Page 44 of Of Magic and Murder

But this feels different. I can’t explain why, but it does. And yet… I can’t bring myself to refuse.

“Okay.”

“Okay?”

I nod. “Yeah. Okay. Let’s do this.”

Riordan rolls up the sleeve of the icy-blue silk shirt he has on. “I’m ready when you are.”

And that’s how I end up spending two hours inside of the Moonburrow Library alone with Riordan Lobo, shelving books and, actually, having a pretty good time doing it.

Ash shows up around noon. He doesn’t seem surprised that Riordan is inside of the locked library, and when I start to apologize for bringing him with me when I’m technically the only ‘volunteer librarian’ with that privilege, he makes it a point to tell me not to worry about it. I get the feeling that Riordan’s new status as Ash’s second volunteer librarian is something else they talked about, but as long as I’m making things easier for the opossum shifter, I shut up and go back to sorting through the books⁠—

“Ouch!”

Riordan’s head shoots up. “Something wrong, Pen?”

It sounds so ridiculous, but… “I think that book I just picked up bit me.”

A strange emotion rolls over his face. It’s one part amusement, one part… okay. This is weird, too, because I can’t help but think that Riordan looks like he wants to fight a book because it made me say ‘ouch’.

“Which one? Let me see.”

I pause. “Are you going to do something to it?”

A corner of his mouth quirks up. “Do I look like the sort of male that will take vengeance out on a piece of literature because it harmed my sweet witch?”

My cheeks heat up. I don’t know why Riordan keeps flirting with me like that. I’m sure it’s because he wants to make sure I’m not afraid of him while we’re working together, and, at first, it definitely worked. Now though? I’m kinda wondering what it would be like to be his anything.

“You look like you belong on the cover of a magazine,” I blurt out, my mouth working before my brain catches up to it. Oh, goddess. I did not just say that. “Sorry. But between the hair and the clothes… I thought you were a model when we first met. Then I realized you were⁠—”

“A wolf,” supplies Riordan. His earlier flash of amusement fades. “And that put you on your guard.”

He’s not completely wrong. My heart jumped in my throat the moment I instinctively recognized what kind of supe he is, but there’s more to it. “It didn’t help,” I admit, “but if I’m being honest, I was more nervous about your badge than anything else.”

“Really?”

I nod. “Something about a man with a badge… I get a little nervous, almost like a cop”—or a chief deputy— “can take one look at me and see every bad thing I’ve ever done.”

“Why’s that?” purrs Riordan. “Are you a naughty witch, Penelope?”

I don’t even know how to answer that. I’m sure as hell not responding to the obvious innuendo in his smooth voice, either. Instead, knowing that it’ll distract him even if I’m not sure why, I lift up my finger and show him the red mark on the side of it.

He’s instantly all business. “Holy shit. The book did bite you.”

“Told you.”

He holds out his hand expectantly. “Pass it over. I’m usually against destroying a book, but I’ll make an exception.”

“What? No.” I grab the book. It zaps me. Letting out a squeal, I drop it back to the floor. “Goddess damn it, it electrocuted me!”

Before I can pick it back up, Riordan reaches out, snatching the book.

It doesn’t seem to affect him at all. He flips it, front to back, and frowns. “What kind of library book is this?”

That’s the thing. I don’t think it’s a library book at all. It had a leather cover without any sort of title or author on it, and the feathered edges of the pages remind me of a well-loved notebook versus an actual printed book. I don’t know what it was doing in the pile of books, and since it doesn’t have the sticker that lists it as property of the library or its place in the Dewey Decimal system, I don’t think it’s part of the library’s collection.

So why would it⁠—