Free Trouble When You Walked In (Contemporary Romance) by Kieran Kramer Page B

don’t. You made it painfully clear it wasn’t.”
    “Right.” She desperately wanted to adjust her glasses on her nose, but she restrained herself.
    “Why is that, though?” he asked. “Why should I stop being so … sexy? Your words, remember. Not mine.”
    He grinned, and the warmth in her belly blossomed to a flame that traveled to her nether regions. Had Elizabeth Bennet ever had that happen when Darcy looked at her? Nether regions sounded nice and Austen-esque.
    Cissie looked quickly down. “Because it gives you an unfair advantage. Look how all the women behaved when you were inside.” She forced herself to look up again. “You charmed them,” she said lightly.
    “But not you?”
    They danced another few seconds.
    “No,” she said. “You’re a rogue even to ask.”
    He threw back his head and laughed. “Rogue. How many people say that these days?”
    “I read a lot,” she said with a genuine smile. “I get caught back in other centuries quite easily.”
    She looked over his shoulder. By God, maybe she’d just participated in some flirtation. And she hadn’t been half-bad. But she was flirting with the man who was going to wreak havoc with her future, one way or the other, if she didn’t get her act together.
    Nana, Sally, and Hank Davis were holding hands, swinging them high, and singing along with the chorus, which was all about kissing, while Charles stood in the middle of their circle, sucking his thumb and swaying back and forth.
    Cissie pulled away. “I need to get back inside.” She really didn’t because Mrs. Hattlebury and Mrs. Donovan were keeping an eye on things around the shelves. “But thank you for the dance.”
    She sounded brittle again.
    So be it.
    Light from the rear windows of the library made it look cozy inside. She strode toward the back door feeling Boone’s eyes on her. Had he been able to feel her worn, rubbery bra strap through her blouse? Had he seen the desperation in her eyes?
    “Hey!” Boone called after her.
    She turned. “What?”
    “The library needs to move.” He shrugged. But his expression was friendly.
    She almost smiled at him but caught herself just in time. “No, it doesn’t.”
    God, he was dangerous.
    Inside, she started picking up some of the chairs by the card tables and putting them back where they belonged, beneath the low wooden reading tables.
    “So.” A sharp voice hailed her from the door just as she’d finished tucking her last chair under a table. “You’re upset about the mayor’s news.”
    Edwina wore a beautiful saffron sweater over black tights and boots. Her eyes were sharp and assessing. She’d always been that way. In high school, she’d roamed the halls like a shark, looking for gossip, anything she could report on in her underground newspaper.
    She’d been insatiable.
    “Hello.” Cissie wouldn’t thank her for coming. This was news she was making, although to all appearances, it seemed to be a party.
    Mrs. Hattlebury cackled with glee about something a teenager said in the adult fiction section around the corner. Near the magazines, several other students chattered loudly with Mrs. Donovan about the football game next week.
    Outside, music pounded.
    Edwina took a peek into the dirt parking lot and turned back around. “This was a cute attempt at a protest, and I’ll write it up. But the library’s going to move, sweetie.”
    “Don’t patronize me, Edwina. We’re not sixteen anymore.” Cissie was surprised she said that. It came out so easily, too.
    “Whoa.” Edwina shut her notebook, tilted her head, and stared at Cissie as if she were a stranger.
    “This was more than a cute protest,” Cissie went on doggedly. “It’s a real one. And if cute ’s all you can come up with, please don’t bother writing an article.”
    A new song blared from Nana’s pickup truck. Another hip-hop one. Two girls raced out of the fiction section and headed out the back door, laughing.
    “Hmm.” Edwina tapped her foot.