Everybody Knows (Sunnyside #1) (19 page)

But a man who brought her a kitten? Holy crap.
That kind of insight should be against the law. No sensitive woman could resist
such emotional enticement.

She could play this game out only so long. After
Harper marveled over the kitten’s every twitch and purr, she sat beside Zach at
the kitchen table and shared the frittata. Calliope assumed a position in his
lap, and he rubbed soothing circles on the tiny creature’s back. Had any guy
ever been so sweet, caring, and adaptable?

Unable to resist that complicated bundle of
gorgeousness another second, she surrendered with a single, simple word. “Okay,
I’m convinced. Let’s do it.”

His hand stopped mid-stroke. Lifting his eyebrows,
he looked up with heightened interest. “Just so I don’t misunderstand here,
let’s do what? The dishes? The laundry? The down and dirty? Have sex? Go
crazy?” Heat flashed through his eyes. “Now? Just like that?”

Laughing, she loved his eagerness, even though she
knew this would not end well for her. “Now or never.”

“I’ll take now.” He set the kitten on the floor
and cradled Harper’s face with his hands. His kissed her so gently she would
have cried if she hadn’t been so turned on.

“I thought you would.” She linked her fingers
behind his neck.

“Let’s go.” He took her hand in his and stood.
“Our first time will be in the bed. After that, all bets are off.”

“What about Calliope?”

He ran his hand through his hair, leaving it in
sexy disarray. “She’ll be all right on the screened porch for a while.”

Lifting the cat in his arms, he deposited her on
the porch, making sure the outside door was latched and the door to the kitchen
was closed. “Problem solved.”

Kissing Harper, he guided her down the short hall.
As soon as they reached her room, pulling her shirt over her head as they went.
“No bra. You look amazing. And it saves time.” His gaze lingered over her
appreciatively and then his fingertips feathered across three small scars on
her abdomen. “Appendicitis?”

She swallowed and nodded. “Yes, Doctor.”

One side of his mouth lifted in a smile. “Don’t
worry. This isn’t a medical examination.” He removed his shirt, but with his
hands at the band of his jeans, he said to Harper, “Take off your shorts. Now,
babe, come on. Synchronize.”

“We’re not a water ballet.” She laughed, thrilled
to see his urgency. “Where’s the romance?”

He puffed up with mock outrage. “You want romance?
Now?
” He leaned his forehead against
hers and took a deep breath. “I’ve been waiting for this
all week
.” Settling his hands at her waist, he pulled her a step
closer. Need vibrated between them like an electrical storm. “You’ve been in my
head for so long, you’re all I breathe.”

“Good start.” If he could attempt romance, so
could she. If he could attempt to slow down, so could she. But she unsnapped
his jeans and sent them south. The action seriously hindered her slowing-down
process. “Just so you know. Wherever I am, whatever I’m doing, I imagine you
moving inside me. At the grocery. At the library. Jogging.”

Bending forward, he trailed kisses down her neck
to the sweet curve of her shoulder. “When I’m examining patients, I devise
previously unknown sexual positions for us to attempt. When I’m discussing
zoning laws at council meetings, I invent words to describe the way you’ll melt
on my tongue. Making my rounds, I picture you under me, writhing sensually and
making sounds of desire and satisfaction no woman has ever made before.”

“Will these new positions and sounds be named
after us? The Harper Variation? The Zach Innovation? The Lilting Librarian?”

“I was thinking more like The Simmons Sideways or
Harper Upside-Down Cake, but I’m willing to improvise as we go along.” Fingers
drifted up her sides to tease the sensitive curves of her breasts. “I have to
have you. Now that you’ve agreed, now that you’re ready, I really,
really
have to have you. Immediately. I
have to touch you. Kiss you. Lick you. Suck you. Eat you. Drink you up.”

As he recited the list, he demonstrated each
action on the sensitive spot beneath her ear. Simultaneously, he pushed her
shorts and panties to the floor. “I want to absorb your body into mine, make
you so close to me there’s no space in-between. I’m a desperate man, Harper.
Imagination only gets a man so far, and I’ve imagined you every way I know how.
And that’s it. That’s all the romance I’ve got in me. Will that do?”

