“Who splits up pair-bonded cats?” Aida cried, as if that was the most blasphemous sin of them all.
On the list of Jeremy’s shortcomings, it was certainly up there. He and Jo had adopted the littermates as kittens. When they broke up, Jeremy had insisted they each take one, and Jo hadn’t known how to say no. Aida had been livid. She still hadn’t forgiven him.
“Assholes, that’s who,” Jo declared.
“Damn right.”
“Hey. I love you.”
Aida smiled softly. “I love you too, babe. Let me know how tonight goes, okay?”
“Always. Good luck with your meeting.”
Her best friend rolled her eyes. “Ten bucks says it could have been an email.”
“You don’t get to complain. You have an office.”
“And you have a hot librarian to go meet.” She made a shooing motion with her hand.
Jo blushed. “I never said he was hot.”
“Come on, Jo. I could hear it in your voice. Now go. I have to run too.” The camera jostled as she stood up and started walking. “I’ll see you in three weeks.”
Jo’s entire face brightened in the thumbnail of her own camera view. “Oh my God, you’re right. Only three more weeks until Indi-Con!”
Aida gave a soft cry of joy. “Aah! OkayIreallygottagoloveyoubye.”
The call disconnected. Jo’s phone declared it one minute after six. She checked her teeth in the rearview mirror, then grabbed her purse and the empty takeout bag from the mediocre carnitas burrito she’d scarfed down before calling Aida. She tossed the bag into the trash and headed toward the library door on the corner. Luckily, the afternoon’s rain had let up, so she didn’t have to walk through a drizzle. The air smelled pleasantly of wet concrete and soil, and Jo took a deep inhale. That fresh, clean smell was rare in southern California, but here in Ashville, she got to enjoy it almost every day. Maybe those Midwestern storms weren’t so bad… though she still hadn’t gotten an umbrella.
Felix was waiting for her on the corner. His dress shirt today was pale gray, and he stood facing away from her with one hip out to the side and his hands in the pockets of his navy slacks. In the slanted evening light, the shadows emphasized how well the fabric hugged his ass. Jo forced herself to look at the back of his head, where his loose, dark waves fell slightly past his ears.
“Hey there!” she called.
Felix turned around and offered her a small, polite smile.
“Sorry I’m a couple minutes late. I was on the phone.”
“No need to apologize,” he said. “I haven’t been outside since lunch, so I thought I’d get some air after the last patrons left.”
“Oh,” Jo said, strangely disappointed that he was not, in fact, waiting for her. She brushed it off and jerked her thumb over her shoulder. “Want me to go around the block a few times so you can smell the petrichor a bit longer?”
Felix’s grin was genuine this time, and Jo’s heart went all aflutter. “Kind of you to offer, and excellent word choice, but we can head inside. I don’t want to keep you longer than an hour.”
He held the door open for her. Inside, she waited at the top of the stairs for him. Except he didn’t follow her. He stayed by the door and pulled a set of keys out of his pocket.
Her pulse once again beat a little faster, for an entirely different reason. She shifted her weight onto her back foot, her hands clutching her purse strap. “You’re locking the door?”
“Yes, the library’s clo—” Felix stopped short, his eyes glancing over her body language. His face paled. “Oh fuck, I’m an idiot. This was a terrible idea. Do you want to leave? You can leave.”
He moved behind the front desk to clear her path to the door. The desk was waist-high on the customer side and chair-height on the employee side, effectively putting a barrier between them. Felix dropped the keys on the desk. He started to tuck his hands into his pockets, then stopped and slowly pulled them out where she could see them. “I’m so sorry, Jo. We can reschedule for when there are other people around.”
His horrified reaction went a long way in reassuring her that Felix meant her no harm. His face was still pale, and she doubted even the best actor could pull that off without makeup. “I’m okay,” she said slowly. “Maybe you could leave the door unlocked, though?”
Felix winced. “I’m sorry, but Warren would have my head. He knows I’m working with a volunteer after hours, but it’s still protocol to lock up on time. It has to do with insurance liability. I can give you the keys, though. Would that help?”
Jo pressed her lips together. She wanted to trust Felix, but she reminded herself she didn’t really know him. They’d only spoken once before tonight, and not even for a full twenty minutes.
“There are cameras,” Felix added when Jo didn’t say anything. He pointed to the devices mounted on the ceiling, one pointed toward the front door and one toward the desk. “We can sit here at the desk, and we’ll be filmed the whole time.”
Jo furrowed her brows. “Oh, right. I guess I forgot that we could sit up here. I was feeling weird about being alone in that meeting room downstairs.”
“We were alone in that room on Tuesday,” Felix pointed out, relaxing enough to slide his hands into his pockets. One thing, at least, Jo was certain of. He didn’t have a weapon in either pocket. She would have seen the outline of it against his thick thighs.
She lifted her eyes away from where his knuckles created ripples in the navy fabric. “But if I’d screamed on Tuesday, someone would have rushed downstairs, even if it was just to tell me to be quiet in the library.”
Felix laughed, a high-pitched chuckle that didn’t really match his tall, broad stature and his baritone voice. The tension between them eased. “Surely you don’t think so little of our librarians that you believe that would be their priority if someone screamed?”
“No, of course not,” Jo said with a smile, “and don’t call me Shirley.”
Felix cocked his head. “What?”
“Never mind. Movie reference.”
“Ah,” he said. “Are you saying you want to stay? I meant it when I said we could reschedule.”
“I’ll stay,” Jo said, approaching the desk and resting her hands on it. “I’ve actually been looking forward to this all week. Sorry I freaked out a little.”
“Truly, do not apologize,” Felix took one hand out of his pocket, showing her his palm in a placating gesture. “I owe you an apology. I should have asked someone else to stay late with me.”
