That earned a huff and almost a smile.
“But why did you walk in the first time?” she asked. “I might only be human, but I can read people. I know why someone’s there the second they cross the threshold. You weren’t there for books.”
And there it was. The corner he couldn’t talk his way out of. Possibly.
How did he give her a palatable version of the truth when the real version would sound something like,I was sent to study you because you’re a weirdo who may or may not become a threat. And you make me want to bury myself in you for the remainder of time.He’d already given her so many half-truths they were starting to sound like expired spells. So he said, softly, weighing every word. “I was looking for something unusual. Then you glared at me from behind that desk.” He glanced at her. “It was memorable.”
She didn’t smile. But she didn’t shut him out either.
Progress. Maybe.
He let the silence stretch between them again. Not heavy and not empty, but full of things they weren’t ready to say. Yet.
“It still doesn’t answer my question. Why did you come to the library?”
The woman could not be swayed. He cleared his throat. “Because I really am a sleep therapist, and I really was trying to understand something dream-related.”
Kind of true. If you looked at it from far enough away. And squinted.
He could live with that.
“Did you find what you were looking for?”
“Well, no, because you kicked me out.”
She rolled her eyes, but her body was more relaxed, her thoughts less tight. He turned the radio on, put it on a soft rock station, and kept driving through the night.
She dozed off somewhere along the pass. Head tilted slightly, mouth parted just a little, hands still clenched like she didn’t fully believe she was safe. He kept his eyes on the road, the glow of the dashboard painting shadows across his knuckles. He drove quietly, letting the silence keep her wrapped in the closest facsimile to peace he could give her. By the time the road narrowed and the lights of Mystic Hollow started to glow faintly ahead, he realized he had no idea where to go.
He could’ve pulled it from her mind. Personal information was stored on the surface, so a nudge, a little skim, would be enough to find her building, her front door. Somehow, he didn’t think she’d be wowed by his cleverness. She’d probably deck him again.
Being human was very complicated.
He reached over and gently touched her sleeve. “Hey.”
She stirred. “Yeah?”
“I don’t know where to go.”
She blinked, yawned, then rattled off directions, her voice groggy but present. He followed them through a few quiet turns until they reached a two-story complex on the edge of town. Two apartments on the ground floor, two upstairs. Nothing fancy, but clean and quiet. He pulled up to the entrance, letting the engine idle.
“That one’s my parking spot,” she said, pointing.
He parked there.
She gathered her bags, checking nothing had shifted during the drive. Her fingers brushed his leg, her coat grazed his arm, and damn, he hated how much he noticed every second of it.
Hoping. Holding his breath, waiting for an invitation.
Just coffee. Like,actual coffee, not the metaphorical one people used to hook up and pretend it was casual. The real coffee time, where two people sat across from each other and maybe talked like they weren’t strangers, deep in secrets and half-truths.
But obviously, she had other plans.
“Thank you for helping me,” she said. Her voice was soft, but there was steel behind it. “I have questions. But not tonight.”
He nodded. “Don’t sweat it.”
Please ask me to come in. Just for a minute.
