Page 5 of Rekindling Little River (Littles of Rawhide Ranch #14)

River

The groan that escaped River’s throat could have woken a sleeping polar bear in the Arctic.

How was it that, even without an alarm set, or any obligations, they couldn’t sleep more than a few hours at a time?

They’d heard of bodies adjusting to routines, automatically setting themselves to wake up at a certain time, to not be able to stay awake after a certain time, needing a nap, food or whatever.

But how in hell could a body adjust itself to no routine?

Working as a paramedic meant long, forty-eight-hour shifts.

It meant sleeping a few hours between calls if you were lucky and being up and going for two days straight if you weren’t.

There were no set sleep times, no wake times, and no guaranteed days off.

As a result, River was often awake for days and when they did sleep, it was rarely more than four hours at a time.

It would figure that wouldn’t change for their first ever real vacation.

Heaving a sigh, River dragged their aching body out of bed, scowled at the moon high in the sky and grabbed a thick robe from the bathroom door.

They’d seen a library on the map in the brochure.

If they couldn’t sleep, then at least they could find a book and spend their time doing something else they missed.

Not bothering with shoes, carrying only their room key in their robe pocket and the brochure in their hands, they set off to hopefully immerse themself in a fictional world.

As they slipped quietly down the hall, making sure not to wake other guests lucky enough to be sleeping, they contemplated returning to their room for their moccasins.

They’d sorely misjudged how cold the floors would be at night.

Looking behind them, they decided they’d come too far to turn back now.

Tugging their robe tighter across their body to counter some of the chill caused by bare feet, they continued on, hoping there was a decent romance section in the library.

If not, they did have their e-reader in their room, but nothing was more relaxing to River than the feel and smell of a physical book while taking a trip to a fictional world.

An eerie silence had settled over the Ranch’s main building, making it seem as though River were the only person in the world.

Though they knew it to be untrue as they passed the front desk and the person manning the desk, phone in hand, probably doom scrolling to pass the time.

It made sense that people would be up and keeping this seemingly well-manned place running, there just wasn’t a hint of their activities cutting the complete silence.

As if summoned by their thoughts, a clunking noise followed by a strange, uneven-type sound ricocheted off the walls shattering the quiet ambience.

Before River had even managed to fully register what the sound was, a hunched form cast in shadows by the low lighting appeared before them.

Before they could scream, the form straightened to stand tall, a rescued soda bottle in one hand, their other poised to un-twist the cap.

“I’d wait a minute if I were you,” they found themselves saying before really thinking about it. “As hard as it hit the floor and with all that rolling, it’s likely to fizz everywhere if you open it now.”

The shadow stilled completely, obviously caught off guard as they slowly turned their head in River’s direction. Ice-blue eyes captured River’s breath as Dave took a step toward them. “You’re probably right,” he acknowledged. “I honestly don’t need it anyway.”

“Need and want are two separate things that rarely align.” River’s shoulders lifted and fell as they spoke. “But what’s the point of doing what’s needed if you can’t occasionally have what you want?”

Dave stopped in front of them, inclining his head. “Fair point. Where are you headed so late… or is it early?”

River held up the map they were following. “I couldn’t sleep anymore, so I was going to see what books the library had.”

“Lucky duck.” River gave Dave a curious look at his declaration and he immediately explained. “I’d had the same idea but… the library is in the Littles’ Wing. Being registered as a Big in my paperwork means I won’t be able to access that wing unless I’m accompanying a Little.”

River took a closer look at the map, seeing that Dave was indeed correct. The library was in a section of the map labeled the Littles’ Wing .

“Maybe”—Dave’s head tilted again as his gaze took on a contemplative gleam—“maybe it’s actually me who’s the lucky one though.” He tapped a finger on the top of the cap to his soda as he considered River curiously. “What are the chances you’d let me accompany you to the library?”

For some insane reason they couldn’t fathom River’s heart stalled for a beat or two at Dave’s suggestion before leaping into their throat with anticipation.

