Page 76 of Austen Persuaded

I pursed my lips. He was right—I’d only moved here for college, but I fit in here better than I ever had when living in California with my mother. “Still not canceling.”

My phone buzzed, and I unlocked the screen to see a text from Hakeem. Kylan’s arm brushed mine as he leaned over, and I fought the urge to shudder from the delicious warmth of it.

“Oh, good, now you don’t have a choice.”

“What?” I mumbled, disoriented from his touch as I focused on the words on the screen. “Oh … Bookshop is closing early. Ugh, seriously?”

Kylan smirked. “Oh, darn. Well, get your work wrapped up so you can head out before the worst of the snow comes.”

“Is that an order, boss?” I asked, narrowing my eyes.

He frowned, something unreadable in his piercing grey eyes. “No. Just a friendly suggestion. I know you’ve been working late because you want the promotion, and I wouldn’t stop you. But I may decide to close the office if it gets bad enough because, you know, safety.”

With a huff, I turned on my heel to go … somewhere. To the vending machine, maybe. Why I was angry, I didn’t even know. But I wasn’t about to let him, or a little snow, dictate my day. Or my evening, as it happened. I might as well work late since book club was canceled.

But snow had a way of dictating a great deal of life in Minnesota. Hours later, it was dark, and I was out of options. I hadn’t even wiped the snow off my car yet when I dropped my car keys in the fluffy white stuff. Lacking winter gloves or anything sensible to keep my fingers from going completely numb, I was forced to take frequent breaks in my search for the keys to try to warm my shakinghands. But this was a losing battle. I was freezing and shaking and wet and on the verge of tears when I heard a low voice cut through the furious wind and swirling snow that extended in every direction around me.

At first I couldn’t make out his words or even see him as my eyes darted around desperately, my teeth chattering and eyelashes coated with snowflakes. At least I’d found some stylish boots and a sweater in my bottom desk drawer—a forgotten stash—so my feet weren’t frozen in sandals. When a thickly gloved hand landed on my shoulder, I knew the warm, wet breath so near my face could only behis.

“Annie, I’m going to carry you back inside.”

Before I could even begin to protest, I was off my feet and nearly lost my breath. His arms cradled my slender, wet, shaking form as shock coursed through me. “K–Kylan,” I mustered.

“Shhh,” he said into my ear, his hot breath on my skin the best thing I’d ever felt. “You can yell at me when we’re back inside.”

I pressed my lips together and relaxed my head on his shoulder as we made the short but arduous trek back to the building through several feet of snow and ice.

Warm air surrounded me as he carried me under the eave and through the open door and then quickly deposited me on a nearby chair in the lobby. “Stay here,” he ordered, an edge in his tone.

Too weak to argue, I simply nodded, not that he noticed, as he was already jogging away toward the offices. He came back quickly with a blanket and a duffel bag. I eyed the blanket as a starving person eyes a meal, and he arranged it around me, his eyes hard as he watched me shaking.

Was he angry?

I began to form more coherent thoughts as the warmth began to slowly return to my body.

Great, his anger is just what I need right now.

I closed my eyes and buried my head under the blanket.

“Don’t go to sleep,” he warned. “We’re not staying here.”

Is he going to kick me out of the office, knowing I can’t very well drive home?

What the heck is the point of bringing me in from the cold only to toss me back out there?

My fury began to rise as my body temperature did. “I don’t—see how—my car—lost my keys,” I managed, teeth still chattering.

When he didn’t reply or even acknowledge me, I added, “There’s a sofa in—office library—”

“We’re not staying here,” he repeated, sounding annoyed as he strode toward the window, which was nearly impossible to see out of.

“Are you …” I hesitated. “Are you going to, uh—take me home?”

He turned back, a blank look on his face. “Yes. We’ll have to go back out there, of course. Are you ready, or do you need to warm up some more first?”

I wanted to protest that I couldn’t walk in these flimsy boots, that we’d never get out of the parking lot, that it was far easier to just stay here. But his jaw was set with determination and probably annoyance, so I decided not to bother arguing with him. I simply nodded and said, “I’m fine. Ready.”

He looked at his phone for a few minutes and then stuffed it in his pocket. As he inhaled and exhaled slowly, his eyes were on the ceiling before he strode over to me. “Let’s go.”

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