Sassy Ever After: Wise Sass Mates (Kindle Worlds Novella) (5 page)

B
ianca hustled
out of the library far later than she meant to. She pulled the lanyard with the key for the file room out of her blouse to lock the door, then waved to the night librarian and headed out to the parking lot.

The fall air was cool and the sugar maples outside the library had just hit fever pitch, with leaves the color of ripe peaches under the streetlights.

Wind whipped at Bianca’s hair and she looked up to see the sky studded with stars.

She walked down to the lower lot. She’d parked far from the building since she’d known she would be there all day

She had just turned into the path between the boxwood hedges when she heard it, a soft sound like footsteps ahead of her.

Before she could react, a tall man in a red ski mask reached for her.

Thank goodness for all that Aikido. Bianca had really never expected how much it would come in handy.

Her heart raced as she waited for him to grab her wrist so she could counter.

Instead, he grabbed the lanyard around her neck, pulling her forward.

Panic set in when she realized he wasn’t going to grab
either
of her wrists. She didn’t have a move for this. Her Aikido skill set only went so far.

Her adrenaline kicked in and she punched the man as hard as she could, right in the face.

The lanyard popped off her neck, freeing Bianca, and he fell over into the boxwoods.

She ran for her car like it was the last bastion of safety in the world.

When she reached it, she locked herself in and tried her best not to weep.

By the time police arrived, the assailant in the boxwoods was long gone, along with the key to the file room at the library.

After interviewing her briefly, one of the young officers escorted her out to the lobby of the police station, where her friends were waiting for her - up late over Bianca for the second night in a row.

Addison stood tall and strong, but Mei was hugging herself in a very un-Mei-like way.

Bianca got a lump in her throat seeing them there, so worried for her.

B
ianca sighed
as she walked over to join her friends.

“Are you okay?” Addison asked, wrapping an arm around Bianca’s shoulder.

“Yeah, I guess,” Bianca replied, resting her cheek for just a moment against her friend’s warm chest. In moments like this, Addison’s magnificent height made Bianca feel like a child.

“I’m starting to feel like you need an armed guard,” Mei said.

“Let’s just get out of here,” Bianca murmured.

“About that…” Addison paused.

“Yeah?” Bianca asked.

“Well, we called Dr. Flavia. Since she was so worried about those key, we figured we should leave her a message to let her know one had been stolen. She called back - like, immediately. She wants us to turn in the rest of them tonight. She already has a locksmith at the library.”

“Wow,” Bianca replied. “I feel like I’m missing something. Why is there so much security for those files? Haven’t they been there forever?”

Mei shrugged.

“If you’re too beat, we can tell her we’ll come in the morning.”

“No, let’s go now, get it over with,” Bianca said. “I’m too amped up anyway, and besides I left my car over there.”

They all piled into Addison’s VW bug. Her grandfather had left a provision in his will that Addison should get a brand new yellow VW for her college graduation. He had driven an antique one when she was little and she’d loved it. The women were still broke grad students, but at least Addison’s car was bright and shiny.

As they drove down the darkened streets, Bianca found herself thinking of Ian Anderson, wishing for him in her moment of fear and confusion.

She tried to scold herself for such weakness, but there was, underneath it all, the thread of belief that maybe he did actually care about her.

Hope was a terrible thing.

There were a few lights on in the library. Addison parked right up front by the big doors and they all piled out.

Dr. Flavia came to the doors immediately, and unlocked them with one of the many keys she wore around her neck on a pretty chain. She appeared to have dashed straight from her bed to the library. She was wearing a beautiful satin kimono with a fluffy white terrycloth robe on top.

“Oh, girls, I’m so glad you’re here,” she said. “Come on in.”

They followed her inside.

“Are you alright, dear?” she asked Bianca.

Bianca nodded.

They turned the corner to the hallway that led to the Files room.

A wildly gorgeous young man knelt before the door, working on it with a drill.

“This is my nephew, Hector,” Dr. Flavia said, gesturing at the kneeling man.

He looked up from his work to smile at them. His eyes passed over Mei and then doubled back to her.

“Hey,” Mei murmured, sounding almost embarrassed.

Hector winked at her, nodded, and went back to his work.

“Hector is an attorney, but he’s very handy. He’s always helping his old aunty, aren’t you, love?” she teased.

“Anything for you, Tia,” he replied through a grin.

“Let me get those from you,” Dr. Flavia said, as she collected their keys. “I’ll set you up with new ones so you don’t have to miss any work time. After our little scare tonight I don’t think I’ll be coming in early tomorrow.”

“I don’t know about us either,” Addison said.

“Oh, no, we’ll be here,” Bianca declared bravely. “The last thing I want is to stop working - I need a distraction. I’m half tempted to stay here tonight.”

“
No
,” the others said as one.

