ELEVEN 

Harper

I jerked awake and realized I’d fallen asleep with my laptop on my lap again. I decided to give myself a break and not feel bad about that since I’d been up late building my box and out of the house early this morning hanging it.

With only a handful of hours sleep it was no wonder I’d nodded off.

I heard a noise outside and realized that must have been what woke me. I was still getting used to living in the center of town.

Houses were set close together and sound traveled. I don’t know how many times I’d heard an engine starting and it sounded so close I’d run to the back window to make sure no one was stealing my car.

Maybe I was the city girl I protested I wasn’t. Because who in Mudville would steal my car? Everyone knew everyone else.

And the busy bodies, of which there were more than one, had their eyes peeled day and night. No one could do anything without them knowing. They were better than a neighborhood watch. The town should really get them matching T-shirts.

Chances were one of my neighbors was doing something at his house. I swung my legs over the edge of the mattress anyway and padded barefoot across the aged wood floors to the window.

“What the hell?”

I’d been wrong. This time the noise wasn’t coming from the neighbors. I’d been wrong about something else too. Maybe Stone Morgan didn’t have gravel where his heart should be after all.

With a quick glance down at myself to make sure I was in clothes I could go outside in, I ran around the bed, shoved my feet into my Uggs and trotted down the stairs.

I even managed to get the front doors open—I’d been practicing. I was outside in time to see him sink the last screw into the wood with his cordless drill.

But what really held my attention was the yellow box with white trim the same shape as the carriage house, sitting regally atop the white post Stone had sunk into the ground next to Agnes’s walkway.

It was worthy of a grand old house like Agnes’s. 

More than that, it was the perfect little library with the glass front door that would protect the books but leave them visible and the angled shingled roof that would repel the rain and snow.

“It’s gorgeous,” I breathed.

He grinned. “I was wondering if you were gonna ever come out. I’ve been here for like forty minutes. Had to wait for the cement to set for the post.

I shook my head, amazed at all he’d done, right down to digging a hole for the post, all while I’d slept.

“I fell asleep,” I admitted. 

“Good. From what I could see, you needed it.”

“Yeah.” I walked around to the front of the box. “I can’t believe you did all this for me.”

He lifted one shoulder. “Eh, it wasn’t that much work.”

I let out a breathy laugh, knowing he was lying. My crappy scrap wood box had taken me half the night. This masterpiece must have taken him even more hours to build.

“I want to pay you for this.”

“No.” His answer was firm and definite.

“But—”

“Consider it my contribution to the ongoing effort to corrupt the puritans of Mudville.”

I let out a laugh. “Okay. Thank you.”

“My pleasure. It was fun. I haven’t built anything in a while. Didn’t realize how much I missed it.” He glanced at my Frankenstein creation hanging below the mailbox. “Want help moving the books over?”

“Sure.” There was only half a dozen in there, but when a hot, sweet man asks if he can help, I wasn’t going to say no.

We walked together to my box and I stumbled to a stop. “How did those get in there?”

The box was filled to overflowing with romance novels.

He frowned. “Didn’t you put them in there?” Stone asked.

“No. I mean I put six. That’s all I had. I was going to go out and get more today. I have no idea where these all came from.”

“Looks like your Little Free Library is working. Take a book. Share a book.” His repeating the official slogan perfectly had me staring.

“How do you know that?”

“I googled.” He lifted one shoulder and didn’t make eye contact as he started stacking books in one muscular arm.

I didn’t want to embarrass him further. Another time, maybe, but not today after he’d done something so nice.

Besides I was in too good a mood after seeing all these books. It proved everyone in this town weren’t as backward as the library board. It was just a shame the board members were the ones who were in the position of power around here.

I’d have to talk to Red about getting herself on that board of directors. This town needed some shaking up. I wasn’t a resident so I couldn’t do it, but I could sure try to convince her to.

“Oh my God. That’s amazing.”

Speaking of Red . . . I turned at the sound of her voice. “Isn’t it? Stone made it.”

“Really?” A sly smile twitched her lips. “Hello, Stone.”

“Hello, Red.” He greeted her then focused on lining up the books by size order inside the new library. The small ones on the top shelf and the tall ones on the bottom.

I didn’t dare tell him I’d planned on putting them in alphabetical order too. I could do that later after he left. For now, I turned to Red. “Did you fill up my box with all these books?” I asked her.

“No.”

I didn’t believe her. “Red . . .”

“Harper, I swear. I didn’t. I was going to go in to the shop and pull some romance from the book section to give you, but it doesn’t look like you need them. Where did all these come from if you didn’t put them in there?”

“I don’t know. People in town, I guess.” I shrugged.

She grinned. “I love it. Screw those crotchety old library people.”

I couldn’t agree more.

As Stone silently kept up with the book transfer, and Red and I shamelessly watched him work, she spun to me. “I almost forgot. Here.” She handed me a large envelope.

“What’s this?” I asked.

“Open it and see. I had my sign girl make it up.”

I opened the envelope and pulled out a decal that read, Warning: Kissing Books Inside.

“Oh, my God. It’s perfect. Red, I love it.”

“You sure?” she asked.

“Yes. Absolutely. I want to put it on the door. Right in front for everyone to see.”

Stone stopped his work and came to look over my shoulder. He let out a chuckle. “Nice one. Want me to put it on the glass?”

“Yes, please. Would you?”

“Sure.” He took it from me and swaggered to the box and I caught the sideways glance Red sent me.

I could guess what she was thinking. It looked like I’d gotten myself a handyman to help me out. And he was the last man in town I could have guessed would volunteer for the job.

The only question was what else did I want him to do for me.

I had a few ideas . . .

Just over a week ago I’d first laid eyes on this man—and hated him. Although hate was a strong word. Let’s just say I’d disliked his attitude intensely. 

Now, I was imagining him helping me get the stuck window in Agnes’s bedroom closed . . . and then spending the night. 

That was a pretty huge change in not a large amount of days. But time moved at a surreal pace here.

It was Friday. If I made it through tonight’s pig walk, I’d have survived my first week of living in Mudville.

In that week I’d managed to incur both the ire of the old biddies and puritans, and the support—albeit anonymous—of the closet romance readers in the community.

I’d managed to keep all the animals in my care alive and I’d written an enormous number of words in my book. And I’d also managed to make a friend who I suspected would only grow to be a bigger part of my life the longer I knew her.

All in all, if I could get Petunia to the high school without either one of us ending up flattened like bacon on Main Street I was going to call this week a resounding win.

And if the cocky corn farmer continued to impress me and somehow ended up becoming more than just a man with a cordless drill at my service—well, so be it. Though I’d better not put the cart before the horse.

But damn, wouldn’t that be something? The ultimate Karma slap down for my mother. The fact I did the one thing she didn’t want me to do—volunteered to watch Agnes’s house—and it yielded the one thing she did want—me with a man in my life . . .

I lost my train of thought as I caught a glimpse of Stone’s denim-clad ass as he bent to gather his tools. He straightened and I watched his back muscles flex beneath his T-shirt as he lifted the items into the back of his truck.

“You hear the weather for tonight?” I asked Red, who was silent as we watched the Stone show play out in front of us.

“Supposed to drop into the fifties,” she answered.

Looked like I might have to have him help close that bedroom window sooner rather than later.