How to Fake Date Your Grumpy Boss (How to Rom-com #1)

by Camilla Evergreen

Arms full of books, I stare at him. And I just keep staring until my gaze catches on a familiar cover from a series I’ve been wanting to read forever. This… He… Books are your love language, huh? My legs go weak, and only his arms bracing beneath my elbows keep me from plummeting to the ground. Tenderly, he lifts my books away, sets them on the shelf, and murmurs, “Do you want to trip and fall into my mouth again?” I press my face against his chest, letting my arms snake around him. “This isn’t fair. How am I supposed to tell you I love you now without you thinking it’s just because you bought me all these books? Because…wow…” “You love me?” he whispers. “So much it hurts sometimes. When you didn’t talk to me after I left, I cried myself to sleep every night missing you. And I know. I know I was the one who left, but you didn’t ask me to stay, and I was so uncertain, because how was I supposed to know you were my coat guy? How was I supposed to know I was important to you?” He holds me. “I did try to show you with my every breath.” I look up at him, at that subtly amused and largely relieved expression on his face. It’s like—for the first time in forever—he’s happy. Really, truly happy. Sweeping my hair to the side, he murmurs, “Let’s pretend I didn’t get you eight hundred forty-three books.” I gasp, looking around. “There are eight hun—” “Let’s pretend,” he says a little severely, “that I didn’t get you a number of books. Let’s pretend my hair’s still long, and I look unc...