The Next Best Fling (Librarians in Love, #1)

by Gabriella Gamez

For all the readers, educators, and librarians fighting the good fight to get diverse books into the hands of those who need them the most. I hope we win.

Hiding your true feelings is easy when the person you’re hiding from has never really seen you to begin with.

I’m able to love my body so much more when I’m not bombarded with the reminder that there are plenty of men who don’t.

Just imagining the tagline to this low budget Lifetime film is enough to make me cringe: He wants the bride, she wants the groom. But what if all they really want… is each other?

There’s no way I’m talking to Theo of all people about my sexual awakening through romance novels.

Only, Theo isn’t some random guy off the street. He’s Ben’s brother. I’m in the middle of the CW’s most overused subplot—a familial love triangle.

“I like you. I like getting to know you, no matter how hard you make it. I like the way you force me to open up and that you still offered your friendship after witnessing two of the lowest points of my life. You’re a good person—a much better person than I can ever hope to be. You deserve so much better than a man who’s still pining over someone else, and when the day comes that you walk away from me for good, I’ll be cheering you on. There isn’t a doubt in my mind that you’ll find someone just as amazing as you one day. So, if all I am is a stop to you finding him, then I’m okay with that.”

“Are you kidding? I’ve had ten boyfriends already!” I let out a gasp at this announcement, failing to hide the shock behind it. Even teenagers are better at dating than I am. “It’s about time you had one. I was starting to worry about you, ya know.”

My relationship with my body varies daily. There’s what I begrudgingly accept, what I thank God for blessing me with, and what I wish enough glaring could make go away. But I can’t pick and choose which parts of myself are worthy and which aren’t, not the way other people feel like they can when they comment on my body. And why should I? Why should I be expected to carry the weight of other people’s disdain for the body I live in?

“If you need me…” His kisses move down my jaw… “To show you…” My throat. “How much…” My neck. “I want you…” I let out a gasp. “That can be arranged.” His smirk turns devilish. “Starting with getting you out of this jumpsuit.”

He’s the one who won’t look at me now. “We all make quite the love square, don’t we?”

“We could argue this in circles all night, because love is weird, and not at all like we’re told it is. We’re all capable of the worst depravities just to have a piece of it, but the point is we don’t act on them. We don’t let our bad sides win, no matter what we think we want. That’s what being a good person means.”

I glance up at Theo, and then the dancing shadow of his silhouette when looking at him becomes too hard. It’s not just the setup that’s been ripped out of my wildest dreams, but Theo himself, too. He’s something plucked out of a fairy tale, or better yet, one of my favorite romance novels. The glittering eyes of a hero, the determined stance of a man who would topple kingdoms to be with his beloved. The vulnerability of a man about to get down on one knee.

“What makes his mess any better than yours?” she counters. “We all have baggage. He’s already seen yours and still decided you were it for him. Why can’t you trust him with yours the same way he can trust you with his?”

What’s dorkier than carrying around a lunch box? Dropping it at the sight of the rebound you’re still in love with.

He breaks out in a smile that rivals the sun. “Does this mean I get to call you my girlfriend?” “I don’t know.” I melt into him when his hand lifts to cup my cheek. “Does this mean I get to call you my boyfriend?” “Call me whatever you want,” he says against my lips. “As long as I get to call you mine.”

“I like the way you think. There’s no reason for our worlds to be separate. Not when they’re made so much better combined.”