Baited by Love novel · Chapter 11 of 24

Chapter 11: The Far Stairs

Lars came back from the pink bowl with two drinks, handed me one, and said, "Let's go."

"Where?"

"Anywhere that isn't here."

He did not take my hand.

He walked half a step ahead of me through the Great Hall, and the crowd moved aside for him without knowing why.

Behind us Lorelei's laugh rang out over the music, bright and sure, and I did not look back.

We ended up at the library because it was the only building open, and neither of us said that we had wanted to go somewhere else.

The stacks on the fourth floor were empty and dim, with the long gray shelves of old chemistry journals running off into the dark.

The air smelled of paper and radiator heat.

Lars stopped at the end of an aisle and turned around.

"You said no to him," he said.

"I did."

"You're shaking."

"I'm very proud of myself, and my body doesn't believe it."

He took the drink out of my hand and set it on a shelf next to his.

Then he stood in front of me, close, and did not touch me.

I could see the small scar over his left eyebrow and the tiny crease between his eyes that came when he was thinking.

"What I said at the mixer," he said. "I meant it. But I also don't want you to think it was a line."

"It didn't sound like a line."

"It was true. All of it."

"All of what?"

"The part about taking my time," said Lars.

My knees did a thing I will not describe.

"Why did you say stay?" I asked. "That night. When you had the fever."

He looked at me for a long moment, and for once his expression gave something away.

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