Instead, he walked back towards his own car, and drove off into the night.
CHAPTER FIVE
∞∞∞
Norah had some very weird dreams that night.
Well. No.
Weird wasn't the right word for them. A better word perhaps would have been incredible, or maybe arousing. Definitely you could call them hot and intriguing, and if you wanted to go further than that, you could say I didn't know you could do that, but wow, I really want to try.
But at the moment, she was going to go with weird, because what else did it mean when you met someone and over the course of the day went from being outraged that he thought he could buy an academic archive to waking up with a burning desire to see him again, to make sure he was real and to make sure he didn't get away?
He's not some kind of prize that I can just bring back to my house and lock up in my bedroom, Norah thought appalled, but maybe there was a little part of her that wondered if he would like that, and if he liked it, then there could surely be no harm, could there?
She made herself shower, allowed herself to put on her favorite dress with a pair of low-heeled shoes a little fancier than she usually bothered with, and picked up some coffee from the place around the corner that she liked.
Hopefully he likes coffee, she thought belatedly. Norah thought she should probably wonder if he would be there early enough to get it while it was hot, but somehow, she knew he would be.
When Norah went to unlock the doors of the archive, she was a little disappointed that he wasn't there, but then rapid footsteps came up behind her. She turned to see Val carrying a bouquet of heavy-headed white peonies, and she couldn't help breaking out in a large smile when he offered them to her.
“I remembered that you said no food and nothing but water in the back room, but I was hoping that flowers would be all right.”
“Well, we can't have them in the back room, but the front is fine. Val, they're gorgeous. I love peonies.”
The flowers enveloped them both in a rich sweet scent, and Val smiled at her pleasure.
“I love them too – wait, what are you wearing?”
She smiled a little self-consciously, doing a little twirl while still holding the coffee caddy and the flowers. Her dress flared around her, and she definitely saw the way Val's eyes tracked the sway of her wide hips and her legs in dark tights.
"Well, after that conversation we had yesterday, I guess I was thinking about knights and dragons. Aren't the little dragons cute? I got it from this woman who does exclusive prints online."
For a moment, Norah worried that Val was one of those guys who couldn't stand cute or silly things and insisted on everything being super grim and dark. She hoped not, because regardless of how handsome he was, that was a clear turn-off, but instead Val grinned, utterly delighted.
"You like dragons?" he asked as she let them into the archive.
"I do. You know, all the old Anne McCaffrey stuff, all the fantasy bricks. How about you? Did you really like Game of Thrones?"
Val snorted.
"Are you joking? There was barely any dragon stuff in Game of Thrones at all, and they're supposed to be this big deal. I mean, they're meant to be extinct. How is the world not losing their minds over finding three dragons all of a sudden?"
"I don't know, but I thought the dragons looked pretty good," Norah said placidly. "I was just there for the eye-candy, you know, dragons and Jon Snow and all that."
"Well, Kit Harington is a very good-looking man. I can't blame you for that," Val allowed with great dignity.
Norah could have spent all morning talking with him about what he liked to watch and read, but the clock ticked over, and she had to open the archive.
"I need to call the head of security over what happened last night, and then I'll have some work I need to take care of," she said reluctantly. "Are you going to be okay in the back on your own?"
Val tossed out his empty coffee, nodding and squaring his shoulders as if he was getting ready to go to war.
"I'll do my best," he said. "If you want to come back and laugh at my woe, please feel free to do so. And ..."
"And?"
Val stepped close and before she knew quite what he was doing, he brushed his lips across hers, soft and tender with a promise of heat.
"Dinner tonight?" he asked, and her cheeks flaming, Norah nodded.
"Yes. Absolutely."
Val gave her a smile that was all teeth, and then he disappeared into the back room just as the first frazzled academic of the day came in.
After she had the academic squared away, she had to make that call to Sayeed, who sounded even more serious than he usually did.
"I'll make sure that we get those cameras repaired," he said. "And please, Norah, no more chasing people down, all right? That is absolutely above your pay grade."
"How many chances does a librarian get to apprehend a thief? But all right, I see your point and Val's. I'll keep my crime-fighting restricted to trying to get lost books back from forgetful professors."
"Oh, Val? Is that the guy that Phil was talking about who tried to buy the archive?"
"Yeah. Phil mentioned him?"
"Just that he was really good-looking, and he thought you were lucky," said Sayeed with a laugh.
"Phil's husband does mixed martial arts, he has nothing to be jealous about," Norah retorted, and she hung up before she could get too involved in the idea of Val in nothing but skimpy boxer shorts and with his hands taped up for a match.
Then things got legitimately busy for a while, with some desperate undergrads who
