Page 35 of Bottle Rocket

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“Yeah. You got any of those?” he asked.

“Nope. A redneck bought us out of them about an hour ago,” she said.

“I’m not sure if I think that’s awesome or terrifying,” Leo said.

Tyler was still watching them both, unrestrained glee on his face. He clapped his hands. “I’m gonna start counting the cashbox while you two flirt.”

“What do those Alien Invasion things do?” Leo asked Rosie, pointing toward a pile of gray discs.

Rosie leaned her elbows on the wooden counter, bringing her closer to his level. “After you light the fuse, the disc zooms into the air, glows red, and busts open. When it busts, tiny green men fall to the earth.” That was a lie.

He grinned. “And the Fried Chickens?”

She glanced toward the bottom shelf where the novelty firecrackers were. “The Fried Chicken lets out a cock-a-doodle-do and drops fireball eggs before exploding.” She loved bantering with him. He understood her dryness and humor.

“What about that big one with the camo and American flag?” He squinted. “The Bad Mother Ammo Crate.”

It was one of those huge cakes that you lit, and it sent up a bunch of fireworks one after the other.

“The fireworks spell ‘douchebag’ in the sky. Very pretty,” she said.

“And the One Minute Ride?”

“It’ll leave you disappointed. A total dud.”

“Damn, I fucking adore you,” he whispered. He was smiling and seemed slightly out of breath.

She wanted to comb her fingers through his hair. It was sweaty from his helmet. She wanted to grab onto the messy strands and ride him. She wanted to joke and laugh with him. She didn’t want this to ever end.

“I’ll take those variety packs,” he said thickly, pulling a few bills out of his wallet. He handed the money over to Tyler, who added it to his totals. Rosie packed up Leo’s fireworks in a paper bag with a handful of punks and handed him her keys. As he put his purchases in her car, Rosie and Tyler continued closing up the stand.

Tyler was the treasurer of the teachers’ association, so he was responsible for taking home the cashbox every night. The fact he’d worked this evening had saved him an extra trip.

Rosie was closing and locking the last window—the stand’s windows and doors all locked with padlocks—as Leo made his way back toward them. When he reached the side door, he said, “Can I lock this for you?”

Tyler said, “Sure. Thanks!” before he and Rosie exited and locked the other side.

They made their way to the gravel parking area. Leo walked Rosie to her car, and Tyler gave them a wave before leaving them to it.

Once they were alone, Leo turned to her with what she could only describe as a demonic grin on his face. “You wanna fuck in that fireworks stand?”

Chapter Eight

“Excuse me?”Rosie said.

“It’s kind of like public sex, isn’t it?” Leo asked. When she didn’t answer, he said, “If you don’t want to, I need to go lock that door for real.”

Her mind was running a million miles a minute. There was no one around, and Boone’s Nursery and Tree Farm was also closed for the night. There weren’t any other businesses nearby.

Emotion flashed through her. It was happiness, and it was that recklessness that was so addicting when Leo was around. She closed her car door gently and took off for the fireworks stand without another word.

She heard Leo hiss, “Fuck yes,” from behind her.

She pushed open the door that Leo had obviously not locked. It was pitch black inside, but she didn’t want to risk turning the lights back on, so she set her cell phone on the counter with the flashlight blazing toward the ceiling. Leo was right behind her. He closed the door and opened his mouth to speak.

“Shush,” she said. Then she kissed him.

It was a claiming, hot kiss, one that lit her up inside. His hands groped over her, grabbing her ass and her breasts, like he wanted to touch all of her as quickly as possible.