By then, Harper was engulfed in his heat, in the
focused attention of his passion. No one had ever wanted her this much. And
she’d never known that being wanted this much was such an aphrodisiac.

Now that they were both naked, she looked her fill.
Wanting this moment locked into her memory bank forever, she soaked him up,
imprinting his impeccable physique on her corneas, embedding the memory of his
rippling muscles in her frontal cortex, and implanting the depth and breadth of
his chest and shoulders in her heart of hearts. Almost breathless, she wrapped
her hand around his commanding erection. He defined perfection. Hard and fit,
bronzed and enormous. He was...everything. Too much for words. Only touch could
do that body justice. She shivered with anticipation and directed him to the
bed.

After their frantic disrobing, Harper expected
Zach to be just as eager with the rest of it, but his actions were tender. So
tender. Enthusiastic but patient as they stretched out on her airy duvet. He
crawled on top of her, laying full length along her body, clasping her hands at
their sides, and kissing her gently. On and on he kissed her as their bodies
conformed to one another.

Focusing on her breasts, he plumped them up in his
palms. He lavished attention on her nipples, sucking and licking first one and
then the other. She moaned and pressed her hips upwards, pulling his hips
against hers. With a low growl, he returned his lips to hers. As their tongues
tangled again, his finger slid inside her moist heat and found her magic spot.
He matched the rhythm of his tongue to the slide of his invasion inside her.
The intense sensation almost caused her to levitate off the bed. As he had
predicted, she writhed beneath him, doing anything necessary to move and explore
while emitting sounds she’d never heard herself make before.

Her hands explored the hard contours of his back
and glutes. She scraped his taut skin with her fingernails. When he bit her
lip, she slapped him on the butt. “Quit teasing. You said you had to have me
now and that was hours ago.”

“It wasn’t hours ago.”

“Za-ach.” The word sounded like a plea. “If you
don’t touch me right now, I will.”

Intrigued, he lifted an eyebrow and one side of
his mouth. “I wouldn’t mind.”

“This time, I’d rather have you do it.”

“Me, too. Hang on.” He grabbed his jeans off the
floor, found the condom packet, ripped it open, and sheathed himself before
returning to her. “Harper.” Her name sounded like a blessing. His shoulders
blocked out the light from the lamp as he positioned himself over her.

He slid his hands up and stroked her nipples with
his thumbs. “Ready?”

“So ready.” She lifted her hips and slid the tip
of his cock inside her.

“Let me all the way in. I want every inch of me
stroking every inch of you.”

The pleasure was almost too much. She whimpered
and closed her eyes as they moved together with smooth deep strokes. Up and up
they went until she exploded, tightening around him and pulling him with her.
She gasped, and they rode the aftershocks together, savoring every tingling
sensation, until he slowed and stopped before finally collapsing onto her
chest.

“Wow.” She could barely catch her breath. “I know
it’s unfair and uncouth to make even implied comparisons to former lovers, but,
wow. I think I’m speechless.”

“I know.” His smile caressed her neck.
“Memorable.”

“This is definitely worth sneaking around for.”
She leaned up on an elbow. “But how will it work?”

“I’m not sure it will. I’ve never tried to get
away with much.” He trailed a fingertip around her aureole, tweaking and
watching its response. “By day, we’ll be friends and business associates who
exchange heated glances, lusty looks, and the occasional surreptitious pat on
the ass. By night, I’ll sneak in the back door and we’ll enjoy one another in
every possible way.” He leaned in to suck the nipple he’d been teasing.

“Won’t your family know you’re not spending your
nights at home?”

“Rachel frequently fixes dinner for Dad or drops
by to see him, but she goes home afterward. Dad turns in about nine to watch TV
in his room, and Josh spends every waking minute at the hospital, sleeping, or
with Susannah.”

“What about your patients?”

“I’ll always have my phone. If I get called out,
no one will know I was here when I took the call.” He turned her to her back
and sent his hands trailing down her stomach. “You have a problem with any of
that?”