Bianca blinked at them, then finally Mei laughed and they all started giggling.

“I’m sure I don’t know what could possibly be so funny,” Dr. Flavia scolded them gently. “Poor Bianca has been practically under siege.”

“Why would someone want the key to this room?” Mei asked Dr. Flavia.

“Well, I have no idea,” she replied, sniffing. “These files are invaluable because of their age and the quantity of them. That’s why we take such care to guard them. Angus would have my head if he found out a key was stolen and we didn’t change the locks immediately. But anyone who registers is welcome to examine the files. It’s a public library, after all.”

“Is there anything in there besides files?” Addison asked.

Dr. Flavia shook her head.

“Maybe they didn’t care about the key, they just grabbed it because it was around my neck,” Bianca thought out loud.

“But why did they attack you? Mei demanded. “And why did they break into your apartment?”

“We don’t know it was the same person,” Bianca countered without much conviction. “But I don’t really have anything of value in my apartment. And I don’t have any enemies - at least not that I know of. I-I just don’t know. The police were asking all the same questions. I don’t—”

She was cut short by someone banging so hard on the front doors to the library that it sounded like they might fly off the hinges.

Dr. Flavia screamed and Hector stopped his work on the door and stood at once.

Bianca felt a ripple of recognition go through her body. Her scalp tingled.

Ian
.

She ran down the hallway to the doors before anyone could stop her.

She turned the corner and saw him, silhouetted by moonlight. His expression was fury incarnate.

The harsh emotion he felt only served to accentuate the beauty of his features. Bianca was spellbound for a moment.

But when he made as if to break down the doors again, she quickly remembered herself and moved to unlock them.

As soon as she opened one he was inside.

“Bianca,” he growled at her, his golden eyes ablaze.

She gaped at him.

“You were attacked,” he accused her.

“Uh—”

“You were
alone
, after dark. How dare you put yourself in danger when someone is after you?” he demanded.

Bianca had no answer. She’d thought the break-in was a coincidence, or a random crime. She hadn’t taken it personally, why did everyone think that she should?

There were footsteps in the hall as the others joined her.

“What’s going on?” Addison asked.

“
Ian
,” Dr. Flavia said in surprise.

He kept his burning eyes on hers for a long moment, then at last he acknowledged the others.

“Elena,” he nodded to Dr. Flavia.

Bianca swore she could hear his heart pounding, though of course that was a ridiculous thought - no one could hear another person’s heart from across the room.

“Why are you all back here?” Ian asked, through a clenched jaw.

“We’re updating the locks and setting up the girls with new keys, since the prowler took Bianca’s,” Dr. Flavia replied.

“Bianca’s finished for the night, I’m taking her home,” Ian announced, grabbing Bianca by the hand.

“But I don’t have my key yet,” she complained, knowing that wasn’t the right argument but somehow unable to think straight with his warm hand wrapped around hers.

“Here, take this one,” Dr. Flavia advised, handing her a shiny new key.

“You don’t have to go with him,” Addison said, her soft voice firm.

Ian opened his mouth and closed it again.

“Your decision, Bianca,” he said at last. “But I’m going where you go. I’m keeping you safe.”

The protective note in his voice resonated in her heart. And he sounded less angry now.

“I’ll go with you,” she heard herself reply. “Thanks.”

He smiled, the relief on his face evident. Her heart skipped a beat.

As they turned and headed for the door, Mei winked at her and Addison made a “call me” gesture.

Bianca nodded to both of them and allowed Ian to lead her through the doors and out into the night.

I
an drove as slowly
as he could, which was still going to get them where they were going much faster than he wanted.

He wanted time to calm himself, to soothe the anger in his blood before he brought her home.

Ian might be the shifter, but Bianca was the wild and unpredictable one. He planned to gentle her.

But he couldn’t domesticate the little minx unless he got hold of himself first.

He forced himself to loosen his white-knuckle grip on the steering wheel, so he could run a hand through his hair.

It would be easier if his libido weren’t being tested at the same time as his temper.

Her scent filled the car - he could practically taste her.

The wolf was so close to the surface, growling and snapping in a frenzy of protective and mating instincts - each ramping up the other, as if they were playing a game of Russian roulette with Ian’s sanity.

“Where are we going?” she demanded suddenly, bringing his attention back.

“Home,” he replied.

“Whose home?”

“Mine.”

“I didn’t agree to that,” she said.

He pulled over to the side of the road, seeing red.

“I said I was going to take you home,” he said, enunciating each syllable.

“Yeah,
my
home,” she said, blinking up at him in a sullen way, not a bit cowed by his alpha fury.

“You think I’m taking you back to an apartment that got ransacked last night, after you were just assaulted, again?” he asked, incredulous.

She shrugged, then looked pointedly out the window.

