
“I totally get it. College can be brutal. What are you taking up?”
I’m flattered and embarrassed by her mistake. “Actually...”
Ten laughter-filled minutes later, and George and I have gotten things straight about each other. She’s twenty-five, no boyfriend since birth, and divides her time between her job and night school. A business major with a minor in literature, which explains why she kept eyeing the worn copy of Jane Austen peeking out from my bag. She treats Caffeinated Pages like her own living room, moving between tables with the ease of someone who knows exactly where she belongs in the world.
George, on the other hand, is still shaking her head in amazement that I’m a bona fide college professor...who also happens to have the same taste in books as she does.
“Have you read Eina L. Haze’s newest?”
Why, darn it?
Why is it that everyone seems to know what I’ve done my best to hide my whole life?
“I think I should make one thing clear,” I say awkwardly, unconsciously dropping my voice to a whisper even though no one is close enough to overhear. “I read those books for research, not for fun.”
“Oh, I see.” Her eyes sparkle with amusement, making me suspect she doesn’t believe me for a second.
Phew.
“That’s just so cool, Prof. I mean, it just goes to show how you really can’t judge a book by its cover.”
“Uh, yes.” Why do I feel like I’m missing something again?
“I mean, I’m familiar with the titles you’ve read recently since they’re the same books I’ve also read.”
Claimed by the Alpha. Dominated by the Biker. Submission to the MC King.
I try not to wince as George rattles off the exact same titles that got me in trouble with a certain man I’m still doing my best to forget.
I think...I think it’s time I deleted those books from my device.
“Oh, and of course, Taken in the Hallway! You borrowed that more than once, didn’t you? It’s my absolute favorite, too!”
“It’s not my favorite.”
I can’t believe I’m lying about this again.
“It’s just for research,” I insist, feeling my academic reputation crumbling by the second.
“Oh, right. I keep forgetting.” George looks at me curiously, tucking a strand of blonde hair behind her ear. “What made you realize you also want to write your own MC romance?”
What did she just say?
George smiles at me knowingly. “It’s because of Mr. Steele, isn’t it?”
My coffee cup freezes halfway to my mouth. “Mr. Steele?”
The younger woman nods eagerly, her eyes lighting up with genuine enthusiasm. “I saw you with him the other time, and when I told him you two look good together—”
“George!”
But she only laughs, completely unrepentant. “Well, it’s true. You two look perfect together, and that’s when he asked if I knew you in any way, and even though I told him I only knew you as one of our regulars—”
I let out a gasp. “Are you the one who told him how I like my coffee?”
“How do you know—” It’s George’s turn to gasp this time, a look of delighted scandal crossing her face. “Did he make you coffee?”
So what if he did?
“Do you know that he never makes coffee for anyone, not even his baby sister?”
It doesn’t have to mean anything.
It doesn’t!
She looks at me meaningfully, but I just gaze back at her, determined to play dumb.
“You know what that means, don’t you?”
“Nope.” I take a deliberately casual sip of my cappuccino, trying to look like a woman whose heart isn’t suddenly racing.
“Mr. Steele likes you!”
Oh yes, I mean, no!
“And you like him back—”
“I do not!”
But George just laughs, the sound warm and genuine. There’s something about her laugh that makes you want to join in, even when you’re the target of her teasing. “Almost everyone here would kill to date Mr. Steele—”
She suddenly stops speaking, and I look at her warily. “What?”
“It was the way you looked at me.”
What does she mean—
“You looked really jealous—”
“I was not!”
“When you thought I was one of the girls who’s after Mr. Steele—”