Page 39 of Chasing Sparks

Raven is a guaranteed good time. A woman with no strings attached and with moves that have captured the adult film industry’s imagination.

A woman I can’t sleep with—not tonight or any night.

About a million men would kill to be me right now—and yet, I’m not thinking about Raven, at least not beyond her ink.

My mind has been on Ori the entire evening, and the hurt in her eyes knowing what Imightbe doing right now.

A hurt I plan to rectify tomorrow.

“Ash, are you listening?” Raven asks.

“I heard you.”

A small smile quirks her red lips. “But … you’re still hung up on your little librarian, aren’t you?”

I chuckle as I rest my machine in its holder. “Pretty much.”

“And I can’t convince you otherwise?”

I shake my head. That’s a solid no. “I don’t think anyone can.”

Chapter 5

You’re in the Friend Zone, Man

Ori

Ineed to stop. I’ve checked the food fifteen times in as many minutes. At the rate I’m going, it might be done by Christmas.

I’m so nervous I can’t think straight, which is laughable in and of itself. Why be nervous? I’m cooking for a man who has legions of women at his disposal.

Including one adult film star, who no doubt showed Ash a plethora of positions last night … while I brooded about it alone in my bath.

Oh, and the icing on the cake is that no woman stands a chance at bagging the comely artist. Ash doesn’t believe in the concept of love or romance or any of those silly trappings.

What am I doing? I hardly need to cook for him if I want to get laid.All I have to do is ask, and I’m sure Ash will fit me into his rotation.

I swallow back the bile rising in my throat at that visual.

Doesn’t that sound delightful? Right up there with Lucifer’s Christmas display.

I don’t know what I’m trying to prove. Per everyone who knows Ash, which is everyone in Sparkwood, he’s a wonderful man, so long as you don’t expect him to drop to one knee.

Both knees? That’s a possibility.

Hey, I speak the truth. Anything sexual is on the menu. Intimacy? That’s off limits. It’s not just hearsay, it’s a verifiable fact regarding Sparkwood’s infamous bad boy.

But here I am, the eternal optimistic romantic, ready to serve dinner to a man who has told everyone in our town that love is for idiots.

“Ori, snap out of it. You knew all this. Ash is a good time. You can’t look for anything beyond that.”

The words taste bitter in my mouth, no doubt because I want to choke on every one of them. I don’t believe a word I’m saying.

Correction, I believe Ash is only in it for a good time, but I want more.

Somewhere along the line, I morphed from an optimist to a masochist, apparently.

The proof being that I watched him drive off to spend hours alone with an adult film star—a woman who’s desperate for a slice of Ash’s pie. And she’s not some run-of-the-mill hottie. No, Raven Scarlet istheit girl of the adult entertainment world—and trust me, I watched enough of her videos last night to commiserate. She oozes sex appeal and is apparently double-jointed everywhere to bend into some of the pretzel positions she manages on-screen. She’s bedded a legion of men and women, all beautiful in their own right.

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