Sparks Fly(Divine Creek Ranch 11)(3)

Seth chuckled and grabbed her as she rebounded off a bookshelf and held on to her until she steadied. “We keep bumping into each other. You okay?”

“Besides proving I’m a klutz, yes, I’m fine. Find everything you needed?”

“Yes.” He released her arm as they walked down the aisle side by side. Rowena waved at her with three books in her hand as she disappeared down the romantic fiction aisle. Jayne made her way around to the deserted checkout desk and sat as he placed his books on the counter. She blindly reached for the books and her fingertips landed on his large, warm hand. She rolled her eyes and pulled her hand back as she looked up at him. “This is just not my day.” She caught a faint twinkle in his blue eyes which were framed by thick black lashes.

Seth shrugged casually but she saw a teasing twinkle in his eyes. “Seems like it’s going pretty well to me.” He placed the books and his library card in her hands, and it was then that she noticed his arms. At first glance, she thought he had on long sleeves then realized that from the wrist up his arms were solidly tattooed with art that looked vaguely familiar. Realizing she was staring at them, she turned her attention to her job as she scanned the labels inside the books on Japanese art.

When she handed him his card back, he focused those blue laser beams on her, and she felt herself flush again. His lips were just full enough to be sensual, and when he gave her a slight smile, her body bloomed with heat all over, including the aching spot between her thighs.

Whoa, babe! No lusting in the library!

Jayne smiled back and hoped to remember him accurately so that when she took up her pen and her notebook she could record his beauty, for there was no other way to describe him. The trimmed goatee that surrounded his sensual mouth gave him a rakish appeal, and she wondered how that scruff would feel on her inner thighs. Her panties became damp at the thought, and she unconsciously squeezed her thighs together and shifted in her seat.

She struggled to keep her tone steady as she said, “Mr. Carter, these books will be due back on the seventeenth of July.”

When she handed them to him, he gave another slight smile as he nodded at her. “Call me Seth. I hope your knees and your hand are okay. Sorry for tripping you.”

Jayne smiled at him and shrugged as she ignored the throb from her injuries. “A little antiseptic and a Band-Aid and I’ll be fine. It was my fault for not watching where I was going…both times. Have a good evening.”

He nodded and backed away from the counter. The writer in her wanted to stop him and wrap her arms around his wide shoulders so she would remember what he felt like tonight when she wrote. For a split second, she considered clandestinely shooting a picture with her camera phone, but such unladylike behavior would most certainly be frowned upon. Another library patron piled their books on the counter as he backed away.

Seth walked through the doors but paused as she watched. He turned and gazed back at her, the serious yet sexy look on his face causing the heat to rise in her cheeks once again. When he caught her eye, that slight smile made another appearance before he continued on his way and the automatic doors slid shut after him.

Jayne watched his ogle-worthy backside through the glass doors as he strode down the sidewalk, his feet shod in brown cowboy boots. She felt incapable of tearing her gaze from his long legs and his ass. His shoulders were broad, and the muscles were outlined under the snug knit of the T-shirt, tapering to a trim waist. He moved with a grace and fluidity that told her Mr. Carter was very comfortable in his own skin. Drawn back to the task at hand, she wondered if she had drool on her chin.

“Miss Sheridan? You okay?” the woman asked as she pulled her keys from her purse.

No, I wasn’t for a long time, but I’m getting better every day. When was the last time I reacted to a man like that? “Oh! Yes! Yes, I’m fine. How are you?”

Jayne was actually glad now that Grace and Charity had been so persistent. It was time to rejoin the land of the living. Her battle-ravaged body was testifying that it was ready too. Come hell or high water, she was finally going to live some of what she’d been writing.



* * * *



After stopping for a cold drink at the old-fashioned drugstore across the street from the library, Grace sat in the driver seat of her blue Escalade, scrolling through the contacts on her phone. She looked at Charity with what she felt sure were completely guiltless eyes. Charity giggle-snorted and tickled Rose Marie after buckling her into her car seat and said, “It’s like an addiction with you, isn’t it?”

Grace smiled widely and shrugged. “I’ve never seen two people who were more right for each other, and did you see? Fate is trying to bring them together!” She gestured at Seth’s Harley-Davidson motorcycle at the other end of the block as he placed his library books in the saddle bags and climbed on. She knew a beautiful brunette would fit perfectly on the back of that bike. “I’m just helping out the universe by bringing those two within range of each other, that’s all. We wouldn’t want some ‘skank ho’ to claim him, now would we?”