Chapter 9 Sarah
SARAH
Iclosed my laptop and smiled.
I’d done it. It was Saturday night, which meant I’d completed my first week of working at the library and overall, it’d gone well. It’d been intense, but I’d got through it.
I knew I’d enjoy being surrounded by books all day and recommending them to readers when I got the chance to interact with our members, but in many ways, it’d been even better than I’d imagined.
One of my favourite moments happened about an hour ago when I bumped into a lady who’d come back to the library to tell me that she’d devoured the entire Chestnut Springs series by Elsie Silver.
I’d recommended it to her on Wednesday when I was covering for Celeste in the bookshop and the customer had finished the final book last night.
I’d quickly recommended that she read the Rose Hill series next and she’d bought all the books on the spot.
It was such a good feeling to know that those novels were going to bring her so much joy and that the sales would help the library financially too.
Yep. Those parts of the job were so satisfying.
The only fly in the ointment so far had been working with Ben. But I didn’t want my blood to start boiling, so I wasn’t going to think about him.
Right now, I planned to swipe on a fresh coat of lipstick and get ready for my first official girls’ night out as a Romance Library employee with Jess, Jane and Celeste. Hopefully Maddie and a few other locals would come too. I couldn’t wait.
As I was doing the late shift, the other girls were already there, so once Jackson had locked up, I headed to the local pub, the Seaview Arms.
‘There she is!’ Jess waved at me as I stepped inside.
The decor was typical of a traditional British pub. It had dark wooden tables and chairs and deep burgundy patterned carpet. The walls were decorated with photos of fishermen and important town figures, sea-related memorabilia and old Sunshine Bay postcards.
The bar itself had the same dark polished wood as the furniture and a large selection of spirits behind it.
‘Hi!’ I called out, then walked over to one of the few tables which also had burgundy leather banquette seating along the back wall.
After saying hello to my co-workers, I went over to Maddie and Kara and gave them hugs. I’d met them briefly before when visiting Jess, but this was the first time I’d been out-out with them.
‘What you drinking?’ Celeste asked when I sat on the seat they’d saved for me.
‘G&T, please.’
‘Starting strong with the hard spirits!’ Maddie said. ‘Tough week?’
‘No, it’s been great!’ I smiled at Jess. ‘Just feels like a good drink for a Saturday night. What you all drinking?’
‘We started with wine,’ Jane said. ‘Celeste tried to get Bob to give us a round of tequila shots, but thankfully he said it’d be better if we paced ourselves.’
‘Phew! Good thinking!’ I said.
Bob was Celeste’s dad, and he owned and ran the pub with her mum, Barbara, or Babs as the locals called her. They were both lovely.
‘Don’t worry, you ladies aren’t off the hook,’ Celeste added. ‘We’ll deffo be doing shots later!’
‘Maybe we should eat something first?’ Jane said. ‘To line our stomachs?’
Jane was the more reserved and sensible one in the group and I agreed with her. Drinking shots on an empty stomach was a recipe for disaster.
‘I’ve already sorted some food with Barbara,’ Jess said. ‘My treat. Call it a little welcome to Sunshine Bay and working at the library celebration!’
‘Awww, thanks, bestie!’ I smiled at Jess.
‘So come on, then,’ Celeste said. ‘Give us all the goss on the latest hottie to work at the library.’
‘Sorry, what?’ I frowned.
‘Don’t play innocent.’ Celeste rolled her eyes.
‘I’m talking about Ben, of course! First there was Theo, then there was Jackson and now there’s a new Eaves brother.
I’m telling you, this library has more gods than heaven itself.
Not that I’ll ever get to find out what heaven’s really like with the filthy things I’ve done in my life.
You know the saying: good girls go to heaven, bad girls like me go everywhere!
’ She cackled and we all burst into a fit of giggles.
‘He is very good-looking,’ Kara said. ‘And Celeste’s right. Is there some kind of criteria in your job descriptions that states that every man who works at the library has to look like a male supermodel? Jess and Jane, you are two very lucky women!’
‘We are.’ Jess smiled.
‘And I’m gutted I never got to sample the goods with any of them before they settled down,’ Celeste huffed.
‘I don’t get it. No offence, Jane, but I offered to suck Jackson’s cock long before you two hooked up.
