chapterFIFTEEN I’d only suggested one, so the fact that Isobel was willing to give up a couple of her roses made my eyebrows lift, impressed.But she must’ve mistaken my expression as me thinking I considered her offer meager. So she sighed. “Fine. I can put together a full dozen.”Holy shit. I hadn’t thought she’d go that far. But I smiled. “Mrs. Pan is going to love this.”Still appearing put out, she huffed, “Which color?”“I don’t know.” Again, this was out of my territory. “What do the different colors symbolize?”I thought she’d give me another look that told me she had no idea about that either, but nope. When it came to roses, Isobel knew her shit. “Well, red is obviously for love, passion, beauty, courage, or respect. White roses are for purity, innocence, silence, or secrecy.”I shook my head. “Nah, we don’t want it to be a secret admirer thing. She needs to know they’re from him.”Nodding in agreement, Isobel ticked off another fi
chapterSIXTEEN A day after our matchmaking endeavors, Isobel and I officially claimed the library shelving project complete. I had wanted to call everyone into the room immediately and show it off, even though most of the staff had stopped by periodically to follow our progress, anyway. But Isobel wanted everything cleaned and all the books shelved before our “grand opening.”So while I removed the drop cloths and ladders and tools, Isobel dusted and began to vacuum. When it came time to shelve the books, our great debate about how to organize them started.“This is where I had the mysteries before,” Isobel started, narrowing her eyes as if daring me to disagree.I just grinned, ready to play. “But this is a darker corner. Don’t you think mysteries should be in the darkest, most mysterious part of the room? And romances belong by the light, since they’re, you know, light and full of love with happy endings and stuff.”She blinked at me as if I’
chapterSEVENTEEN Isobel didn’t return to the library for the rest of the day. At first, I was okay with her absence. I mean, hell, I needed a moment to regroup, too.I’d kissed her. Things had changed. We’d probably never get back to the place we used to be. And this new direction could either lead somewhere very good, or very bad. So, yeah, it was scary. I got that. I understood her need for a moment to herself.Maybe even an hour or two to her herself.But when four o’clock rolled around, it was time for me to leave, and she’d never reappeared. I had tried to place as many of her books on the shelves as possible, hoping I didn’t put something somewhere she didn’t want it to go, but it just felt all wrong doing it by myself. We’d started working on this together; we should’ve finished together.The worst of it came the next morning at seven, when she didn’t show up at the lake to run. I stood on the running trail, our running trail, hands on m
chapterEIGHTEEN The silence that followed my confession was resounding. It echoed around in my head until sweat misted on my brow.I opened my eyes to find Isobel watching me, her expression bleak.She shook her head. “What do you mean?”Glancing down at my hands, I began to pick at a piece of skin coming loose around a callus on my palm.“I told you before, I originally went to your dad because of my mom, right?”She nodded. “What? Is that not true?”“No, it’s true,” I said. Then I drew in a deep breath and began my story.“I went to him because she owed him money. He’d given her a loan for her bakery. I swear, she owed everyone money. I have no idea how a single person could rack up that much debt, but she kept it from me for as long as she could. By the time I learned about it, it was out of my control. I sold my truck, sold her house, sold most of our furniture. And it still wasn’t enough. Not nearly enough. After I moved her in with me,
chapterNINETEEN I might’ve followed Isobel around the rest of the day like an eager little child. I just had this pitch in my stomach, telling me not to let her out of my sight. What if she suddenly changed her mind and decided not to believe me after all? I mean, all she had to go on was my word alone and no physical proof whatsoever. Or what if she decided she felt deceived after all? Or she decided she didn’t like me? Or—Okay, I might’ve been a tad paranoid. But could you blame me? I’d just bared my heart to this woman, fully expecting her to stomp on the organ and throw it back into my face. That’s what I deserved. But, no. She’d taken it all surprisingly well and believed me when I had nothing to back up my story. I wasn’t sure if I could trust such an easy resolution. And so instead, I probably annoyed the hell out of her by refusing to leave her all day.Thank goodness she didn’t seem irritated by my neediness.But I think she un
chapterTWENTY Isobel pounced as soon as I exited her dad’s office. “Well?” she demanded, grabbing my hand.Her worry made me grin. “Well, what?” I teased, leaning in to shift my nose across her cheekbone.Huffing out her impatience, she nudged me back far enough to see my face. “Well, what’d he say? Did he try to fire you? Pay you off? Chase you away? Keep us apart?”With a laugh, I tugged her into my arms. “No, no, and no. He already promised you he wouldn’t fire me and…what? Pay me off? Are you kidding? He’s pretty much already paid me off by taking care of my mother.”“But—”“And how exactly did you think he’d keep us apart? We’re both adults. That’s not even…” I shook my head, cracking up over her concerns.Isobel sniffed and shoved against my chest. “Stop laughing. This isn’t funny. He could’ve—”“He couldn’t have done anything to keep me away from you.” Then I winked. “He has no mob ties, remember?”She shook her head slowly,
chapterTWENTY-ONE Oh, holy shit. Holy shit. Did that mean what I thought it meant?I had no idea, but my libido certainly started assuming plenty. Instantly hard, I shifted in my seat to make more room in my pants before clearing my throat and tipping my head toward the flower shop. “Didn’t you want to go inside?”Isobel glanced over her shoulder toward the store she’d purchased. Gaze disinterested, she turned back to me. “No.”Air puffed from my lungs. “So, you…just…anywhere?” I asked.When she nodded, I had to concentrate on exhaling again. “Okay,” I said. “Okay.”I put the truck in drive and pulled back into traffic. We drove for about five more minutes as the day slid into dusk and my headlights came on. At first, it was aimless. I wasn’t sure where to take her that would be private. Mom was at my house, and well…that’s as far as my brain could travel. Until I remembered the closed and abandoned shoe factory I’d worked at for nearly ten ye
chapterTWENTY-TWO I couldn’t stop glancing across the cab of the truck as I drove back to Porter Hall.Isobel anticipated every stolen glance and met my gaze before she sniffed out a laugh and rolled her eyes. But then we both burst out with crazy, delirious grins. I bit my lip before I returned my attention to the road. When I reached across the interior of the truck without looking, she took my hand and interlaced our fingers.Damn, I felt giddy. Light-headed. Downright decadent. It was the best feeling in the world.“I don’t want to take you home,” I admitted, even though that’s exactly where I was taking her.Night had fallen and I could only see her face in the bluish glow from the screen of the truck’s dashboard. Yet I still had no trouble making out the hope in her expression when she said, “You can stay the night…if you want.”I was tempted. Of course I was tempted, but then all the reasons why I couldn’t stirred in my head, an