Revved (Axle Alley Vipers) (6 page)

Her gaze stuttered, and she glanced away, crossing her arms, creating distance. “What?”

“That fire behind your eyes, the attitude, that smart fucking mouth. You have no idea how much that shit turns me on.”

Her gaze shot up to his. “Fire? My smart mouth?”

He could tell she was expecting him to say her tits, her ass, her legs. Yeah, all those things turned him on as well, but it was what she kept hidden that twisted him in knots, had him going after her with everything he had. “I want that fire, Foxy. I want all of it.”

She just stared at him. He’d rendered her mute, apparently. Pulling her forward, he opened the door behind her. “Go back to your girls, and I’ll call you tonight?”

She gave him a jerky nod, then with one last look his way, hustled her sweet ass out of there.

And all he could think was, the next few hours better fly by, because he had a phone call to make.

Shit.

Chapter Six

R
usty pulled her favorite stretched-out tank over her head, then after towel drying her long hair, tied it up in a messy bun.

Dragging back the covers, she climbed into bed. It wasn’t that late, but Pipe was reading her latest romance novel and there was nothing on TV. She stacked the pillows behind her, then grabbed her phone from the nightstand to check her email. She was waiting on shipping confirmation for a parts order she needed ASAP and hadn’t had a chance to look all afternoon.

As she scrolled through her unread mail her phone started ringing. Nervous, fluttery excitement hit her low in the belly when she saw Reid’s name flash on the screen.

He’d called the night before, after the car show like he said he would. They’d talked for quite a while, about a lot of different things, but nothing in particular. It’d been nice. Really nice.

She didn’t know what the hell she was doing with him, what it meant, what it was leading to, she just knew she didn’t want to stop doing it.

She hit the call button. “Hey.”

“Hey, baby.”

Gah!
Just the sound of his deep, raspy voice, the rough way he said
baby
, all low and sexy, lifted goose bumps over her skin. “Well, this is a surprise.”

“Yeah? It shouldn’t be.”

A delicious shiver moved through her. Okay, she had no idea what to say to that. “Right.” She sucked in a steadying breath. “So how was your day?” She cringed. Really? That’s all she could come up with?

“Busy, but I didn’t get everything done I needed to. I’ll be playing catch-up tomorrow.” She heard a noise in the background, like a door shutting. “Got you to thank for that.”

“What did I do?”

“Had you in my head all day, thinking about that kiss in the break room. All your fault, woman.”

Oh wow
. That gave her another happy shiver. “Nope. That’s all on you. And frankly I’m more amazed you have any work to do at R.I.P., since all your customers are dumping your ass for West’s.”

He chuckled. “Smart ass. And your concern over my current state of mind, which I’ll repeat, is all your fault, warms my heart.”

She laughed, and it sounded kind of breathless.

“What about you?” he asked. “Busy day?”

“Had a Mustang come in today. Needs a bit of work. The guy wants to keep it all original.”

“What year?”

“Sixty-five.”

“Nice. You a Ford girl, Rusty?”

“Sure am.” He must have picked up the excitement in her voice. Well, she couldn’t exactly hide it. With the job she had, she felt like a kid in a candy store every damn day. “I took it for a run. Drives pretty sweet for an old girl in need of some TLC.”

He was quiet for several seconds, and when he spoke again, his voice was deeper, rougher. “I’m a Cadillac man myself.”

She snorted. “Why doesn’t that surprise me?”

“If we start a Ford versus Cadillac debate, we’ll be here all night.”

She kind of liked the idea of that.

“You love what you do, huh?” he said into the surprisingly comfortable silence.

“Yep. More than anything. I love going to work every day.”

“I know that feeling.”

She could hear what sounded like wind whistling in the background. “Where are you?”

“Out on my deck, watching the whitecaps roll in.”

“You have an ocean view?”
Duh, Rusty. Of course he does.
Though for some reason, knowing he was loaded, more than likely came from money, didn’t make her as uncomfortable as it might have a week ago.

“Maybe I’ll show you sometime?”

Her belly did another happy flutter. Goddammit, he was getting to her, big time. “Maybe.” She got more comfortable. “When did you start messing around with cars?”

“When I was a kid. Guy next door let me help him. He had a couple old cars he was doing up. Taught me the basics. I discovered I had a passion for fixin’ cars. Because of him, I was ahead of the rest when I went for an apprenticeship. The rest is history.”

