Chapter 7

Toby regarded me as I slipped into the leather seat of his Maserati. For someone who said there was more to life than money, he had a fancy car.

"What?" I raised my eyebrows at him.

"You look beautiful." He handed me an envelope.

"What"s this?" I asked.

"Open it," he said.

I shrugged and slid my nail under the back of the envelope to open it. Inside was a card, folded in two.

"Read it," he said.

I opened the card. Written inside, were the words;

A place for all the stories

"It"s a clue," he said. "So you can figure out where I"m taking you."

"I didn"t pick you for a romantic," I said.

He flashed me a panty-melting smile. "I"m many things, including that. Did you think I was just some meathead too?"

"I barely know you," I said. "You could be both of those things."

He chuckled. "Fair call." He nodded towards the card in my hand. "Any guesses?"

I looked back at the words, read them again. "It could be a building with lots of stories. There"s a few of those in Opal Springs." Nothing above ten floors, and most not even that. The town wasn"t big enough to be called a city, not yet.

"It might be," he said.

I glanced over at him. "But it"s not?"

"You tell me," he said. "Any other ideas?"

"It could be the Opal Springs library," I said slowly.

"Getting warmer, but not the library," he said.

"Not the library," I said thoughtfully. "In that case, drive three blocks in that direction, then turn right."

"If you"re sure." He turned the engine on and peeled the sports car away from the curb.

"I"m not sure, but I suppose we"ll find out." I turned the card over to search for other clues, but there weren"t any. If I was wrong, I didn"t know what else to suggest, I was out of guesses.

He turned right on Perkins Street and drove slowly. "Say when."

I said nothing for a minute or two, then pointed off to the side. "When. Here."

He pulled the car into an empty space in front of the bookshop. "Here?" He had the perfect poker face. I couldn"t tell if I was right or not.

"You tell me," I said.

Finally, his lips curved upward into a smile. "You"re right so far."

"We're going on a date to the bookshop?" I asked.

Who was this guy and how did he know one of my favourite places in town?

"I asked Cat, and she said you like to read. I figured maybe you could pick out a few books." He shrugged.

I wondered when he talked to her, but I"d never say no to more books.

Grinning, I pushed out of the car and stepped out. He offered me his arm and led me through the open doors.

"Good morning." Amanda, the owner, stood behind the desk, which was weighed down with displays full of bookmarks and book themed stickers. "Here"s your next clue."

She held out an envelope the same as the one Toby gave me.

"I feel like I"m on some sort of game show." I took the envelope and smiled my thanks. "I don"t have to eat any disgusting food to get the next clue, do I?"

"I wouldn"t do that to you," Toby said. "Not on the first date. That"s second date stuff."

I batted him lightly on the chest with one end of the envelope before tearing it open. The next clue read,

Where the heart takes you

"The romance section?" I asked. I knew exactly where that was. That was my favourite section. I especially loved that Amanda stocked titles from indie authors, as well as those who were with traditional publishers. The combination was practically perfect.

I headed through the shop, inhaling the smell of books, before I stopped at the extensive romance section. It consisted of one whole wall and both sides of four shelves, which reached to the ceiling. Step stools were scattered around the place so nothing was out of reach.

"Hmmm, if you spoke to Cat for long enough, she would have told you my favourite books are poly romance." The irony of me reading about reverse harems wasn"t lost on me. There was something about the celebration of women"s sexuality, and a group of hot guys that did it for me.

Like before, Toby"s face was unreadable. He leaned against the end of a shelf and crossed his arms over his burly chest. He offered the slightest hint of an eyebrow arch, but that was it. I had to figure this out on my own.

Never let it be said that Marley-Jane Hammond backed down from a challenge. I pushed my glasses back up my nose and started to search through the books.

I slid out each one to check book by book. I tucked the ones I hadn"t read yet under my arm. I might as well do some shopping while I was here.

As I pulled out the fourth, Toby stepped over to take the stack from me. "I"ll hold these for you."

I glanced over at him. "That"s the five words every woman wants to hear."

He grinned. "Along with, "Every woman needs more books.""

I laughed softly. "You"re so right." He was getting hotter by the minute. And so was I.

I looked through several more books, handing him another three. When I pulled out the one beside a rock star romance, I found another envelope. I wasted no time opening this one.

Lunch is served

I glanced over at Toby. He held the pile of books in one arm and offered me his other. "Come with me."

I grabbed another book to add to the pile, then another for good measure, before I took his arm and let him lead me to the small coffee shop in the rear of the bookshop.

The place was empty except for us. A crisp, blue tablecloth was draped over one of the tables. Plates containing hamburgers and chips sat waiting, the smell enticing.

