Sometimes it was discouraging, all the battling against video games and the budget committee. But in Whitford, the library was a cool place to hang out and reading was a cool thing to do. As far as Hailey was concerned, she was winning the war.
She went into the oversized closet masquerading as her break room and started a pot of coffee. Josh was supposed to show up, since he was the president of the new Northern Star ATV Club, and she hoped he’d be carrying a basket of baked goods from Rose. Rosie Davis may have been the housekeeper for the Northern Star Lodge for as long as any of them could remember, but she’d managed to spoil the entire town with her cooking.
With her eye on the clock, Hailey opened the package of paper hot cups she’d bought and set a stack next to the coffeemaker. The sugar bowl was full, and they’d figure out there was milk in the mini-fridge.
At fifteen minutes before eight, the door opened and Josh walked in, carrying a big basket covered with a checked towel. Hailey’s mouth started watering and she didn’t want to share with the other guys filing in after him, all of whom she knew except for the game warden who entered about a minute after the others.
There was something about men in uniforms, she thought. Dave Camden, the newest member of the WPD and the school resource officer, didn’t do much for her, which was good since he was also too young. Sam Jensen, who was a volunteer fireman and pretty much the sum total of the Whitford rescue squad, was wearing his WFD polo shirt and black pants. They’d dated twice, shortly after Hailey returned from college, but there hadn’t been any chemistry between them.
The game warden, though, was a strong possibility. His crisp green uniform showed off one hell of a body, which she’d had a chance to check out at her leisure while he was introducing himself to the other guys. His hair was buzzed pretty short and his jawline was so clean-shaven she wanted to run her fingertips down the rugged lines of his face.
A man with a career, good grooming habits and a great ass right here in Whitford. Maybe it was her lucky day.
“Where should I put these, Hailey?” Josh called, holding up the basket.
“In my car.”
He laughed, the sound echoing through the building. “Nice try. Rose said I have to share, which means you have to share, too.”
“Fine. I set you guys up at the big tables in the reference section. You’ll have to go in the break room to get coffee, though. This building suffers from a serious lack of electrical outlets.”
It had taken her two years to get the okay to have some electrical work done and the amount they’d approved was ridiculously low. She’d settled for upgrading the outlets they used for the computers and adding outlets to the seating areas where people liked to plug their chargers in.
She realized the hot guy in the game warden uniform was staring at her, but kids started arriving with their parents in tow and she was too busy getting everybody settled in to make eye contact with him.
Even during regular business hours, the noise level wouldn’t have bothered her. They’d quiet down a little once the actual education part of the class started, and she usually put a notice in the weekly paper and always put a sign on the door. If you were looking for quiet time at the library, the hour two dozen preschoolers were watching a story time puppet show wasn’t it.
Once the library officially opened at ten, she knew Josh would try to keep the kids down to a dull roar, and she might have to hand out some sympathetic, if not entirely sincere, apologies to patrons who missed the sign, but it was one day. Everybody would survive.
When the game warden bent over to pull the handbooks out of a cardboard box and his uniform stretched over his back and behind, she decided to give him a hand.
“I’ll help you pass those around,” she said, holding out her hand for a stack. He smelled delicious and she moved a little closer.
“Thanks. If you don’t mind, there’s a box of Warden Service pencils there, too. If you could make sure each kid has one, that would be great.”
“Not a problem.”
His voice certainly tickled her very-much-still-ticklish fancy, and Hailey frowned as she moved around the tables, passing out workbooks and pencils. There was something about his voice that seemed familiar, but she couldn’t quite place it.
She snuck a few more looks at him, but she would remember that jaw if she’d seen it. And that mouth.
“Hey,” Josh said, “Matt marked a few of those workbooks as instructors’ copies because they have the answers in them. Did you see them anywhere?”
“You afraid you’ll flunk ATV Riding 101 without a cheat sheet, Kowalski?” Dave Camden asked, smirking.
Hailey frowned. “Matt?”
