Since then, anytime a girl came in the store and flirted with him, Ash seemed damn oblivious. Kincaid knew that Ash was too focused on getting a scholarship and getting out of this town to get distracted with a relationship, but her boyfriend, Graham, had declared that a ridiculous tactic. Why can’t you study hard and have fun at the same time? he’d say.

But Kincaid understood Ash’s drive in a way Graham couldn’t. Graham’s parents owned the bookstore and had the money to send Graham to whatever school he wanted. Ash’s parents had more than she and her mom had, which wasn’t saying much, but his dad, the high school football coach, had too many strings attached to the money. Ash only got college money if he majored in something practical at the University of Texas, his dad’s alma mater. Ash wasn’t much for practical. He had big dreams of writing and travel and didn’t want to get stuck here. So just like her, if he wanted something beyond a Long Acre High School diploma, he was going to have to figure a way out on his own.

“Come on, don’t lie,” she said with a smile. “You’re just taking the book back because as soon as I leave, you’re going to finish it. You’re dying to know what William is going to do with his tongue.” She reached for the book again. “Heck, I’m dying to know.”

He batted her hand away. “Nope.”

She caught sight of a number on the spine of the book. “Hold up. This is the fifth in a series?” Her grin went wider, delight filling her like fizzy soda. “Which means you’ve read four of these already because my buddy Ash would never dare read a book series out of order. Sacrilege. Have you taken good notes? Scribbled naughty marginalia? Highlighted? Tell me everything.”

He groaned. “Why do I allow you to be my friend again?”

She laughed and batted her eyelashes dramatically. “Because you can’t help but love me?”

“I can’t escape you,” he said with a snort, but she didn’t miss the flash of friendly affection in his eyes. “But find your own smut. This is mine. And marginalia? Someone’s been using that Word-A-Day calendar I gave her for Christmas.”

She gave him a narrow-eyed look. “I know lots of big words. Like ‘pretentious.’ ‘Judgmental.’ ‘Self-important.’”

He nodded. “Touché.”

“You know, if you’d let me set you up with one of my friends, you could have the chance to experience your own smut.” She frowned and shook her head. “Wait, that makes my friends sound like hookers. You know what I mean. You could get out of this bookstore and hang out with a real, live girl.” She spread her hands out as if she could conjure him up a girl out of thin air. “Prom is coming up. You need a date. Groundwork needs to be laid!”

Ash’s gaze met hers, his lips hitching at one corner. “Sounds like you’re just trying to get me laid.”