Page 9 of Recklessly Yours

Hattie Williams.

My heart thumped against my sternum as her identity registered.

I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen her wear glasses, but they looked cute on her. A smile crept over my lips, but I quickly locked my jaw and looked away.

Nope. She was Rhett’s sister, and I could not have any kind of opinion about the sexy librarian thing she had going on.

Despite my better judgment, I peeked back for one last look. When I did, my stomach lurched. Shit. She was looking at me, probably wondering why I was gawking at her.

Now that I’d been noticed, I strode over to say hello. If I didn’t, it’d only make shit weirder. “Working from the coffee shop today?” I nodded to the laptop.

“Yeah, my family is being a bit much lately.” She huffed out a breath. “And Randy is working on my tire issue. Again.” She tipped her head to the auto shop across the street.

I followed her gaze, slipping my hands into my pockets. “What’s wrong with your tire?”

“It keeps losing air, and last night, it was completely flat.”

“Just one?”

“That’s the funny thing.” She pressed her lips together, brows lowered behind her glasses. “It’s not even the same tire. I had a new one put on last week.”

My hackles rose. “That is strange.”

“Yeah, that’s what Randy said. He thinks the rim could be the issue rather than the tire itself.” With a shrug, she peered up at me. “He said there’s a slight dent, so he’s going to do the soap test to verify before he replaces it.”

That made sense, especially if she’d swiped a curb lately. It could be stopping the tire from sealing to the rim properly. Those issues were sometimes next to impossible to figure out.

“Order for Dylan,” the barista called.

“Be right back.” I hurried over to get the coffees, but halfway back to Hattie, Mrs. Jones stepped into my path.

Her feud with her neighbor was starting to grate on my nerves. She called the station at least once a month to complain about Joe next door, who was only feeding the squirrels. Our dispatcher had explained time and again that there was nothing we could do because feeding squirrels wasn’t illegal. But she still called.

And now I had to listen to her rant about it, like I did every time I bumped into her, which was far too often. It took a solid five minutes for her to lose enough steam to allow me to excuse myself.

I made my way back over to Hattie. Just as I stepped up to the table, she picked up her phone, and in the next heartbeat, all the color drained from her face. Her head popped up, and she searched the small shop with wide, panicked eyes.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, dropping into the seat across from her.

In a jerky motion, she turned and scoured the street outside the window. “Nothing.” When she focused on me again, her chest was rising and falling rapidly. “I mean, it’s probably nothing. I don’t know. Just got a creepy text from an unknown number.”

Every protective instinct inside me flared to life. “Really? Let me see your phone.”

“Uh…” She looked at the device, worrying her lip, then back at me before finally shrugging and handing me the phone.

I liked the purple yesterday, but that blue dress today is stunning.

“I’m not even sure it was meant for me.” Her words were barely audible.

I scoffed. “Of course it’s for you. They’re right. You look gorgeous in that dress.”

Eyes still set on me, she sucked in a breath, and for a moment, we just stared at one another, the air around us charged.

Shit. I shouldn’t have said that. Not to Rhett’s sister. What was it about this woman that made it impossible to not flirt with her when the two of us were alone?

I cleared my throat, needing to get us back to safer territory. “Did you wear purple yesterday?”

“Not a dress.” She looked away with a huff. “But I had on a purple sweater.”

---