Page 137 of Ruthless Court

My hand tightens at her waist.

She inhales.

“Haverhill.”

My name comes out breathless.

I lift one hand and straighten her glasses with my finger.

“There. Bookworm restored.”

Her expression closes, but her cheeks remain pink.

“Touch my glasses again and lose the hand.”

Her phone buzzes.

The moment breaks.

Hannah slips away and checks the screen.

“My ride’s here.”

“What ride?”

“The kind that takes me places.”

She steps around me, then glances back.

“Study session’s over. It’s been fun, Haverhill.”

“You hate fun.”

“I hated less of that than expected.”

Before I can decide whether that qualifies as a compliment, she disappears between the shelves.

I retrieve the book she nearly fell trying to reach.

Wrong title.

I find the one Aldridge assigned and catch Hannah near the front entrance.

“You grabbed the wrong book.”

She looks at the cover in my hand, then at the one she’s holding.

Her face warms again.

“Distracted?”

“By your refusal to stop talking.”

She exchanges them.

Outside, a black SUV waits beneath the stone archway.

A driver steps into the rain and opens the rear door.