And then, I was facing him. My eyes on my hands that had found his chest. His hands on my hips. I glanced up at him, and immediately wished I hadn’t.

“Thanks,” I murmured, putting some distance between us. “Can you take a picture of me?” I pulled out my phone and handed it to him before he could answer. Before he could stare any longer. Catching my breath, I put on my best smile and held my arms up high to frame the sign with the library name above me.

“She was a Doc Blocker,” Jamie said, and he waited for me to crack up before snapping the picture.

“That’s actually kind of clever.”

He took a bow, handing my phone back to me, and I felt his calm settle in. Getting him out of that library had been step one, and he seemed to be shaking it off now.

“There’s a snake path over here,” Jamie said, pointing off to the side of the library. “It winds through some fruit trees. I didn’t get a chance to check it out when I came for the campus tour, and since I ended up at Alder, I haven’t made it over here. Want to walk for a bit?”

“Sure.”

It was a neat place, not just the library but the college campus, too. I loved the idea of an entire library being dedicated to an author. To be able to write stories that inspired the way his did? That moved people? That was something special.

“So,” Jamie said as we made our way toward the path. I could see the snake head peeking out over the sidewalk ahead of us, different color tiles creating the illusion. “What do you write?”

“It depends. Mostly poems right now, but I think I’d like to write a novel one day. Maybe.”

“Possible major?”

I scrunched my nose. “I don’t know about all that.”

Jamie grinned. “Ah yes, I almost forgot. Ms. Indecisive.” I stuck my tongue out and he flicked his sunglasses over his eyes. “Well, do you like to read, too?”

“Of course.”

He shrugged, steering us between the first two fruit trees. “Could always go into publishing.”

“Yeah?” I brushed my hand against one of the leaves. “I never really thought about that. That could be cool. I love to read, and I think I could be a pretty good salesman.”

“Oh yeah,” Jamie said, and I nudged him at the joke that rested beneath his comment. “So what do you like to read?”

“I read a lot of things. A lot of genres. Right now I’m really into romance.”

“Romance?!” Jamie exclaimed with a laugh. “Oh man. Does Ethan know?”

“I don’t know, I’m sure he’s seen me with my books a time or two. Why does that matter?”

He shrugged. “I’m just saying, I would want to know if I wasn’t pleasing my girl enough and she needed a steamy sex book to get her rocks off.”

“Oh my God, Jamie!” I halted our walk then, just as two girls with books pressed to their chest rushed past us. “It’s not even like that. At all.”

“Sure,” he said with an amused smirk. Bastard.

“It’s not. I read romance because it’s fun to fall in love. And with romance books, I get to do it over and over. I get to be different types of lovers, I get to feel the heartbreak of love and the successes. Love is the most powerful and real emotion we feel, and I think it’s sort of magical that we can experience some of the greatest loves of all time through books.”

“Except they’re not real.”

I huffed. “You’re impossible.”

We started walking again and Jamie apologized. “I’m just kidding. I’m sure they’re great.” He paused, but curiosity got the best of him. “So Ethan is satisfying you between the sheets then, huh?”

“We are not talking about this.”

“Oh come on,” he pleaded. “I told you all the dirt when I was dating Jenna. You owe me.”

That was true. He had told me more than I wanted to know about his and Jenna’s… adventures.

“Yeah, that wasn’t exactly saint-like, either.”

“True,” he conceded. “But lines always have been pretty blurry with us, haven’t they.”

It wasn’t a question. It was a statement. And it was the truth.

I sighed. It was just Jamie. I mean, this was the guy I’d shared the story about my name with — the most personal story of my life. He’d called me his best friend. And in a way, he’d always kind of felt like mine.

“Fine. But no teasing.”

“I swear.”

I rolled my eyes, because I definitely didn’t believe him, but let out a long breath anyway. “I don’t really know what to say.”

“Tell me how Ethan is in the sack,” Jamie said simply.

I balked at his forwardness, shaking my head.

“I don’t know.” I was flustered, stalling. “He’s fine.”

“Fine? This is sex we’re talking about, B. Not china.”

“You said no teasing!”

“I lied.”

“Clearly.”

“Seriously,” he said, pulling us to a stop again. We were right in the center of the snake path, the trees shielding us from the outside world — even if just for a moment. “Come on. Sex isn’t a taboo thing. It should be talked about. It’s about finding what works for you, what brings you pleasure.”

God, just hearing that word roll off his lips sent a rush of heat from my face all the way to my toes.

“He’s fine. Good…” I trailed off. “I just, I wish it was more… exciting. He’s so sweet, gentle, and that’s nice but…” I blushed. This was the most I’d ever talked about sex, including the few times I’d opened up to Jenna, and I didn’t want to feel embarrassed, but I did. “There’s no real passion. There’s no urgency. I’m all for sweet nothings whispered in my ear, but sometimes I just want to be thrown onto the bed, you know? Ravaged. Like he can’t fathom the thought of taking his hands off me.”

I was babbling, looking around the garden, afraid someone might overhear us. But when I chanced a look at Jamie, everything stopped. The heat of the sun closed in around us and suddenly the symbolism of where we were clicked into place. A snake path, in a garden. I felt like Eve, and here Jamie was — the juicy red apple — taunting me. Daring me.