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Which is why he’s camped out in a chair with his laptop propped on his lap, typing away while intermittently rising to stroll outside the garage to take calls.
His presence over the past few hours has been oddly comforting. He hasn’t once interrupted me or stared a hole in my back.
Once it nears three p.m., I tell him I’m closing for the day. While I scrub the workday’s grease and grime from my hands, I announce that I’m taking him to the library.
“Don’t you think I’m a little too old for story time?”
His immediate response incites my sarcasm. “I thought for sure you’d get something out of the Berenstain Bears Learn Some Manners book.”
His features remain unflappable aside from one edge of his mouth that twitches slightly. “What are we really goin’ to do there?”
I dry my hands with a paper towel. “I’m thinking that we can use the computers there, and maybe, just maybe, you’ll hit the information jackpot on your sister’s workplace.” And you’ll finally be out of my hair, I tack on silently.
I promptly ignore the stabbing sensation that assails my chest at the idea. It’s probably just indigestion.
Suspicion lights up his expression. “What’s so special about the computers at the library?”
I don’t bother suppressing my sigh, because I swear, this man would probably interrogate Santa Claus if given the chance.
“The last time I was there, two college guys were talking about how they loaded an untraceable and encrypted search engine on the computers that lets you search the deep web.
“They said that’s where you can uncover a lot of hidden stuff.” I shrug. “It might be useful, and it sure as hell can’t hurt to give it a shot.”
He appears to mull it over, gaze sweeping over me as though he’s searching for any sign that I’ve comprised some nefarious plan to coordinate a Dateline episode for “How to Catch a Gang Member” or some shit.
He finally gives a curt nod. “Okay. Let’s go.”
* * *
Climbing the steps to the library’s entrance, Daniel reaches for the handle on the heavy oak door before I can.
He holds the door for me and I spare him a quick glance, wondering again about this man and his layers. A gentleman who ensures he opens doors for women…who’s also a member of a dangerous gang. Talk about a contradiction.
We step inside the air-conditioned building, the muted hum of the fluorescent lights the only audible noise. The librarian scowls at me as if I’m about to incite a full-fledged protest with signs and bullhorns claiming Dr. Seuss is better than Edgar Allan Poe.
That woman forever looks down her nose at me because it’s not my life’s ambition to land myself a husband. When she adds a glare to her scowl, I pretend to scratch an itch on the side of my face with my middle finger. Of course, she—wait for it—clutches her damn pearls with a look of outrage.
Once we’re past her and out of earshot, Daniel whispers, “Friend of yours, huh?”
I barely muffle my derisive snort. “Of course. That’s my BFF.”
Briefly, my footsteps slow at the bulletin board as I scan for any potential cars up for grabs but don’t spot any.
Leading Daniel to the designated area where the computers sit in neat rows, I notice one of the guys from the last time I was here. Sprawled in front of one computer in the second-to-last row, pierced-lip guy doesn’t spare us a glance when we choose seats in the last row.
At the sudden sensation of probing eyes, I glance around the library, but find no one staring at me. Nothing appears out of the ordinary, either.
Still…it’s too unsettling to ignore and drives me to press my thumb and finger together. Immediately drenched in silence and part shadows, part streaming sunlight through the windows, I exhale a long, slow breath. The sensation of being watched has evaporated, and the tension it had brought thankfully subsides.
Reaching over, I graze the top of Daniel’s hand with my fingertips and he instantly blinks. That astute green gaze takes in our surroundings and his head snaps in my direction.
It’s alarming as hell that my touch does this to him when it’s never happened before. Yet there’s a comforting sort of quality in his eyes when they settle on me. It’s as if he somehow understands how baffling this is for me, too.
I answer the question in his eyes with a half shrug. “As a precaution, I figure it’s safer this way.”
Settling my right hand on my computer and then his, they resume working, the screens and keyboards lighting up. With a few quick clicks of the mouse, I pull up the search engine for Daniel before doing the same for my computer.
“Have at it,” I murmur softly.
