Good Girls Do (29 page)

“Because he’s reckless?”

“Because he cares for you. I can see it in his eyes. But he’s a man with a lot of secrets. I can see that in his aura.”

“Tyler is a man with a lot of secrets. Can you see that in his aura, too?”

“I see a great deal of pain in his aura.”

“You like him.”

Angel shook her head. “He’s not respectable. I’m into respectable now.”

Julia rolled her eyes. “Oh, please.”

“What? I can fit in here. Really I can! You just haven’t seen that side of me. But I can do it. I’m going to prove that to you.”

“It won’t make a difference,” she warned Angel.

“It will. You’ll see. Just give it a chance. Give us a chance.”

Julia sadly shook her head. “How can I do that when you still won’t be truthful with me? When you still don’t trust me with the whole truth? If you really want to be a good mother, then tell me my father’s name.”

“I can’t do that, but I will show you how respectable I can be. I’ll fit in here. You’ll see. I got a normal job. I’m dating a normal man. I’m even wearing conservative clothes. No more wild ways. I
will
fit in,” she fiercely repeated. “You’ll see.”

What Julia saw was Angel, once again refusing to listen to what Julia was saying.

 

 

Julia sat at a table sipping the whipped cream from her hot cocoa as Luke locked up at Maguire’s. He’d already told her there was no news yet on the search for her father. No one named Adam was officially registered in that Ethics class, which complicated things. “How’s the mural going?”

“Come take a look for yourself.” Luke held out his hand to her. “Bring your hot cocoa if you want.”

As they entered the room at the back, she paused beside the pool table. “You know, I’ve never understood the game of pool.”

“Really? It’s simple.” Luke took her cup from her and put his hands on her waist, lifting her to the edge of the massive felt-covered table.

Startled, she braced her hands on his shoulders for balance. “What are you doing?”

“Educating you about the game. Some people are finesse players who use fancy moves . . .”

He slid his hands up her legs, which were bare above her knee-high boots and beneath her black skirt.

“Fancy moves, huh?”

“Mmm-hmm.” Trailing his fingers along the edge of her panties, he asked, “Want to learn more?”

“Absolutely.”

He slipped his fingers beneath the elastic to tempt her before tugging them out of his way completely. Her skirt was shoved up around her hips as he gently tipped her back until she was lying on the table. All the while he seduced her with his fingertips.

“See what I mean about finesse moves?”

“Mmmmm.”

He opened her legs like a book, pressing her knees apart before bending down to read her with his wickedly talented mouth. He gently overcame her initial reservations, showing her how much gratification could be had. He was a masterful instructor, tutoring her step by step until Julia was totally steeped in desire, almost drugged by the intense need.

He took his time, building her anticipation, lifting her from one delicious plane of erotic sensuality to the next. She didn’t realize he’d taken a swipe of whipped cream from her cup of hot cocoa until she felt the coolness on her overheated and ultra-sensitive skin. Her gasp of surprise was quickly followed by a moan of delight as he lapped at her like a huge jungle tiger.

Each time she thought she couldn’t feel more, he did something new to make her mind and body melt. Each time Luke’s rough tongue rubbed and licked her clitoris, she flew apart in his arms—not once, not twice, but time after time.

Finally lifting his head, he looked down at her flushed face. “But me, I’m more of a straight shooter.” He undid his jeans and shoved them and his briefs out of his way. She eagerly sat up to help him roll on a condom from his jeans pocket. Then he tugged her closer. “Yeah, I’m more of a straight shooter to get the balls in the hole.” One thrust and he was deep inside her.

Excited and totally aroused again, she grabbed a pool stick with one hand.

“You gonna hit me over the head with that?” Luke growled, holding still within her, filling her.

“No.” She slid the stick behind his back and took a tight grip on both ends with each hand. Using the stick, she tugged him even closer. “I’m going to use it to keep you doing exactly what you’re doing.”

“Exactly?” He flexed. “You mean you don’t want me experimenting? Faster?” He pumped two, three times. “Slower?” He pulled out almost completely and then smoothly slid back in.

