Page 10 of Librarian & the Rockstar

Ash grins at me, his eyes light. "I'm so fucking glad I almost ran you over today, Loralei. This is the most interesting conversation I've had in months."

"We're done talking about this. Tell me something about you," I say quickly, pretty sure I'm going to turn into a freaking volcano if I get any redder. Maybe this is why I don't date. When I do finally start talking, it's never about anything appropriate. Why in the world did I bring up that vibrator?

"Me?" He pretends to think about it. "I think you're cute as hell when you're embarrassed. And you're fucking adorable when you're rambling about plastic cocks."

"Silicone."

"My mistake. Silicone," he corrects, grinning. "You're fucking adorable when you're rambling about silicone cocks."

"You're not making me feel any less embarrassed, Ash."

"Wasn't trying to," he whispers, reaching out to tuck a strand of hair behind my ear. "You just came alive for me. I like it."

I swallow hard, pretty sure he can hear my heart beating because it's so freaking loud. And then I realize that's because rain is no longer hitting the roof. "It stopped raining."

"What?" His brows furrow.

"It's not raining." I scurry up from the couch and rush to the windows, peering out. If I don't, I might actually throw myself at him. "Ash! It's not raining!"

Maybe it's my imagination, but I think he mutters a curse behind me before I hear him shuffling around. A second later, he steps up beside me, so close his arm brushes against mine.

"Huh," he mutters. "Guess it's not."

My heart plummets a little. "I guess, um…can you give me a ride? I would walk to my car, but…" I trail off, figuring he doesn't need me to remind him that there's currently half of a tree sitting on it. He saw it with his own eyes.

"No."

I blink at him, shocked.

"I mean, why don't you stay here for right now, and let me go check things out first? Once I know if we can even get through, I'll report back," he says.

"Okay…" I say slowly.

"If we can't get through, I'll try to get signal to call out to get someone out here to clear us a path." He saunters toward the table by the door, shoving his feet into his shoes. "Wait here for me."

"Okay," I say again. "Be careful."

He turns to me, his eyes lingering on my face. "Always, baby."

I swear, every damn time he calls me that, my heart does a flip and my uterus starts singing hymnals. That's probably not normal, right?

Somehow, I doubt it.

"Dammit," I groan fifteen minutes later, dropping my phone onto my lap when it fails to pick up a signal for the fifth time in a row. At this point, I might as well face facts. We're in a dead zone.

"Still no service?" Ash asks, ducking through the front door. His gaze comes to me, droplets of water running down the side of his face. He lifts a hand, wiping them away.

"You're back!" I cry, bolting to my feet to face him. I try to tell myself I'm only relieved he's back because that means I'm one step closer to getting out of here, but that's a lie. I was worried about him. I think…well, hell. I think I even missed him.

What the fuck is even happening? If you'd have asked me yesterday, I'd have said it was impossible to miss someone you met only hours ago. Ash has me reevaluating that belief.

He has me reevaluating a lot right now, actually.

"I have bad news."

"Please don't tell me that my car is a lost cause," I plead, though I'm pretty sure that ship sailed even before the tree landed on it. I'm going to need a new car. It's probably for the best, but…damn.

"No idea," he says with a shrug. "I didn't make it that far. There's a tree down half a mile up the path leading out of here."