Page 37 of My Irresistible Enemy

“Do wehaveto look up the books we were assigned?” Aiden asked.

Tanner sighed. “As I just explained to Wade—”

“No, no, I get that,” Aiden said. “We can look up our real recipes later. I just meant like, while we’re filming in there, what if we found other books we wanted to talk about instead?”

“Because you’re such a bookworm?” Tanner said, arching an eyebrow. Aiden flushed. “I know you’re not great at following directions, but just try for us this once, buddy, alright? It’ll help keep things moving. Now let’s get in there.”

Tanner turned and moved to the library doors before Aiden had a chance to respond, and the rest of the contestants flowed forward—I think everyone was eager to get out of the heat.

I couldn’t help noticing the way Aiden’s lips tightened in response to Tanner’s words, or how he looked down at his shoes, though I wished I could. What did I care if Tanner was a dick to him? It was good for Aiden to get a taste of his own medicine, wasn’t it?

The slip of paper Nora handed me had call numbers for a book about edible flowers and another one on the genetic history of the apple. They were easy enough to find, but the roving camera teams all seemed to be focused on other bakers, so I leaned back against a bookcase and began flipping through them.

I’d only gotten a few pages into the apple book when I heard Nora’s voice drifting out of the stacks a couple of aisles over.

“So, what is it you’re researching today, Aiden?” she asked. She had to be prompting him for the camera, considering that she’d handed us our assignments herself.

“Oh, you know. Books. Baking. That sorta thing.” Aiden’s voice was lilting, and he gave what he must have thought was a cute little laugh. It annoyed me that itwascute—from two aisles away, at least, where I didn’t have to see his face.

“So not like, carpentry or the history of baseball?” Nora said.

“Well, not right now, but hey, if we have a challenge next week that requires building our own little ovens and then baking things inside of them, I’m down to research that too. I love learning about nailing things. Screwing them. Anything that can take a pounding, you know?”

I rolled my eyes but pushed off the bookcase I’d been leaning on and walked in the direction of their voices. Well, Aiden’s voice and Nora’s laugh—I could hear her snickering from here.

“Now, if it were baseball we were talking about,” Aiden was saying when I reached the end of his row, “I wouldn’t even need to do research. I know all about sports, and balls. Pitching. Catching. Really kind of an expert at catching. Could probably write a book on it.”

I heard Em’s laugh join Nora’s. He must have been the camera person shooting this segment. Nora scolded him quietly.

“Em, come on. We can’t use any of this if you don’t keep the camera straight.”

“We can’t use any of it anyway,” Em said, still chuckling. “Are youlisteningto him?”

“I do my best,” Aiden said.

I was doingmybest to stay out of sight of the camera, but I could just picture him grinning and giving a little curtsy when he said that.

“Whew, okay. Deep breath. We are professionals, doing a professional job, like the professional people we are,” Nora said. “Alright, Aiden, let’s try this again. Tell us about the books you’re looking for. What do you have in your hand there?”

“Whatdon’tI have in my hand?” Aiden said. “I’m an expert at holding things too, not just catching. I can stroke. Caress. You name it. Make sure viewers at home know that as well.”

I couldn’t help myself—I peeked around the corner to see Aiden wiggle his eyebrows at the camera. Em’s shoulders shook silently.

“Aiden, come on,” Nora begged. “Just tell us the books you’re looking for so we can wrap this up. We have to film other people too.”

“See for yourself, if you’re so interested,” Aiden said, holding his piece of paper out in front of him. “Fascinating, aren’t they?”

“Whoa, whoa, hold on. I have to refocus,” Em said, but Nora shook her head.

“Forget refocusing, there’s nothing on there but numbers. Aiden, for the love of God, will you just find the books you were assigned and act like you want to read them? Please?”

“But how could I pick just one or two books from this glorious section on baking,” Aiden said, gesturing at both sides of the stacks surrounding him. That was a little inaccurate, since the left side of the aisle was actually about hobbies and crafts, but since when did Aiden care about accuracy?

“Uh, you could start with the ones on your paper,” Nora said.

“Ugh, so boring. But if you insist.” Aiden rolled his eyes dramatically, then looked down at his paper.

He stared at it for a few seconds, his lips moving silently. It was the quietest I’d ever seen him. His head was tilted down, but I saw him bite his lip. Finally, he looked up.

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