“Yes,
oh yes
!”

Julia dropped the pool stick and clenched her hands against his bare muscular butt.

He gripped her bottom, parting her cheeks and taking her to another planet as he yanked her closer.

He rocked her back and forth, timing his movements, building their pleasure to a point of almost painful ecstasy.

She came with a powerful orgasm that clenched and released, clenched and released, over and over again—rolling over her like a drumbeat, vibrating throughout her entire body from her womb to her fingertips.

It took several minutes before either one had enough breath to speak or energy to move. “Do you get the appeal of pool now?” Luke murmured.

“Mmmm.” She trailed her fingers over his bare hip. “But you may have to show me again, demonstrate a few of those finesse plays again versus the straight-shooter method. I can’t seem to decide which I prefer.”

“Well, we can’t leave you undecided now, can we?” Luke tugged her closer, yanking off her skirt and panties entirely and tossing them out of his way. “Remember, it’s all about ways to sink the ball in the hole . . .”

That exhilarating, darkly seductive night was one Julia would always remember . . . forever etched in the very depths of her consciousness.

Julia
sat in the guest’s chair in the library director’s office, proud of the fact that she wasn’t squirming in discomfort. Not that the chair was that uncomfortable, but the disapproving stare Frasier was giving her didn’t make for the best of mornings. “I understand there was an . . . incident at Maguire’s recently involving you and Mr. Maguire.”

The pool table? Julia tried not to panic. How could anyone know? They’d been alone. The doors to Maguire’s had been locked, and there were no windows in the back room.

How did they know she’d been wickedly wanton? Was it written on her face? A giant “S” for Scarlet woman . . . for Sensually Saturated and Sexually Satisfied woman? Or a giant “W” for Wanton?

“Supposedly it took place during the dinner hour.”

No way! Like she’d make love in front of a crowd. Julia might be loosening up, but she wasn’t crazy.

“You uh,” Frasier cleared his throat. “You are alleged to have informed the diners that you and Luke were . . . uh . . .”

Julia heaved a huge internal sigh of relief and then resumed her position of strength. No squirming.

“Yes?” For once, she didn’t step forward to make things more comfortable.

“Well, that you two were . . . seeing each other.”

“Is there a law against that?”

“No.” Frasier was the one who squirmed in his high-backed chair. “Of course not. It’s just that Alice said you both caused a scene at Maguire’s, and she worried about it reflecting badly on the library as a result.”

“Alice wasn’t there.”

“No, but a friend of hers was.”

Julia decided it was time to stop beating around the bush. “Frasier, are you happy with my work here at the library?”

He was clearly taken aback by her question. “Of course I am. The patrons all love you. We’ve got more people coming in making interlibrary loan requests, book requests, more interest from the community than ever before.”

“And I welcome that interest.
Except
where it comes to my personal life.”

“Yes, well, this is a small town. It’s difficult to avoid gossip. Naturally, Alice is concerned—”

She stopped him right there. “Do you realize how intimidated most of the staff is by Alice? She terrorizes people. You know this kick she’s on about the uniforms for library staff? Everyone hates the idea of being forced to wear green polo shirts every day.”

“Green is our mayor’s favorite color . . .”

“Then let him wear the shirt!” Julia was really getting aggravated now.

Frasier removed his glasses and rubbed them clean with a tissue. “Well, I thought the staff might prefer not having to worry about what to wear to work every day . . .”

“Did you ask them?”

“That was Alice’s job.”

Julia just gave him a look.

“Okay, point taken,” Frasier admitted. “No one is going to cross Alice.” He replaced his glasses and gave her a perceptive look. “Except for you.”

“Alice and I tend to have a different viewpoint on things.”

“I had noticed that.” Frasier’s voice was dry. “Can you at least try not to rock the boat for the next few weeks? Rumor has it that the BST committee may be visiting incognito very soon.”

“BST?”

“Best Small Town.”

“Right.”

