His Claim, Her Desire

Chapter 4: Library

‎The actual audacity of him. He had not just gotten my number, he had taken it right under his sister's nose, and was now issuing commands.

‎My thumbs moved fast over the keyboard.

‎Me: Not a chance. I'm busy.

Afterall, spending time with Cassie was me being busy. ‎His reply came in immediately.

‎Unknown: So am I. 4 minutes.

‎I let out a small disbelieving laugh.

Cassie glanced at me. "Are you good?"

"Yeah… yes, I am," I replied and she went on with what she was saying.

I told myself to stay put and ignore his text. But about ‎five minutes later, I was standing in front of the door of the library.

I pushed it open and stepped inside, closing it shut behind me.

Ronan was leaning against the desk in the center of the room with his arms crossed, watching me right from the second I walked in.

‎"You're late," he said. "That took six minutes."

‎"I shouldn't even be here," I said.

"You took my number from Cassie's phone." I tried keeping my voice firm. "Why?"

He shrugged. "Because I didn't have it."

"That's not an answer, smart-ass." I folded my arms.

The corner of his mouth lifted in a small smirk.

He freed his arms and took a step away from the desk. "You came."

"Because you texted me," I responded.

"I didn't know if you'd actually show up."

"Then why text me in the first place?"

"Curiosity," he answered simply, his eyes never leaving mine. "I wanted to see if you would show."

"You texted me... just to see if I would come down here?" I scoffed.

He nodded, clearly unbothered.

"You were staring at me out on the lawn."

"I was not staring," I snapped, the denial flying out of my mouth a little too fast.

"I texted you, and you had the option to ignore it," he pointed out. "But… you didn't."

"Yeah, I should have ignored it," I snapped again, my pulse spiking under his intense gaze.

I had no idea why I was snapping, and so aggressively at that. Maybe because I hated how easily this interaction threw me off balance.

He began took more steps forward and my heart immediately began that familiar and annoying rhythm again. My arms fell to my sides.

He stopped some feet away, his broad self towering over me and my throat went dry.

"Thank you for the coffee," I breathed.

He didn't acknowledge that. He just stood there, staring down at me for a moment. I felt my cheeks heating up and I swallowed.

"What games are you trying to play?" I asked.

"It seems you don't like me very much, do you?" he returned the question.

I arched a brow. "I barely know you."

He took one more step forward and my breath hitched. "That's not what I asked."

"You're my best friend's brother." I had no idea why I just said that. He stared at me for a moment and just then, his phone started to ring.

He didn't move for a second, his eyes just remained fixed on mine. Eventually, he reached into his pocket and pulled out the phone. His jaw tightened a bit as he checked the screen.

He looked back at me. "I'll see you around."

He turned toward the door. I quickly moved out of his path. He reached for the handle, opened the door, and stepped out.

The door clicked shut behind him, leaving me alone in the silent room. I closed my eyes and took in a deep, shaky breath.

I stood there for a minute, waiting for my heart rate to settle back to normal. I needed to get back outside to Cassie before she started to wonder where I had disappeared to.

I didn't catch another glimpse of him for the rest of the day.

The following morning, the house already felt different with the anticipation of the upcoming event. It was happening much later in the evening at an arranged venue.

But through all of it, there was no sign of Ronan. I had actually not seen him since yesterday but I didn't think much of it. I tried not to.

By noon, Cassie and I were in the kitchen grabbing a quick bite to eat before we head out to pick Archer up from the airport.

She was leaning against the island, scrolling casually through her phone while eating a sandwich.

I leaned against the counter as I took the last bite of my own sandwich. ‎I tried to sound as casual as possible.

"That reminds me, I haven't seen Ronan around today."

She looked up from her screen, letting out a small, tired sigh. "Yeah. He dipped out early this morning. Mom’s pretty bummed about it. I mean, he actually showed up for once after all these years, and then... poof."

My stomach dropped. "Oh."

"Yeah. He left a gift for them though," she added. There was a trace of disappointment in voice before she shrugged it off and cleared her throat.

So that moment in the library or whatever connection I thought we had was entirely all in my head. I might have lost my mind there for a bit. Of course it didn't mean anything.

"Classic Ronan I can’t believe he just up and left for New York City."

I paused. Wait…

"What?" I turned to look at her. "He lives in New York?"

"Yeah," she said. "Has for years now.

I suddenly had dozens of questions right at the tip of my tongue. Where? How come? But I bit down my lower lips, swallowing every single one of them.

I couldn't risk getting her suspicious… if there was even anything to be suspicious of in the first place.

She slid her phone into her pocket, changing the topic. "I'm so excited for Archer to get here,"

She took the last bite of her sandwich.

"Are you ready to head out?"

I didn't respond immediately.

"Lena," she called. "You okay?"

That snapped me out of my thoughts and I smiled. "Yeah. I'm totally fine. Let's go pick up Archer."

We rinsed our hands and stepped out of the house. We walked to her car, but as Cassie was chatting away about the evening ahead, my mind was spinning.

I still didn't know which piece of information to process first. The unexpected sting of disappointment that he had left without a word... or the discovery of the fact that we both lived in the same city.