“I don’t mind helping.” Control was appealing, but I knew it was going to be a battle with Will.
“Then I guess I’ll be seeing you a lot.”
A lot. How long could I spend around him without doing something stupid? “Just…make a list of what you need, and I’ll see about getting it.” I grabbed a legal pad and pen from the long, cluttered table and thrust it toward Josh. “I need to…file some books.”
Jagger raised his eyebrows at my hasty retreat. “There’s three weeks to get everything together, and then we’ll get to work,” he promised. “I’ll see you soon.”
I managed a nod, then fled.
“You didn’t lift any of those boxes, did you?” Alice asked, checking out two books.
“No, ma’am. I know better.”
“Handsome man, the blond one.” She stacked a group of books and slid a sideways look at me. “How do you know him?”
“I’ve only met him once. I wouldn’t say that constitutes knowing him,” I answered, taking the stack. “He’s just…a guy.” Liar.
“Well, if I was young enough, I’d say that he’s more than enough guy.”
“I reckon for some lucky girl, he is.”
“Well, I’d sure let him leave his boots under my bed.”
I was not letting that thought anywhere near my brain. Too late. I slipped the books into my arms and headed to file them, trying desperately to ignore the fact that Jagger was actually here. How often had I thought about him since Florida? Not just those eyes, as beautiful as they were, but the way he’d pulled me from the water. He was the only reason I was still alive.
I lost myself in the process of filing books, the quiet monotony. I relished this silence, the way my thoughts could focus or scatter, depending on what I needed. There was no more perfect place in the world for me than the library, surrounded by thousands of stories waiting to be discovered. I filed the last Philippa Gregory and glanced at my watch.
Five until seven. Time to lock up. I walked the floor, clearing the meeting rooms and hidden alcoves so I didn’t lock some unknowing patron inside. “All clear,” I told Alice as I retrieved my handbag from under the counter. “What about the crew in the back?”
“You just missed them, but I bet if you skip out there, you could still catch him.” Her silver eyebrows wiggled.
“No need. I just didn’t want to lock them in.”
“Mmm-hmm,” she replied. “You head out. I’ll lock up.”
“Sounds good. I’ll see you after class tomorrow.”
I waved at the door as she cranked the key. I walked under the trees to where my car was parked. Jagger’s reverse lights were on across the parking lot as I slid behind the wheel of my car and turned the ignition. It cranked but didn’t turn over. This is not happening. My car was only two years old; there was no way she wasn’t going to start. I tried again with the same result.
No problem. Will wouldn’t mind taking a study break to bail me out. I opened my handbag for my cell phone…that wasn’t there. Oh, no. I’d left it on the desk…in the library…that was locked. Wasn’t that craptastic?
The horn blared when I knocked my forehead into it. This was my punishment for looking at someone other than my boyfriend, right? I popped the hood and stepped out of the car. I got it raised and propped and then looked down at the engine, lifting my eyebrows.
“Well, what do you think is wrong?”
I didn’t need to look to know that Jagger was standing beside me. “I have no earthly idea.”
“Then why are you looking at the engine?”
“Because that’s what people do, right? If the car won’t start, you pop the hood and take a look.”
“But you have no clue what you’re looking for.”
I tried to unscrunch my facial features. “Well, no.”
He laughed. I kept my eyes locked on the hoses in my engine. “Go try to start it.”
I slipped between him and the car, successfully avoiding any contact. I left the driver’s door open and tried to start it. This time it didn’t even turn over.
“Do you have jumper cables?” he asked.
“I don’t think so.” I’d unloaded everything from the car into my new garage, feeling powerful that I’d even had one. I leaned out of the door to see him. He’d turned his Boston Bruins hat backward and was leaned over the engine. “Do you?”
“Ironically, no. I sent them with Ember when she went to Nashville.”
Ember? “Oh, well, that leaves me in a pickle.”
He lowered the hood and closed it with a click. “I’ll take you home. Unless there’s someone you’d like to call?”
“My phone is in the library.” I glanced at my watch. Twenty minutes until I had to be home for yet another dose of medication. “I don’t think Will can get here in time,” I muttered.
“I don’t think he’ll mind if I take you home.” He opened my door wider and held out his hand before letting a charming smirk cross his face. “After all, I’ve had my mouth on yours, right? What harm could a ride be compared to that?”
I tried to fight it, but couldn’t stop the slow spread of a smile across my face. I took my handbag with one hand, Jagger’s with the other, and let him help me from the car. That small touch was brutal. I hadn’t imagined that electric and highly inappropriate spark between us.