"I hope you don"t mind burgers." He placed the pile of books on the counter and pulled out his card to pay for them.

"I love burgers," I said. I didn"t mind fancy food, but I preferred simple, with all the flavours and delicious carbohydrates.

He placed the bag of books down beside me and gestured for me to sit and start eating.

"When did you have time to organise all of this?" I asked.

He shrugged. "I had some help." He picked up a chip and waved it in Amanda"s direction. "I just wrote the clues."

"But you thought up all of this," I said. "That"s the important part."

"Would your doctor friend do this for you?" Toby asked before popping the chip in his mouth. "Mmm, that"s a good fry."

"I"m sure he would if he thought of it," I said. "And if…"

"If you didn"t have to sneak around?" There he went, being blunt again.

"That too," I agreed reluctantly. "It"s nice to do something out in public."

"I noticed you like doing it in public." He gave me a sly smile.

I picked up a chip and threw it at him. "That wasn"t what I meant and you know it."

He caught the chip and ate it. Of course he did; he wasn"t a goalie for nothing. "But you do, don"t you? You like the thrill of potentially being caught. There"s no shame in it, I like it myself. Although…"

"Although, what?" I prompted. "You can"t say all of that and then leave me hanging."

He picked up his burger, made a face at the beetroot before he slipped it out and dropped it onto his plate. "The hell is that doing on a burger?"

I laughed. "Welcome to Australia. You didn"t answer the question."

"I didn"t, did I?" He bit into his burger and chewed. He swallowed and nodded his approval. "The rest is pretty good without that weird pink shit on there."

I shook my head at him and ate mine, beetroot and all, and waited for him to elaborate. If he wanted to.

Halfway through his burger, he stopped and said, "I"ve been known to dabble in a bit of exhibitionism."

"Fucking in front of other people?" I asked. My heart raced a little faster.

"Yeah," he said lightly. "And being naked for money. Before I went pro, I had a JustPeens channel, where I used to do a roundup of the week"s hockey games, while I was naked. No one saw my face, it was from here down." He gestured from his throat to his feet.

"You"d be surprised how many people are interested in hockey when it"s presented like that. I might have even converted a few folks to actually watching the game."

It took me a while to process all of that. "You had a channel on JustPeens? Is it still there? I mean, asking out of curiosity."

"You can see the real thing anytime you want," he said. "For the record, no, it"s not. That"s the kind of thing the NHL prefers we not do. The AIHL too, probably."

"How many followers did you have?" I asked.

"You wanna know how many people saw my dick?" he asked. "Lots. But looking and touching are very different beasts." He finished his burger and wiped his hands on the napkin beside his plate. "Does that scare you off?"

"That you know enough about hockey to have lots of people follow you and listen?" I said. "No, there are worse things a guy can do."

Toby chuckled. "Yeah, it was all about the hockey. I"m glad you can look past my abundant knowledge of the sport. It"d be a total drag otherwise."

"I"m sure it would." I reached for my own napkin and wiped my fingers. "The other stuff doesn"t worry me either. I mean, it"s your dick, and you said you needed the money. A guy"s gotta do what a guy"s gotta do, right?"

"So it wouldn"t bother you if I fucked in front of a camera?" he asked.

"You were a porn star too?" I asked.

He smiled. "No, just curious what your reaction would be if I was."

"I have better things to do than judge you," I said. "I have a funny feeling the NHL would have judged you a lot more harshly."

"Amen to that." He grimaced. "I"d still do it, but not for public consumption. Just for us to enjoy."

"That"s something I might need to work up to," I said. "Is that what you meant by exhibitionism?"

"Some," he agreed. "Parties have been known to get wild once in a while. I"m not shy about what I do or who I do it with, or who I do it in front of, as long as what happens at a party stays at the party. Which can be tricky, once the public starts to know your name."

"Paparazzi taking photos of that wouldn"t be good," I guessed.

"Not for me and or anyone I was with," he agreed.

I took another moment to process his words. "Women and men?" He hadn"t specified, leaving me to wonder if he meant both, or either.

"Yeah. Is that a problem?" he asked. For the first time, he looked uncertain. Like maybe I"d get up and walk away because he"d fucked other men.

I couldn"t really be unruffled knowing about his JustPeens past, and then judge him for this. Besides, I was a firm believer that love was love.

"Not even a little bit," I replied. "If you want to be with someone else and me, I"m all for it."

"I"m not interested in another woman, but maybe another guy," he said slowly. "But I"m not going to sneak around behind your back. If any of this comes to pass, it happens out in the open. Maybe literally." He grinned.

"Agreed." I took his hand and squeezed. Life might be about to get a whole lot more complicated.