“I can take care of myself,” she said after a moment, still not looking at him.

Her bravado was somehow endearing, and he managed to feel momentary sympathy.

“Bianca, I’m not saying you can’t take care of yourself. I’m just saying I want to help you.”

She turned back to him.

Her expression was contrite.

His wolf strutted in his chest.

“Okay. But I’m not sleeping with you,” she said.

The wolf froze in horror.

Why not?
Ian wanted to whine. But he held himself together.

“Fine. You don’t have to sleep with me,” he said. “But don’t pretend you don’t want to.”

He gave her the careless half smile that always sent his junior girls in third period into cardiac arrest.

Bianca colored and looked away, proving his words.

“Why do you think you have to take care of me?” she asked, petulant again.

“What if he’d had a weapon, Bianca?” Ian shot back. “What if something happened to you?”

“What does it matter to you?” she asked.

That was when he snapped.

Suddenly, he was holding her face in his hands, pressing his lips to hers, tangling his fingers in her golden hair. She wouldn’t listen to reason, but maybe he could make her understand this way.

She was still for a moment, then she was kissing him back as if her life depended on it, her body seeming to melt into his.

The flash of lights from another car passing them pulled him back to reality.

He cursed silently to himself as he pulled out of her embrace.

“Let’s get you home,” he said softly.

She didn’t argue as he pulled the car back onto the street. They rode the rest of the way in silence.

When they pulled up in front of his house, Ian couldn’t help sneaking a glance over at Bianca to see what she thought.

He had to admit to being a little house-proud. The Arts & Crafts bungalow was one he’d passed many times on his way between the school and his old apartment when he first moved to town.

Granted, it hadn’t exactly looked like this back then.

When Ian had first spotted the place, the lot had been overgrown to the point that the house appeared to be shivering under a coat of ivy and moss, peeking out from between the scrappy saplings to ask for help. The brick walkway had been shot through with tall grass and the building itself was shedding weather-whitened cedar shingles like scabs falling off after the chicken pox.

But the porch had called to him, its sturdy columns wrapping around under the three triangles of the roof. It whispered promises to him that involved a swing and a certain curvy blonde, pitchers of lemonade, children with picture books, family portraits on the front steps, and growing old and sipping hot tea and looking out into the neighborhood.

The day after he’d whispered into Bianca’s hair, he’d finally gotten the nerve to go knock on the door.

There was nothing else to do but pretend to have a broken leg until she graduated. He didn’t trust himself to go back without going mad with desire.

An elderly man had come to the door. They’d had a beer and a conversation. The man told him to come back the next day.

A week later the papers were signed and Ian spent the rest of that year and the years that followed working on the house.

He was a young strong man. He needed physical exertion and plenty of it, to keep himself from tracking down his mate and claiming her before she was ready.

So he had yanked out saplings, ground and dug out rotted stumps, pulled the brick walkway and reset it.

He’d ripped up the boards of the porch and put in mahogany decking, replaced plenty of cedar shingles and painted all of them a moss green with bright white trim and a red door.

Inside he’d removed an ocean of shag carpet and textured wallpaper, drop ceilings and plastic chandeliers. Then he’d refinished the pine floors until they shone like copper, prepped and painted the plaster walls, and stripped the built-ins and moldings to show off the original chestnut. When his teacher salary allowed, he bought authentic period fixtures at auction and restored them himself.

The whole time, he’d fantasized about showing it to her. He’d pictured a morning in late spring, after he’d taken her on two or three dates.

Why did she have to ruin everything by showing up at that Scenting Ceremony? Now they had rushed in and it seemed like maybe she regretted her decision.

“Is that
your
house?” she asked.

“Yes,” he said.

They got out of the car and she stood on the brick walkway and took it in.

“It’s beautiful,” she said at last. “It’s like something out of a book.”

He smiled, glad she was pleased, so glad. It was all for her. The physical embodiment of all he wanted for her, the patina of the time that had passed, his suffering for her made beautiful.

“Let’s go in,” he said, offering her his arm.

To his delight, she smiled and took it and they ascended the porch steps together.

“Oh,” she breathed, gazing at the wisteria turned bright yellow on the vines he had trained over the trelliswork to make a sort of screen across the side of the porch.

“In the spring there are purple flowers,” he told her.

She nodded and let the hand that wasn’t tucked into his arm caress the wooden porch swing so gently.

Ian swallowed the lump in his throat and opened the heavy wooden door.

He turned back to her.

“Will you do me a favor?” he asked.

“What is it?”

“Humor me,” he said, then without another word, he swept her up and carried her over the threshold.

Her laughter was like bells and he actually felt a bit lightheaded with joy.

He was holding her all to himself - not even the floor could touch her. He felt almost submerged in satisfaction.

When he set her down on her feet again there was nothing to do but kiss her.