My Fake Boyfriend Is the School Bad Boy novel Chapter 60

Chapter 60 A Familiar Scent Stirring Dangerous Thoughts

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He didn’t panic. He moved with terrifying speed.

He reached down, grabbing my upper arm. His grip was firm, hauling me up from the carpet before I could even process the command. My calculus textbook tumbled from my lap, hitting the floor with a muffled thud.

“Quiet,” he breathed, the word a harsh, silent shape on his lips.

He pulled me out of the main aisle, dragging me deeper into the maze of restricted shelving. We turned a sharp corner, stepping into the very back corner of the archives. It was a dead end. The space between the wall and the final mahogany bookshelf was incredibly narrow, designed only to store oversized, ancient atlases.

It was barely two feet wide.

Ryder backed me into the gap. My shoulder blades hit the hard, solid wood of the bookshelf.

He stepped in right after me.

There was absolutely no room. He had to turn his body sideways just to fit between the heavy mahogany frame and the plaster wall. He pressed himself entirely against me, using his broad shoulders to completely eclipse the gap, casting us in absolute, pitch-black shadow.

The sharp, clicking sound of Mrs. Gable’s sensible heels reached the velvet rope.

The metallic clank of the hook echoed through the shelves. She was in the restricted section.

Ryder’s body went completely rigid.

We were pressed chest-to-chest. The physical contact was absolute, undeniable, and entirely overwhelming. The solid, unyielding muscle of his torso flattened against my soft curves. His long legs tangled with mine, the rough denim of his jeans scraping against my bare

knees.

I couldn’t breathe. My lungs completely locked.

I was trapped. The hard wood of the shelf dug into my spine, and the searing, heavy heat of his body caged me in from the front.

He lowered his head, his face hovering mere millimeters from mine. He raised his left hand, pressing his index finger gently against my lips. It was a silent, urgent command to stay perfectly still.

The pad of his finger was rough, but the touch was incredibly light.

I squeezed my eyes shut, my heart slamming against my ribs with brutal, punishing force. The rhythm was so loud, so frantic, I was terrified Mrs Gable would hear it echoing down the aisle.

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12:53 Fri, Jul 10

Chapter 60 A Familiar Scent Stirring Dangerous Thoughts

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But as I stood there, paralyzed in the dark, my senses completely overloaded by the sheer proximity of him, I realized something was

different.

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I took a slow, incredibly shallow breath through my nose.

The familiar scent of worn leather, dust, and sharp peppermint was there. But layered directly over it was something completely new.

It was a dark, rich scent. It smelled like warm amber, spiced wood, and a faint, sharp trace of black pepper. It was intoxicating. It wrapped around my senses, completely overriding the stale smell of the old books.

My brow furrowed in the dark.

I knew that smell.

The memory hit me with the force of a physical blow.

It was last Thursday. We had been walking down the C-wing hallway, performing our usual fake-dating routine for the morning crowd. A senior guy had walked past us, leaving a heavy trail of expensive cologne in his wake.

I hadn’t been paying attention to Ryder. I had been nervously scanning the crowd for Harper. I had wrinkled my nose slightly, muttering completely offhandedly, “That smells really good. What is that? Amber and wood?”

It was a throwaway comment. A tiny, insignificant observation made in the middle of a crowded, noisy hallway while my brain was completely focused on surviving the rumor.

I opened my eyes.

The shadows in the narrow gap were thick, but I could see the faint outline of his jaw, the dark shape of his eyes staring down at me.

He was wearing it.

Ryder Steinmann, the boy who couldn’t care less about what anyone in this entire school thought of him, had gone out and found the exact cologne I mentioned I liked. He had bought it. He had put it on his skin.

He had changed the way he smelled, just for me.

The realization completely shattered me. It was a devastating, raw, incredibly intimate piece of proof. It wasn’t a public spectacle. It wasn’t a tactical move to sell a lie to Chase Montgomery. No one else could smell this. No one else knew I liked it.

He didn’t just listen to my coffee orders or my obscure book reports. He listened to the quiet, completely thoughtless words that fell out of my mouth when I didn’t even know he was paying attention.

The heavy, suffocating dread of the teacher searching the aisles completely evaporated, replaced by a massive, liquid heat that poured straight into my chest

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12:53 Fri, Jul 10

Chapter 60 A Familiar Scent Stirring Dangerous Thoughts

Mrs. Gable’s footsteps stopped at the end of our row.

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“Mr. Steinmann?” she called out, her sharp voice echoing loudly.

She was standing less than ten feet away. If she turned her head, if she walked three steps down the aisle and looked into the gap, we

were both finished.

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