“So your dad wasn’t into cars like mine?”

He cleared his throat. “My old man wasn’t into much of anything.”

The way he said it, she knew there was more to that story, but she didn’t want to pry. “My mom wasn’t too thrilled that both her daughters would rather hang around a dirty garage than go shopping and crap like that. In the end, she gave up trying.”

“Good thing,” he said softly. “You got talent, baby. You’re doing what you were born to do.”

Okay. That was really nice—and set off a whole new batch of happy flutters. “Thanks.”

“It’s the truth. What are you up to tonight?”

“I thought I’d have an early one.”

“You tucked up in bed?” he said all deep and growly.

The lightness in his voice had vanished, and she felt it. A low pulse started between her legs. “Mmm-hmm.”

She’d thought his voice was rough before, but when he spoke again, it was nothing but gravel. “You a nighty girl, Rusty? Or are you the kind of girl who wears one of her ex’s old T-shirts to bed?”

Maybe that was his not so subtle way of asking about an ex-boyfriend? And had he really just asked her what she was wearing? Was she really going to tell him? “Definitely no ex-boyfriend’s T-shirt for me.”
No ex at all
. “I’m…I’m a panties and old tank kind of girl.” Apparently she
was
going to tell him.

“Fuck.” The word was nothing but a whispered rasp, she wasn’t even sure he meant for her to hear it, but she was glad she did.

He was quiet after that, for several seconds, long enough, if she hadn’t still been able to hear wind whistling in the background, she’d think they’d been disconnected. “You still there?”

He cleared his throat. “Yeah, I’m here.” She heard the sound of the door again. “I gotta go, babe, but I’ll call you tomorrow?”

“I’d like that.” The words were out before she knew what she was saying, before she could overthink it.

“Bye, baby.”

“Bye, Reid.”

She dumped her phone beside the bed and collapsed back.

How would she handle another phone call like that? The man was killing her, slowly. Could you die from overactive hormones? ’Cause if you could, she needed to get to the emergency room stat.

R
eid turned to Dom, who looked close to jumping out of his goddamn seat, and grinned. The kid was in his element.

The roar of engines filling Homestead Speedway was deafening, their ears would be ringing for days, but after the shit Dom had been through lately, Reid was glad he could do something for him, take him out of his own head for a while. A lot of the guys at R.I.P. were into NASCAR, and even though it wasn’t his thing, he’d tagged along, managed to score a couple extra tickets for the final race in the Camping World Cup Series. It meant the shop was several men down, but fuck it.

Of course he’d had to lie. He’d told Dom that Law was supposed to come but bailed, and the ticket would go to waste if he didn’t take it. Dom would see it as charity otherwise and would’ve turned him down flat. He was stubborn that way.

Reminded Reid of himself at that age.

“You want a drink?” he yelled. Dom spared him a glance and nodded, reaching for his pocket. “I’ll get them.” Dom opened his mouth to protest, but Reid shook his head. “I’m getting ’em.” He gave in, but Reid suspected only because a race was about to start.

Reid made his way to the concession and bought a couple Cokes. He was heading back down the stands when he spotted a pair of distinctly tattooed arms going up in the air, not to mention the fiery red ponytail waving about like a race flag as she jumped around in her seat.

He headed Rusty’s way. She was on the end of a row, so he didn’t have to shuffle past a whole bunch of people. Her sister, Piper, was sitting beside her.

He leaned down. “Hey.” She didn’t hear him, so he tapped her shoulder. “Rusty.”

She spun to face him, scowling. When she realized it was him, her face went from ready to tear his balls off to fucking gorgeous smile in a heartbeat.

Pulling her earplugs from her ears, she stood. “Hey, what are you doing here?”

He pointed a few rows across. “I’m here with some of the guys from work.” Jesus, she was beautiful. She wore shorts that showed off her long legs and a black T-shirt that hugged her gentle curves to perfection.

Her mouth quirked up on one side, and she leaned in—close enough he could feel her breath on his skin—so he could hear her. “I’m shocked to see you here. Thought you were a Caddy man?”

His scalp tingled, followed closely by his balls. He turned into her, doing the same, letting his lips brush her ear. “Dom’s the NASCAR freak, not me.”

The smile on her face widened, tits brushing his arm when she turned into him again. “Well, it’s nice of you to bring him.”

