Page 1 of Bedded and Bred

CHAPTER 1

Beth

“I’m telling you, Heather. He won’t let me be. I’m losing my mind. I’ve talked until I’m blue in the face and he just won’t listen.”

She groans under her breath. “Have you tried just spelling out that you’re not interested? I mean…really make it plain to him. Some men don’t take hints well. You have to smack them in the head with it.”

I roll my eyes. “You think I haven’t done that? I mean, I have. He’s just not listening.”

I glance out of the library door and groan when I see his big truck parked out there…again. I nod my head at the window and hiss under my breath, “He’s out there again. I’ve done everything but skywriting at this point,” I huff.

“Honey…” she pats my hand and I sigh, knowing I’m not gonna like what she says next, “you tend to be too nice for your own good. If this guy is still hanging around, tell him to get lost. Be specific. But make sure that you don’t do it alone. He doesn’t sound very rational.”

“You think?” I growl under my breath.

She stands up and I watch her head for the door. “I’ve got to get back to my place. My daughter has been working on a special project for my birthday and I’m kinda terrified what it is.”

Laughing, I follow her to the door. “Yeah. Kids. But your daughter is too sweet for her own good.”

A troubled look hits her eyes. “I know,” she whispers and my conscience pricks. We’ve spent all this time working on my problems. I haven’t even asked what’s wrong with her. And I can see that something is.

“Is something wrong?” She shakes herself like she’s coming out of a trance.

“No! Of course not. Everything’s amazing! I’ll talk to you later.” She nods her head towards the truck. “Tell him.”

“I will.”

I shut and lock the door after her. Wednesday is our normal day for closing early and everyone has already cleared out, knowing the drill. The librarian has already left and I’m all alone in the endless rows of dark stacks of books.

I smile to myself and run my fingers down those rows, my fingers lightly tapping on one book after another. There’s a smell in the air that you only find in a library. I don’t know how to describe it but it’s like old books and adventure all bottled up and spritzed around the room with abandon.

This is my favorite time of the day. I’m alone with all of this wonder and it’s enough to make any bookworm smile.

Thump! Bang!My smile slips as I whirl around, my heart thumping out of control.

“Hello?” I whisper softly, my voice barely squeaking past my lips. I can’t see a thing in the shadows at the back of the huge open room but something feels off.

Like an idiot out of a horror movie I tiptoe back towards where I heard the sound. The dark closes around me and I can’tsee a blinking thing but I feel something. A soft hiss off to my left makes me jump and I curse under my breath.

What the hell am I doing? This is where you you run, dummy!You get to that front door and you push through it and then you scream bloody murder. You call the Sheriff. You do any damn thing in the world…but you don’t move towards the noise!

Like a teenager begging to be murdered in some horror flick, I head towards the noise again, wishing that my phone wasn’t on the charger in the tiny office. I forgot to charge it last night so I decided to charge it in the office this morning.

So now I don’t even have it on me for an emergency.

There’s a soft sound like a step behind one of the dark rows of books and I whip around and then lightly tiptoe over towards it.

It’s like an awful game of hide and seek and more than anything my body is screaming at me to get the hell out of here. But I feel the need to protect my job. The library is my life and I can’t imagine working anywhere else. After I got my degree it was the first place I applied because it was the only place I wanted to be. Wildwood is the best place in the world.

Not tonight though. I’d rather be anywhere but here. A loud thud hits the floor behind me and I whip around, my heart thumping up into my throat and my vision narrowing. My eyes tear up and I fight to keep from screaming.

Somebody’s here and they shouldn’t be. Nobody should be here and if they were accidentally locked in here, surely they’d holler until I came to help them. Not this weird game of cat and mouse.

Help me!I watch that front door, silently hoping that somebody comes strolling in, even though I know the door is locked. Nobody’s going to break down the door when they don’t know that there’s a reason for it.

I finally come to my senses and head for the office where my purse and my phone are.

My spine tingles and I feel a body close to me, the warmth of that body making me shiver. I put a hand over my mouth and hide behind the post for the shelving unit that’s behind me. I can hear so much right now. A soft, panting breath that’s still a row over from me but he’s in the next aisle and that’s too close for comfort.

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