by Sara Rider
Their calls would have to wait. Tonight, she was supposed to be focused entirely on the Love Your Library event, which was kicking off in less than an hour. She still had to set up the photo display, double check the auction, make room for the catering, and string twenty red and silver heart-shaped balloons from the ceiling—all while wearing her favorite sequined black dress and heels since there was only an hour between the time the library closed and the event started.
She braced a hand on the top of the ladder and pulled out her phone—pausing only to say a silent prayer of gratitude to the clothing designer who’d understood the necessity of pockets in women’s formal attire—and looked at the call display. It wasn’t the Kiesselburgers, thank goodness. It was the business line of the Holy Grale.
“Yeah?”
“Uh, hey, it’s Logan.” Logan was one of their most reliable and capable bartenders. He was running the show tonight while Jake and Eli were both off on romantic dates with Clem and Nora, respectively. The Hearts and Darts event should have been going off without a hitch.
“What’s wrong?”
The pause at the end of the line curled the hair at the back of her neck. “The lauter tun isn’t working. I didn’t want to call Eli because…”
He didn’t need to finish. She knew why he’d called her instead of Eli or Jake. She was the one who was available. “Where’s Tommy?” Eli’s apprentice was lacking in confidence, but not in skill.
“He’s in the back, working on it. But he’s scared to do anything without Eli’s permission. He told us not to disturb him tonight under any circumstances, so…”
So you decided to call me to make the hard decisions for you. Julia held back a groan. “What sound is the machine making?”
“Wee chaaa weeeee,” Logan said.
Julia didn’t actually know what any of it meant. She didn’t understand the machines or the science behind them. But she had listened to Eli go on and on about them for the better part of three years. More importantly, she understood people. “What does Tommy say?”
“He says we need to disconnect the sparge tube and recirculate the runoff.”
“Tell him it’s okay to do that.” She didn’t know if that was the right decision or not, but she trusted Tommy and she could at least take the weight of responsibility for the decision off Tommy and Logan’s shoulders and deal with whatever repercussions came from it.
“Thank you,” Logan said in a long exhalation that crackled with relief.
She hung up and tried to bring her focus back to the present, but it wasn’t easy. Eli was militant about the maintenance and care of the brewery. He was also determined to have an uninterrupted date with Nora, and Julia had promised him it would happen.
She grabbed another set of balloons and cautiously climbed the ladder once more. Her heels made the climb awkward, but they gave her a much-needed extra couple of inches. Still, she wasn’t anywhere near tall enough to reach the rafters. She was forced to tie a small weight to the end of the string and toss it up and over. If the event had a bigger budget, she would have hired a company to decorate the venue instead of doing it herself with cheap balloons that had to be arranged just so to look festive instead of cheesy.
She told herself she was going to stop taking events like this—ones where the budget was so meager, she had to put in triple the hours she was billing for in order to pull it off—but she loved the library. How could she say no? And if this went well, she might get on the list of approved vendors with the local government, which meant she’d be considered for some of the bigger, swankier events in town. It was worth it. It had to be worth it.
Her first attempt to lob the string fell short. She stretched up as tall as she could and threw it again with all her strength. It worked—a little too well. The small weight came flying down toward her face, missing only by inches when she reared backward. Her heel slipped out from under her. Cold, sharp panic spiked in her chest as she fell backward.
Hands locked on her hips, steadying her and lowering her to the ground.
“What the hell are you doing?” Anger laced Fergus’s whispered words.
It took Julia a few long seconds for her thundering heartbeat to slow enough to speak. “Decorating.”
“You should have asked me to do it.”
“I can handle it. It’s my job.”
“I’m taller.”
“So what? I’m a better decorator.”
“That doesn’t mean you need to risk your neck.”
“Don’t tell me what to do.”
His grip tightened, long fingers pressing deeper into her hips. It made her breath hitch. Desire burned through her like a fever, erasing everything in its wake except for his touch. With deliberate, agonizing slowness, his hands crept higher, circling her waist. None of her drawings or fantasies came close to predicting the effect his hands had on her.
She turned to face him, but her knees were wobbly from the fall. From him. His arm wrapped around her waist, pulling her even closer.
“You okay?” The gruffness in his voice nearly sent her under again. She finally looked up at those grave dark eyes, and wondered what it would be like to kiss him. Wondering if he was thinking the same thing. Wondering if she should.
His Adam’s apple bobbed against his stubble-covered throat. “Julia.”
She tipped her head upward and all thoughts fled from her mind but one. Kiss me, Fergus.
“Hey, Fergus?” It was Mia, one of the library techs. “Where do you want the drinks?”
Fergus’s hands fell away from Julia so fast, she nearly fell all over again.
He turned away from her like she was something to be ashamed of. It stung more than she wanted to admit. God, she was a fool. She was reading into things that weren’t there. Annoyance mistaken for desire. She needed to focus. She straightened her dress, abandoned her heels in favor of bare feet, and got to work.
