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Her doorbell was a little white button in an ornate black holder with a flower design. The little bit of interest and surprise he knew he would find under the perfectly trimmed bushes and grass that never got a chance to be overgrown. He would discover more Easter eggs like that, hidden around the house, if he ever got the chance to poke around.
He pressed the doorbell and, to his shock, she answered right away. And as soon as the door opened wide enough that he could see her well, he laughed. “You look like a librarian.” He barely managed to get the words out past his laughter.
She was wearing a pleated skirt in a dark blue plaid that hit her shins just under her knees and one of her plain white button-downs, only instead of being unbuttoned a couple buttons—enough so that he always wanted to peek down her shirt—it was done up all the way to her chin. She had a green scarf tied loosely around her neck and a gray cardigan draped around her shoulders. He’d seen her wear the brown boots before, on a casual Friday when she was wearing skinny jeans and looked as sexy as hell, but with her skirt and her cardigan, the brown heeled boots that came up to her knees looked prim and proper.
“Hey, I know several librarians. They are not all cardigan-and-sensible-shoe-wearing women,” she retorted, but she was smiling, so he knew she was pleased to have caught him so off guard.
“Wait? Are you wearing glasses?” He’d been so distracted by the rest of her outfit that he hadn’t noticed the thin gold wire rims perched on the tip of her nose. “Do you need glasses?”
“Normally I wear contacts. These things are like fifteen years old and give me a headache. But they go with the outfit. I’m trying to look nonthreatening.”
“I’m not sure you pulled that off. I keep expecting you to shush me.”
“Hey, now,” she said with a laugh. “What did I say about librarians?”
He held up his hands in innocence. “I know what you said. I also know what the stereotype is. And librarians aren’t nonthreatening. They know stuff.”
Her brows came together and she cocked her head. “Should I change?”
“Hell no. I love your outfit. You are full of surprises, is all.” He expected her to dress for the occasion. Except for the one time he’d seen her at the office in date clothes, Marsie was always perfectly dressed. But he hadn’t expected her to look so prim.
She turned to grab her purse, and her skirt twirled around her legs. He also hadn’t expected to get that brief glimpse of her knees and have his heart stop because he wanted to see more.
We don’t have spark, he reminded himself as she locked her front door and then followed him down the walk to his truck. They had never had spark before, and spark was a thing that was there or not. It wasn’t something that developed.
He knew that love developed over time, but love and spark weren’t the same things. So why are you looking for one and not the other, a voice that sounded suspiciously like his father’s asked.
His truck door clicked as he pressed the unlock symbol on the key chain in his pocket. He opened the passenger door for her and watched as she grabbed on to the handle above her head and lifted herself into the seat.
It wasn’t spark he was feeling. Marsie was attractive. He was reacting to that, and that alone. Nothing new. Nothing different. Even though he caught himself practically skipping around the bed of his truck to get to the driver’s side. Like he was a teenager on a date with the most popular girl in school and too hormoned-up and giddy to know what to do with his extra energy.
Damn. Was he going to have to rethink his entire perspective on dating? If so, what did that say about the women he’d been on one date with and dismissed?
More importantly, what did it say about Marsie?
By the time he’d bounced around the back of his truck, she’d reached across the front seat and opened his door for him. Then she smiled at him, and her teeth and the light in her eyes both glowed brighter than the stars visible from the middle of the ocean.
“Thanks,” he said as he put the key in the ignition. “Let’s get going. I’m looking forward to my dinner.”
He started the truck and pulled down the lever to reverse a little harder than he’d meant to. Thankfully he had the entire drive to clear his head, because watching her play poker sure as hell wasn’t going to.
