"I can't—"
"You can." He increased the vibrator's intensity slightly, and pleasure sparked through my oversensitized nerves.
The final orgasm tore through me, sharp and almost too much, and he followed right behind, his whole body tensing as he came with a groan that was half my name, half curse.
"Absolutely beautiful," he said, clicking off the vibrator.
I collapsed against his chest, shaking and thoroughly wrung out. He gathered me close, both of us breathing hard.
"No more," I managed. "I really can't—"
"Shh. We're done. You were amazing."
He found a blanket somewhere—probably from the employee area—and wrapped it around both of us. We settled on the floor behind the counter, me in his lap, both of us exhausted and thoroughly satisfied.
For a long time, we just sat there in silence. His hand stroked my back in lazy circles. The heating system hummed. Outside, the storm was finally easing—the wind dying down, the snow falling more gently instead of the violent swirls from before.
Reality was starting to creep in at the edges.
I'd just had sex. Multiple times. With Shepherd Starr. The single dad whose son I read to every Thursday. The man who'd probably walk out of here in a few hours and go back to his normal life while I went back to mine.
What did this mean? Was it just the storm, the proximity, the strange intimacy of being trapped together? Would he regret it when morning came and he had to pick up Dash, go back to being the responsible rancher and father?
Would I be just another story—the shy librarian who worked at the sex shop, the virgin he'd taken pity on during a blizzard?
My chest tightened with uncertainty.
"Hey." His hand tilted my chin up. "Where'd you go?"
"Just thinking."
"About?"
I couldn't ask. Couldn't voice the fear that this was just tonight, just the moment, just the storm.
"Nothing," I whispered. "Just tired."
He studied my face, and I wondered if he could see right through me. But he just kissed my forehead and pulled me closer.
"Get some rest," he said softly. "Storm should be over by morning."
By morning.
When the roads would be clear.
When we'd have to leave this bubble and face the real world.
When I'd find out if tonight meant everything or nothing at all.
I closed my eyes and tried not to think about what would happen when the sun came up.
Chapter Four
Shep
I woke to gray dawn light filtering through the shop windows and Flannery asleep in my arms.
The storm had passed. Outside, everything was white and still, the kind of quiet that only comes after a blizzard. Inside, the heating system hummed its steady rhythm, and Christmas lights still twinkled on the tree in the corner.
