Page 26 of Daddy's Little Librarian
“That’s him,” Scotti replied, doing her best to sound cheerful and not at all self-conscious that she had a man sitting practically under her desk at work. She wasn’t an idiot. A hell of a lot of pornos started this way, and everyone in the library knew he was here. He’d gotten up and down several times—to go to the bathroom, to get another book to read, to get a drink of water from the water fountain in the hall. If everyone in the library knew he was here, then maybe someone (i.e.: Gopher) outside would know it too. So, apart from keeping her distracted and embarrassed and flustered all day long, how was this helping again?
“What a hunk,” Doris mooned.
“The hunk can hear you,” Kurt drawled, not looking up from his book.
“What a hunk,” Doris repeated, this time in a whisper. “If I were thirty years younger, I might give you a run for your money over a guy like that.” The old woman smiled, wrinkling her nose, and gave Scotti’s hand a friendly slap. “Have you gone to bed with him yet?”
“Uh,” she flushed, her whole body—her face especially—radiating with embarrassment. She shot Kurt a look, but if he’d heard that, he didn’t react. He only turned the page of his book. “No, Doris. It’s not that kind of friendship.”
“Why not? You’re a woman; he’s a man. What more do you need? Besides, Sadie says he’s hung like a—”
“Doris!” Scotti whisper-shouted, cutting the old woman off but not before her wrinkled hands measured out exactly how ‘hung’ he was.
“She’s his grandmother,” Doris protested. “She ought to know. She’s also telling everyone, so if I were you, I’d get a move on before some young hussy sneaks in from the sidelines and grabs him right out from under our noses. I saw Miranda giving him the once over while you were at the card catalog. Just because she’s got big breasts doesn’t mean she’s the better woman, honey, but that man has been in jail for two years, so you’d better get crackin’ on that whoopie before she lures him away.”
Mouth agape, Scotti quickly checked to make sure that Kurt wasn’t listening. “How did you know he was in jail?”
“What do you think ‘working for the state’ means?”
“Landscaping?” she shot back, then forced herself to lower her voice all over again. “Construction… building… I don’t know, but—” Her mouth snapped shut as her mind suddenly focused in on the rest of what Doris had said. She leaned across the checkout counter, coming down to the old woman’s much shorter level. “Miranda? Really?”
“Don’t worry,” Doris said, taking her books. “I’ve got a couple of grandnephews I’ll toss her way. It’s about time they started sowing their oats while they’re still young enough to be considered wild. Just remember, honey,” the gray-haired woman winked, “you owe me details, and I want them in inches.” She held her hands to measure out such a sizeable distance that Scotti was again left gasping like a beached fish.
“Mm hm,” Doris hummed sagely, and limped out of the library on gimpy legs that were fast on their way to needing a walker for support.
Scotti stared after her in absolute disbelief.
“Hey.”
She jumped, snapping around to find Kurt now standing just behind her. It was everything she could do to keep her eyes on his face.
“You okay?” he asked. “Why are you jumpy?”
Somehow, she managed to shut her mouth. “Nothing. No reason. I’m fine.”
“Your shift is over, right?” He checked his wristwatch. “Not to be pushy, but we’ve got to go if I’m going to be to work on time.”
“Uh…” Scotti said sagely. She shook her head, willing herself to snap out of it. “Right. Right, right. Just, uh… Give me a minute.”
Kurt’s eyebrows sank slowly down over his eyes, and he glanced from her to various parts of the library around them. “Is Gopher here?”
“Mm,” Scotti quickly shook her head, her eyes falling below his belt for the barest contemplative second before she snapped her gaze away again. Her face flamed as hot as a third-degree sunburn. “No… um, just give me a minute, and I’ll get my stuff.”
“You look… flushed,” he noted, narrowing his eyes.
Willing herself to get a grip, she pinched the bridge of her nose between thumb and forefinger, shaking her head and looking everywhere but at him. “I’m fine,” she squeaked.
He stared at her a moment more, then said, “Okay, get your things together. I’ll just take a quick look around.”
Scotti nodded quickly, and threw herself into cleaning up her already immaculate counter area until he rounded her desk, heading out toward the parking lot. Pausing at the door to the outer hall, he turned back around.
“Hey, Scotti,” he softly called. When she looked up, he measured out a distance between his hands that was even greater than Doris had. “It’s this big.”
He winked.
She all but died, but managed to stay on her feet. Smirking, he left the library to check the grounds, and she promptly collapsed into her chair. Burying her head in her arms, she let the flames of mortification lick all through her.
She had almost kissed him this morning, too.
