Page 3 of Deadly Threat
Mia forced a smile as she and Ladybug crossed the street to the WeGo ride waiting for her. She felt as safe at the university library as she did in her own place. The shelves of books, the scarred tables, the dry paper smell. She loved it. “I’ll be fine.”
“Call me if you need anything,” Amber told her, still looking worried, but trying to hide it. “Or if you find your soulmate amongst those worn out stacks of forgotten tomes.”
Mia stuck her tongue out and disconnected. Later, once she was done with Coggins’ research, she’d think about dinner. It felt good to at least entertain options.
“How are my girls?” Sue asked, reaching over the seat to pat Ladybug when Mia climbed in.
“She’s great.” A date with the library was better than anything these days. Maybe she wouldn’t need the meeting tonight after all.
“Ready?” Sue shifted into gear.
Ladybug set her front paws on the door handle and stared out the window. “You know it. I have a good feeling about today, Sue. Let’s go.”
Her good feelingevaporated twenty minutes later when she coasted through the library, Ladybug at her feet, and a stack of old books weighing down her hands. She was prepared for a few blissful hours lost in the books, then she’d have Sue go through the drive-through at South of the Border, her favorite Mexican place, to pick up a tasty lunch on the way home.
When she rounded the corner, heading for her favorite table, she pulled up short.
Threat! Threat!
A man was sitting there.
No one ever sat in this section of the library atthistable but her.
Headphones in and fingers pecking at the keys of a thin laptop, he didn’t notice. She scanned him from head-to-toe, Ladybug glancing between the two of them.
His dark hair curled around his ears, several days’ worth of beard covering a strong jawline. Dressed in a short-sleeved shirt and distressed jeans, he’d kicked the chair opposite him to the side to make more room for his legs.
His very long, muscled legs, that the jeans seemed to hug.
His biceps and forearms were no slackers either. They bulged with every click of the keypad. He wasn’t a fast typist, but a decent one, only stopping here and there to reread the screen before he resumed.
Wait ’til I tell Amber, she thought, smugly. An attractive, muscle-bound guy—probably military, since thiswasSan Diego and there were plenty of those around—who was in the library. He wasn’t reading a book, but no matter. Amber hadn’t specified that.
Mia ran an approving gaze over him again, catching herself wondering if his brain matched the size of his biceps.Whoa, there. She tore her gaze away. She wasn’t looking for a guy and this particular one had violated a big tenet right off the bat—he was in her seat.
Ladybug seemed confused, knowing that was where they always landed inside this huge place. It was a quiet corner in antiquities, and out of the way. Normally, the dog would nestle under Mia’s feet for hours, content to sleep. Now she leaned into Mia’s leg and kept glancing up as if asking what she should do.
Ladybug was scanning her to make sure she wasn’t about to have another attack. While annoyed, and a tad confused herself about why her stomach was flip-flopping at the thought of confronting the man, no full-on panic pricked at her.
Yet.
It was a free country and he could sit anywhere he damn well chose. But here? This was her cave, her hideaway, and finding a different one, where she wasn’t constantly interrupted by students or staff, could take valuable time. Part of controlling her overreactions to being in public was about managing her surroundings. She needed continuity and familiarity to feel safe.
As though he finally sensed her presence, McHottie glanced in her direction, and damn, those were some eyes.
Bluer than the contacts she sometimes wore, and she had no doubt it was his natural color. She’d left hers out today, showing her natural color, and it felt a bit…revealing. With his tan skin and dark hair, he looked like the sexy villain in some teen drama.
He popped out an earbud. “Can I help you?”
Boy, could you.
Except,wait, that was wrong. She was so not interacting with McHottie here. Nope, no way. She needed to unglue her traitorous feet that were stuck to the floor and move on.Nothing to see here, folks.
Without warning, her lips betrayed her, too. “That’s my table.”
He did a double-take: at her, the dog, the vest, and then the scarred wooden top his computer sat on. “I didn’t realize you could reserve one.”
“I’m special,” she said.Where had that come from? “Never mind. I’ll find someplace else.”
