“I’ll join you again tomorrow,” she added with a soft smile that made me suspicious. Gwen’s smiles were generally bright, but this one was rather secretive. “Don’t get into too much trouble without me.” The last was almost said with a hint of laughing reprimand, as if she fully expected me to get into trouble regardless. I had not told her about the incident with my boss, at least, I didn’t recall doing so, but who knew what I’d said after half a bottle of red.
“What trouble?” I asked, narrowing my eyes. Did she expect me to have an accident when dealing with the ancient library, or did she suspect that Luther and I would butt heads again? The last thing I needed was to run into him again, but the Mayor had implied that he’d be working closely with me. So far, “close” was about all I could call it, because he seemed very fond of invading my space, physically and mentally.
She only hummed, not giving me an actual reply. I didn’t get an answer until I stepped out onto Main Street. I froze on the steps of the B&B and stared. “What?” I spluttered, surprised and possibly a little baffled. The library, my sad, boarded-up, slightly tragic library, had transformed. The plywood was gone, and every single broken window replaced by shining, spotless panes. Sunlight poured through the glass, like the building had been holding its breath for a century.
It looked alive. Bright. Hopeful. My heart thudded in my chest, warmth filling my veins at such a beautiful, welcoming sight. Who? When? How? My mind whispered that this was all Luther’s doing. Gwen had to have seen it when she crossed the street to get to the B&B this morning to make my breakfast.
Wind stirred at my back, as if urging me forward, and I approached the library with slow, careful steps. The door, previously locked and creaky, gave under my hand without resistance. I knew this was a small town, and the chances that a thief was wandering about were probably very small. I was still very certain nobody would leave a place like this unlocked. Which meant… I swallowed. Was he here?
I stepped inside, dread replacing the warmth and hope from moments ago. That was a feeling I wanted to brush off, stuff intoa corner in my mind, and ignore. The library was transformed, and I wanted to fully enjoy it. The interior, though still moldy and chaotic, was brighter by a mile. The daylight streaming in revealed details I’d completely missed yesterday.
Then I heard him, just a “Hmm,” as if he were talking to himself, thinking out loud. It was that same deep, velvety rumble from last night, when he’d so rudely shoved wine into my arms and then thrown me out of his shop.
Luther stood near the central reading table, hands on his hips, as he surveyed the stacks of boxes piled there. He was much like a general preparing for war. His black hair was loose again today, like when we’d first met, and he wore no jacket, just a shirt with the sleeves rolled to his elbows. His forearms looked like someone had carved them out of marble and then decided marble wasn’t nearly devastating enough. Muscles flexed under tawny skin as he shifted his stance, and a dark vein traced along one wrist, like some kind of sinful detail added for effect.
The bat from last night. Yes, that bat, tiny vest and all, clung comfortably to his shoulder. I stared. I absolutely stared. First at the bat, because I still could not get over the fact that he was real. I had not even dared ask Gwen about it, just in case I was still making this up. Mostly, though, I stared at him. The universe had no right to make a man like that. No right at all.
“You’re early,” Luther said without turning, his voice sending a little electric shock straight down my spine. I jumped like I’d been caught stealing. At least he didn’t sound angry or grumpy this time, and his words were the polar opposite of his greeting yesterday. Early? It was the same time as yesterday, and now he thought I was early instead of late? This guy made my head spin.
“I… Sure, good morning,” I sputtered, heat flooding my cheeks. “What do you mean, ‘on time’?” I soldiered on. “Wasn’t this late to you yesterday?” There, polite but firm, asking for clarification in this weird, confusing relationship that was forming between me and the far-too-handsome shop owner, who apparently had a bat as a pet.
“Hmm,” he said again, hands on his hips, head turning slowly as he looked at the pile of boxes again. “I adjusted my schedule to yours this time, so now you are indeed right on time.” Okay, well… I guess that worked. It certainly beat being snarked at right after breakfast for something I hadn’t done, at least not on purpose.
Turning slowly, he finally faced me. His icy gray eyes flicked over me, my sweater, my jeans, my absolutely mortified expression, and something unreadable crossed his face. His gaze lingered just a second too long, and my stomach performed a full somersault. Then, mayhem ensued when the bat hanging off his shoulder whispered loudly into Luther’s ear,She was staring.
“I HEARD THAT,” I blurted. Good God, I had heard that—and I wanted someone to finally admit I wasn’t going crazy. Luther pinched the bridge of his nose, a deep sigh escaping his throat, sounding beyond weary.
The moment I blurted that I’d heard the bat’s whisper, Luther went very, very still—not dramatically, just with the quiet, weary stillness of a man who’d long expected the universe to personally antagonize him, and felt vindicated every time it did. “Of course you heard him,” he muttered, exhaling sharply. “Why wouldn’t this become more complicated?”
