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“Now I feel like I missed out. What would you have said if you called?”
Put an end to my wondering. Are we dating or are we something else? Was it one night, or the first night?
“I’d ask if you were okay. Ask how your family is. You left suddenly.”
Damn. That makes sense.
“Thank you. It caught me off guard. I was planning on staying here for the holidays and enjoy winter on my own, but my parents asked me for help. They’ve got property in the Philippines that they need to sell before some new tax law goes into place over there, so they took advantage of a flash sale on tickets to fly back and asked me to watch over my sister while they’re gone.”
He nods. “Are you close with your sister?”
“Yes. I practically raised her when my family was in the trenches of starting a new business when she was born. She’s twelve years younger than me, so she’s part my little sister, and part my kid.”
“Is she moving in with you for a while?”
“No. I’ll be moving back home.”
“If there’s anything I can do for you here like pick up your mail or anything, just let me know.”
“It’s not too far away, so I’ll just be commuting. Thanks though.”
He clears his throat and takes a small step back to look at the crowded library bookstore that we’re in. “So how can I help today, then?”
You could take me on your book stack of choice.
I wish.
There I go unnecessarily pushing back my short pixie hair as another naked thought runs through my mind.
“Let’s go to storage. You can help me sort a huge donation that just came in.”
He follows me out back.
Built on a hill, I take him outside of the building and around the back to a set of steps that lead down to a semi-basement level. There are long narrow windows along the top of the exterior walls, but otherwise it’s closed off. Around the perimeter are mismatched bookshelves labeled with subjects for sorting, and in the middle of the room is a large wooden table covered in boxes of books.
It’s musty, quiet, and doesn’t get much attention outside of weekend book sales.
I prop open the door to let air in. “Our library isn’t that big, so most of these will go up for donation and raise funds for programming. Unless it’s a pristine, new book that we don’t have, it will go for sale in the store eventually.”
“Makes sense.”
I sit down on one side, and he sits down on the other.
“The donated books are on this desk, so the first step is to go through the boxes and pull out the books in good condition to shelve by genre. That’s all you have to do.”
“Got it.”
We start sifting through boxes of musty books across from each other. I’m practically in a side bend to see him past the boxes, but my obvious interest earns me a dimpled cheek smile when I see him looking back.
Chapter Four
Adriel
Catching her glance under my hat, she drops the book she’s holding and looks away.
Do I make her nervous? I knew she makes me nervous, but the thought that I could have the same effect on her is intoxicating. It makes me feel confident. Makes it easier to say what I want.
I noticed her as soon as she started her job at the library. She’s tall and curvy and always wears fun and bright clothing with catch phrases on them. Her short hair makes her cheekbones seem higher, and she’s got a smattering of freckles across her nose and cheeks that are as entrancing as the night sky and make me want to stare at them to find a shooting star.
