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Her lips pulled back in a half smile as she considered the possibility. She’d never met anyone this gorgeous, and he seemed quite taken with her. She leaned toward him, imagining they might kiss like in a movie.
“Whoops,” he said as she leaned. “Are you woozy?”
“Oh!” Paige exclaimed, her face reddening. “Uh, I just– I’m– No. Uh, I thought…maybe you were hurt. You weren’t getting up. I thought maybe I fell on you, and you rolled an ankle or something.”
He chuckled, his face transforming as his white teeth gleamed in the fall sunshine. Paige laughed, too.
“You’re leaning on my foot.”
Her chuckling quieted. She flicked her gaze down, and her eyes slid shut as she spotted her hand pressed firmly on his boot. With a slight shake of her head in admonishment to herself, she lifted her hand and pushed herself straighter.
“Sorry,” she whispered.
He rose to stand as soon as she relinquished his foot. “No worries,” he answered as he glanced around.
“Oh, geez, my stuff. It’s everywhere.” Paige clamored to her feet, diving for her tote bag.
“Let me help you,” the stranger said in his deep voice.
He retrieved a few items from the sidewalk along with the keycard that had landed in the mulch near one of the trees she’d been admiring before she took her spill down the stone steps.
He rubbed the prismatic card on his leather jacket before he handed it back to her along with the other items he’d collected.
“Thanks,” she said, her voice defeated as she shoved them into her tote.
“Was that a Shadow Harbor Library access card?”
Paige brushed dirt off her skirt with a sigh of disgust. “Huh?”
“That little keycard. Do you work here?”
“Oh,” Paige said with a huff. She smoothed a dangling piece of hair away from her face. “Yeah. I just got hired, believe it or not. They didn’t realize what a klutz they were getting.”
She glanced back at the building rising behind her. “Hopefully, I don’t knock over the bookshelves and ruin the entire library.”
The wayward hair fell into her face again, and she blew out a breath, sending it flying into the air before offering an awkward grin. “Anyway, thanks for finding my glasses.”
He offered her another warm smile, his eyes lingering on her for a moment longer than they should have. “Well, I guess I should say congratulations.”
A genuine smile spread across her face. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” He stared at her again with a smile before he added, “Well, I’d better let you get back to your first day on the job.”
Paige nodded and smiled at him, her voice lost as he began backing away toward the corner. He grinned at her until he spun on his heel and disappeared around the building.
As her pulse slowed from the encounter, she chided herself for not getting his name, his number, or giving him her name.
“What an idiot I am,” Paige said, slamming her palm into her forehead. “He probably wasn’t even interested.”
With a shake of her head, she took a step toward the street, preparing to cross, when a bus whisked past. A spray of water splashed upward, pummeling her for a second time. She squeezed her eyes closed and pinched her lips into a frown.
“At least I got the job,” she said with a sigh as she hurried toward her apartment.
She wound through Shadow Harbor’s streets, still feeling upbeat despite the mishaps that befell her earlier. She wished she had someone to call or text, but she spent most of her time reading, and with no family, she had no one with whom to share the news.
Her apartment building rose in front of her. A white stone building with interesting distinguishing features, the most notable being the two gargoyles perched on the corners of the roof.
Paige shot a glance up toward them as she skipped up the stone steps and pushed through the door. The decaying iron and glass door creaked on its hinges as it swung inward. She stepped onto the dingy tile, her feet sliding on the worn grooves.