Not when he was driving her out of her mind with
his touch, she didn’t. But would she have a problem with it tomorrow, or next
week, when they passed by one another like casual acquaintances? Maybe, but for
now, she’d take their relationship one day at a time and treasure each one. She
sucked in her breath when his touch circled her belly button. “No problem at
all. Except…”

“What?” He arched his brows, and his body became
rigid, as if he were girding himself against a tough question, unfavorable
observation, or last-minute objection.

“It’s my turn to be on top.”

His eyes lit up and he turned to his back with his
arms spread wide. “Climb aboard.”

In the blistering heat of
July and August, the library renovations proceeded quickly with no more major
disruptions. Since this was Harper’s biggest personal and professional
challenge to date, she was determined to get the library reopened by the end of
October. Long hours at work were followed by mountains of paperwork, at-home
consultations with Andrew Berkman, and long nights of bliss with Zach.

Running into one another—accidently or on purpose—
turned any day into a treat, but they carefully kept their intimacy under
wraps. It became part of the fun to slip secret flirtatious comments into their
public conversations and indulge in the occasional physical contact that would
go undetected by the prying eyes of the town busybodies.

One day a perfect, lush peony was left on her
desk. Another time a basket of green beans appeared on her back step. Some
mornings, Zach slipped out of her bed, went home, exited his front door, and
silently fall in step beside her for an early run. She craved his company but tried
not to dwell on how much those unexpected interactions affected her.

As August marched on, she grew accustomed to the
quiet streets, scent of freshly mown lawns, the sizzle of burgers on the grill,
the sounds of birds chirping, and church bells ringing.

Goodness, yes, she could hear actual church bells
ringing, signaling joy and order and memories from summers with her
grandmother.

While many of the townspeople still gave her wide
berth, the men and women that had been hired to work at the library were starting
to look favorably upon her. Less suspiciously anyway. After further inspection,
it turned out that the destruction at the library was not as extensive as they
originally appeared. The renovations were going more quickly and less costly
than expected.

At a council meeting that Harper had been
specifically invited to attend, Nelson Whitherford’s absence was notable, Jimbo
reported that Nelson’s construction buddy, Hugh McMahon, had caused most of the
damage. After one of McMahon’s employees had been picked up on a drug charge,
he had revealed his participation in some of the library destruction based on
orders from Hugh. Hugh was being pressed to rat out Nelson.

“I guess that explains his absence today,” Daniel
said.

“Not entirely,” Mick noted. “You’ve been on
vacation and might not have heard the news yet, but he skipped town.”

“You’re kidding!”

“No,” Jimbo said. “Hugh had been holding strong,
not ratting out his cousin, but Nelson freaked yesterday, cleared out his bank
account, and sneaked out of town in the dead of night. Mary Jo’s screaming her
head off that he took all their money and left her and the kids behind. She’s
being cooperative in the investigation now, so we’ll find him. She thinks he’s
headed for their condo in Tampa.”

Jimbo praised Harper for her help in the
investigation and encouraged the council to hire an independent auditor to
scour the books for additional illegalities. That had been a good day for her.

Between Zach and work and trying to win over the
townspeople, she didn’t have time to dwell on her past or miss her mom, Fiona,
and Nathan. They kept making noises like they’d come for a visit soon, but she
kept putting them off. And she didn’t have time to dwell on the ones she didn’t
miss either—like her father and her manipulative ex-fiancé. The less she
thought about them, the better. Especially these days, when she practically
fizzed with excitement over her new job, home—including her own sweet pet!— and
incendiary love life.

After a few weeks, enough of the restoration on
the library had been completed to allow Harper to begin work on library
programs and community outreach.

Intent on playing nice with one of the women who
could make her Sunnyside-life easier, Harper reached out to Myrna Hopper. To
lessen any possible awkwardness, Harper chose to wear subdued clothes and hold
their meeting in the newly renovated Young Adult section instead of in Myrna’s
former office. It wouldn’t be helpful to lord her new position over the woman
who had lost it.

