“Then don’t, I’ll show myself.” I grab the door handle, but he laughs and grips my hand.

“I need to slip inside and turn on the lights first.” He smiles. “Alone. Then I have to make sure a few things are in order before I let you inside.”

“Gabriel…” I narrow my eyes at him. “If this was all some type of twisted ruse, and there’s nothing in this room, I swear—”

He presses his fingers against my lips mid-sentence. “I’m not lying to you. Give me a minute.”

“Okay.” I step back, and he slips inside the room.

Light seeps under the door seconds later, and several loud thumps follow.

Before I can call out and ask if he’s okay, he returns with a velvet blindfold.

I cross my arms, ready to refuse it, but he moves behind me and gently ties it around my head anyway.

“Is all this really necessary?”

“Yes…Take five steps forward,” he whispers into my ear, and I quickly oblige.

“Three more,” he commands.

I risk a fourth, but my foot hits the air and I lose my balance.

“I said three for a reason.” He laughs, grabbing my waist from behind. “You’re at the top of a staircase.”

“Yes, well, if only you would let me see that, I could probably…” I stop talking as he gently pulls the blindfold away, and my eyes widen in disbelief.

Ahead of me lies a colossal room that rivals any private library that I’ve ever read about in my books. Spread across three levels stacked high with overflowing shelves, there are enough books to keep me entertained for a lifetime.

Overcome with awe, I rush down the staircase and move toward a case that’s flanked by a white piano.

There are multiple hardback editions of every book, and I can’t help running my fingers against the embossed titles.

Near a bright red parlor chair, a stack of books sits atop an ornate glass table. Their spines are coated in a stark white, and their titles are woven in gold.

Macbeth. A MidSummer’s Night Dream. Ulysses. Oedipus Rex.. Romeo & Juliet.

A small pang forms in my chest at the memory of my old book friend, but I force myself to push it aside.

Let him go, Belle…

“I have other copies of those,” Gabriel says. “They’re on the shelf near the hearth.”

“Noted.” I look around the room again. “Can I ask you something?”

“Anything.”

“Do you just have all these books for show, or do you actually know how to read?”

“I know how to fucking read.” He looks amused. “I would’ve never started collecting books if I didn’t.”

“You and my sister will be a perfect match, then. Warning, though, she collects more than she read.”

“I don’t want to discuss your sister,” he says, changing the subject. “You can take whatever books you want from this room while you’re here, minus the books on that table.”

“Are they your personal copies?”

“They’re first editions that I was planning to give to a friend,” he says. “She loved reading as much as I did, but we never had the opportunity to meet in person.”