Page 27 of Home Town

“No. Obviously.” He threw his hands into the air. “What don’t I know? Why don’t you just tell me?”

She let out a huff and shook her head again.

Mumbling something that sounded like, “Typical,” she walked past him and stood next to the door. “Can I get inside? Please. I have a lot of work to do.”

Shaking his head he said, “Sure.”

If this was how she wanted to play it, then so be it. He had bigger things to worry about.

Shame though. He really did like her—when she wasn’t hating him.

They went in through the main entrance, which he unlocked, then bypassed the library door to instead climb the stairs. At the top, he navigated to another key on the ring and unlocked the door.

The heat of the second-floor space hit him in the face, carried on a wave of hot dry air. He drew back as much to try to get a gasp of the slightly less tepid air out in the hall, as from memories of his time spent in the heat of Djibouti.

His mother had told him that they controlled the humidity to protect the objects inside the room, but apparently heat was another matter. A dehumidifier chugged away in one corner but there was obviously no air conditioning up there.

“You can go,” Josie said, seemingly not bothered by the conditions. “I’m fine here alone.”

If she could take it, so could he. No way was he going to let her think she was tougher than he was.

“I don’t mind staying. Some of this stuff looks pretty interesting.”

It wasn’t a lie. There was a lot of cool shit he’d noticed as he glanced around the stuffed room. He drew his gaze away from the ancient-looking artifacts laid out on one wall of shelves to glance at Josie.

Looking horrified at the idea he might stay, she rushed to say, “I can drop the keys off at your mom’s later when I’m done.”

Of course. She didn’t even want him in the same room with her. And in light of how viciously she seemed to hate him, the idea of staying just to annoy her didn’t seem fun any longer. Not in the face of her undeniable overt loathing.

“Fine. Have fun all by yourself.” There was a bite to his tone he hadn’t intended. She was getting to him in spite of himself.

“Oh, I will,” she returned with an equal bite.

The funny thing was, he was pretty sure she would. Have fun all alone up in that hot room filled with old books.

A part of him was impressed by that. Another part of him, still stinging from her insults, was glad he hadn’t pointed out the air conditioner he’d spotted in the back window, partially hidden behind the desk.

She was smart. Let her find it herself.

With that childish thought, he said, “Here you go.”

He tossed the keys at her… and watched them land on the floor with a jingle after she fumbled the catch.

“Hmm, maybe someone should have paid a little more attention in Phys Ed.” With a snort of a laugh he turned and left her alone. Just like she wanted.

Chapter Fourteen

Josie heard the front door of the building slam shut and, with a groan that bordered on a growl, buried the fingers of both hands in her hair.

She tugged until she felt the pull against her scalp. This infuriating man was literally making her tear out her own hair.

The universe—fate, whatever—was clearly testing her.

Or, more likely, laughing at her. Because it had to be some kind of cosmic joke that the boy next door who had moved away more than ten years ago to traverse the globe would be home the exact same time she had flown back from California to cat sit.

If this were a cheesy movie, the plot would have been that his and her mother had conspired to get the two of them together. Because, in true rom com fashion, she as the heroine and he as the hero would be too clueless or too stubborn to see on their own that they belonged together.

But her life was far from a movie. And she and Corey most definitely did not belong together.

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