The fluffy little creature perked up, delighted. His gold chain gleamed proudly around his tiny neck in the bright spring sunshine pouring in through the brand-new, beautiful windows. She heard me again! Luther, this is excellent news…
His words were clear as a bell, but they were not directed at me. I looked from the bat on Luther’s shoulder to Luther’s face with an absurd amount of hope. “Belfry.” Luther’s tone carried the finality of a loaded trapdoor. “Jade. Belfry. Belfry, Jade. Introductions complete.” I raised my hand automatically, as if I intended to shake someone’s hand, then quickly hid my palm behind my back.
He flicked the bat off his shoulder with two fingers, like brushing away a crumb. “Now, be on your best behavior. Which, if I recall correctly, involves sleeping. Don’t bats sleep during the day?” He said that like he’d said it a million times already, and he had stopped expecting his bat to actually do as expected.
I do!Belfry announced proudly, and it sounded utterly adorable in his high squeak.Just not when exciting things are happening. Luther groaned under his breath, hand going up to rub through his shoulder length, glossy black hair. It made his bicep bulge against the tightly folded fabric of his shirtsleeve and I had to gulp in a deep breath of air when it suddenly felt ten degrees warmer in here.
I pointed between them, feeling both unhinged and vindicated. “Okay, hold on. This is real? I’m hearing him, and you’re hearing him too? Why? How?” Animals did not talk, and I’d never even heard of a talking bat. Belfry sure looked cute in his red silk vest, perched on a box filled with books, but he also had a mouthfull of fangs and a reputation for having rabies. Well, not him personally—Belfry, that is—but bats in general definitely did.
Luther didn’t even look at me. “It just is.” He clearly did not want to answer and turned away, his hands going back to his hips as he resumed “appraising” the stacked boxes. He was very obviously ignoring me, and that just wouldn’t do. A master at ignoring people, he made me forget my earlier surge of attraction with his cold demeanor.
“That is not an answer!” I snapped at him, moving closer and stepping in front of him so there was absolutely no way he could avoid looking at me. Then I gave Belfry a very pointed look, my eyebrow raised. The small bat was licking at the sharp thumb claw on his left wing, seemingly oblivious to our bickering. If not for his absurd outfit, he would have seemed just like any other animal.
“That is the answer you’re getting,” Luther responded, his voice drawing goosebumps along my arms, his eyes glacial. It was at moments like this, it really felt like he hated me. No, not hate, that was too strong an emotion, more like… intense dislike. Well, puh, like I cared anyway. I was here to do a job, not make friends, and Gwen liked me, that was good enough.
I threw my hands up, giving up and moving around him so I could park my bag on the table across from Belfry. The tiny bat was staring at me with intensely curious eyes now, but he wasn’t talking. I was not sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing, at least the bat had seemed excited about meeting me. “Unbelievable,” I muttered under my breath, my notebook slamming to the table with more force than necessary. UNEDITED
He finally glanced my way, his expression almost bored. “If you must have answers so badly, Jade, perhaps you’ll find them in one of these books.” He gestured around at the chaos with an elegant, long-fingered hand, the vein on his forearm enticing my eyes to track his movements far more than his hand did. I really was a sucker for a sexy forearm; those rolled-up sleeves were catnip. I hoped he didn’t realize that, it would be beyond embarrassing.
I huffed, but honestly, I was too buoyed by the morning sunlight streaming into the library to let his grumpiness burrow under my skin. Light flooded the reading room, catching dust motes in the air like tiny drifting stars. The space continued to look hopeful, alive. I wanted to do this place, these books, justice. For them, for the town, not just for the advancement of my career, and definitely not to prove to one arrogant shopkeeper that I was good at what I did. Even mold couldn’t ruin this moment.
That’s when Belfry chose to flutter up into the darker rafters of the building with a chirped,Fine, time to nap.I stared as he settled himself upside down in the very dusty chandelier and promptly shut his eyes.
“So,” I said, forcing myself back to business. “The windows. They’re…beautiful. Who fixed them?” I pointed at the nearest one. They were tall and arched, a row of them on either side of the front door, and more on the back wall facing the garden. On the second-floor walkway, there were two smaller windows with reading nooks that would be utterly delightful to curl up in once they had been fixed up.
He cleared his throat, unusually stiff. “I arranged for it.” I glanced his way, that was surprisingly forthright of him. It hadnot seemed he was very onboard with helping to restore the library. Then again, I had seen right away that he did care about the books. Even now, his hand was on one of the boxes, gently opening up the cardboard to peer inside.
“And the supplies?” I asked. There was a crate of mold killer, paint, fresh wood, and much more stacked underneath one of the windows. That hadn’t been there yesterday, and I was pretty certain it would match Gwen’s list in its entirety. There was no way she could have arranged for that already, though; she had to have slept as deeply as I had after all that wine.
