Queen of Swords {Spencer Reid Love Story}

II

~Orion Montgomery~

"So you met a nice, attractive guy in one of those antique book stores you love, and didn't give him your number?" Annemarie Goldenport stared at Orion, her best friend of many years, incredulously.

Orion sighed heavily. "Yes, alright! I forgot until it was too late!"

"What, were you too busy staring into his dreamy eyes or something?" Anne teased.

"No, Anne, I was more wrapped up by how a guy who's both a doctor with three PHDs and an FBI agent isn't a stuck up prick. In fact he seemed almost nervous? Flustered a bit, maybe? Anyway, it was like he didn't expect me to actually be interested in talking to him." Orion rested her elbows on the cafe table and sank her face into her hands.

"Well, at least he helped you find that book you were looking for." Anne hummed. Gesturing to the thick leather bound brick next to her chie tea. "Wait, why do you have two bookmarks in there?"

"What do you mean, two?" Orion frowned. Picking the heavy book up and flipping it to look at the top.

There, shoved between the pages so deep you could only see it by looking down at the top of the book, was a small slip of paper.

Orion quickly flipped to that page, blinking down at the FBI business card sitting there innocently. SSA Dr. Spencer Reid PHD printed between the two bureau emblems. But there was no phone number, which made no sense.

"Well, I guess he thought his number was on here but it's not." Orion sighed, trying to ignore how disappointed she felt. She'd only met him once and they only talked for a few minutes. It wasn't such a big deal.

"There's a bunch of random letters on the back. What's with that?" Anne pointed out and Orion flipped the card over. Her eyes immediately widened with realization.

"Those are not random letters, Anne." She breathed in surprise.

"Then what are they?" Anne's brow furrowed.

"Roman numerals. He gave me his number in Roman numerals." Orion laughed in disbelief.

Anne's face pinched together in confusion. "Why on Earth would he do that? Who's going to be able to decipher it?"

"I think that's the point." Orion thought aloud as she translated the letters into numbers. "It was a challenge, he's got three PHDs, I'm guessing he wanted to see if I could figure this out and if I can... well then I get his number."

"So he's seeing if you're worthy?" Anne summed up with a dry look on her face. Orion nodded absentmindedly as she typed the number into her phone.

"If he's going to challenge me, then I'll just have to challenge him back." She shrugged as she hit the call button. It rang four times before being answered.

"Hello? This is Dr. Reid." Spencer's voice spoke into Orion's ear and she smirked. She got the right number on the first try.

"It's SSA Dr. Spencer Reid PHD, according to the business card you somehow managed to slip into my book." Orion raised an eyebrow as her best friend nearly spewed the latte she was sipping.

A few flustered sputters and the sound of hurried movement came through the speaker before he managed to form proper words. "Orion! Hi, wow. I honestly did not expect you to call me, never mind so quickly!"

"Hello, Spencer. Can I ask how you managed to get your business card in the book without me noticing?" She greeted him kindly before asking her first question.

"Ah, that, um, that would be a bit of... sleight of hand." Spencer admitted almost sheepishly.

Orion's eyebrows lifted in pleasant surprise. "Sleight of hand? You're just full of tricks, aren't you, eh?"