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.
Her most recent “volunteer” had been assigned a task she’d been putting off for far too long. He’d matched books on the shelves to books in the system and listed any books they were missing in middle grade and young adult series. Now Hailey had to analyze the stats for each series and decide whether or not to replace the missing books for each.
It was tedious work, but it kept her mind busy. The hands on the clock moved, a few patrons came and went, and she managed to mostly ignore the class going on at the other end of the floor. It wasn’t easy with nine kids, eight parents and the instructors, but she managed to burn through a good chunk of the morning’s to-do list.
At eleven, there was a rush past her desk and she laughed at the kids trying to run outside without technically running.
Josh stopped. “We’re taking an hour for lunch. Do you want anything while I’m out?”
“I brought a lunch, but thanks.”
They all filed out, except for Matt Barnett. He took the time to sweep banana bread crumbs from the tables into a trash can and then tossed the empty coffee cups in after. Hailey tried not to allow any mushy feelings in as he dampened a paper towel and actually washed the table, too. She was a sucker for men who picked up after themselves.
She was surprised, though, when he stopped at the circulation desk on his way out. He leaned against the tall counter, close enough so she could smell that aftershave or cologne or whatever it was again.
“You get a lunch break?”
She wasn’t sure what to make of that. Was it a prelude to asking her to join him, or just a point of information? “I bring my lunches and eat at my desk. One of the joys of being a one-woman show.”
“So you never get a break?”
“I’m not exactly a gerbil in a wheel here. And every once in a while I put a be right back sign on the door and meet my friends for lunch.”
“I guess that’s both the good and the bad of a small town.”
“Mmm-hmm.”
The conversation seemed a little surreal to Hailey. Because he was in a library, he did what everybody always did and talked in a low voice. His low voice was husky, and it was all too easy to imagine him leaning close and whispering sexy things.
“How are those blisters?”
So much for sexy. “They’re fine, thanks. And thank you again for bringing us back to our car.”