Page 22 of Between the Stacks

“Kinky librarian,” I muttered, then slapped my hand over my mouth. “Sorry.”

Cole chuckled.

A slow, sensual grin pulled at the corner of Lowe’s mouth.

I exhaled a shaky breath. “Why are you telling me about this now? We’ve only been in this house together a day. Shouldn’t you be waiting until you were sure I wouldn’t spill your secrets?”

“NDA,” Jonesy said.

I got that, but... “Right. You don’t know me. None of you do.”

“I know you,” Scott said. “We have Statistics together.”

“I wouldn’t call us besties, though. I feel like this is a conversation for girls’ night or something. Whatever guys do while playing video games and watching sports?”

“We cam and play video games. Best of both worlds.” Cole meshed his fingers together.

Lowe shook his head. “My boss graciously gave me the month of February in our company’s first annual calendar. It requires a photo shoot and a movie,” he said, drawing my attention back to him. “I have to give my boss an answer by tonight for what kind of movie I’d like to do and my holiday selection.”

“So... You need my help coming up with ideas?” I could see the elephant in the room. It wore a pink tutu and was dancing around the enclosed space, knocking into the bookshelves and destroying the place. However, I didn’t get the point of the elephant or why it wore the tutu.

“Oh no,” Lowe said. He grasped my chin between his thumb and forefinger. Those beautiful winter gray eyes of his swirled with arousal and intention. “Sweet girl, I want you to participate in my movie.”

“M-Me? You want to have sex with me and film it?” Fear and something else swirled in my belly. I’d never been propositioned before, but this definitely felt like one. “I don’t think...”

“Don’t think, Lyra,” he whispered. “You’re just the right amount of sweet and innocent.”

“I’m not an adult film actress,” I said. “I’m also not the best suited for stuff like this. Not sure if you noticed, but I’m not a waif, either.”

“We don’t want waif,” Scott said, sitting on the edge of the coffee table in front of me. Our knees brushed and a spark of recognition raced up my leg. “We want you.”

“Wait,” I mumbled, trying to knock some sense into my brain, “all of you want me?”

“Something like that,” Jonesy answered.

I laughed at the ridiculousness of it. “You guys are so full of shit.” Disdain dripped from my tone. “Not nice on any of yourparts. Look, I know I’m not everyone’s flavor of the week and I’ve been super sick because of the fire, but to pull this kind of prank...” I stood then. I couldn’t be there. With them. “I’ll ask to be moved to a different professor’s home, so you can have the space free for whatever the fuck you want to do here. Don’t worry, I’ll hold up my end of the NDA too.” I’d taken two steps toward my laptop when someone touched my hand.

The warmth of their body at my back seeped into my skin, chasing the chill of humiliation away. “We’re not pranking you, Lyra.” The desperation in Lowe’s voice did funny little things to my insides, but I didn’t dare turn around. I wouldn’t allow them to see how much they hurt me. I bit my bottom lip hard to keep the tremble at bay. All I had to do was grab my laptop and leave. “I never thought I’d meet someone like you. There’s no way you can’t feel the way you fit in here without even trying.”

“All I feel is the sting of being the butt of a joke. Make fun of the fat girl and watch her fall for it, right?” Tears stung the corners of my eyes. I’d dealt with shit like this more times than not. Add in the fact I lived on a farm, and the kids could be cruel back home.

“Never,” Lowe said, forcing me to face him. He cupped my cheek. I’d hurt him or he hurt for me. I couldn’t tell, but I saw the pain my words caused in the swirl of his gaze and the furrow of his brows. He leaned into me. “Never.” My breath hitched as he brushed his lips across my forehead. “We don’t see you as a joke. You’re gorgeous, Lyra. The minute I met you, I wanted you to be a part of this project.”

“But you didn’t know me,” I said. “You still don’t.”

“You’re right,” he agreed. “We want to, though. This isn’t a prank or a joke. We’re not doing this to humiliate you. You’ve got us all in knots.”

I glanced at them. There was a chance I jumped to conclusions about them. Who could blame me? They basicallysaidhey, I know we all just met, but we’re all porn stars, you wanna be a porn star too?For all I knew, this was some kind of MLM scheme. I didn’t know what I was supposed to do. When I looked at them there was a hint of sympathy in their gazes along with longing. I didn’t understand why they wore their affections or intentions so close to the surface when I’d learned how to hide mine over the years for fear of rejection. “I don’t know what to say. What if we don’t have any kind of sexual chemistry?”

Lies.

Lies.

I was a liar.

“Good thing we all live together,” Cole said. “Plenty of time to get to know each other while we study lines.”

I frowned. “We have lines.”

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