Page 19 of Dangerous Men
“What? Oh! Oh, yes! We got them in a few weeks ago, but I can finally start putting them out for sale after we close,” she answers him.
“Would you put one aside for me, Sydney?” he asks her.
Sydney. I nearly groan. The name suits her. Sinfully sweet Sydney. Yeah, I like that.
Curious, I reach for a book, lifting it out of the box. There’s a dragon on the cover, and that’s cool, I fuck with dragons.
“One for me, too,” I tell her, reading the back. A lot of complicated names, here.
“It’s the third in a series,” our naughty girl—Sydney—objects, as I flip through the pages. “You should read the other two first. They aren’t stand-alone books.”
“Nah, it’s chill.” I watch action flicks out of order all the time. What’s the difference? “I’ll figure it out. So, does she ride the dragons, or hunt the dragons? What’s the story there because I love?—”
I stop, eyes widening as they flick over the page.
Thisscene has nothing at all to do with dragons.
“I need that back. I’m not supposed to let anyone have them until after midnight,” Sydney says, a little firmly, reaching out to take the book from me. But I pivot away from her, holding it up higher until she can’t reach.
Because this?
I could fuck with this.
“Is she…” I swallow, flipping the page. “Is she fucking three guys at once here?”
Alec’s eyes snap up.
“Three?” he asks. “What do you mean,three?Who’s the third?”
“How should I know? There’s a Zayden… Malachi, and some guy named...” I try to pronounce the word, mouthing it before I say it. “Damascus?”
Sydney gasps, a hand flying up to cover her mouth.
“No!” she squeals, the words muffled from her fingers. “Theprince?”
“Wow, he ishung,” I mutter, flipping to the next page. “Is she… holy shit, there is a lot of double penetration happening here. I don’t think this position is even physically possible, but I guess if you had a railing, you could...”
“That’s enough,” Alec says, shooting to his feet and yanking the book out of my hands. My cock twitches in disappointment. It was just getting good. “First of all,” he snaps at me, “no fucking spoilers. And second of all, she told you no one is supposed to read it until midnight. You’re going to get her in trouble.”
He hands the book back to her, and she clutches it to her chest, looking stunned.
“Sydney, please excuse him. This is my… coworker, Ashton.”
Coworker? Okay,ouch, we’re practically brothers. But, fine, I get it.
“You can call me Ash,” I tell her.
“It’s nice to meet you, Ash,” she says, sounding a little dazed.
“I am sorry about that, Sydney,” I tell her, grinning and rubbing at the back of my neck. “I got a little caught up in the, uh, story.”
I wink, and the way she blushes in return is sweeter than any iced coffee with extra syrup I’ve ever had.
“It’s okay,” she assures me. “But I, uh… I really need you to put on a shirt. It’s café policy. All customers have to…you know, wear clothing.”
She sets the book back in the box and looks around, eyes landing on the display ofThe Book Boutiquemerchandise.
“What size are you?” she asks, walking over to the display and kneeling in front of it. I watch as she pulls out a stack of simple white shirts with their store logo.
