Page 4 of Rock On

“How long have you been withWaterstone?” I asked, turning to a safer topic while I navigated into town.

“Since the beginning. Have you always lived in Spring Harbor?”

“Yeah, all my life.”

“Do you go to the music festival every year?”

I grimaced before I could stop it. “Ugh. Nooooo.”

“Nooooo?” he echoed, laughing.

“Yeah. I’m not really into the circus of it. Or crowds. This year, I’ll probably go on Friday because of Marley, but otherwise, it’s not really my thing.”

I pulled intoBurgers on the Go, a local fast food place I liked, and stopped at the menu board before pulling up to the speaker.

“Wow, they have a lot of vegetarian,” he commented, as he leaned forward to get a better look through the window, his hand settling on my thigh. I was so focused on the curl of his fingers on my leg, I almost didn’t hear what he said.

“Oh, uh, yeah. They have other stuff, too, though.”

“No, I like it,” he said. “I don’t actually eat meat.”

“You don’t?” Honestly, that surprised me. It always did when I stumbled over another person who had dietary preferences similar to mine.

“No. Being a—I mean, my job is physically demanding. I have to do everything I can to be healthy. It started with going heavy on the veg and then slowly morphed to no meat as my tastes changed. Anyway, I’m ready to order if you are.”

To my further surprise, after I pulled up to the speaker and ordered my usual olive bean-burger and onion rings, Jerrin followed suit, though he made his sandwich a double. He also insisted on paying, and when I balked, he reminded me that he’d asked me out to lunch.

“This’ll be a treat,” he told me minutes later while I drove toward the store where I worked, the tempting bag of food and our drinks resting on the console between us.

“I hope so, it’s my favorite restaurant.”

“It’ll be great. You have no idea the amount of times it’s been fries and a salad-only for me. So what’s this place?” he asked, lifting his chin toward the building when I parked in the angled parking at its curb.

“The business straight ahead isThe Rock Shop. I manage it, and we can hang out in the employee lounge.”

“Perfect.” Jumping out of the car, he came around to my side before I’d even unfastened my seatbelt. Just then, huge raindrops started splatting on the windshield. We both sprinted toward the covered walkway that ran along the front of the building housing five different boutique businesses—one of a dozen such pods along this street, all the structures a good half-century old.

After fumbling with the front entry key, I let us inside and flipped on the lights after relocking the old door. Turning, I pointed toward the back. “This way.”

“Wait. Hold up.”

When I turned, he stared at a picture of me on the wall near the register. Oh lord. I’d forgotten about that.

“You’re Rock Star of the Year? Impressive. Who needs a music festival? You’re famous here.”

“It’s dumb,” I groaned. “I’m just good with rocks—stones, gems, crystals, ya know—and with customers, of course.” It wasn’t exactly my life’s calling, but it was fun and paid well. Plus my boss, who spent most of the year in Florida, thought I shot the moon.

“I think it’s cool. Show me some of your favorite stones later?”

“Sure. C’mon, let’s go eat or the food won’t be a treat. It’ll just be cold. We have a microwave, but it’s not the same.”

“Sure. Lead the way.” His hand settled at the small of my back, and I inhaled sharply, which only managed to fill my lungs withhis spicy scent. Whatever it was, I liked it. But what was even happening here?

Attraction. Lots of it.

I’d never experienced anything like it, certainly not to this pulse-pounding, panty-melting degree. I couldn’t ignore it. Didn’t want to. I decided right then and there—though, truly, the decision might have come before we’d even gotten into the car at the concert venue—I was just going to roll with this. Whatever happened with Jerrin between now and when he left town, it happened. Because I had never felt this way. Ever. And I wasn’t letting it pass me by.

Three

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