Free Ask Me by Laura Strickland Page B

tables.
    “What will you have?” Leo asked. “I’ll put in the order; you try and find some seats.”
    Gerri gave him her best smile. “Surprise me. Isn’t that what this night is all about?”
    He went off, and she managed to score a table from a departing couple who went out arm in arm. Gerri experienced a pang. What wouldn’t she give to be with someone tonight!
    She saw Leo approaching, a tall, bespectacled hawk among a flock of exotic macaws. He set a frothy mug in front of her and announced brightly, “Chai tea.”
    She began to laugh.
    “What’s funny?”
    “I always have Chai tea.”
    “Well, I don’t.” He slid into the chair opposite her and set down the red bag of candy hearts. “Want to unwrap the book and see what we’ve got?”
    Gerri leaned closer and looked into his eyes. “Not yet. Let’s keep the mystery going a bit longer.”
    “Okay. Tell me about yourself. What do you do for a living?”
    “I’m a tattoo artist—emphasis on artist . I do custom work designed to order. My art graces some of the most unique bodies in this city.”
    “That explains your cheek.” His gaze moved over her, warm and curious. “Any tattoos elsewhere?”
    “I’ll never tell.” She licked the foam from her cup, far too aware that he followed the motion of her tongue. Surely a man like this wasn’t interested in a girl like her, was he?
    “How about you? What do you do?”
    “I’m a history professor at the community college.”
    “Of course you are. You sure look the part—right down to the spectacles. My, my—I’ll bet your female students fall all over themselves to get detention.”
    “Is that a compliment, Miss Webb?”
    “I suppose it is. I know how susceptible girls that age can be.”
    “Well, I’ve never noticed any of them falling over themselves, as you put it. Some do doze off during my lessons, especially on Monday mornings.”
    He took a sip of tea, and his specs steamed up. Gerri, leaning closer, wished she could take them off to get a better look at those eyes, definitely his best feature and fringed with lashes of a ridiculous length.
    “So,” she prompted, “what brought you to the library?”
    “I saw the sign out front and—well, a cold, empty apartment didn’t seem very appealing. You?”
    She confessed, “Same. When I read, I get to leave reality behind for a little while. And I like venturing into the unknown. Are you a mystery just like that book, Leo Rankin—waiting for somebody to unwrap you?”
    Thoughts flickered through his eyes before he inspected her again from the top of her head downward, lingering on the front of her coat. This was just a game, she remembered—a diversion shared by two people on a night when they didn’t want to be alone.
    She expected him to laugh off the flirty question, refuse the bait. Instead, he leaned so close his brown head nearly touched her black one, and his gaze captured hers.
    “Miss Webb, would you like to find out?”

Chapter Two
    And, Leo wondered, what had possessed him to answer Miss Webb’s question in such a suggestive fashion? How would she take his reply—as an invitation? He didn’t usually put it out there that way. Far more often he wound up sitting alone at a party, or corralled by the boring guest to whom no one else wanted to talk.
    How was that working for him? He pondered it even as he watched a number of emotions dance across Miss Webb’s mobile features.
    Go with it. Lighten up for once and play the game.
    A small smile lifted the corners of her mouth, and he had the sudden desire to kiss her.
    “Maybe I would,” she said. “But I don’t do one-night stands.”
    He blinked at her. “Uh—well, neither do I.”
    “Not usually ,” she stipulated. “Of course”—a slight flush tinted her pale cheek—“the clerk at the library did say we should share the book and these candy hearts.” She prodded the bag with one black-tipped finger.
    All at once Leo pictured those fingers running over