“Yeah, Matt Barnett. The game warden?”
She turned to face the guy with the smooth jaw and crisp uniform. “His name is Matt?”
It clicked. The lines of his back. The ass. The voice. He saw her staring and stared back. With those light brown eyes framed by dark, full lashes.
Wow. Tori was never going to believe this. And she was never, ever going to let Hailey live this one down.
MATT WAS GLAD he hadn’t seen the town’s librarian until after he’d introduced himself to the other guys because he’d been struck speechless when he realized this Hailey was, in fact, the same Hailey he’d helped find her way out of the woods. He wasn’t sure what the chances were of that happening, but he felt like he should buy a lottery ticket or bet on a horse race.
She looked different today. Her hair was in a ponytail again and she had makeup on, but just a touch and it was accenting her pretty face rather than making her look like a raccoon. Her T-shirt had something to do with some computer game all the kids, including his niece and nephews, were playing, and jeans. And she had on sneakers. She didn’t really look like a lot of librarians he’d known, which might go a long way toward explaining why the kids were so comfortable there.
He’d had some reservations when the police chief told them they’d be holding the class in a library, but Hailey didn’t seem to mind the noise or the banana bread crumbs coating the tables.
She minded him, though. He wasn’t used to women not being happy to see him, and he wasn’t quite sure what to make of it. It’s not like he’d deliberately disguised himself to fool her into believing he was some kind of forest hermit.
He suspected he knew what her problem was. She’d been checking him out since he walked into the building, and finding out he was the same guy she’d turned her nose up at in the woods had thrown her for a loop.
It was too bad, really. Hailey the librarian might rev his engine, but he didn’t need to get sprayed by a skunk to know she wasn’t for him.
He’d seen recognition strike, her expression turning sour, and then she’d mumbled something about having work to do and walked away. Rather than follow and ask what her problem was, he dug the instructors’ workbooks out of the bottom of the box so he could stop thinking about her and get to work.
They had a lot to cover in six hours. Besides the actual safe operation of ATVs and snowmobiles, they had to teach them the laws, some basic survival and emergency stuff, first aid and how to respect the land, wildlife and—most importantly—the landowners.
Nothing said he couldn’t have a little fun with it, though.
“Okay, kids, let’s see how much you know about being out in the woods.” He was deliberately loud, knowing his voice would carry to Hailey. “How many of you make sure you wear bug spray every time you’re going to spend time outside?”
Less than half of them raised their hands, which didn’t surprise him. Where they were in the state, there wasn’t a lot of concern about mosquito-borne illnesses. Yet. He’d work on that. “And should you use an insect repellant with DEET or one that smells pretty?”
They all shouted DEET at the same time. He looked toward the circulation desk and was rewarded with a very black look from the pretty librarian.
“That’s right. Next question is true or false. You should wear brand-new hiking boots if you’re going on a long hike in the woods.”
Most of them got that one right, too, though he couldn’t say which kids did and which didn’t since he was looking over their heads. Hailey wasn’t even attempting to mask her annoyance. With her arms crossed, she would have set him on fire with her eyes if she could.
“One more. If you’re going into the woods with a group of people, you don’t need to know where you are or have a map or compass. True or false?”
“False!” a kid yelled, loudly enough so all of the adults flinched out of habit. They were in a library. “You might get separated from them and then you’ll be lost.”
“That’s right. And how old are you, buddy?”
“Ten!”
Hailey lifted her hand above the desk, then paused before closing it into a fist and lowering it again. Why, he did believe the librarian was going to flip him the bird.
“Good job,” he told the group. “Okay, guys, we’re going to break for five minutes to finish that banana bread and refill my coffee cup, and then I’m going to talk laws for a little while before turning it over to Mr. Kowalski here for the riding basics.”
He hadn’t planned to take a break at all, but he knew if he didn’t move, he was eventually going to lose his train of thought and embarrass himself. Having Hailey in his line of sight would play hell on his concentration.