Page 46 of Cinderella Is Faking It

“Like wha- ew, you’re gross.”

“I told younotto call me that.” I shrugged and opened the door for her to shuffle in. Some men might have been into that kind of power play. While I didn’t mind that there was basically a decade between us, I didn’t need to fetishize it. “Not my thing.”

“You made the connection in the first place.”

“That’s just because I have a dirty mind.”

“Exactly. Now.” She dumped the bag on my sofa and pulled out a pastel project book, and pastel pens and page flags to match. “Show me the books.”

“Wow, you’re a geek.”

“Yep.” She jutted her chin out and grinned widely. “Books!”

Her enthusiasm was too cute considering the fact that she wasn’t here to borrow books on princesses or unicorns or whatever else matched her pastel stationery. I showed her down the hallway and opened the door to my office for her. “All yours.”

“Hmpf.” She furrowed her brows, looking over the shelves lining the walls, and clicked her tongue when she took in the sleek glass desk in the middle of the room. “This is not an inviting library.”

“It’s an office, not a library.”

“How many books do you own?”

I had a vague sense that I was answering a trick question when I said: “Must be around 2000 now.” At least the bookcases had been advertised to hold 200 each.

“Well, you need only 1000 books to qualify as a library, Mr. Be- Becks? Becky? B?”

“Beck.”

“And a library must be inviting. It should be begging you to make yourself comfortable and stay for hours.”

“Or you just take a book fromthe officeand read it on the sofa.”

“Hold please.” She pushed her stack of pink and blue and orange stationery into my hands and disappeared down the hallway, returning a minute later with my entire bedding piled high in her arms.

“That belongs in the bedroom.”

“Don’t you have work or something?” Del scrunched her nose at me and nodded at my desk.

“That’s why I suggested you read in the living room.”

“Good thing I’m a quiet reader.” She grinned and spread the thick fleece blanket on the floor like a picnic cloth, arranging pillows against the bookcases to create a reading nook for herself, before stretching her hands out for her study supplies. I handed them over and watched her arrange them, Color-coded along the edge of the blanket. While I wasn’t keen on having my apartment rearranged, I wasn’t opposed to having Del make herself comfortable in my office.

“That shelf,” I said and pointed at the one opposite my desk. It was the safest placement in case of video calls. You didn’t want screenshots blown up to reveal books like Tantric Massage 101 or Advanced Japanese Bondage.

“Any pointers?”

“Follow your gut.” I had a meeting, but it was the one I’d promised Julian about a certain person in attendance right now, so I dropped into my chair and typed out a quick message to let him know she’d be able to hear me, and waited for him to react with a thumbs up before I picked up my headphones and jumped on the video call.

“You had a girl over and that’s the reason you didn’t show up at the office today? Very unprofessional of you.”

“Do you need me to run you through the whole strategy again or do you think I might have it handled?” I raised my brows at him, almost daring him to question me again. If nothing else, Georgia’s seal of approval of my approach, should have shut down his doubts. Del shot a quick look over her shoulder, but returned to browsing the shelves when she registered that I was on a call.

“I’m not asking if she sucked your dick for breakfast, idiot.”

Del couldn’t hear him but that didn’t stop the muscle in my jaw from twitching at his words. “It was more of a last-minute arrangement.”

“Hmm, just make sure she’s not friendzoning you, Mr. Intimacy.”

“That’s currently no concern,” I replied, shooting a look over the screen of my laptop. Blondie was pulling out a large coffee table photography book, featuring close-ups of people wrapped in ropes, and raised her brows at the cover.