Mia smiled at Erin, one of the library's usual visitors who she had gotten close with over the years, as she handed her the book she had selected for an assignment Erin had.

"Thank you, Mia." Erin said as she put the book into her shoulder bag. "I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't been here to recommend the book."

"You would have found it either way."

"Yea, maybe after going through the other ten books that had the topic I have to write on." Erin said and Mia laughed.

"Maybe." Mia said, "I'm glad I could help."

"I'll see you next weekend then." Erin smiled at her.

"Uhh, maybe." Mia hesitated which made Erin frown.

"Going out of town?"

"No." Mia said, "But I have a month to prepare for the bar exam and I might not be working here for that period."

"Oh wow, I thought you still had time." Erin said

"Yea, I don't know where it went." Mia said sighing before smiling at her "You, on the other hand, have finals coming up, you should worry about that and not me."

"Well, I'm going to miss you." Erin said

"We'll still see each other around." Mia said

"We definitely will." She said smiling "Bye."

"Bye." Mia smiled at her before she walked towards the door and out of the library just in time to spot Zander Cross, her boss walk in. His gaze found hers immediately and he smiled as he made his way to her.

What was he doing here?
She wondered with a frown.

"You can get that frown off your pretty face." Zander said, "I'm here for my niece."

Mia gave him a polite smile when he reached the counter.
"Good afternoon Mr. Cross." She greeted him.

"Mia, Mr. Cross is my father, I told you to call me Zander." He said as he placed his arm on the counter staring right at her.

"You're my boss, I find that unprofessional."

"We're not at the office." He said, "So, I'm not your boss here."

"Well, give it a week and you would no longer be my boss." She said with a smile as the thought of taking the bar exam made her happy, nervous but happy.

She could finally make her dream a reality.

"I'm looking forward to that." He said in a low tone which made her smile drop.

He was doing it again. Flirting with her and she didn't know how to react to that because regardless of being off-work time, she still saw him as her boss and no other way. Of course, he was stupidly hot and ruggedly sexy but there was nothing about him that attracted her to him like her to Fred.

Oh, Fred!
She sighed.

She shook the thought of him away as she cleared her throat.
"How may I help you?"

"Flo needs a book to keep her busy before Monday." He said, "She says she's done with the ones you picked out for her last weekend." He said as he placed two books from the secret seven series on the counter.

"Oh, she's a fast reader." Mia said as she took the books and stepped out of the counter and to the shelves that had the books with Zander following behind "But why didn't she stop by herself?" She asked as she reached up for the third and fourth books in the series.

"I wanted an excuse to see you." Mia's hand froze on the books. Zander probably thought she had trouble getting the books out because his hand was suddenly on hers. Or maybe he just took that as an excuse to touch her.

She could feel him move closer behind her and she didn't know what to do when she felt his other hand on her shoulder.

"Mia..." He called behind her and she was about to snatch her hand and push him away from her when someone growled her name making her freeze on the spot. She knew that voice, she'd know it anywhere because it made her heart jump in her chest. She snapped her gaze to the direction of the voice and found him at the end of the row staring at her.

"Fred." She said as a smile met her lips and her hand fell from under Zander's touch as she turned to Fred making it look like Zander was holding her in an intimate way.

Zander noticed the change in Mia as Fred approached them throwing daggers at him.

"What are you doing here?" Mia asked when he stopped in front of them.

Fred heard her question but he was too furious to think straight as he wanted to strangle the dude that had his hand around Mia's shoulder. He wanted to rip his hand off of her and pull her to him and kiss her till it was clear that she belonged to him.

"Fred?" Mia called again and his gaze fell to her. "What are you doing here?"

She didn't even want him to be here not when she was in the company of the guy she claims she feels something for. He had watched them, the way she hadn't pulled back when he got close to her, she was making her feelings known to him without saying anything at all and it angered him.

Mia was his.

"I wanted to take you out to lunch." Fred finally said, "But it looks like you're busy."

"She is." Zander said and Fred shot him another glare.

Mia turned to Zander then and shook her head.
"Sorry, this is my boss." She said to him and then to Zander she said "This is...Frederick Zahn."

Fred gave the idiot boss and curt nod and focused his gaze on Mia.

"Fred, I would love to have lunch with you." Mia said and Fred's gaze fell to hers again "But I already have plans."

Fred's jaw clenched and he could spot the smirk on the A's face from his periphery.

"Of course." Fred said, "Another time then."

Mia smiled at him as she nodded.
How could she smile at him that way when he was with her?

"See you later." He said before he left them.

"Bye." He heard her call as he left with his hand fisted and his jaw clenched.

He had lost his appetite and he needed to punch something. He spent his afternoon in the gym, hitting the punching bag and imagining it were Mia's boss.

He showered in the gym and spent the evening having dinner by himself in a nice restaurant before he decided to call it a night and head back to the penthouse. He stayed up a little later, sipping from the tumbler filled scotch and scrolling through channels. When he finally decided to go to bed, it was late.

His phone rang the second his head touched the pillow after his shower.

He groaned as he reached for his phone and cursed out as he answered.
"You better have a fucking reasonable explanation for calling me this late."

"Dude, it's just past midnight." Andre answered.

"That's your fucking reason?" He asked.

"What crawled up your dick and died?" Andre asked with a laugh.

"Fuck you, Leon!" He said, pissed with himself more than his friend.

"Dude, what's got you so worked up?" Andre asked, confused.

"Mia's boss is a fuckin' A." Fred spat "Dude couldn't keep his hands to himself."

"So, you're jealous." Andre said with a smile in his voice.

"No man!" Fred said "Why the fuck would I be jealous, we're not even dating or anything."

"Your point being?" Andre asked

Fred took a moment to answer.
"I can't be jealous."

"You can't or you're not?" Andre asked

He was quiet as he clenched his eyes shut and ran his behavior through in his head before he came to the realization that he was jealous.
"Fuck you, Leon!" He said before he hung up and tossed the phone on the other side of the bed but he heard it hit the floor.

Not caring about the damned phone, he tried to ward off thoughts about Mia and that jackass boss of hers. He needed to get him out of the way, he needed to make sure Mia knew whatever she felt for the A was not real.

Now, how the fuck was he supposed to perform such a miracle?

******************************************************
Hey guys,

I'm really sorry for the slow update but I've been busy with a lot of things and I'm trying to find a balance with everything that's going on. It's constantly changing and I have a lot going up there, thank goodness for sleep where I get to just let go of everything. 😅

Anyway, these chapters I've been uploading were written last year, I haven't done much writing since the year began cause of college. That would change once I'm done with my research paper and given my presentation - that's what has been taking up most of my time.

So, hopefully, I'll be able to write more after next week. For my Indian readers, have a Happy Holi and for everyone else, have a great weekend, remember this is the time to unwind.

Thank you,
J.L.