Page 13 of Hot Girls Read Book Club

We tidy up even though we don’t really need to. No stacks of books to organize, no notebooks to put away. Just two empty cups, a few crumbs, and the kind of silence that feels full instead of awkward.

Outside, dusk has begun to settle in. The air is starting to have the early-fall feeling, where warm sun during the day gives way to crisp gusts of wind at night.

Lily steps out first, keys dangling from her fingers.

I follow, moving to the side so she can lock up.

“You parked far?” she asks, turning to face me.

“Same spot as always,” I quip, looking out across the parking lot to my truck, the lone vehicle parked at the library.

Lily follows my gaze, like she’s checking to make sure I’m not exaggerating. “Of course it is,” she says, shaking her head.

We start walking side by side across the lot, her shoulder occasionally brushing my arm. Every time it happens, a little jolt of electricity shoots up my spine.

When we get up next to my truck, I unlock it out of habit. The headlights blink once, cutting through the dim space. Lily stops beside the passenger side, tracing her fingers along the frame.

“It’s late, I can drive you home,” I say before I can overthink it. “Or I can walk with you. Whichever.”

She raises an eyebrow. “You offering because you’re worried about me, or because you don’t want this night to end?”

There’s a beat where I could lie. But, I don’t, even though it’s probably better for both of us if I do. Lily shouldn’t waste any more of her time on me than she already does, but I’m a selfish man, and I’ll take whatever she’s willing to give.

“Both,” I admit, leaning against the passenger door with my arms folded across my chest.

That has her beaming a smile up at me as I tower over her—a small, knowing quirk of her lips that’s dangerous to me in a way I don’t fully have words for.

“Okay,” she says. “But only if you promise not to play whatever sad garage playlist you make all your employees listen to day in and day out.”

“I don’t have a sad garage playlist.”

She just looks at me, biting the inside of her cheek.

“…I have a normal garage playlist,” I correct with a smirk, opening the passenger door and stepping aside.

She hums a laugh, patting my chest as she climbs into the passenger seat, and I shut the door a little harder than necessary just to reset my head. Every time this woman touches me, I have to remind myself that she deserves better and I should keep my distance, but it’s getting harder to keep my hands to myself.

I walk around to the driver’s side, slide in, and shove the key into the ignition. The engine rumbles to life, and When I See You Smile by Bad English starts blasting through the speakers. Lily busts out laughing from the passenger seat. My eyes slam shut, knowing damn well when I look at her, she’s going to double down on the sad garage playlist jab.

Slowly, I turn my gaze to hers and she is covering her mouth, trying to stifle her laugh.

“No… No, no, no,” she gasps for air, doubling over, holding her stomach while she laughs. “This is just too good!”

“Oh, come on,” I grumble, pitching forward to turn the music off. Lily’s hand shoots out, covering mine as it rests against the audio buttons. She swats my hand away, instead cranking it up louder than it was before.

“This is iconic!” She shouts out over the music.

I shift the truck into gear, pulling out of the parking lot and turning onto the main road toward Lily’s apartment. Wind whirls through the cab, and I look over at the stunning woman in my passenger seat, hair whipping in the wind as she scream-sings the chorus alongside John Waite.

We slow to a stop at a red light. Lily is windblown as she looks my way with wild eyes, flushed cheeks, and strands of hair stuck to her glossy lips. And she’s never looked better. I adjust my grip on the steering wheel with one hand, then reach across the console to brush her hair out of her face with the other.

As I tuck the hair behind her ear, she bites her lip and smiles at me, totally unguarded and free. The sight is a sledgehammer to the chest.

The drive to her apartment is far too short for my liking.

I hop out of the truck, circling to the passenger side. Lily rests her folded arms on the open window frame and tips her head onto them, peering at me through her dark lashes, looking entirely too comfortable in my truck.

Truth be told, it’s a sight a man could get used to.