Page 9 of Unbearable Attraction (Hollow Oak Mates #4)

LUKA

T he Hollow Oak Book Nook smelled like old paper, leather bindings, and the faint vanilla scent of aging glue that held countless stories together.

Luka had always found the cramped space comforting with its floor-to-ceiling shelves packed with everything from dime store novels to ancient grimoires, reading nooks tucked into impossible corners, and the kind of organized chaos that spoke to a mind more interested in knowledge than appearances.

Today, watching Leenah navigate the narrow aisles with the confidence of someone who knew exactly where to find what she needed, the bookstore felt different. Smaller, somehow. More intimate.

"How do you know all this stuff?" Luka asked, genuinely curious. He'd lived in Hollow Oak for twelve years and considered himself reasonably well-informed about the town's background, but Leenah moved through supernatural lore like she'd been born to it.

"Research was my grandmother's obsession," she said, settling into one of the book nook's overstuffed reading chairs and patting the space beside her on the worn loveseat.

"She documented everything—family histories, magical practices, local legends that most people dismissed as folklore. I grew up surrounded by her notes."

Luka lowered himself onto the loveseat, trying to ignore how the close quarters put them within easy touching distance.

The space had clearly been designed for intimate conversations, all soft lighting and comfortable seating that encouraged people to lean close and share secrets.

Perfect for research partners. Dangerous for a man fighting growing attraction to his stubborn, brilliant colleague.

"Must have been interesting, growing up with all that supernatural knowledge," he said, watching her flip through pages with practiced efficiency.

"Interesting is one word for it." Leenah's tone carried a hint of old pain. "My family thought Grandmother was losing her mind, talking to spirits and collecting stories about magical bloodlines. They shipped me off to distant relatives when I started showing the same abilities."

The casual admission hit him harder than it should have. The idea of a young Leenah being treated like a burden, passed around between family members who couldn't understand her gifts, made his bear rumble with protective anger. No wonder she valued her independence so fiercely.

"Their loss," he said simply.

She glanced up from the book, something flickering in her bright blue eyes. "Yeah, well, Hollow Oak's gain, I suppose. Ah, here it is."

The page she'd found contained a hand-drawn map of the town circa 1889, complete with locations marked in careful script. Sacred grove, healing springs, ceremony grounds, spirit crossroads—dozens of sites scattered throughout what was now Hollow Oak's residential and commercial areas.

"Look at this," Leenah said, leaning closer to trace her finger along the map's details. "Every location that's experienced supernatural activity in the past few days corresponds to one of these marked sites."

Her movement brought her shoulder against his arm, and the scent of oranges and bergamot that seemed to follow her everywhere hit him like a physical force.

His bear practically growled with contentment at her nearness, and he had to grip the arm of the loveseat to resist the urge to pull her closer.

To bury his face in the dark silk of her hair and breathe in that intoxicating combination of citrus and spice.

"Makes sense," he managed, his voice rough. "If the founding families made agreements about these specific locations, the spirits would focus their activity there."

"Exactly." She shifted again, pointing to a symbol near what was now his workshop. "And look at this—protective wards. The original settlers didn't just negotiate with the spirits, they asked them to help guard the town."

Her enthusiasm was infectious. Watching her piece together historical puzzles with intelligence that made him want to see what else that sharp mind could accomplish, Luka found himself more impressed than attracted.

Though the attraction was definitely still there, simmering beneath his admiration like banked coals.

"You're brilliant," he said, the words slipping out before he could stop them.

Leenah's finger stilled on the map, and she turned to look at him with an expression he couldn't quite read. "I'm thorough," she corrected. "There's a difference."

"No, there isn't." He held her gaze, letting her see the genuine respect behind his words.

"You've connected patterns that no one else even noticed, found historical precedent for supernatural activity that the Council dismissed as random disturbances.

That's not just thorough research—that's brilliance. "

Color rose in her cheeks, and she looked back at the map with what might have been flustered pleasure. "We still don't know what the original ceremony involved, or how to recreate it."

"We will," Luka said with confidence he didn't entirely feel. "What's next?"

"I need to cross-reference these locations with my grandmother's journals, see if she documented any specific rituals or requirements." Leenah reached for another book on the small table beside the loveseat. "There might be details about?—"

Her hand brushed his as they both reached for the same ancient tome, and the simple contact sent awareness crackling through him. Her skin was warm and soft against his callused fingers, and the brief touch was somehow more intimate than it had any right to be.

They both froze, hands still touching on the leather cover of the book.

Luka could hear his own heartbeat, could feel the subtle tremor that ran through Leenah's frame as their eyes met again.

The air between them felt charged with possibility, with the growing tension that had been building since their first real conversation at The Griddle & Grind.

His bear wanted him to close the distance between them, to find out if her lips tasted as sweet as her scent suggested.

To explore the attraction that sparked every time they were in the same room together.

The human side of his nature agreed wholeheartedly, especially when he caught the way her breathing had gone shallow and her pupils had dilated.

But they were research partners now, working together to solve a supernatural crisis that affected the entire town. Getting involved romantically would complicate everything, would add personal stakes to a situation that was already complicated enough.

The smart thing to do would be to pull back, maintain professional distance, focus on the task at hand.

Instead, he found himself shifting closer, drawn by the warmth radiating from her skin and the way her lips had parted slightly in surprise.

The bookstore faded around them until there was nothing but the small space of the loveseat and the woman whose fierce independence had somehow managed to capture his attention so completely.

"Luka," she said softly, his name barely more than a whisper.

"Yeah?"

"We should probably..." She gestured vaguely toward the book still trapped beneath their joined hands.

"Probably," he agreed, but neither of them moved.

The moment stretched between them, loaded with unspoken possibilities. This was personal, immediate, and complicated in all the ways that mattered.

A throat clearing from the bookstore's front entrance broke the spell. They jerked apart like guilty teenagers, Leenah immediately busying herself with organizing papers while Luka focused on slowing his racing pulse.

"Don't mind me," called Lucien Vale, the black panther shifter who owned the Book Nook. His voice carried amusement and the kind of understanding that suggested he'd witnessed this sort of thing before. "Finding everything you need?"

"Fine," Leenah said, her voice slightly higher than usual. "We're finding everything just fine."

"Excellent." Lucien's tone suggested he was finding their flustered state entirely too entertaining. "I'll be in the back room if you need anything. Try not to disturb the other customers with any loud... discussions."

The bookstore owner disappeared into the depths of his shop, leaving them alone with the weight of interrupted possibilities and the growing realization that their professional partnership was becoming something much more complicated.

"We should focus on the research," Leenah said, though she didn't quite meet his eyes.

"Yeah," Luka agreed, though every instinct he possessed was screaming at him to finish what they'd started. "The research."

But as they turned back to the historical documents spread between them, he couldn't shake the feeling that they'd crossed some invisible line. That whatever careful professional distance they'd been maintaining had just become infinitely more difficult to sustain.

And judging by the way Leenah kept stealing glances at him when she thought he wasn't looking, she was having the same problem.