Free The Lumberfox (Geekrotica) by Ava Lovelace Page B

both staring at the bag.
    “Is that...?” he asked, nudging it with one foot.
    “Um.”
    She looked up, terrified and red with mortification, and his eyes met hers, and she saw something magnificent and burning there that she couldn't quite understand, and then he gave her a devastating and knowing smile and shrugged.
    “Electric shaver, right? I'll turn it off.”
    And before she could stop him, he bent over, blocking her view. The buzzing stopped almost immediately, and the bag lay on the floor with Han and his extra batteries safely hidden within.
    “Did you need this?”
    Ryon held up her laptop bag, and she nearly melted into a puddle of embarrassment and gratefulness.
    “Yeah. Here's my card.”
    After she handed it to him, she flopped the laptop bag over the paper bag and sent silent prayers to every God of every pantheon that Han would shut the hell up until she was somewhere private where she could have a say, too.
    “You work for Cartoon Network? That's possibly the coolest job I can think of. Tara.”
    “Says the guy who bakes cakes and makes beer for a living. Ryon.” She stuck her hand out, and he took it in a shake that was less business and more personal, and she noticed that his palms were wide and dry, his fingers long with blunt-cut nails. His handshake, if you could call it that, was steady and strong, and yet somehow intimate. Their eyes met again, and he smiled again, and the parts of her that were still cold nearly melted into the heated seats. And still he didn't let go of her hand.
    Tara had always been a little awkward around guys, when things went from friendship or first dates to more. She'd been known to blurt ridiculous things during make-out sessions or when sex got weird. And, true to form, she said, “So when I said we should exchange information, I didn't mean DNA. Without police, I guess we just write everything down ourselves and deal with it after Hothlanta unfreezes.”
    He grinned, eyes alight. “Unless you just want to wait here until the snow melts.”
    The way he was looking at her—he fucking well meant it. And the way his fingers stayed curled around hers, they might just burn a hole in the drifts building up outside.
    Spooked, she pulled her hand away and flipped down her visor, where she kept her insurance card, registration, and a tiny notebook and pen for days when her boss got so yappy she had to pull over and start taking notes.
    Ryon handed her his cards and said, “I'll be right back.”
    It was a shock when he opened his door, as she'd completely forgotten that there was anything in the world besides the hot, mysterious guy and her car. His cologne lingered in the air with the slightest tinge of baking bread, his warmth still caressing her hand. Shaking her attraction for the stranger out of her head, she scribbled down all her information for him, then, when he still hadn't returned, scribbled down all of his information for herself. The car that had hit her was a van that belonged to the restaurant listed on his business card, which at least meant it had good insurance. She sincerely hoped he hadn't messed up her Jeep, as it was practically new, if nearly out of gas. She had plans to take it camping this spring, as soon as it was warm again.
    If it was ever warm again.
    Judging by the solid white outside and the wind sometimes shaking the car, it might as well be Hoth, and she wasn't dressed nearly as well as Luke and Han. And considering how long she'd been here and how high she had to run the heater to keep warm, her steel tauntaun was about to pass out in the snow.
    The door opened, and Ryon slid in with a stuffed backpack.
    “What's all that?” Tara asked.
    Ryon grinned. “All the clothes I had in the van. How about an adventure?”
    * * *
    “I like snow, but I'm not big on dying in a blizzard,” she said as he pulled out a thick, cozy-looking sweater and another knit cap, which he shook out and placed over her bun, flipping up the brim.
    “My condo's