For the next hour, she managed to avoid Fergus entirely. By the end, everything looked spectacular, just as she’d planned. The photo booth displays were the real star. She’d stolen a few giant cardboard boxes from the Holy Grale and painted the displays herself. They were the first thing the guests noticed as they started to trickle in, and immediately they had people lining up to don the costumes and snap Polaroids of themselves dressed up as Regency ladies and hardboiled detectives. The catering came on time and the microphones were tested and tripled checked. It was all going perfectly. She could finally relax.
She found a corner of the room where she could watch the event unfold and spot any impending disasters. None came—until it was time for the speeches.
She hadn’t seen Fergus all night. He should have been mingling with the guests and talking up the project the library wanted to accomplish in the upcoming year, but she knew better than to force him. That wasn’t his style. He was probably in the back office handling the day’s returned books. But when the event’s MC—a local TV news reporter she’d been lucky enough to hire pro bono—called Fergus to the stage, Julia started to get worried.
He’d practiced the speech and perfected every word. He couldn’t back out now. She was about to go look for him when she saw him emerge from the crowd. She sighed in relief.
The crowd perked up immediately upon seeing him. Even with his nerves on full display, he was a commanding presence. Unbelievably tall and broad and gorgeous.
It was silly to think he was interested in her. She didn’t know anything about him other than the fact she was his least favorite patron. She didn’t even know if he was married or in a relationship with someone or if he even wanted to be in a relationship with someone—even the purely sexual kind. And if he did, there were thousands of people who would line up at his door.
His hands shook as he unfolded the paper his speech had been printed on. He cleared his throat. “Does—”
The feedback from the microphone cut him off. The MC, fortunately, rushed over and adjusted the position.
Fergus scowled at th
e microphone as he approached it again. Not a great start. “Does anyone know where librarians sleep at night?”
He was nervous and monotone, staring at the paper. He finally looked up and his expression was a cross between nausea and terror. And then his eyes found hers.
The atmosphere in the room changed, like it had been electrified. Even from twenty feet away she could see the set of his shoulders relax.
“Under the covers.” The answer earned a few laughs, as she hoped. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to get him to relax and slow the tone of his delivery. He continued the speech, touching on the importance of the programming and the value of their services. The more he got into it, the more his passion poured out of him.
Julia’s heart pounded just as hard as it had when his hands were on her. There was nothing sexier than pure passion.
The audience applauded loudly when he finished, but his gaze stayed fixed on her. He stepped away from the microphone and headed straight toward her.
“That was great,” she said.
“That was terrible,” he grumbled. “I’d rather perform my own gallbladder removal surgery than do that again.”
She shook her head, unable to hold back a smile. “It might have felt terrible, but you still did a good job. You should be proud of yourself for stretching your boundaries and trying something new.”
He leveled an annoyed look her way. It should have brought her back down to earth, but God help her, she found him unbearably attractive even when he was grumpy. It did, however, remind her that she had an overactive imagination when it came to the man. She was just grateful to remember that before she made an even bigger fool of herself.
“Julia!” It was Mayor Khouri, looking elegant in a long burgundy dress and jewelry that Julia could only dream about affording. “What a fantastic job you’ve done. And you as well, Fergus.” The mayor held her hand out to Fergus and Julia, shaking each in turn.
“Thank you, Mayor Khouri.” Julia smiled so wide, her cheeks hurt.
“Please, call me Nadia.” She tilted her head conspiratorially in Julia’s direction. “The book cover photo shoots were a genius idea. I think I’ve missed my calling as a neo-noir sleuth.”
“I’m so glad you liked it.” Julia’s need to please others was a characteristic she’d recognized in herself long ago. Pleasing the mayor, though, wasn’t just about an ego boost. Nadia had connections—the kind that could kick-start her side business into a serious endeavor.
“More than liked it. Come with me. I want to introduce you to some people.”
Julia gave a quick look to Fergus as Nadia dragged her away. His expression was inscrutable as always. She felt a little bad abandoning him, but she couldn’t resist the lure of a good schmoozing opportunity. After all, that was the entire reason she’d agreed to take on this event.
So why did she feel an ache of regret as she walked away from him?
The event ended on time, thankfully, but Julia was still dead on her feet by the end of it. She abandoned her heels the minute the last guest left and got to work taking down the decorations. With most events, she budgeted for a cleanup crew, but she’d been determined to prove she could pull off this event on a ridiculously tight budget, which meant the work was left up to her. She didn’t mind. She always found the post-event quiet to be a strangely contemplative time. The pressure valve on her mind finally released all the stress and she could take in the atmosphere she’d worked so hard to create.
This quiet was unusual, though. Almost eerie, and completely different from the typical quiet of the library that was underscored by the soft harmonies of people walking and whispering. Doors opening and closing. Books lifted and replaced on the shelves. The only sound now was her.
