Taken With You (6 page)

Her most recent “volunteer” had been assigned a task she’d been putting off for far too long. He’d matched books on the shelves to books in the system and listed any books they were missing in middle grade and young adult series. Now Hailey had to analyze the stats for each series and decide whether or not to replace the missing books for each.

It was tedious work, but it kept her mind busy. The hands on the clock moved, a few patrons came and went, and she managed to mostly ignore the class going on at the other end of the floor. It wasn’t easy with nine kids, eight parents and the instructors, but she managed to burn through a good chunk of the morning’s to-do list.

At eleven, there was a rush past her desk and she laughed at the kids trying to run outside without technically running.

Josh stopped. “We’re taking an hour for lunch. Do you want anything while I’m out?”

“I brought a lunch, but thanks.”

They all filed out, except for Matt Barnett. He took the time to sweep banana bread crumbs from the tables into a trash can and then tossed the empty coffee cups in after. Hailey tried not to allow any mushy feelings in as he dampened a paper towel and actually washed the table, too. She was a sucker for men who picked up after themselves.

She was surprised, though, when he stopped at the circulation desk on his way out. He leaned against the tall counter, close enough so she could smell that aftershave or cologne or whatever it was again.

“You get a lunch break?”

She wasn’t sure what to make of that. Was it a prelude to asking her to join him, or just a point of information? “I bring my lunches and eat at my desk. One of the joys of being a one-woman show.”

“So you never get a break?”

“I’m not exactly a gerbil in a wheel here. And every once in a while I put a
be right back
sign on the door and meet my friends for lunch.”

“I guess that’s both the good and the bad of a small town.”

“Mmm-hmm.”

The conversation seemed a little surreal to Hailey. Because he was in a library, he did what everybody always did and talked in a low voice. His low voice was husky, and it was all too easy to imagine him leaning close and whispering sexy things.

“How are those blisters?”

So much for sexy. “They’re fine, thanks. And thank you again for bringing us back to our car.”

“No problem.”

“I guess it’s kind of your job, isn’t it?”

He smiled, and her fingers tightened around her pen. No matter how much she tried to imagine him with unkempt hair and beard, his smile was devastating. “I’m usually a decent guy even if I’m not getting paid for it.”

“Hey, at least I was able to be fodder for your safety class.” It came out a little less self-deprecating humor and more snippy than she’d intended.

“I shouldn’t have poked fun at you. I’m sorry. But it was all in fun.” A horn sounded outside and Matt stood up straight. “I’m grabbing lunch with Dave, so I’ve got to run. You want me to grab you anything?”

“No, thanks.”

Once she heard the door close, Hailey sighed and dropped her head to her desk with a thump that sounded very loud in the suddenly very quiet library. She had no idea what she’d done in a past life to deserve being tormented by a scruffy mountain man disguised as a smoking hot guy in a uniform, but she wanted this day to be over.

She ate her lunch at her desk, skimming review sites for the upcoming must-have books, and she was busy helping a patron with a genealogy site when the safety class group poured back in. Glancing up, she saw Matt looking for her and she dropped her gaze before their eyes met.

Time crawled by, and she kept herself as busy as possible. The class moved outside when Sam Jensen started the first aid portion of the class because they had a few patrons on the computer and reading periodicals. According to Matt, kids tended to get a little loud when they were pretend splinting each other’s body parts. Other than that, she had to do her best to ignore the group and the low timbre of Matt’s voice.

Once the usual closing time had come and gone, things got really slow. A few people saw cars in the lot and stopped in, but most of Whitford assumed the library was closed as usual. Then the door opened and Tori walked in.

Hailey realized she should have seen that coming. She shook her head, but Tori just grinned and kept walking until she reached the circulation desk. Then she turned so she could see the class.

“Aw. His back’s to us.”

“You need to go away.”

“Not without seeing the new and improved Matt-the-hot-game-warden.”

Hailey sighed, praying Tori’s voice was low enough so they wouldn’t be overheard. Old buildings tended to have acoustic quirks. “Work Matt might be hot, but we’ve seen not-at-work Matt. Not hot.”