I didn’t even know you were into each other and obvs I’m happy for you now, but what’s the deal with Ben?
I offered myself on a silver platter and he turned me down. Wanker! Why isn’t he putting out?’
‘You asked him out and he said no?’ Kara tilted her head with curiosity.
‘Yep!’ Celeste took a glug of her wine. ‘I said if he wanted to have some fun, I’d be up for it.
That’s what guys like him want, right? Sex with no strings.
But it’s been over a week and nothing. Let’s face it, it’s not like Sunshine Bay is overrun with hot single gals like me.
And I heard he shagged anything that moved, so I’m pissed! ’
That was weird.
I also thought Ben would’ve jumped at the chance to shag Celeste.
She was in her early twenties and took pride in her appearance.
Every time I saw her she always had a different hair colour (this week it was red), nice clothes and immaculate make-up.
She was pretty and willing, which I would’ve thought was exactly his type.
Ben had spoken to me for all of two minutes during our first proper meeting before he’d suggested that I might like to have ‘angry sex’ with him, so it was strange that he hadn’t taken Celeste up on her offer.
Then again, he probably hadn’t meant it. He was just flirting with me because he was bored and I was there, which suited me just fine.
‘I’m not sure that Ben’s the player he makes out to be,’ Jess said. ‘He flirts a lot with our members, but as far as I know he hasn’t taken it further.’
‘I doubt that,’ I jumped in. ‘I’ve lost count of the amount of times I’ve seen him surrounded by women. The other day I even saw one of them give him her number and he lapped it up. He’s one of those performative males.’
‘What’s that?’ Maddie frowned.
‘It’s men that sit around pretending to read books just to pick up women,’ I explained.
‘That’s actually genius!’ Celeste said.
‘It’s not genius,’ I said. ‘It’s disingenuous and deceitful.
He blatantly admitted that he hates romance books.
Yet when I walked into the library, I saw him pretending to read with a swarm of women around him hanging on his every word whilst he gushed about how much he loved romance.
Gross. And they fell for it! They even started boosting his already ginormous ego by saying he was the total package, book hero material. Ugh. It was pathetic.’
‘Well, he does kind of look like a book hero,’ Maddie said sheepishly. ‘Just saying…’
‘Yeah! And I bet he fucks like one too!’ Celeste said. ‘Rest assured, ladies, that when we bang, I’ll give you a blow-by-blow report. Ha! Blow. See what I did there?’ She cackled again.
Kara and Maddie laughed along, but Jess, Jane and I didn’t.
Jane was loved up with Jackson, so she wasn’t interested in discussing another man’s appendages, and from the way Jess was wincing, she didn’t want to think about her brother-in-law in that way either.
And as for me, well, the last thing I wanted to think about was how well Ben did or didn’t perform in the bedroom.
Truth be told, I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t thought about it at all. Obviously, I’d had a mini fantasy about him on the train, before he’d said those awful things about romance.
Okay, and maybe when I’d seen him running on the beach during my lunch break a couple of days ago, a few illicit thoughts may have crept into my head for one or two seconds when I saw how good his arse looked in those shorts and the way his biceps flexed when he wiped the sweat from his forehead.
And when he said that my suggestion to include a miniature beach with sun loungers in the retreat’s back garden for the readers who were too relaxed to go to the real one across the road was an excellent idea, then smiled at me (I know, right, I was surprised too), a jolt of electricity may have shot straight between my thighs.
But that was probably because I had some kind of undiscovered praise kink. It had nothing to do with him.
I wasn’t interested.
End of story.
‘Why do you think he was pretending to read?’ Jess added, steering the conversation back to non-smutty ground.
‘Because I’d only given him the book about fifteen minutes before I saw him, but he was holding it as if he was halfway through it,’ I said confidently, like I’d just delivered a piece of irrefutable evidence in a courtroom.
‘And like I said, he was all gushy about romance, which, as we know, he hates.’
After his encouraging comment about my writing and his offer to help with the social media, I’d just started to question whether I was wrong to label him as a twat and was thinking that maybe he might have some redeeming qualities after all.
But then I saw him trying to trick our members, and knowing that they were falling for his charms made me see red.
