“Not yet. Come on.”
They weaved through the house, finally seeing other people up and about. Dani suddenly felt a little silly thinking that Theo had disappeared when they were so clearly not alone in the house. But that was almost a distant memory now that Theo’s hand enveloped hers.
Finally, they came upon a door and Theo let go of her hand for an instant to turn the knob before taking her hand again and leading her inside.
And once there, Dani let go ofhishand and walked toward the center of the room. No, not just any room.
A two-floor library.
“This is amazing,” she said, turning her head every which way to take everything in. The simple wrought iron railingand spiral staircase. The bookcases full of books of all sizes and colors. The large reading table and reading chairs. Even the deep-seated sectional looked like the perfect place to curl up and read a book.
“How did you find this room?” she asked.
Theo made his way farther into the room and set down the plate on the reading table.
“I asked Lysander. He’d mentioned the library earlier, so I found him and asked where it was.”
“Well, it’s truly remarkable,” she said, making her way over to Theo—and more important, the food—though not taking her eyes off the beauty of the room.
“I thought you’d like it.”
She looked at him and smiled, then sat on the table with the plate between the two of them. Her feet dangled in the air as they ate, and she talked about what her home library would look like if she ever got one. Hers would obviously be much smaller—the public library didn’t paythatwell—but it would be full of all her favorite books. Organized by vibe and with a special section for those gifted by Theo (her favorites).
Theo also described his perfect home library. One with a ladder to reach books near the ceiling. Obviously, his books would be organized by subject matter.
“Think there’s anything to drink in here?” she wondered, hopping off the table.
“Maybe over there,” he said, tipping up his head toward a bar cart in the corner.
She checked it out, removing the tops on a few bottles of various alcohol and sniffing for identification since she couldn’t read the labels.Hmm…this one smells okay.
She poured a couple of fingers in a glass and made her way back to Theo, resting against the table with his ankles crossed.
“Bad news,” she said.
“What’s that?”
“No clam juice. Only whiskey, or whatever this is,” she said, holding out the bottle to show him and then taking a sip. The intense fruity, spicy liquor hit her taste buds. She offered it to Theo, and he took a sip.
“It’s Metaxa,” he said. “It’s like a brandy.”
“Well, it’s delicious. Why don’t we ever have this at Christmas?”
“Maybe next time we will.”
She took another sip, and then he took the glass from her and set it on the table beside him, then pulled her closer.
“You know, Juicy, I didn’t just bring you here for snacks and brandy.”
“Oh no?” She smiled, loving the way it felt with his arms around her.
“No. If you haven’t noticed, we’re in a library.”
“That we are.”
“And you know what I’ve been wanting to do to you in a library.” His hand glided underneath her nightshirt, and he lightly grazed her skin just above the waistband. She could feel her body turning to goo.
“You say that as if this isn’t something that you only added to your sex bingo card two days ago.”
