What the Librarian Did by Karina Bliss Read Free Book Online Page A

through, thrilled to the bone. When he’d finished, Devin still hadn’t returned, so he picked up an electric guitar and started playing his own riffs. As an only child, growing up on a farm from the age of twelve, he’d often relied on his own company. That’s when he’d begun to play guitar.
    He played one of his songs right through, forgetting his shyness, trailing off when he noticed Devin standing at the door holding two glasses.
    “You’re good.”
    Mark blushed. “Thanks,” he said diffidently.
    Devin put the drinks on the table, picked up his bass guitar and said, “Play that last one again.”
    Mark did, and Devin accompanied him, adding tonal qualities Mark would never have dreamed of. “I like that song,” said Devin. “Whose is it?”
    “Mine.”
    Devin looked up. For a long minute he didn’t say anything. “Let’s try that again,” he suggested.
    Mark spent the next two hours in musical heaven. He didn’t ever want the day to end. But eventually Devin stopped and glanced at the clock. “I’m hungry. How about you?”
    “Starving.”
    Mark followed him into the kitchen and sat on a stool while the rocker opened his fridge and inspected the contents. “I’ve got a better idea. How about we go eat with my mom.”

CHAPTER FIVE
    D EVIN WAS WALKING THROUGH Albert Park en route to class the next morning when he glimpsed the librarian sitting by the circular fountain.
    Her gaze immediately dropped to the open book in her lap, but he’d been around enough stalkers—and better ones than this—to know he was her target.
    Her skills needed work, but her choice of location was sound. All the park’s paths converged on the historic fountain, with its bronze cherubs and their water-trickling orifices.
    He hid a grin. This should be interesting. Of course, she had no idea he knew she’d warned Mark to shun him. He braced himself for verbal sparks.
    As he approached, she looked up in feigned surprise and Devin was conscious of another spark. One that with any other woman he would have called sexual…if she wasn’t wearing a fifties-style calf-length dress in a red-and-white diamond check with a matching fabric belt. Did this woman own any clothes from this decade? Red suited her, though. He particularly liked the matching lipstick.
    He stopped in front of her. “Of all the fountains in all the world, somehow we meet at this one.”
    “Isn’t that a coincidence!” She looked past him—checking for Mark—then back with such undisguised relief that Devin was provoked to tease her.
    “You don’t happen to have any Tylenol, do you?” He put on his shades to hide his amusement. “I’m too old to keep partying this hard.”
    She frowned slightly and he read her thoughts. Had Mark been with him? But the only way to get information…She opened her bag. “Sure.”
    Devin sat down next to her and lifted his face to the sun. It was only eight-thirty but already humid. The scent of the park’s roses was heavy in the air.
    The breeze changed direction. Fountain mist drifted toward Rachel, forcing her to move closer. She wasn’t wearing perfume today but she still smelled seductive. How did she do that? Maybe he shouldn’t torment her by making things up. He and Mark had eaten at Katherine’s, then been cleaned out in a friendly poker game with her elderly neighbor before the kid caught the 9:00 p.m. ferry.
    Rachel said way too casually, “I didn’t think you knew many people here.” Fishing.
    He took the pills she offered, shiny in their silver foil. “Heartbreaker, when you’re a rock star you can always find people to party with.” There was no bitterness in the observation. He’d long ago accepted that his real friends were people he knew before he’d become famous.
    Except they were still treating him as fragile. Another reason to stay away from L.A. He was too close to broken to shrug off someone else’s doubt. How ironic that the only person who looked at him without deference or