“That’s called potential.”

No matter what Tori had said before, Hailey found herself wondering if Tori had stopped by out of curiosity, or if she was interested in him herself. Not that she cared. “I’m working.”

“I’m not leaving until he turns around.”

“
He’s
working.”

“That’s okay. You guys can keep working.”

“While you stand there and stare at him?”

Tori nodded. “He’ll turn around eventually. You can feel when somebody’s staring at you and, since he’s law enforcement, it probably won’t take very long.”

Hailey blew out an exasperated breath. “I can’t let you stalk people in my library.”

“Okay.” Tori started to move and Hailey figured she was giving up.

She should have known better. Her friend headed straight for the class and there was no way to stop her without making a spectacle of themselves. Instead, she watched while Tori interrupted and had a few words with the game warden. There were smiles and nods, along with a laugh from Matt, and then they shook hands.

Tori made an
OMG
face at Hailey as she walked back to the desk, her back safely to the class group. “The picture doesn’t do him justice.”

“Since I was trying not to be obvious, I’m not surprised.”

“You need to claim him before somebody else does.”

Hailey rolled her eyes. “I don’t
want
him.”

“Bullshit. Who wouldn’t want him? Get that
Property of Whitford Public Library
stamp and stamp it right on his forehead. Then cross out the library’s name and write yours.”

“Go away.”

“If you don’t want to keep him, then pretend he’s a book. Enjoy him for two weeks, then return him.”

That wasn’t an unappealing idea. Enjoy this Matt and throw him back before he had enough time off to regress to his previous condition. But that’s not what she was after at this point in her life. “I’m not looking for a fling, Tori. If I’m going to find a husband and a father for the kids I’m running out of time to have, I can’t be distracted by a guy who’s all wrong for me.”

“What’s
wrong
is that you can look at that man down there and not see the possibilities.”

Tori winked and walked out the door before Hailey could further her argument that the possibility she saw was the possibility he would turn back into scruffy, smelly Matt and stay that way. She didn’t think a little sophistication in a man was too much to ask for.

When three o’clock rolled around and the safety certificates were handed out, the class practically exploded out of the library. It was a beautiful day and there were plenty of daylight hours left to burn. The men packed up their stuff and cleaned up before heading out.

“Thank you for letting us use the library,” Matt told her, because of course he had to stop and torment her a little more before he left. “I saw the hours on the door, so I know you went out of your way for us.”

“Remember that if you ever catch me fishing without a license.” She realized her mistake as soon as his face registered interest.

“Do you fish, Hailey?”

She laughed. “God, no. Worms. Bugs.
Fish
. It was a joke.”

“Oh.” He shifted the box in his arms. “Maybe I’ll see you around.”

She was
not
going to be able to keep her eyes on the bigger picture if Matt kept popping up to tempt her. “I doubt it. Really, since I don’t plan on going out in the woods again anytime soon, what are the chances we’ll run into each other again?”

The game warden left, but not before giving her a
we’ll see about that
smile that she turned over and over in her mind for hours. What was
that
supposed to mean?

FOUR

H
AILEY
WOKE
UP
on the following Saturday—which was her Saturday off—well before she intended to. She even tried to burrow under the blanket and go back to sleep, but it wasn’t going to happen.

There was a truck idling outside. And whatever it was, she knew it was bigger than the UPS truck, which shouldn’t be there on a Saturday morning anyway, because she could hear it over the white noise of the fan running in the corner of her room.

With an annoyed growl rumbling in her throat, she got out of bed and walked to the window. Peeking through the gap in her curtains, she frowned. There was a moving truck parked in front of the house next door.

It wasn’t remotely possible somebody had bought her neighbors’ house without her knowing anything about it. She’d just been in the general store yesterday and if anybody knew why a moving truck might park in front of the house, it would be Fran. And Fran would have tripped all over herself trying to be the first person to tell Hailey what was happening on her own street.