“This is an unusual color.” Stepping into the
space designed to appeal to teenagers, Myrna twitched her nose at the lime
green walls. Probably in her late fifties, the woman’s drab jacket, brown
slacks, and black flats made her appear two decades older.

Harper beamed and pretended to take the comment as
a compliment. “Isn’t it? I wanted something vibrant for the kids. When we have
the rest of the books, computers, and furnishings in place, it will tone down
the color, but it should look current to the age-group that will be using the room.”

“The teenagers don’t use the library much
anymore.” Myrna stepped over to the table Harper had prepared for their talk.
“They prefer to do their research at home on the Internet.”

“They do, don’t they? That’s a common problem to
all libraries. Could we get around that by encouraging some of the teachers to
require at least one library resource for certain types of papers?”

“That might work,” Myrna reluctantly agreed.

“But once we get them here, we need to be able to
draw them back. Andrew envisions this a place that offers them more than
reference materials for their term papers.”

“Like what?”

Now it was Harper’s turn to hesitate. She never
knew what new ideas would step on the toes of the locals. “There doesn’t seem to
be a lot for teenagers to do in town, so we want this to become a meeting
place. Something like a community center. One of the first things I’d like to
do is create a teen advisory board to determine what would interest them and
draw in other teens. You know the kids who live in Sunnyside. I hoped you could
provide me with names of students you think would be willing to participate.”

“What would they need to do?” Pursing her lips in
disapproval, Myrna clutched the strap of her pocketbook.

“Advise about the kinds of books, movies, and
music they’d like to have in the collection, of course, but I hope they’ll
provide input into what kind of programs would be beneficial to them. I see us
a resource for expediting college applications, using the reference section as
a storehouse for scholarship information. I’d like to offer a variety of book
clubs for the kinds of books that appeal to teens. Everything from
Harry Potter
and
Twilight
to
Survivor Games
.”

“We didn’t have the funding to do those kinds of
things before, but now you have cash in the coffers and it’s the schools that
are hurting.” The older woman’s face relaxed just a little bit from outright
disapproval to merely judgmental. “Many of the afterschool programs have been
cut in the past few years. Maybe we could recreate some of those. What about
having a computer lab they can use to work on joint projects?”

“Absolutely! Can we interest some of the teachers
or staff at the high school to participate in that, too?” Harper tapped a few
notes into her iPad even though teens usually knew all about computers. It was
the adults who were behind on their technical skills and could benefit from a
computer lab. She didn’t want to discourage her predecessor, but Harper hoped
to present innovative concepts to kids who were bored and disenfranchised with
the current state of the town. “Plus, let’s think outside the box with new
ideas that will surprise the teenagers and make them realize we aren’t just an
old moldy place where they have to be quiet.”

Myrna squared her shoulders at that, perhaps
feeling Harper’s description of an old-school library was a reflection of the
woman herself. “Like what? Online gaming competitions? Comic book clubs?”

Harper recognized Myrna’s sarcasm but took the
comments as genuine suggestions because, really, the woman had finally come up
with something original. “Yes! Exactly like that. See? You do know them better
than I do. What other kinds of activity would spark their interest? Encourage
them to come here and bring their friends? I want them to think of this as a
good place to hang out. Maybe begin with a diversity team or a multi-cultural
celebration.”

“I doubt if green paint is going to inspire all
that.” Looking around at the vibrant wall color again, Myrna shook her head.
Preparing to leave, she retrieved the tote bag she’d stowed under the table. It
had a colorful, creative picture on the front. Primitive and edgy. It looked
familiar and original, but Harper couldn’t come up with the name of a designer
currently creating bags in that style. Her mother would disown a daughter who
couldn’t identify an up-to-the-minute trend on sight. And Harper didn’t like to
judge, but it was much more current and chic than the rest of the older woman’s
ensemble.

Harper laughed. “You’re right. It won’t. The paint
is just a first step. Creating the Advisory Council is a second. If you could
think about names of suitable teens for that and some ideas of projects for
them to consider, that would be a huge help. Then I’d like to consult with you
about some projects for adult patrons, too, and even the senior citizens in
town. If their kids and grandkids are going to be here, we want the grown-ups
to feel welcome, too.”

