Page 3 of To Regret a Raven

“Your…list?” she echoed, her crystal-blue eyes full of confusion as she gave him a quick once-over.

Fisher blinked, then glanced down and realized he’d not yet clipped his name tag on for the day.

“No, wait. I’m the library. I work—no.Manage.I manage the library. And the study books—rooms. Study rooms. And the room lists, with the numbers…” His voice trailed off as his soul quietly shriveled up and died a slow death.

“Right,” she said, a spark of something warm in her eyes as he stared down at her, ignoring the heat that slowly crept up his neck. “I just need a desk. Thank you, though!”

She turned on her heel, facing the direction the kid had pointed out, and Fisher was helpless to do anything but watch her walk away, abject embarrassment keeping him rooted to the spot. Until she paused a moment before slipping around the corner of a free-standing bookshelf and cast one last glance over her shoulder, a soft smile on her lips. And suddenly, despite the kid snickering into his hand, he had the simultaneously unsettling yet soothing sensation that everything was going to be alright.

The next timehe spoke to Blue Eyes was approximately three months later—the Friday after Thanksgiving. The library was dead, given that the school was on break, when she arrived.

Fisher made it a point to never be the person behind the desk on the days she came in. He didn’t dare start a conversation after the disaster that was their first meeting, and he didn’t want her to feel like she had to talk to his neurotic ass if she needed something. So,of course, it made sense that she would need something on the one Friday when there wasn’t enough staff on hand to cover the desk.

“Happy Thanksgiving,” she said shyly, those blue eyes bright and sharp as she slid a piece of paper across the desk. “Are you able to tell me if these books are in stock?”

“Uh…” Fisher’s eyes slipped to the paper. He made quick work of checking the system and nodded. “Yep. Yes, they’re all here. All of them. All six. Here.” He bit down hard on his tongue to prevent any more word vomit from escaping as he jotted down the aisle numbers and then slid the paper back.

She only smiled in response, the corners of her eyes crinkling as she regarded him. “Can you help me find them?”

Fisher breathed deeply, feeling horribly out of his element. He had never been particularly skilled with talking to girls. He’d only ever had one girlfriend, but something about this unassuming woman put him on edge. Women were usually sassier with him, and the aggression was something he knew how to handle. He could snark back with the best of them, volleying back flirts and sarcasm. But this woman…She was all soft smiles and earnest questions.

And yet, it was like something deep within his personknewshe was important. Like she was going to become something vital, and he needed to tread very carefully, so as not to scare her off—worse than he already had, that was.

“Of course.” Fisher nodded, moving quickly from behind the desk. He walked ahead of her, hurrying through the aisles and pulling books from the shelves swiftly as she followed silently.

The first five books were nursing-oriented—a couple of textbooks and some supplemental reading. But he found himself lingering on the sixth request—a thriller from a somewhat unknown author. The guy had a bit of a cult following until this latest book had gone viral, but the fans who liked himbeforethe fresh notoriety had a tendency to be a bit…crazed.

“First time reading Ledger?” Fisher kept his gaze forward as he ran a finger along the spines, his tone nonchalant.

“You trying to figure out if I’m a Ledgite?” she volleyed, humor in her voice.

He snorted. “Well…that answers my question.”

She stepped forward, nudging his shoulder with one hand as she accepted the book from him with the other. The spot where she’d touched him continued to tingle, and he raised a hand to rub it as she palmed the book.

“Nah.” She sighed. “They probably wouldn’t accept me into the fold. I’ve been so busy with school that I haven’t been staying on top of the releases.”

“This one’s only been out for like a month.”

“Yeah, but the next one in his Creature series comes out inJanuary, and I’ve been dying to see how he resolved the cliffhanger from the trilogy. I heard that one of the characters in this standalone will play a part in that series, and I think if that character ends up being one of the inner circle in disguise, Ledger may be planning to—” She paused, blinking up at him. “I’m so sorry. I tend to ramble when talking about these books.”

“I like it,” Fisher answered without thinking, then straightened, that all-too-familiar heat tickling his collar. “Right. Anyways, I’ll leave you to your reading, and I’ll just be—” He threw a thumb over his shoulder in the direction of the front desk. “Over—yeah. Well, you know. Alright. Okay, bye.”

She didn’t say anything as he retreated swiftly. But once he’d settled back into his desk chair and his cheeks felt cool once more, Fisher lifted his gaze, hoping to sneak a peek, and found her steady stare locked on his person.

He jolted, dropping his eyes for a beat before being drawn right back, like a moth to a flame. And despite his embarrassment, when her lips curved into a smile, he smiled back.

The third timehe spoke to Blue Eyes was on New Year’s Day. The library typically closed for the holiday, but that year, it fell on a Friday. And Fisher had a secret.

For the entire month of December, he’d kept a distance, casting sly glances her way whenever he thought he could get away with it—and getting caught, more often than not. It became a game, of sorts, between the two of them.

On New Year’s, however, he was going to take a risk. Nobody ever showed up to the library on holidays, but she’d never once skipped a Friday. So, even though the library was empty and silent besides the rumble of the heating unit, he still banked on her showing up.

When she did, he was ready. He moved out from behind the desk, reminding himself not to rush her, though the pleased tilt of her lips when she spotted his approach pulled at him like a magnet.

He drew to a stop, grateful the library was empty as he lifted the book between them, not even bothering to fight the goofy smile he knew he wore.

“Got you something,” he said.