I smiled again and repeated, “Right.”
His eyes dropped to my mouth before they came back to mine, he leaned in several inches and whispered, “I’d take that mouth, but that’d mean I’d be makin’ out with you in your car on the street. The town’s pretty librarian doesn’t need that kinda talk.”
This was disappointing.
Until he finished, “Least not yet.”
I smiled again.
Chace awarded me a return smile.
Then he took off and I drove my Cherokee into the lot, parked and went to the library.
*
Nine fifty-five that night
I was on my back on my couch, feet in the seat, knees to the ceiling, apple candle burning, snapping a piece of bubblemint in my mouth, the last glass of the wine Chace brought the night before mostly consumed and sitting on a table beside me.
I had my Nook in my hand and I was reading.
Lexie was luckily free. Her friend Wendy was not on shift at Bubba’s so she came with us to the outlet mall. They were both not only free, but also beside themselves with glee that we were going to the mall because I was going out with Chace. Lexie especially. She was delighted and didn’t mind showing it.
This felt good.
It also felt hopeful.
I liked my clothes but contradictorily, I wasn’t a shopper. Luckily, I knew what I liked and I knew where to get it so my shopping experience was as narrow as my life had been (that was to say, as narrow as it was a couple of weeks ago).
Lexie and Wendy took me to the outlet mall and opened up an entire world to me.
This was why I came back not only with an outfit that even I thought was fan-freaking-tastic to go out with Chace in but also four other bags of clothes, shoes and (it made me blush but that didn’t mean I didn’t hope it wouldn’t eventually come in handy), sexy undies and nightgowns.
They were having the time of their lives and I did too. I didn’t know shopping could be such a blast. But with those two, it totally was.
Now I was home, unwinding, trying to read at the same time wondering if Chace liked dogs and/or cats. Since Holly didn’t mind pets, I’d been thinking now for months about getting one or the other. This was what was on my mind when my phone rang.
It was the house phone again so I twisted, grabbed the handset from the charger by the couch, beeped it on and put it to my ear.
“Hello?”
“Hey baby.”
My bent knees fell to the back of the couch, I felt my eyelids go half-mast and I licked my lips.
Yes, all this from a greeting.
“Hey Chace,” I whispered. “Having fun?”
“It’s a game, honey, not a parade.”
My head cocked to the side at his words and tone and I asked, “That isn’t fun?”
“Not when my team is losing.”
“Oh,” I muttered then enquired, “Who’s your team?”
He hesitated and I heard sounds in the background of a TV clearly on a sporting event before he replied, “The Nuggets, Faye.”
Right, of course.
“Basketball,” I mumbled.
“Yeah, honey. Football’s done in January.”
I was still mumbling when I replied, “I heard something about that somewhere.”
His team losing grouchiness faded and I knew this when I heard his chuckle.
“You could be watching the Avalanche,” I pointed out.
“Avs are on the road. West coast. Deck’s tapin’ it. That’s next.”
“Oh,” I whispered then, “Long night of male camaraderie.”
“Deck doesn’t break out the beer, dip and brownies unless there’s serious shit to watch.”
I was with Deck. All that effort should be for something.
“Deck sounds interesting,” I noted.
“Yeah, he is and every breathing female thinks the same thing.”
A small, short giggle escaped me and I asked, “Pardon?”
“The amount he gets means he’s either a good-lookin’ guy or he’s got the ability to hypnotize women that’s undetectable but highly successful though the purposes he uses it for are nefarious.”
“Ah,” I replied through a smile, “breaking that down, he’s hot.”
“I can’t make that call but I’m a detective so evidence suggests this is true.”
I laughed softly and I knew Chace listened to it because he didn’t speak again until I was done.
“You gettin’ ready for bed?”
I blinked and looked at the funky clock mounted on my brick wall that I found in a cute shop in Glenwood Springs as I asked, “Bed?”
“Bed,” Chace replied.
“It’s ten o’clock,” I told him.
“When do you go to bed?”
“I don’t know, midnight?”
There was silence.
“Uh, when do you go to bed?” I asked.
“If I’m not drinkin’ beer and eatin’ homemade brownies, ten.”
“Early to bed, early to rise,” I whispered.
“Late to bed, lazy in the morning,” he whispered back.
“I’m not lazy.” I kept whispering.
“Baby, give me that. The thought of you, lazy in bed in the morning is a good one.”