Since she wasn’t going to be able to sleep again, she went downstairs and brewed herself a mug of coffee. By the time it was ready, they’d shut the truck off and she heard the bang of the back door being opened. She could hear a faint murmur of male voices and the less faint rattle of dollies being rolled up and down the truck’s ramps. Moving was a loud process and they’d just started.

At some point she’d have to put on some clothes, her brightest smile, and go welcome her surprise neighbors to the neighborhood. If nothing else, she’d coerce them into getting library cards, since they had to be from out of town or she’d have known they were coming.

Maybe it was some kind of witness protection thing, she mused. That was the only thing that could explain the Whitford grapevine dropping the ball. Taking her coffee with her, she wandered into the living room, where the huge windows offered better views of both the front and backyards. She could see the truck and part of the front yard from there, but no people.

Unfortunately, with the way the sun was facing, she couldn’t really see into the truck, either. She could make out some cardboard boxes, but nothing that would give her some clues about her new neighbors. She didn’t see any toys or bicycles, but that didn’t mean there weren’t kids.

She finished her first cup of coffee, then had another while she ate a microwaveable breakfast sandwich. It was early and she was too lazy to make a real breakfast for herself. After a quick shower, she got dressed and tried to ignore the noise from next door.

Curiosity got the better of her, though, and she found herself putting off mopping the kitchen floor in favor of peeking out the living room window. Two guys were trying to muscle a huge, beat-up brown leather sofa off the truck. They weren’t wearing any kind of a uniform, so she wasn’t sure if they were a moving company or her new neighbors or friends they’d roped into helping.

“Put some muscle into it,” she heard another male voice say, and then the guy laughed.

Hailey froze. It couldn’t be. There was no way in hell it was even possible. Then the owner of the voice stepped into view and her hands curled into fists. Matt Barnett was moving in next door.

Oh, hell no.

She went out the door and headed across the lawn. “Hey!”

He turned and there was no doubt he recognized her. His back stiffened and he rolled his head to the side. “You have got to be kidding me.”

“What are you doing?” Maybe he was helping a friend move in, which would still be a weird
small world
coincidence, but not too bad.

“I’m moving in.”

Damn. He was close enough to her now so she didn’t have to yell. “Since when? How did I not know this?”

“In a weird coincidence, I talked to the owners and finalized the details over the phone right before I met you and Tori in the woods. Have I mentioned how nice and polite and normal your friend is? Anyway, maybe you didn’t know because it’s none of your business.”

This was bad. “You’re stalking me.”

“Excuse me?”

“The woods? The library? Now you’re going to live next to me?”

He shook his head. “You are quite possibly the most irrational person I’ve ever met. And I’ve met some doozies in my line of work.”

“So it’s just a coincidence that you keep popping up in my life?”

“Honey, the last thing I need in my life is a woman like you.”

Even though she didn’t
want
him to want her, that pissed her off on principle. “You’d be lucky to have a woman like me. If you ever call me honey like that again, you’d better be running away at the time.”

“We both know I could just walk fast and you still wouldn’t catch me.”

She wanted to say something that would cut him to the bone, but her sense of humor was beating out her panic that she was going to have a hot neighbor who’d already caused her all kinds of turmoil, and she couldn’t hold back the smile.

Before she actually laughed out loud, she turned and walked back toward her house. Dignity in defeat.

“Hey, aren’t you supposed to bring me a pie?” he called after her. “Or a casserole?”

She didn’t slam her door, but she wanted to. Just having him in her library for six hours had caused an epic struggle between her head and the parts of her body below the neck. And now he was going to be right next door.

With a sigh, Hailey decided to burn off her sexual frustration with some house cleaning. Spotless floors and sparkling toilets were almost as satisfying as an orgasm. Almost.

* * *

M
ATT
HAD
THOUGHT
it was funny that in this supposedly gossip-filled town, Hailey hadn’t known there was a game warden moving to town, but now he saw the joke was on him. Nobody had told him he’d be living next door to the town’s librarian. Who just happened to not like him very much and now thought he was stalking her.