“And it wouldn’t do for them to find the town librarian in Maguire’s declaring details of her personal love life in front of everyone.”

“Especially when that love life involves the town’s rebel, right?”

Frasier nodded. “Well, there is that, yes. Just think about what I’ve said, okay?”

No, it wasn’t okay with her. None of this was. Alice, the green shirts, the gossiping, the lies her mother told her.

Julia was getting fed up.

She’d always been kind and agreeable, steady and thoughtful. Ask anyone. Julia had never been one to rock the boat.

But now she wanted to stir things up, to steer that boat in a new direction.

“I don’t need to think about it, Frasier. I haven’t done anything to deserve this interrogation about my personal life, and frankly I resent it. I’ve done everything possible to give one hundred and ten percent to this library, but if that’s not enough for you . . .”

Frasier looked panicked. “It is enough. I know Alice is difficult. Believe me, I know.”

“Then please keep her off my back and out of my personal life. Just think about what I’ve said, okay?” She deliberately repeated his earlier words back at him.

As she walked out of Frasier’s office, she was amazed at herself and what she’d just done.

Thankfully, things got better after that, turning into one of those memorable days that made her glad she’d chosen this career path. She was working the desk, dealing directly with patrons, one of her favorite things to do anyway.

Julia dealt with one question after the another—information on the most popular baby names, the best route for touring the Cinque Terre in Italy, ways to select the best digital camera, how to get rid of spider mites. A hassled mom with a toddler wanted a book dealing with potty-training. Carla from the bank wanted a book on coping with menopause. Lena from the post office wanted a self-help book with a cure for “the need to please.”

Mystery buff and Anglophile Edith the high school teacher was having the “devil of a day” and wanted an armful of cozy mysteries. She also warned Julia that she’d assigned a term paper on the Restoration period in English history, so there would be a run on those books. Edith looked like she might be tempted to warn Julia about Luke again but wisely decided against it.

After Edith came Tanya, who worked in Phil the dentist’s office as his receptionist and was always in a hurry. She followed the smash-and-grab method of pulling science-fiction paperbacks from the rack, as well as a few new releases that Julia quickly handed her as she raced by. Tanya then rushed them to the circulation desk, where she’d been known to check out the same book more than once by mistake. “I hate it when I do that,” she’d told Julia a few weeks ago. “I’ll start reading it and two pages in I’ll realize I read it before and it wasn’t all that great the first time around.” But Tanya had yet to find a way to slow down enough to change her library experience.

More questions came in rapid succession from other patrons, until by the end of the day Julia felt like a knowledge-brimming goddess of wisdom and information. She should have been wearing that T-shirt Patty had gotten her after the last ALA conference—LIBRARIANS MAY NOT KNOW EVERYTHING... BUT THEY KNOW WHERE TO FIND IT.

Oh yes, Julia was definitely feeling the power.

So you’d think she’d be able to find information about her own father. But no such luck, despite checking out books with titles like
Missing Persons.
Luke’s friends hadn’t had any luck tracking down her father yet, either. No one named Adam had officially registered for that Ethics class, but he might have audited the class or gone under someone else’s name for some reason.

The bottom line was that newly revised Julia wasn’t giving in, and she wasn’t giving up.

 

 

“You want to do what?” Algee blinked at him, the overhead lights at Cosmic Comics reflecting off his cleanly shaven head as well as his diamond stud earring.

“You accuse me of being sappy, and I’m gonna have to punch you,” Luke warned him.

“As if I’d ever do such a thing. I think it’s a sweet Valentine’s Day idea.”

Luke glared at him.

“Well, it is.”

“Forget I said anything,” Luke growled, glad the store was empty.

“Come on, man. Can’t you take a joke?”

“No.”

“Okay, fine. Be that way. Hi there,” Algee greeted a customer aged ten or thereabouts who’d just walked in. “Can I help you?”

“Yeah. Is Batman an orphan?”

Once that was cleared up, and the kid bought twenty bucks’ worth of comics, Algee returned his attention to Luke. “I think it’s cute that you want to do something like that for Julia.”