Free He's No Angel (Heaven Can Wait Book 1) by Jacquie D'Alessandro

look a little... woozy.”
    Holy crap. Could she read minds, too? “I’m fine. Just hungry.” For you. Jesus, it required a real effort not to sift his fingers through that mass of gorgeous hair, back her against the wall, and kiss her until neither of them could breathe.
    “Me, too. The library was so busy today, I skipped lunch. C’mon in and have a seat,” she said, indicating a comfy-looking sofa in the family room.  “I just need another minute.  Be right back.”
    “Take your time.”
    Instead of sitting, Liam glanced around the room. In addition to the mocha-colored sofa, there was an overstuffed chair, and a cherry wood entertainment console topped with a flat screen tv. Bookcases covered the entire far wall. He’d seen plenty of bookcases in people’s homes, but most of them were for decorative purposes and held an assortment of photos and knick knacks along with a few books. Not Emma’s. This was ninety-nine percent books, the precision of the neatly arranged spines interspersed with only a few picture frames and plaques.
    He perused the titles and quickly realized her collection ran the gamut from textbooks to thrillers, poetry to philosophy, biographies to romance, photography to fairy tales, mysteries to suspense, Shakespeare to Harry Potter.  A silver picture frame caught his eye and he picked it up to study the photo. It showed a smiling Emma wearing a black graduation cap and gown, the latter’s sleeves looped with numerous colorful braided ropes. Flanking Emma were a quartet of unsmiling people, two older-- her parents, Liam guessed, and a young man and woman who looked close to Emma’s age. A very serious looking group, Liam thought, returning the photo to the shelf.  Emma was the only one who looked happy to be there.
    “All set,” came her voice from behind him.
    He turned and for the second time in minutes felt as if he’d been whacked in the head. This time, however, he was determined not to turn into Mute Gawker. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen this many books outside a library.”
    “I’ve collected them for years. I ran out of space before I ran out of books. The spare closet is stacked with them still packed away in boxes.”
    “And here I thought women liked jewelry and shoes.”
    “Jewelry’s not really my thing, but shoes? Definitely. Shoes and books.” She shot the shelves behind Liam a pointed look. “Guess the book part isn’t a big shocker.”
    Liam chuckled. “Not really.  I bet it took a lot of time to pack them all up when you moved.”
    “God, yes. In my next life I’m going to collect something small and lightweight.”
    “I’d go with Q-tips if I were you.”
    She laughed. “Or toothpicks. Good idea.”
    Liam nodded toward the silver-framed photo. “Your family?”
    She crossed the room to stand next to him. Liam inhaled a lungful of chocolate-chip cookie scent and had to shove his hands in his pockets to keep from reaching for her. “Yes. Mom, Dad, and my older brother and sister, who are twins.”
    “College graduation?”
    “Grad school, actually.”
    Grad school. She really was a brainiac. In fact her entire family looked smart. Like college professor smart. Probably this woman was used to dating genius types. Don’t forget her last boyfriend was a fireman , his inner voice reminded him. Yeah. And that ass was the reason she hated guys in his profession.  She probably couldn’t wait to find herself a nice chemical engineer or rocket scientist or brain surgeon or something like that. The fact that he couldn’t seem to string two intelligent sentences together probably wasn’t helping his cause.
    He was saved from thinking up something clever to say by a loud meow. Shifting his attention away from Emma-- no easy task-- he looked at the huge black and white cat glaring at him through squinty eyes from the foyer.
    “Don’t mind Fluffy. He doesn’t like strangers.”
    Liam shot her a reproachful look. “He? A boy? You named a boy cat