She carefully packed away the display of book carvings from her personal connection she’d used for the event, and contemplated whether it would be too over-the-top to bring the life-size romance novel cover backdrop home.
The sound of the ladder scraping against the laminate floor pulled her from her thoughts. Fergus was still here. She’d barely seen him after his speech. He probably disappeared into the back office where he didn’t have to deal with the crowds. She turned to see him pulling the last of the balloons from the ceiling. He was dressed in gray slacks and a simple white button up—the kind that looked like it had been specially tailored to highlight his biceps. She’d never seen him in anything but jeans and a sweater before. He looked good in everything he wore, but this outfit was definitely one to fantasize about.
Or not. She really had to stop doing that. It was one thing to fantasize about a stranger who she barely knew and could barely stand. Now that she’d gotten to know him, it felt wrong to objectify him like that.
She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “Ready to call it a night?”
He looked around at the library with a quiet reverence she hadn’t seen in him before. “Yeah. I’ll walk you to your car. Let me grab your coat.”
They had set up a coat check in the back office. Julia had never been back there. “Can I come with you?”
He frowned. “Why?”
She shrugged. “You keep telling me how libraries are about so much more than books, and a lot of the work you do is behind the scenes. I’m curious.”
He scowled. Then sighed. Then cast his gaze to the ceiling like he was praying to the gods to make everything around him disappear. “Come on.”
He took her by the wrist, surprising her with the sudden contact. But instead of taking her to the office, he led her in the opposite direction. “Where are we going?”
“If I’m going to give you a tour, I’m going to do it my way.”
A shudder rolled down her spine. It was bad enough picturing him pinning her down against a mattress with those big hands encircling her wrists, but now she was imagining him telling her he was going to do it his way, too.
They stopped at the plain gray table in a corner of the library where the blind date with a book auction had been displayed. She gave him a curious look.
“This is the table where the new immigrants group meets every month. There’s also a high school student who used to come in nearly every day. He’d sit at this table and study for hours, always wearing the same ratty clothes and a backpack that was held together with duct tape. He got a full scholarship to an Ivy League last year.”
“That’s incredible.”
He shook his head. “No, it’s not. It’s the kind of thing a lot more kids could do if they had a proper table in a quiet space to study at. We only have one table. Now imagine if we had more than a handful of public computers, too.”
Fergus took her to the kids’ section of the library next. It was filled with colorful books and couches. He told her about the Daddies story time program he initiated last year, speaking with a sense of pride she’d never heard from him before. Even so, she couldn’t help but notice the bright, patterned area rug was in desperate need of replacement.
He led her to a few more places before finally letting her peek into the back office. It was a small space with an ancient coffeemaker, three more computers, and a lunch table in the middle that no doubt doubled as a meeting space.
“Now you’ve seen it all,” he said, letting the office door close.
“Thank you, but there’s one more thing you haven’t shown me.”
“What?”
“That new searchable catalogue that is so amazing.”
He angled his head, like he was trying to determine if she was serious or not. “We’re launching it in the next couple days.”
“I’m not a patient person, Fergus. I want to see it now.”
His brow furrowed. “Most of the back end database that—”
She shook her head. “Don’t tell me because I won’t understand. Show me.”
“All right,” he said hesitantly, but sat down at the computer at the front desk nonetheless, and she took the one next to it. “Right now, our online resources are entirely separate en
tities. If you wanted to search for audiobooks, you had to click here.” He opened a catalogue she knew well. She’d spent many nights cursing at its search function that didn’t distinguish romance from other forms of fiction, making her wade through hundreds of titles to find one she wanted.
“And if you wanted to look for a magazine or a newspaper article, you had to navigate to another catalogue.” The font size on this page was tiny and nearly impossible to read. “This was designed long before the term user-friendly existed. There’s no way to search the article text, and keywords don’t exist for most of these. Let’s say you wanted to search for information about raccoons.” He typed in the word raccoon and nothing came up.
“That’s disappointing.”
He nodded. “If you wanted results, you would have to do this.” He typed an incomprehensible pattern of words and symbols into the search bar. A dozen hits popped up.
“Who the heck knows how to do that?”
“Librarians.”
She understood now. Only someone with a librarian’s education could decipher the gibberish littering the screen. “But not high school students with an assignment due, or a little old lady wanting to look up her family history.”
“Exactly. Our new reference database has the capacity to import all our databases and catalogues into a single, public-facing search function. It auto-assigns keywords to make it easier to search. It’s not perfect, and there’s a lot of work needed to correct some of the errors, but it’s light years ahead of where we were.”
He clicked through the rest of the library’s beta website, and Julia found herself surprisingly interested in everything, despite most of the explanations going over her head. “You know, I feel like we both got to know each other a little better tonight. Maybe we’ll even get along a little more now.”