His gaze flew to hers. “Really?”
“Yup. She thinks she’s cramping our style.” Abby chuckled. “But it made me think that it’s going to happen at some point. At least, I’d like it to happen at some point.”
“I’d like it to happen too,” Tinker said. “How do you think Will is going to handle it?”
Abby shifted to lean against him again. “I honestly have no idea. I guess we’ll see.”
Tinker put the swing back in motion. “Can I ask you something?”
“Sure,” she said.
“What books?”
Abby frowned and turned to face him again. “What?”
“The first night we met, you said something about it never working out like it does in books, and you mentioned you’d read about BDSM stuff in books. Then Dani said something about book covers? Something like that. So, I’m wondering what books.”
Abby dropped her leg and held her glass out to Tinker. “Hold this.” She stood and walked into the house before she could change her mind, not daring to look back at Tinker. She couldn’t believe she was going to do this. Flipping the light on in her office, where she’d moved her racier books, she ran a finger along the spine and chose a Joanna Wylde. Between her, Lindsey, and Naomi, it was well read.
Abby bit the corner of her lip and stared down at the cover depicting the torso of a well-muscled, shirtless man wearing only a leather vest, and wondered if she should pick something less…explicit. But it wasn’t even one of the more explicit books she owned. She definitely wasn’t going to start with her E.M. Gayle or L.K. Knight books. She scanned the titles again.
“Is that it?”
She jumped at Tinker’s voice behind her and put a hand to her chest. Her cheeks grew warm as he took the book from her hand and read the description on the back.
He cocked an eyebrow and gave her an assessing look. “Is this the book you were talking about?”
Abby clasped her forearms behind her back. “Not that book specifically, but in general, yes.”
“This says book two. How many books are there?”
“In that series? Five or six.”
“How many series are there?” He stepped closer to her bookcase and read some of the titles. “You have very eclectic tastes. You’ve got romance next to art history books and biographies next to Lord of the Rings.”
“Sometimes I don’t want to think about what I’m reading.” She looked down as she shrugged.
Tinker stepped closer and wrapped an arm around her. “I’m not giving you grief. But I am going to borrow this.” He held up the book. “And take notes.”
Abby couldn’t stop her smile. “Seriously?”
“Oh yeah. For when we sleep over.” He lowered his mouth to hers.
Melanie
Abby was setting up her room for the senior class, which mainly involved making sure enough materials were available. It was her favorite class since she didn’t really instruct the students so much as guide them in the genre they favored. Most of them were working on end-of-year projects or building their art portfolios for submission to college admissions boards.
“Abby?” Principal Newton stood in the doorway of her classroom. “Do you have a minute?”
She dropped the brushes into the old coffee can. “Of course.”
He stepped into the classroom and closed the door.
Her stomach dropped; he had on his bad news face. It was the face he’d used to tell them a teacher had died last year. Was it Will? Olivia? Her mom? “What’s wrong? What happened?”
“I know you have a connection to the Veterans Against Child Abuse group, so I wanted to tell you in person instead of hearing it from somewhere else. Melanie Driscoll is in the hospital,” he said gently.
Abby brought a hand to her mouth. “Oh, god. What happened?”
