Page 29 of Leashed

Chapter Eleven

Bo pulled out his phone and entered a reminder to knock a few hundred dollars off the total when he wrote up the invoice for the manager currently glaring at him from across the shop.

It was a small price to pay for the expert level of avoidance he’d achieved in the four days he’d gone AWOL, prowling through Cougar Mountain on the hunt for something he couldn’t track.

Wrapping up the job, he packed his tools and approached the cranky manager. “I’m knocking half off for standing you up last week.”

The manager gave him a long, hard stare and shook his head. “You’re lucky you’re the best guy we’ve had in here. Last guy who left me hanging was blacklisted from this site and the one on the east end.”

Hefting his tool bag into the back of his truck, he let the engine warm up before driving off.

He needed a shower.

Bad.

Pulling into his parking space, he scanned the lot for Ryan’s car and loped up the stairs, the hot shower a welcome reprieve from the dips he’d taken in the ice cold mountain lakes.

Towel wrapped around his hips, he took a moment to check his messages.

Ryan’s calls had decreased in frequency over the past few days.

Alex was spending a few nights in Joshua Tree National Park and wouldn’t be reachable.

Sage had the book he’d abandoned in her room and was wondering if he wanted to finish it before she took it back to the library on Tuesday.

He checked the date.

Tuesday.

He swung his towel over the door to dry, pulled on a pair of boxers, and slipped into Ryan’s room to grab a decent shirt.

*

Sage passed thehalf-read book across the counter, keeping her attention on the library’s monitor to ensure it scanned through. “You’re good to go.”

Bo bent down, resting his elbows on the counter and staring at her, his blue and green eyes boring holes into her as she attempted to ignore him.

When she realized he wasn’t going anywhere fast, she glanced up at him. “Anything else?”

“Yeah. You can tell me why you’re in a shitty mood.” He straightened up, correcting himself. “Why you’re in a bad mood.”

“I’m not,” she replied, pulling a stack of books onto her lap and carefully setting them on the shelving cart. “Have a good weekend?”

“Not terrible,” he replied, angling himself into her line of vision again. “Spent it at Cougar Mountain getting in touch with my inner beast. How about you?”

Spent it half of it watching my phone for you to text back.

And the other half drowning in guilt about it.

“Working and studying,” she said, turning her back as she pushed the cart toward the stacks.

He sauntered along beside her. “Probably warmer than I was all weekend,” he said, handing her two hardcovers.

She hummed in agreement and continued to shelve silently.

She needed to not be around him. A minute into seeing him again and something inside of her was already warming, melting the tension she’d been carrying with little more than his presence.

“So I didn’t see your car out front,” he said as she placed the last book. “Is it running okay?”

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