Taken With You (5 page)

With her eye on the clock, Hailey opened the package of paper hot cups she’d bought and set a stack next to the coffeemaker. The sugar bowl was full, and they’d figure out there was milk in the mini-fridge.

At fifteen minutes before eight, the door opened and Josh walked in, carrying a big basket covered with a checked towel. Hailey’s mouth started watering and she didn’t want to share with the other guys filing in after him, all of whom she knew except for the game warden who entered about a minute after the others.

There was something about men in uniforms, she thought. Dave Camden, the newest member of the WPD and the school resource officer, didn’t do much for her, which was good since he was also too young. Sam Jensen, who was a volunteer fireman and pretty much the sum total of the Whitford rescue squad, was wearing his WFD polo shirt and black pants. They’d dated twice, shortly after Hailey returned from college, but there hadn’t been any chemistry between them.

The game warden, though, was a strong possibility. His crisp green uniform showed off one hell of a body, which she’d had a chance to check out at her leisure while he was introducing himself to the other guys. His hair was buzzed pretty short and his jawline was so clean-shaven she wanted to run her fingertips down the rugged lines of his face.

A man with a career, good grooming habits and a great ass right here in Whitford. Maybe it was her lucky day.

“Where should I put these, Hailey?” Josh called, holding up the basket.

“In my car.”

He laughed, the sound echoing through the building. “Nice try. Rose said I have to share, which means you have to share, too.”

“Fine. I set you guys up at the big tables in the reference section. You’ll have to go in the break room to get coffee, though. This building suffers from a serious lack of electrical outlets.”

It had taken her two years to get the okay to have some electrical work done and the amount they’d approved was ridiculously low. She’d settled for upgrading the outlets they used for the computers and adding outlets to the seating areas where people liked to plug their chargers in.

She realized the hot guy in the game warden uniform was staring at her, but kids started arriving with their parents in tow and she was too busy getting everybody settled in to make eye contact with him.

Even during regular business hours, the noise level wouldn’t have bothered her. They’d quiet down a little once the actual education part of the class started, and she usually put a notice in the weekly paper and always put a sign on the door. If you were looking for quiet time at the library, the hour two dozen preschoolers were watching a story time puppet show wasn’t it.

Once the library officially opened at ten, she knew Josh would try to keep the kids down to a dull roar, and she might have to hand out some sympathetic, if not entirely sincere, apologies to patrons who missed the sign, but it was one day. Everybody would survive.

When the game warden bent over to pull the handbooks out of a cardboard box and his uniform stretched over his back and behind, she decided to give him a hand.

“I’ll help you pass those around,” she said, holding out her hand for a stack. He smelled delicious and she moved a little closer.

“Thanks. If you don’t mind, there’s a box of Warden Service pencils there, too. If you could make sure each kid has one, that would be great.”

“Not a problem.”

His voice certainly tickled her very-much-still-ticklish fancy, and Hailey frowned as she moved around the tables, passing out workbooks and pencils. There was something about his voice that seemed familiar, but she couldn’t quite place it.

She snuck a few more looks at him, but she would remember that jaw if she’d seen it. And that mouth.

“Hey,” Josh said, “Matt marked a few of those workbooks as instructors’ copies because they have the answers in them. Did you see them anywhere?”

“You afraid you’ll flunk ATV Riding 101 without a cheat sheet, Kowalski?” Dave Camden asked, smirking.

Hailey frowned. “Matt?”

“Yeah, Matt Barnett. The game warden?”

She turned to face the guy with the smooth jaw and crisp uniform. “His name is Matt?”

It clicked. The lines of his back. The ass. The voice. He saw her staring and stared back. With those light brown eyes framed by dark, full lashes.

Wow. Tori was never going to believe this. And she was never, ever going to let Hailey live this one down.