‘I can’t comment on how much reading he’d really done, obviously, but I’d much prefer that he showed enthusiasm about romance to our members rather than slagging it off,’ Jess said. ‘It’d be bad for business and Ben knows that. He wants the library to succeed just as much as we do.’
‘Just as much?’ I raised an unconvinced eyebrow.
‘Enough that he wouldn’t do anything to damage it,’ Jess replied.
‘Men like him cause destruction wherever they go,’ I said, hating how bitter I sounded, but it was true.
‘Hon, I know that your dickhead ex did you dirty,’ Jess said softly, ‘but not all men are arseholes. Look at my Theo and how much Jackson worships Jane. You could have that too one day.’
‘I think I’ll stick to my book boyfriends. They’re more reliable and they don’t betray me in the worst possible way.’
‘Oooh! What did your ex do?’ Celeste sat up straighter.
‘I’d rather not talk about it,’ I said, my chest tightening.
‘Sorry.’ Jess winced. ‘I didn’t mean to upset you.’
‘It’s okay,’ I said. I knew she didn’t mean any harm.
‘I’m sure we’ve all got a shitty story to share about exes,’ Maddie added. ‘I’m definitely with you on book boyfriends being better. Well, at least until I find my real-life version like these two have.’ She smiled at Jess and Jane.
‘When I find mine, I’ll book a billboard. I’ll put that stuff all over social media and take out an advert!’ Kara joked.
‘Actually…’ Jess paused. ‘That reminds me of something I saw on TikTok the other day.’
‘What?’ I asked.
‘There was a couple, and the boyfriend or husband—I’m not sure if they’re married, but anyway they live together and he asks her what she’s reading. And then she tells him and he basically offers to act out that scene with her.’
‘Sounds familiar.’ I gave Jess a mischievous smile as I remembered that was something she did with Theo. Jess blushed, then continued.
‘So I was thinking, maybe you could do that with Ben, to boost our social media,’ Jess added, and my jaw dropped.
‘Wait, what?’ I gasped. ‘I’m all for helping the library to succeed, but I draw the line at sleeping with Benjamin Buttface just to go viral.’
‘I’ll do it!’ Celeste’s hand shot up in the air, then giggled.
‘Benjamin Buttface?’ Maddie sniggered. ‘If anyone’s face doesn’t look like a butt, it’s got to be his.’
‘I’ve only seen him a handful of occasions, but he had a gorgeous face and butt.’ Kara grinned.
‘I’d be happy to put my butt on his face!’ Celeste added, causing everyone to burst into laughter again. I had to admit, it was kind of funny. And crude. But Celeste made no secret of how much she enjoyed having and talking about sex, so it was to be expected.
‘Just to clarify’—Jess’s expression turned serious—‘I don’t mean you have to sleep with him. I’d never ask you to do that!’
‘Oh, thank God!’ I said.
‘In these videos they just kind of tease what they’re going to do.
Like the girl will say something like “ooh, yes, please!” and then the video cuts.
It doesn’t even have to be sexually suggestive—it could be something more innocent.
It was just an idea. If so many of our members see him as book boyfriend material and Ben doesn’t mind playing up to that, we could use it to our advantage.
Then again, maybe it’s not politically correct to even ask him.
If the roles were reversed and a woman was asked to appear in suggestive videos for work, we’d be outraged at the exploitation, so it should work both ways.
Forget I mentioned it.’ Jess waved her hand dismissively.
‘I think it’s a good idea,’ Maddie said. ‘Ben seems like quite a playful guy who likes the attention. I reckon he’d be up for it. I’d definitely watch it.’
‘Speaking from experience, I can say there are a lot of women who enjoy watching videos with hot men,’ Jane said with a glint in her eye.
They were all right. As much as I hated to admit it, I knew that Ben would appeal to a lot of our members.
I should’ve thought about something like this myself. It was bad that people whose area of expertise wasn’t social media had come up with a great idea before I had.
Jess was paying me to manage the social media and I wasn’t even doing my job properly.
It was time to buck up my ideas. Although we were friends, if she thought I wasn’t adding value, she’d have to let me go. I didn’t want to fail. I couldn’t.
I had to get a grip and put my feelings aside and do what was best for the library.
Yep. Not only was I going to have to ask Ben for help, I was going to have to work even more closely with him than I’d planned.
Great.