Myrna pursed her lips and grudgingly unbent
another inch. “I’d love to see the library become a meeting place for the whole
community. I don’t have much time to volunteer, but I’ll help as much as I
can.”

“Thank you.” Harper beamed at her and jumped up.
“That would be wonderful. Think about it, kick some ideas around, and let’s
plan to meet here again next week. The library where I worked in Chicago had
some fabulous outreach programs. They’re more suited to an urban setting, but
some of them could be adapted for a rural area. We can invite others who would
be willing to participate as well. Here’s a list of a few people who have
offered to help, but the invitation would probably be better coming from
someone they know and respect like you than from me.”

Blushing, Myrna stood and tucked a stray hair
behind her ear. “Thank
you
. I do know
some people we could call on to join an action committee. I’ll approach a few
of them in the next couple of days.”

“I’ve enjoyed meeting with you today. We’ve made
good progress. I hope I don’t ruin it with what I’m about to say.”

The woman seemed to shrink in on herself. “What’s
that?”

“I’ll be interviewing people shortly for the open
positions. I hope you’ll be interested in applying for one of the librarian
postings. It would be a shame to let your expertise go to waste, and I want to
be able to pay you for your time and knowledge. If you don’t want a permanent
full-time job, I’m sure we could work out a way to pay you on a contract or
consulting basis. Please think about it and let me know which you’d prefer.”

Myrna’s eyes glossed over with tears, but she held
on to her decorum. “Thank you. I’ll think it over and get back to you. Money
has been tight for me since the library closed. I’m sure we can work something
out.”

“Let me walk out with you. I want to check on some
renovations in the children’s library downstairs. Can I get your opinion on
something else before you go?”

Most of the drywall on the first floor had been
replaced. Liam and a couple of painters were applying primer to the walls in
the main reading and reference rooms, but the children’s area in the west wing
hadn’t been quite as damaged and was farther along in its renovation.

“It’s wonderful that they were able to salvage
this banister” Myrna trailed her hand along the railing as they descended the
stairs. “Will you be continuing story hour for the children? That was always my
favorite part of the week.”

“Oh, yes. Mine, too. It’s so gratifying to see
children who come to the library for story hour turn into readers as soon as
they get older.”

“Yes, start the little ones out with Beatrix
Potter, move the preschoolers on to Richard Scarry and Dr. Seuss, and before
you know it, they’re searching out Beverly Clearly, Judith Viorst, and Shel
Silverstein all on their own.” She cast a more approving look around the
children’s section. “Primary colors in this area, I see.”

“Yes, colors provide creative inspiration for
children of all ages. I’m thinking of looking for a local artist to paint some
vivid, imaginative murals in here. Again, I was hoping you could advise me.”

The retired librarian’s eyes shifted from one wall
to the other and then down at the floor. “Perhaps you could request an art
student from the university.”

“That’s certainly one idea. But I couldn’t help
noticing your amazing bag.” Harper gestured at the tote Myrna had draped over
her shoulder. The woman clutched it against her chest like she feared someone
would try to take it. “The artist has a masterful command of colors and shapes.
Is it by a local artist or designer? It doesn’t look like something mass
produced.”

Myrna glowed with pride. “It was created by my
younger brother, actually. Did you meet Bennie at the festival on the Fourth of
July?”

Harper tried to hide her surprise. “Yes, I did. He
seemed very devoted to you.”

“He suffers from certain limitations in some
areas, but is utterly brilliant in others. Not unusual for someone with autism.
His doctors encourage him to paint and express himself in a positive way. His
talent is starting to gain a following in certain arts and crafts circles.”

“I can certainly see why.” Harper tapped a finger
on her chin. “Would he be interested in working on the murals?”

“Oh, I don’t know. What he comes up with is
unpredictable. He might start painting a sunflower in a field, and suddenly its
transformed into a zebra riding a spaceship.”

“Whimsical,” Harper commented.

“That’s one way to put it.” Myrna headed for the
door. “I’m very proud of his talent and creativity, but for your purposes, an
art student might be more reliable.”