Page 87 of Pucking Bad Boys

“Oh, it’s definitely because he wanted to work with you. He’s been staring at you since the second we got here. Every time he’s in the same room, my brother’s eyes are on you.”

“Do you really think so?”

I nod. “One hundred percent. What?” I ask when she looks at me like she’s about to say something.

“Nothing. I was just wondering something. If I want to get Becks’s attention, it might have been a good idea to get me and Becker to work together.”

She’s probably right. I thought about that too, but I didn’t want to. I wanted to work with Talia. But I’m too scared to admit that. “Nah, it’s too soon. You have his attention, but we need to make him work for yours. It’s the only way he’ll make a move. If he thinks he’s about to lose you to me.”

“Ok.”

Thankfully, Talia doesn’t question my opinion. It isn’t completely false. Becks has always been indecisive, and I know seeing Talia with me will really push him to act on what he wants. And if he wants Talia, he better be serious about her. Because I am.

“Macklin?” She smiles.

“Yeah?”

She points at the shelf right before the top one. “The book, please? Pliny?”

“Oh yeah. Sorry.” I pass her the book she wanted. “What else?”

“Isidore of Seville.” She instructs. “It should be right… there. And then we need one by Apicius,De Re Culinaria (On The Subject Of Cooking). The last one is calledGeoponica, but the original is in Greek. We need the book with the translated text next to the original. That should be everything for now.”

The books we gathered are thick and heavy, all in hardback editions. “I don’t think we really need the cart,” I muse. “I can carry those.”

Talia is intent on perusing the inside of the last book I handed her.

“Hmm,” she’s following the text with one finger. “The garum was also called liquamen. Here it gives a description of how it was made. I wish we had gotten the bread or the cheese. I think we got the worst recipe in history.”

Curious, I step closer to her. Positioning myself behind her, I look at the book over her shoulder while she reads.

“What is called liquamen is thus made: the intestines of fish are thrown into a vessel, and are salted; and small fish, especially atherinae, or small mullets, or maenae, or lycostomi, or any small fish, are all salted in the same manner; and they are seasoned in the sun, and frequently turned; and when they have been seasoned in the heat, the garum is thus takenfrom them. A small basket of close texture is laid in the vessel filled with the small fish already mentioned, and the garum will flow into the basket; and they take up what has been percolated through the basket, which is called liquamen; and the remainder of the feculence is made into allec.”

She scrunches her nose. “From what the book says, it’ll take at least a couple of days for the fermentation process. So this sauce is fish guts with some herbs left to ferment and basically rot in the sun. And the fluid that oozes from the fish guts is the sauce. But they also ate the actual paste that was left. Spread over all sorts of food. It doesn’t sound very appealing.”

“No, it doesn’t.” I agree. “But you know what’s incredibly appealing?” I lower my head to whisper in her ear.

Talia turns so that she can look at me, effectively trapping herself between my body and one of the bookshelves. “No. What?”

“You.” My voice comes out like a low rasp. “You’re appealing and smell delicious. And that little skirt you have on? It has been driving me crazy from the moment I picked you up to come here.”

“Yeah?” she whispers, her eyes locked on mine.

“Fuck, yeah.” I murmur, brushing my lips over hers.

And this is the thing with Talia. I’ve spent two years looking at her from afar when wanting her was out of the question, even when Gen and I were on one of our breaks. I just knew she could never be just a fling or a rebound. Then the summer was messy, and I couldn’t drag Talia into that. But that never stopped me from wanting her against all reason. Against all common sense.

Now that we’re getting closer, it’s like that ironclad control I had on my desire for her has snapped and the dam has broken. I can’t control myself and every brush of lips, every casual touch has the potential of turning into a blazing inferno.

The second my lips touch hers, I’m a goner. I can’t just lift my head and walk back to our table.

I increase the pressure, and Talia parts her lips for me.

She gasps into my mouth when our tongues touch, and I press her against the bookshelf. My hands are everywhere. Cupping her tits, squeezing her ass while I keep devouring her mouth.

Talia doesn’t just take it. She palms my erection through my jeans and my cock pulses on the brink of exploding in my pants. Right here, in the middle of the ancient history section of our campus main library.

Within moments, we’re both breathing hard. We know we should stop, but I, for one, am incapable of doing so.