He shrugged. He was no good Samaritan. He just knew what he’d needed at that age, in that situation. Nothing could change what Dom was going through, but time away from his life, the pressures and stresses, even for just a few hours, would have been more than welcome. “You wanna meet after? Grab a burger or something? I’ll text you, and we can meet up?”

She gave his forearm a squeeze, followed by another stunning smile. “Yeah, I’d like that.”

T
wo hours later, Reid rounded his car, Dom hot on his heels. “So Rusty, she’s your woman?”

“Yeah.” Or soon would be, even if it could only be temporary.

“Nice work, bro.”

He grinned at the kid. “Thanks.”

“We’re meeting up with her and her sister?”

“Yep.” Rusty said she was bringing Piper, so no alone time with “his woman” yet. Though he wasn’t sure how much longer he could hold out.

“How old is she?”

“Too old for you.”

Dom waggled his eyebrows. “Maybe she has a thing for younger guys?”

Reid chuckled. “You can always live in hope.”

He pushed open the door of the Burger Shack and searched them out. Piper spotted them and stood, bouncing and waving them over.

“Shit,” Dom muttered beside him. “Red’s sister is built…just the way I like ’em.”

Reid shook his head. Dom talked a big game, but put him in front of a beautiful woman and he blushed and stuttered every damn time.

Rusty stood when he approached. “Hey.”

“Hey, baby.” She blushed at his greeting. Shit, he loved that. How could she be sexy and innocent, all at once?

“Hey, guys,” Piper called, beaming up at them.

Reid smiled at her and tilted his head to Dom, who was now suspiciously quiet. The big talk well and truly over when faced with these two. “This is Dom. He works with me.”

“Nice to meet you, Dom. Why don’t you come and sit by me and tell me all about your job at R.I.P.”

Dom’s gulp was audible. Reid nudged him, trying not to smile. “No giving away our trade secrets.”

The kid just nodded and parked it by Piper.

They ordered and ate. Piper kept Dom busy, which meant he could focus on Rusty. She chatted away about cars, the business. While she talked, she came alive. Rusty loved what she did…and she also knew her shit. Her face fucking lit up when she talked about her garage, about the cars they were restoring. It twisted something inside him, an emotion he didn’t want to name right then, or what it might mean to his plans.

He bumped her thigh with his, deciding it was time to change the subject. “Never thought you’d be the type to skip work for the Speedway?”

She chewed the decent-size bite she’d taken from her burger and swallowed. He liked watching her eat. She didn’t pick at her food, or nibble at it, she took pleasure in it, the way he suspected she did with a lot of things in life. No half measures.

She grinned. “Deke got tickets for me and Pipe. It’s not Alex’s thing, so he took the day off to help her at the garage. Which makes Alex his boss for the day.” She snorted. “I’m kinda sad I’m not there to watch.” She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “I didn’t expect to see you there, either.”

He swallowed his mouthful and took a sip of his drink. “I had the tickets, Dom’s into it…”

She stared at him, expression thoughtful, knowing. “You decided to just hang around a noisy race track for something to do?”

He glanced over at Dom, who was listening avidly to Piper talk about an engine she was rebuilding. The kid looked like he’d come face to face with his equivalent of the Holy Grail. A beautiful woman, who not only knew about cars but worked on them for a living. He sure as hell wasn’t paying him and Rusty any attention.

It wasn’t his place to tell anyone the kid’s troubles still, he wanted to give Rusty something. “He’s going through some shit. The guys and I thought he could use some time out.”

Her hand went to his knee, green eyes wide, sincere. “That’s a really nice thing to do.”

Trying to keep his dick under control around this woman was hard enough, but when she put her hands on him? Not happening. He wrapped his fingers around hers, rubbing his thumb over the soft skin on the inside of her wrist. “I’m no saint, Rusty.”

She licked her lips, gaze dropping to his mouth. “Don’t worry, I’d never mistake you for that.”

He chuckled, and his dirty thoughts came through loud and clear, the sound rough and low. “That’s good. I’d hate to give you the wrong impression.”

She leaned a little closer. “And what impression is that?”

“That I’m a good guy.” Jesus. He wanted to kiss her, badly. “I go after what I want, babe, and I don’t stop till I get it.”

Her fingers trembled a little under his, breath coming faster. She licked her lips again. “And what happens when you get it?” she asked.

“You’ll have to let me catch you to find out.”