Blind Wolf (A Werewolf BBW Shifter Romance #1)(2)

"I wouldn't ask if it weren't very important."

"Sure," she said. "I—I'm sorry for being so rude. I'll show them to you." She was glad that he couldn't see her face flushing. Her mom's Irish background had left her with auburn hair, emerald green eyes, and fair skin that blotched red if you so much as looked at it the wrong way in the mirror.

"Thank you," the blind man said. She led him to the stairs, then stopped at the bottom.

"Oh! I'm sorry," she said. "Do you want to take the elevator?"

"The stairs will be fine. I'm blind, not crippled," the man said, a half-smile dimpling his cheek. He had not shaved in a few days, it looked like, and the dimple was dark with stubble. Julia swallowed.

"Sure, of course. I'm sorry," she said, cursing herself in her head. First she had snapped angrily at a handicapped man. Then she'd insulted him.

"Hey." His fingers touched her elbow, and she turned back in surprise, a streak of heat unconsciously racing from her arm down to her groin. Of course he would touch her—that was the main sense he had to navigate with. He wasn't touching her for that reason, certainly not!

"Yes?" she asked.

"Don't stress over it," he said. "No big deal. Thank you for helping me even though it's late."

Julia gulped and nodded, then felt stupid for nodding.

"This way," she said, in a voice that she pretended was more professional than shaky. It had been way too long of a day, She led him up the stairs and to the audiobook section.

"Do you have a particular book you're looking for?" she asked.

"Well, it would be helpful to not have to go through all of these in Braille," the man said. "I'm looking for the local wildlife guide and one other book." He held a paper out in front of him, and she took it.

"The head librarian wrote the authors' names down for me," the man said, grinning. "I don't think she realized I couldn't read it."

"That would be my boss," Julia sighed. "She's...she's the kind of person who yells at deaf people."

"I'm glad I found you," the man said, smiling broadly in a way that made Julia think he might be flirting. His dark hair fell over his glasses and Julia wanted to push the strands of hair back behind his ears, even though she knew it didn't matter to him. What was hair in your eyes when you're blind? He wasn't flirting with her, though; he couldn't be. He had just met her. He was just being friendly.

"Going to hike?" Julia asked, focusing her attention on flipping through the audiobooks to find the right one.

"Something like that," the man said. "What's your name?"

"Uh, Julia," she said, and immediately felt bad for hesitating. He probably thought she was stupid, or paranoid. "What's yours?"

"Damien," the man said. He held out his hand in front of him, and it was a half second before Julia realized that he wanted to shake hands. She reached out awkwardly, and his fingers wrapped around her palm. The firmness of the grip shocked her—she hadn't expected him to grasp her handshake so tightly. She reconsidered her earlier assessment.

"Are you on one of the sports teams here?" she asked, in what she hoped was an innocuous tone.

"No, no," the man said, laughing as though the idea was ridiculous. "What about you? What do you study?"

"I—I'm not in school here," Julia said. Her face burned hot. "I just work here."

"How old are you?" Damien asked. "I mean, if you don't mind me asking. You sound young."

"I'm twenty-two," Julia said. "I never went to college, though. Here's the wildlife guide you wanted." She handed him the audiobook, and he clasped it in one hand.

"Why not?" Damien cocked his head curiously.

"Why didn't I go to college? Because it's too damn expensive." Julia blushed at using a curse word, and also at her confession. "I have to stay here, anyway. My grandmother lives here."

"You take care of her?"

"I help her take care of herself," Julia said. She smiled at the thought of taking care of Granny Dee: the last person to try to "take care" of her had been swatted with the end of her walking stick on the rear and told in no ambiguous terms what she would do to him if he dared to come back and "take care" of her again.

"That's very kind of you," Damien said.

"Oh, and here's the other book you wanted," Julia said, pulling the audiobook from where it hung on the rack. "Fairytale and Folklore of Rural California."

"Thank you," Damien said, tucking both books under one arm.

"So you're looking for all kinds of wildlife," Julia said, a question in her voice. "Including fairies?"

"Including fairies," Damien said, bowing his head a little and smirking to show that her question hadn't offended him. "But mostly I'm curious about your monsters."

"Monsters?" Julia raised her eyebrows. Maybe this guy was a little bit of a freak.

"You know," he said, leaning forward toward her so that their faces were only a foot or so apart. "Bigfoot. Chupacabras. Werewolves. You never get any of those around here?" He tilted his head meaningfully, as though he expected a real answer.