Shifters with Secrets (An MMF Bisexual Threesome)(7)

Sofia was sorting old newspapers by date, then stuffing them into boxes before putting them back on the shelves.

“American folklore,” she said.

“And you said your dissertation is on bear legends of northern California,” he said.

“Yup,” she said. “It’s about how the local natives here had a lot of mythology around people with special abilities who could turn into animals, and how the miners who arrived in the mid nineteenth century understood those myths and applied their own to them. Werewolves became werebears, that sort of thing. The same sort of people came up with the jackalope.”

“The what?”

“You know how every bar has a stuffed rabbit with deer antlers on its head?”

“Sure.”

“That’s a jackalope.”

Thomas paused for a second, then looked at her, and grinned. “I never realized that thing had a name.”

“Now you know,” said Sofia, and winked at him.

The box she’d stuff with newspapers was full, so she closed the top and walked to the shelf. For a moment she wished she’d worn heels that day as she stood on her tiptoes, the box balanced on her fingertips as she tried to coax it onto the shelf.

Holding her breath, she bumped it into the bottom of the shelf, half an inch shy, and nearly sent both her and the box careening backwards before catching it.

“Shit,” she muttered, readying herself to try again.

Behind her, there was a creak and then the box lifted itself from her hands, sliding smoothly onto the top shelf.


Thomas’s chest bumped gently against Sofia’s head. She felt a little like an idiot, standing there, her arms still outstretched, even though the box was gone.

“There ought to be a step ladder,” Thomas teased.

He was close, only an inch or two behind her. Sofia could fee his body heat coming off him and warming her skin, even through the clothes she was wearing.

She didn’t mind, not even a little.

“Why have a step ladder when I’ve got the IT guy at my disposal?” she asked.

She turned and looked at him. Neither of them had moved yet: still standing close enough to feel body heat, him completely towering over her.

Thomas lowered one hand and just barely brushed his fingertips along her shoulder, and Sofia remembered how he’d touched her yesterday: getting her out of the broken glass, looking after her one cut finger.

Her heart thumped in her chest as she looked up at him, his eyes inscrutable in his face.

Kiss me, she thought, unbidden.

“I never did find my books,” she blurted out, lowering her eyes, afraid of what might happen if she didn’t.

You should have gone for it, she thought.

“They’re not here?” Thomas asked.

He took a casual step back, widening the space between them. Sofia couldn’t help but feel sad, the moment over.

“No,” she said. “I can keep looking here, but I might need to find another library.”

Thomas was perfectly still for a moment, and Sofia thought that she could see the glimmer of something in his eyes — though she wasn’t sure what.

He sat back at the microfiche reader and picked up the screwdriver he’d been using.

“Is there another one in Placerville?” he asked.

Sofia swallowed. All of a sudden, he’d gotten distant, only moments after they’d almost — well, almost nothing. He’d put a book on a shelf for her.

“The other one that most people in my field use is in Truckee, on the other side of the Sierras,” she said. “It’s not as good, though.”

She started piling more newspapers into another box, and heard the slight tinkle of broken glass rattling around inside the microfiche reader.

“There it is,” said Thomas. “We’ll have to replace this lens.”

They worked side by side for the next couple of hours, chatting as Sofia put the newspapers away and Thomas cleaned the broken glass from the microfiche reader.

She didn’t know exactly what she’d said, but as soon as she’d told him that she might have to leave town, his demeanor changed. It would have been ok if he’d seemed sad, but instead he seemed almost... angry, and she wasn’t sure whether it was with her or not.

Finally, at five-thirty, as they were packing up to leave, Thomas spoke up.

“Hey, some of us are going to the Miner right now,” he said. “You know, quick after-work happy hour. Want to come?”

Instantly, Sofia felt better. All day she’d been slightly uncomfortable that he’d turned her down the day before, however innocently, but now that seemed righted.

“I’d love to,” she said, smiling.





Chapter Five





As soon as Sofia, Thomas, and a few of the other librarians entered the Tipsy Miner, Gavin waved to them, so Sofia and Thomas went over.

Gavin was already pouring them bourbon on the rocks.

“On the house,” he said, winking. “Hurry up, my shift ends in ten minutes.”

Sofia sneaked a glance over her shoulder at the other librarians, all sitting in a big corner booth, looking at the happy hour menu.

“How many can I drink before your manager notices?” asked Thomas, smiling over the rim of the glass.