That was not good. They needed to be keeping a distance from Dave, not that they thought Dave would have any designs on them, but unrequited feelings were just as likely to complicate things with their friends as anything else.

River opened their mouth to shut the idea down, but that was not what came out of their mouth. “I could be convinced.”

What the hell were they thinking? Convinced? Seriously? Where was this even coming from? Was it something in the Ranch’s water? They really needed to get a grip on whatever was happening with them.

“Well, now, what would it take to convince you?”

Dave’s wink was causing havoc with their systems and igniting wholly inappropriate images of things Dave could do to convince them. Thankfully, their brain caught up with their words this time before any of those suggestions could escape.

“A soda of my own would be nice.”

“Deal. What kind?”

Dave

It had taken River all of about five minutes scanning the romance section before they had a book in their hands and had settled into one of the reclining reading chairs set up by small side tables throughout the space, their legs curled beneath them and a dreamy smile on their face as they turned pages.

Dave was sure he’d have been settled just as quickly if he hadn’t been spending more time studying River than looking through the titles available to him.

He couldn’t believe his luck at running into them on their way here.

He’d planned to get his drink, then head to his room and see if he could get a book or two ordered at this time. This was a much better plan.

They honestly shouldn’t have been able to get in.

Once they’d gotten to the doors of the library, they’d found the hours of operation listed in big white print letters on the glass.

However, when River had noticed the lights burning bright inside, they’d decided to try the door.

When it opened easily, they’d called out.

A woman almost as tall as Dave himself with short, cropped hair and a smile on her pleasant face walked around a shelf and approached.

She carried a clipboard holding a large stack of papers in her hand.

She held one pen in her other hand and another was tucked behind her ear.

As soon as she spotted them, she put a finger to her lips in a shush motion and whispered, “My girl’s sleeping in the office. ”

River had apologized for disturbing her and for not realizing that the library had hours of operation, but the friendly head librarian, who introduced herself as Amelia Grayson, had been more than understanding. She had allowed them to stay while she did inventory, as long as they were quiet.

Reminded that they had limited time, Dave finally selected a book at random, not even bothering to read the blurb and made his way to the chair on the opposite side of the table next to River hoping he hadn’t gotten something that was in the middle of a series.

Crossing his legs, he blindly opened the book to the first page, his mind a million miles away or, more accurately, a few feet away.

He considered how to make his interest in River known, not wanting to waste any more time than necessary.

They weren’t going to be here long enough to draw things out or dance around his desires.

More than a little part of him feared the likely rejection, however.

He hadn’t exactly made the most pleasant of impressions up to now, after all.

“That’s an interesting method of reading you have there.”

River’s voice cut into his thoughts and he looked over at them inquisitively.

“I’ve never met someone who reads their books upside down and backwards.”

The twinkle of amusement in their eyes as they held back laughter almost made the heat Dave could feel climbing up his neck worth it as he glanced down to see the upside-down text before him.

Chuckling good naturedly, he shrugged and admitted, “Sometimes my mind wanders. Especially when I haven’t had much sleep. ”

“I know the feeling. Being a paramedic means long hours and short naps. My body seems to have become accustomed.”

“Same. Firefighters rarely get more than a few hours at a time and even having climbed into a position with more steady hours, my body still hasn’t acclimated.”

“Haven’t you been an inspector for years now?” The sheer horror in River’s voice caused his eyes to lock with theirs as he slowly nodded. “So, what you’re saying is that I’m never sleeping again.”

Dave chuckled at the dramatics but answered honestly, “Pretty much.”

As River let out a pained groan, Dave righted his book, reopened it, and settled in to actually read.

After a moment of comfortable silence, Dave broke it to make one offer he really hoped River would take him up on.

“The good news is that you don’t have to worry about disturbing my rest if you want company at any time of day or night. So feel free to call me.”

River didn’t respond to his offer with anything more than a hum before settling back in with their book. Dave followed their lead, diving into his own story and soon being sucked into another world.