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“We’ve gone out a couple of times.”
“So it’s...casual?”
Gabe wasn’t quite sure how to respond to that. First, Veronica might be willing to be seen in public with Gabe, but that didn’t mean she wanted him discussing their relationship with other people. Second, the captain hadn’t exactly asked it in a friendly way.
Gabe glanced toward the roomful of men for help, but all their eyes were now locked studiously on the television, even William’s.
“It’s...um...” He wasn’t sure why he was nervous, but it seemed as if he was about to answer a very important question. He finally settled on a nonanswer. “I’ve only been in town a couple of weeks. Lauren introduced us.”
Jake Davis grunted and narrowed his eyes at Gabe, seeming unimpressed with the explanation. Gabe felt like squirming, though he didn’t know why. Probably something to do with the fact that Jake was old enough to be Veronica’s father and Gabe had done filthy, filthy things to her only hours before.
He felt heat creep up the back of his neck, but he held the captain’s gaze.
“She’s very young,” Jake finally said. “I’d better not hear that you’ve pulled any crap with her.”
“Of course not,” Gabe answered.
“She’s a nice girl.”
Gabe offered a crisp nod. “Yes, sir.”
Jake stared at him for a moment longer, then grunted again and disappeared into an office. The door slammed behind him.
Gabe felt William’s hand land hard on his back. “Close one, my man.”
“What the hell was that? Is he a relative?”
“To the blonde? I don’t think so, but the captain is old-fashioned. No shit-talking about women around here. I mentioned once what I wanted to do to a certain little librarian, and he put me on toilet duty for a month.”
“He caught you talking about Lauren?” Gabe asked in horror.
“No, not Lauren! I’m not an idiot. It was her friend. The one you replaced. I asked that girl out a dozen times. Anyway, just try to avoid him for a few days. He’ll cool down.”
“But I didn’t say anything!”
William shrugged and tipped his chin toward the door. “Come on. A little one-on-one.”
Gabe shook off the encounter and followed William outside to the court. It was only 9:00 a.m., but the sun had already started to warm up the day and it melted the new tension from his muscles.
Forty-five intense minutes later, Gabe had forgotten all about the interaction with Jake, and he was ready to get to work. Hair still damp from the shower, he slung his bag over his shoulder and crossed the ten feet between the fire station door and the library.
He was supposed to get the last of the bid numbers on the digital lending system today, and once that was resolved with Jean-Marie, he could start getting down to the nitty-gritty of it. They could strike an agreement with a lending company, get the software loaded onto a test server and then start integrating it into the existing library system. Once the bare bones were in place, Gabe would work on the collection with the other librarians.
Granted, actual lending was probably months away, but engineering it all would be fun as hell.
A half hour later, he was deep into a comparison spreadsheet he planned to present to Jean-Marie at the end of the day when Lauren burst into the tiny office that was tucked behind the circulation desk.
“Oh, my God, you sneaky little bastard.”
“What?” he snapped, whipping around.
“You totally pretended not to like Veronica when I introduced you!”
Gabe winced. Damn. Of course Jake had passed that information on to Lauren. Or maybe Veronica had told her? “Ah. Veronica.”
For a moment, he couldn’t read her narrowed eyes, but then she smiled and kept smiling until he cleared his throat.
“How many times have you gone out?” she asked.
