"Some fantasies don't need permission. They just need a quiet place and a locked door."
The city library was nearly empty that afternoon. A dull Tuesday rain kept most people indoors, and the few who wandered in were far from the Erotica section on the second floor. Chloe liked it this way quiet, almost sacred. She called it her "mental retreat," but secretly, it was more than that.
She traced her fingers over a familiar title Delta of Venus when a shadow shifted beside her.
"I was hoping you'd be here again."
Chloe turned. It was him.
Alex.
Tall, rugged in that undone, bookish way. Unapologetically curious eyes. The same man who, last week, had read a passage from her private notebook aloud and left her trembling inside.
Today, he wore a dark sweater that clung to his arms and the
