“Don’t you have clients or something to do at the shop?”
“Nope.”
“You don’t have anything better to do?”
“Nope.”
“Is that the only word you know?”
“Nope.” He moves into my space, crowding my body against the wall. “I also knowlace.” He places a kiss on my neck. “Needy.” Kiss. “Please.” Kiss. “Baby.” Kiss. “But my personal favorite.” His knowing gaze pierces me.“Mine.”
Smashing his lips to mine, Atlas steals my breath. As if I needed another reminder of last night, it’s like he’s chosen to toss out the highlight reel and start an encore. Losing myself to his touch, I freeze when his hand leaves my hair and skates down my arm.
Breaking our kiss, he looks at me with confusion. “Baby?”
“I’m at work. Anyone could come around the corner and see us. How would it look if the librarian got caught making out with someone?”
A wide grin stretches across his face, making his normally dark eyes turn a honey color. “It’d be the stuff of fantasies, baby. I know it’s mine. Do you have glasses?”
Shaking my head at him, I move out of his embrace. “Be serious.”
“I wouldn’t joke about that, Cora. Trust me.” I hear the smile in his voice. “What are we doing for dinner tonight?” he asks, catching me off guard.
“What?”
“What do you mean,what? Are you not planning to eat this evening? What do you want for dinner, baby?”
“I work at the shop tonight,” I remind him, walking through the shelves, back toward circulation, where it’s safer and less tempting to touch him.
“And?”
“And… I don’t know. I’ll eat when I get home.”
A scowl crosses his face. “Nope. Not good enough. Tell me what I can bring you.”
Glancing past him, I see what section we’ve made it to. The 600s, perfect. Smiling, I stop, and Atlas almost runs into me. “Okay, fine.” I skim the shelves and pull one off. “Here. We can fix both of our problems.” I hand him a thick book.
“A cookbook?” he questions.
“Yes. You want to make me dinner, and I want you to have a library card. Win-win. Let’s go, mister.”
Smiling, he leans down, kissing my forehead. “I’ll follow you anywhere,missus.”
I ignore the shiver his words cause, and head back to the desk. I will not get turned on at the library. Grabbing his ID, I glance at his full name and birthday. Atlas Isaac Nichols. It fits him. Then I notice his birthday and almost laugh. Quickly getting him set up with his card, I remind him, “If you lose this, it’s a five-dollar replacement fee for a new one.”
“Don’t worry, baby. I won’t lose it.” He tucks the card into his wallet.
“Is your birthday really October 31st?”
“Yep. Go ahead and make your jokes, pretty girl. I’ve heard them all.”
“I wasn’t going to make a joke because Noah’s heard them all too.
He looks at me in confusion, then grins. “You mean Noah’s a Halloween baby too?”
“Yep. One of the most ironic jokes of all.”
“What is?”
