He lifted a brow.“Aren’t you forgetting something?”
I squinted.“What?”
“The potion?”he prompted.
“Oh.Right.”I’d forgotten the whole reason we were going to the tree in the first place.“Do you think Mrs.Sandpepper will mind if we borrow the book?”
“I’ll sweet-talk her,” he said.“Give it to me.”
I hesitated, hugging it tighter.I’d found it.Ancient mystery books shouldn’t leave their discoverer, right?
“Really, Piper?You don’t trust me?”he asked.
“Should I trust a man who kisses like that?”I blurted, then instantly wished I could rewind my mouth.
His grin turned slow and wicked.“You should always trust a man who kisses like that.By the way—like what?”
“Like… oh, never mind.Here.”I thrust the book at him before I dug the hole any deeper.
Like he wanted to lay me out on the archive floor and kiss me until I forgot my own name,I did not say.
He chuckled as he took the book.“We’ll circle back to that later.Don’t think I’ll forget.”
“Let’s go,” I muttered, marching for the door.
He caught up easily and angled ahead of me, heading straight for Louise, who was now absorbed in some celebrity gossip site on her computer.
“Hey, Mrs.Sandpepper, we’re going to borrow this, okay?”he said.
She peered over her black frames.“What is it?”
“A book.”He flipped it around to show her.
I made a strangled noise, imagining centuries-old pages disintegrating under his fingers.
“See?Nothing special,” he said.
Louise barely glanced at it.“Bring it back when you’re done.”
Outside, he handed it back to me with a flourish.
“That was easier than I thought,” I said.“She must like you.”
“It’s because I’m so charming,” he said.
I snorted, but I was still smiling when we climbed back into the truck.
Owen pulled away from Town Hall and drove through the sleepy streets, then turned down a narrow blacktop road that led north out of town.
“Do you know where you’re going?”I asked.
“Trust me.”
“Why does that always make me nervous?”
He didn’t bother answering.Instead, he pulled off onto the shoulder and cut the engine.
“This is it?”I looked out the windshield.Trees.Just trees.