* * *

M
ATT
WAS
GLAD
he hadn’t seen the town’s librarian until after he’d introduced himself to the other guys because he’d been struck speechless when he realized this Hailey was, in fact, the same Hailey he’d helped find her way out of the woods. He wasn’t sure what the chances were of that happening, but he felt like he should buy a lottery ticket or bet on a horse race.

She looked different today. Her hair was in a ponytail again and she had makeup on, but just a touch and it was accenting her pretty face rather than making her look like a raccoon. Her T-shirt had something to do with some computer game all the kids, including his niece and nephews, were playing, and jeans. And she had on sneakers. She didn’t really look like a lot of librarians he’d known, which might go a long way toward explaining why the kids were so comfortable there.

He’d had some reservations when the police chief told them they’d be holding the class in a library, but Hailey didn’t seem to mind the noise or the banana bread crumbs coating the tables.

She minded him, though. He wasn’t used to women not being happy to see him, and he wasn’t quite sure what to make of it. It’s not like he’d deliberately disguised himself to fool her into believing he was some kind of forest hermit.

He suspected he knew what her problem was. She’d been checking him out since he walked into the building, and finding out he was the same guy she’d turned her nose up at in the woods had thrown her for a loop.

It was too bad, really. Hailey the librarian might rev his engine, but he didn’t need to get sprayed by a skunk to know she wasn’t for him.

He’d seen recognition strike, her expression turning sour, and then she’d mumbled something about having work to do and walked away. Rather than follow and ask what her problem was, he dug the instructors’ workbooks out of the bottom of the box so he could stop thinking about her and get to work.

They had a lot to cover in six hours. Besides the actual safe operation of ATVs and snowmobiles, they had to teach them the laws, some basic survival and emergency stuff, first aid and how to respect the land, wildlife and—most importantly—the landowners.

Nothing said he couldn’t have a little fun with it, though.

“Okay, kids, let’s see how much you know about being out in the woods.” He was deliberately loud, knowing his voice would carry to Hailey. “How many of you make sure you wear bug spray every time you’re going to spend time outside?”

Less than half of them raised their hands, which didn’t surprise him. Where they were in the state, there wasn’t a lot of concern about mosquito-borne illnesses. Yet. He’d work on that. “And should you use an insect repellant with DEET or one that smells pretty?”

They all shouted
DEET
at the same time. He looked toward the circulation desk and was rewarded with a very black look from the pretty librarian.

“That’s right. Next question is true or false. You should wear brand-new hiking boots if you’re going on a long hike in the woods.”

Most of them got that one right, too, though he couldn’t say which kids did and which didn’t since he was looking over their heads. Hailey wasn’t even attempting to mask her annoyance. With her arms crossed, she would have set him on fire with her eyes if she could.

“One more. If you’re going into the woods with a group of people, you don’t need to know where you are or have a map or compass. True or false?”

“False!” a kid yelled, loudly enough so all of the adults flinched out of habit. They were in a library. “You might get separated from them and then you’ll be lost.”

“That’s right. And how old are you, buddy?”

“Ten!”

Hailey lifted her hand above the desk, then paused before closing it into a fist and lowering it again. Why, he did believe the librarian was going to flip him the bird.

“Good job,” he told the group. “Okay, guys, we’re going to break for five minutes to finish that banana bread and refill my coffee cup, and then I’m going to talk laws for a little while before turning it over to Mr. Kowalski here for the riding basics.”

He hadn’t planned to take a break at all, but he knew if he didn’t move, he was eventually going to lose his train of thought and embarrass himself. Having Hailey in his line of sight would play hell on his concentration.

He was starting another pot of coffee to brew when Josh Kowalski squeezed into the small break room. “I’m going to take a wild guess and say two plus two equals you being the guy who found Hailey and Tori in the woods last weekend.”

“Heard about that, did you?”

“This is Whitford, so everybody’s heard about it. In the version I heard, though, you were very hairy, smelled bad and, depending on who you asked, were wearing a fresh bear skin like a coat.”

“That sounds like Hailey’s version. Her friend Tori seemed a little less...dramatic.”

