Lingering Kiss

Chapter 8

Mia smiled at Erin, one of the library's usual visitors who she had gotten close with over the years, as she handed her the book she had selected for an assignment Erin had.

"Thank you, Mia." Erin said as she put the book into her shoulder bag. "I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't been here to recommend the book."

"You would have found it either way."

"Yea, maybe after going through the other ten books that had the topic I have to write on." Erin said and Mia laughed.

"Maybe." Mia said, "I'm glad I could help."

"I'll see you next weekend then." Erin smiled at her.

"Uhh, maybe." Mia hesitated which made Erin frown.

"Going out of town?"

"No." Mia said, "But I have a month to prepare for the bar exam and I might not be working here for that period."

"Oh wow, I thought you still had time." Erin said

"Yea, I don't know where it went." Mia said sighing before smiling at her "You, on the other hand, have finals coming up, you should worry about that and not me."

"Well, I'm going to miss you." Erin said

"We'll still see each other around." Mia said

"We definitely will." She said smiling "Bye."

"Bye." Mia smiled at her before she walked towards the door and out of the library just in time to spot Zander Cross, her boss walk in. His gaze found hers immediately and he smiled as he made his way to her.

What was he doing here?
She wondered with a frown.

"You can get that frown off your pretty face." Zander said, "I'm here for my niece."

Mia gave him a polite smile when he reached the counter.
"Good afternoon Mr. Cross." She greeted him.

"Mia, Mr. Cross is my father, I told you to call me Zander." He said as he placed his arm on the counter staring right at her.

"You're my boss, I find that unprofessional."

"We're not at the office." He said, "So, I'm not your boss here."

"Well, give it a week and you would no longer be my boss." She said with a smile as the thought of taking the bar exam made her happy, nervous but happy.

She could finally make her dream a reality.

"I'm looking forward to that." He said in a low tone which made her smile drop.

He was doing it again. Flirting with her and she didn't know how to react to that because regardless of being off-work time, she still saw him as her boss and no other way. Of course, he was stupidly hot and ruggedly sexy but there was nothing about him that attracted her to him like her to Fred.

Oh, Fred!
She sighed.

She shook the thought of him away as she cleared her throat.
"How may I help you?"

"Flo needs a book to keep her busy before Monday." He said, "She says she's done with the ones you picked out for her last weekend." He said as he placed two books from the secret seven series on the counter.

"Oh, she's a fast reader." Mia said as she took the books and stepped out of the counter and to the shelves that had the books with Zander following behind "But why didn't she stop by herself?" She asked as she reached up for the third and fourth books in the series.

"I wanted an excuse to see you." Mia's hand froze on the books. Zander probably thought she had trouble getting the books out because his hand was suddenly on hers. Or maybe he just took that as an excuse to touch her.