Page 18 of Rockstar Baby

“Get in the car, Ivy.”

I opened the door and tipped my head to the side. “Hey, you do remember my name.”

“If that cop comes back around… Tell me it’s not your dad or something.”

“Now that would be fun.” I climbed in and turned the fan grates up to warm my hands. I pulled off my wet gloves and rubbed them together.

He shook his head and took my hands between his.

“And that’s going to help? Yours are even colder.”

He lifted his sweater and yelped as my cold hands hit his skin, but he held them tight against him. His very warm, very deliciously hair roughened skin. I couldn’t exactly tell, but I was pretty sure he wasn’t at gorilla status. He was a nice in-between over some seriously yum muscles.

The console was between us, but I was tempted to push my luck again. What was it about him that made me want to do all the wrong things?

“Ivy.” His voice was deep and full of warning.

Well, that just meant I had to do it now.

I inched up farther to find his nipple, dragging my thumb across the ridge of muscle and around the tip. My other hand went down to his belt.

“Christ, you do try a man,” he said, just before we started heating up the windows.

By the time we came up for air, the car was an oven and I was ready to strip down to the skin. Thewhoop-whoopof a siren had us breaking apart. I laughed like a loon as he scrambled for the gear shift and his seatbelt.

“What is so funny? You want us to get pulled over for indecent exposure?”

I fastened my belt and pushed my hat off my head. “Have some experience with that?”

“No.”

His clipped voice made me laugh even harder.

He wiped at the fogged up window and grumbled something under his breath I couldn’t quite catch, thanks to the loud fan.

“Do you need me to drive, California boy?”

“I got it. I managed to get to town, didn’t I?”

“That you did.” I sat back and tried not to passenger seat drive as he made the slow trek to the Hummingbird’s Nest.

“How do you people live with this level of apocalypse?” His fingers were white-knuckled on the steering wheel and he was leaning forward with so much tension in his delicious body, I was pretty sure he was going to twang like a plucked string.

“Lake effect is always fun.”

“What does that even mean?”

“Do you really want a weather lesson?”

“No.”

I pressed my lips together at his grumpy tone. Laughing probably wasn’t a good idea. I wasn’t even sure why his grouchy tone made me want to needle him even more. It happened with my brother August too. Then again, I didn’t want to pickthatapart when I was still itching to get naked with Rory.

“Easiest way to think of it is the lake is warm and adds to the moisture in the air which increases the snow totals.”

“In this cold?”

“Big lake,” I said with a shrug.