Josh laughed. “I don’t know Tori as well as I do Hailey, but I think you’re probably right about that. And, based on the looks she’s been giving you, it’s probably a good thing you’re going to work in the area, but live somewhere else, with your own library.”

Not for long, Matt thought, but he didn’t say it. Apparently the people of Whitford didn’t know
everything.
As far as he knew, only Drew Miller and the home’s owners knew that he was moving to town.

He could almost picture the look of shock on Hailey’s face when he showed up to get his library card. Because, yes, he could read.

“A word of warning,” Josh said in a low voice. “The women in this town have been on a husband hunt for Hailey Genest for a while now, so brace yourself.”

“If you think I’m husband material for that woman, you don’t know her as well as you think.”

“I know you’ve both had your eyes on each other more than the work you’re supposed to be doing.”

Yeah, Matt was going to have to work on not doing that.

* * *

M
ATT
FROM
THE
woods is IN MY LIBRARY.
She sent the text to Tori, even though she was working the morning shift at the diner. Her friend could juggle plates and a cell phone like magic and, since the owner of the diner was at home juggling a newborn, there was nobody to yell at her. Except Carl, the cook, but he was more of a silent glare kind of guy.

OMG. 911?

That would be overreacting.
He’s the game warden. And he’s hot.

Matt from the woods is a hot game warden? At library? Stalking you?

He’s doing the OHRV safety class. Coincidence!

It took a couple of minutes for Tori to reply, no doubt waylaid by customers.
Send pic!

Hailey looked over and was thankful Matt had his back to her. Not only because that was a particularly nice view of him, but because he couldn’t see her looking. She didn’t see any way, even with her phone on silent as it always was at work, to get a picture of him without him knowing.

Then inspiration struck and she walked over to the group, taking pictures with her phone as she moved around. When Matt stopped talking and gave her a questioning look, she gave him a tight smile.

“I always take pictures of events to put on our bulletin board,” she explained. “Pretend I’m not here.”

He held the eye contact until the seconds stretched into just shy of awkward, and then he turned back to the kids and resumed talking.

By taking more than a dozen photos from all different angles, she was able to sneak a full-on shot of the game warden. Once she was back at her desk, she cropped it down a bit to focus on his upper body and face, then sent it to Tori.

Holy shit.

That’s pretty much what Hailey had thought, too.
Right?

The answer was immediate.
Get his number this time. Ask him out.

That’s not what Hailey had thought at all. Not going to happen.
Patrons. Have to go.

Liar. Not open yet. Also, you’re chickenshit.

Hailey rolled her eyes and closed the message thread. She wasn’t asking Matt for his number. Or a date. If she had her way, she was never going to see him again after this class was over.

To be fair, the man hadn’t done anything wrong. Maybe he’d taken a few cheap shots at her, but she was the one who’d gone on a hiking and canoe trip in makeup and new boots. Her sense of humor usually extended to laughing at herself when the situation warranted.

But she’d been waiting for what seemed like forever for that sizzle of sexual awareness. The guy who’d walked into her library this morning was one she wanted to flirt with. She wanted to make eye contact and see her desire reflected back at her. The first touch. First kiss.

For a few wonderful minutes, there was hope. There was a man right here in Whitford she might have gotten naked for. And where there was dinner and kisses and mutual nudity, there was a chance at more.

Then it was all snatched away. He might have shined himself up for work, but she’d seen him in his natural habitat and she didn’t want to get naked with that guy. She’d wanted to run from him. That, unfortunately, didn’t bode well for a chance at more.

Fair or not, that disappointment and inflamed sense of dissatisfaction had his name all over it.

With a sigh, she pulled out a small stack of papers and made herself get to work. Shortly after becoming the police chief, Drew had reached out to the local businesses for help in a program he wanted to start in Whitford. It was sort of a pre-community service program for youth who committed very minor offenses and just needed a little nudge back on track. Hailey had jumped all over that.