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I pressed my lips to her forehead and stepped back. “We really have to go. The person we’re meeting already isn’t a fan of mine, so we should probably try not to be late.”
“Someone doesn’t like you? Shocking.”
Tapping Valen on the ass, I stepped around her and opened the rear door of the car before gathering the books and safely settling them so they would slip around too much as we navigated the city streets. “Did you always want to be a librarian? Because of the books.”
“Not really,” she answered as we both climbed into the car and she pulled on her seat belt. “Being a librarian isn’t all that exciting, if I’m being honest. But it’s something I’m good at, something I know. My dad had put money from his life insurance into a fund for me to pay for college. Thankfully, he thought ahead because Mom had kicked me out the year before, and she refused to help at all. But Dad’s money only paid my fees, and I needed money to live on, so I took a job here part-time. Then, three years later, I left college with a major in English and the offer of a full-time position, so I just accepted it.”
My hands on the wheel, I turned my head and looked at her, my brows raised. “You’ve never even applied for a job anywhere else?”
She shook her head, laying back against the headrest and closing her eyes. “Nope. I need stability. Certainty. Or I will go crazy.”
That wasn’t new.
Not only had we talked about how much she hated surprises, but I could also see how relaxed she’d become as we’d gotten used to each other’s presence and mannerisms. It was also why I think she had ignored all the signs there was something not right with her relationship with Chad because, for the most part, he was boring and predictable.
“And if you could choose anything, any job, what would you want to do?”
She turned to me with a smile. “Reed…”
“Hey, I might be good, but even I can’t apply for jobs and sit interviews for you,” I defended, knowing what she was thinking. “I’m just wondering in what direction I might need to push you in the future when you start to feel like you can do that.”
She smiled but fiddled nervously with her seatbelt. “I like to write. So maybe write my own novel or get into journalism for a paper, a magazine, or a website. Something where I might be able to use all this practice I’ve had at the library, learning to investigate and study things.”
I nodded, keeping my eyes directly ahead as I started the car’s engine and threw it into reverse. “I think that’s a great idea.”
“Reed.”
“Mmm?”
“What do you think you’re doing?” she questioned, but I was already too far gone—not that I was going to let her know that.
“A man can’t ask interesting questions about his wife? Get to know her a little better.”
“Uh-huh,” she said slowly. “You think you’re gonna be sneaky, but… I know you, Reed Lawson.”
I didn’t respond.
Instead, I grinned as I backed up and pulled into traffic.
I know you, Reed Lawson.
It’s funny how only a few weeks ago, that would have been more like,Idon’tknow you, Reed Lawson.We were strangers, and now, we were living in the same house, sleeping in the same bed, and our fake marriage was becoming an incredibly real relationship.
Turned out, you got to know someone pretty damn well when they were at their most vulnerable. You saw their lows, and you helped them reach their highs again. It was like dating in a pressure cooker.
I could spend years with someone and not know them as well as I now knew Valen.
There was still more about her, parts and pieces I hadn’t explored yet.
But I planned to.
I wanted to know it all.
Chapter Twenty-Two
VALEN
“Wow,” I said in awe as Reed pulled into the driveway of a beautiful old colonial home in a cute little neighborhood outside the city. It was two stories, with dormers in the ceiling telling me there was probably an attic as well. The shape was rectangular, the windows completely symmetrical and even across the front and sides.
