Page 23 of Librarian & the Rockstar

"Here you go, Lexi," I say, sliding a stack of books across the counter to the adorable little blonde in pigtails and chunky glasses. "You're all checked out."

"Thanks, Ms. Grey," she chirps, stretching to try to reach them. She's not quite tall enough, though. Or, rather, her stack is a little too tall for her.

"I've got it," her mom, Cora, says, scooping them into her arms. "Thanks, Loralei."

Lexi beams at her, skipping in place.

I just smile as they head for the exit, certain Lexi will be back by the end of the week for a brand-new stack. She reads as much as I did when I was her age.

They pause at the doors, stepping aside to allow someone inside. I grin when I see Lilah stepping through the doors, her arms loaded down with books. She pauses to speak with Cora and Lexi for a moment before heading my way.

"Brought you something," she says, dropping her stack of books on the counter. "These are damaged, so we can't sell them. Figured you could use them for the next basement sale here."

"Thanks." I grin, poking through the stack. Twice a year, we hold a big basement sale, where members of the community can buy the books no longer in circulation or books donated by others in the community. The funding helps us purchase new materials. Lilah is great about contributing damaged copies from the bookstore to the sale.

"A couple of those are signed."

"Seriously?" I lift the cover of one of Cassia Murphy's newest books to see her signature scrawled across the title page. "Oh, nice. You're my favorite bookstore owner, you know that?"

Lilah makes a noise, propping one hand on her hip. "I better be," she sasses. "I provide you all the smut your dirty little heart desires, and I only make you work for it sometimes."

I laugh quietly, moving the books beneath the counter.

"Speaking of which…have you seen Jazz?"

"Yes." My lips twitch. "She was here earlier, trying to convince me to disappear into the back for five minutes while she looked up River's home address."

Lilah groans, covering her face with her hands. "That girl is going to wind up in jail."

"Yep," I agree with a little laugh. "And I am not aiding and abetting. I told her to come back Wednesday. She can harass him in public like a normal person. Figured it'd be safer for everyone that way."

Lilah pulls her hands away from her face, sighing heavily. "You do not know her nearly well enough if you believe that, Loralei. She's going to drive the man up the damn wall until he agrees to talk to Book Club."

"He's not going to agree." I don't know River well, but he's been coming here every other week since he moved to the area. Frankly, he's a grump with a bad attitude. There's not a chance in hell Jazz is going to talk him into coming to talk to Book Club. But she's determined, so I'm going to let her find that out the hard way. It's all I can do at this point. Well, that and hope she doesn't actually get herself thrown into jail. Because he will absolutely call the police on her if she annoys him enough.

"We'll see," Lilah says with a shrug. "You coming to the bookstore tonight?"

"Um…maybe for a little while. I have some stuff to do."

"What kind of stuff?"

Dinner with my favorite rockstar.

"Just stuff," I say, carefully avoiding her gaze. I'm not a very good liar…and I'm also not entirely sure Ash wants everyone to know that he's in town. Lilah is one of my closest friends. I trust her with my life. But this is different.

For starters, I don't even know what to say. I spent the weekend in bed with Ash Kilborne, and he wants to keep seeing me doesn't exactly roll off the tongue. Truthfully, I'm not sure I'm ready to share it yet. I want it to be just mine for a little while longer. Is that so wrong? No, of course not.

But I feel the weight of Lilah's gaze boring into me.

"Why are you blushing?"

"What?" I grab a book from the stack waiting to be checked in. "I'm not blushing. It's just hot in here."

"Uh-huh," she says, still staring at me. "You look funny, too. All…glowy."

"New makeup," I lie.

"Right," she says, drawing the word out to make it clear she thinks I'm full of shit. "Well, whatever you're busy doing, be safe, okay? And I'm here if you want to talk about it."