I see. Ford gazed at her steadily, his expression unwavering. Beth stared right back, startled when he was the one to break away, huffing out a sound of exasperation and waving his hands in the air. What are you listening to?
Sitar music. She loved this playlist as much as shed loved the heavy metal one shed been playing earlier. Music was so deeply ingrained in who she was, she felt it was a shame not to appreciate as much of it as she could.
Right. This, finally, this was what seemed to throw him off his gamethe music blasting from her phone.
Beth felt her breath catching as he reached out and sifted his fingers through the end of her braid. Her breasts pushed forward as she exhaled, and Ford looked her over again with that hungry starenot lecherous, just an acknowledgment of that strange little click between them.
Beth didnt believe in love at first sight...but oh, she sure believed in lust.
Sitar music. Heavy metal. Purple in your hair, and the scents of vanilla and engine grease on your skin. He sounded bemused. Has anyone ever told you youre a very unique woman?
All the time. She was pretty sure it was a bad idea, but the way this strange man was looking at her made her very, very hot. Riding on instinct, she reached for the cherry-red can of Coke that still dangled from his fingers and lifted it to her lips. But youve only scratched the surface. Theres a lot more to me than the color of my hair.
I can imagine. He watched her with painstaking attention to detail as she lifted the can to her lips and sipped. The rush of sugar burst over her tongue, and she imagined she got just the slightest taste of him, as well.
Are you always this forward? He tracked her tongue as she ran it over her lips.
Afraid of catching girl cooties? Beth handed the can back and arched an eyebrow. And yes, I often am. Im usually pretty clear on what I want.
Stepping away from where they were still curled together beneath the hood of the Turbo, she laced her hands together and dipped her head. But sometimes I like to be told what to do, too.
Her heart pounded as she made the admission. Had she judged wrong? She couldnt have. She liked to go after what she wanted, true enough, and she felt no shame in wanting what she did. But she usually felt the subtle little click that she had with Ford when the dynamics between them were just rightas in, the other person wanted to be in control, and Beth wanted to relinquish it.
I... Ford took a step back, not the reaction that Beth was expecting. He looked her over again, and her skin felt on fire everywhere his gaze touched.
No, she wasnt wrong. She felt it in her gut. But he didnt seem to be all that pleased by the notion.
Ill tell you what to do, then. The struggle to regain control was evident in his voice. One blink of her eyes, and the stern businessman mask was back in place, shuttering the hint of passion that shed glimpsed below. Order the part. Fix the car. And call me when its ready for pickup.
Beth felt the same slight chill that she had when shed noted that he seemed uncomfortable with whatever this was sparking between themfelt it and resented it.
She wasnt asking for a ringshe was just embracing her needs and desires, like she and her sisters had always done.
You didnt ask how much the parts and work are going to be. Beths temper rose, so she unlatched and slammed the hood of the Turbo closed, hard enough that most people would have turned to check that she hadnt taken a golf club to the metal.
He didnt turn, didnt look backnot at the vehicle and not at her.
Like youve pointed out already... I can afford it.
Well, then. Clearly he wanted to highlight the differences between them. Beth cocked her head and watched as he headed out of her driveway and back in the direction of the café, probably off to research his accommodation options, which she could have told him were few. She suspected he wasnt going far.
His gait was easy, the stride of a man who knew that he had the world at his feet. As if pulled by her gaze, he finally cast one look back in her direction.
The intensity of the connection when their eyes met nearly brought Beth to her knees. Yes, that attraction was there, burning brighter than any shed ever felt.
So why was he turning away from it? From her?
She could dwell on it, could go cry into a bottle of wine with her sisters over the rejection, but shed never seen the point. Sex was supposed to be easy, fun. And to her it always would be.
If Ford Lassiter was uncomfortable with being attracted to her, well, that was his problem. Beth was just fine with who she was. Still, it was a damn shame he was a stick-in-the-mud, she thought as her lips curved.
A man who looked that good in clothes? He would surely look even better out of them.
CHAPTER THREE
THE SURFACE OF the bar was sticky beneath his hand as Ford placed his whiskey glass back down. It was his second of the night, and he felt like he needed to indulge in at least one more, just to get his head back on straight.
Hed been feeling off center ever since the interlude with a certain little mechanic that afternoon. Damned if he could entirely understand why.
One more? Even in the dingy bar that was connected to the equally dingy motel hed had no choice but to book a room in, the bartender who approached him was still more his type than the woman whod laid into him about responsibility that afternoon. Tall and slender, with icy-blond hair and a neat sleeveless blouse, she more closely resembled the women he dated back in the city.
Neat. Proper. Nice.
He considered for a moment, contemplated indulging some of this frustration in a flirtation with the blonde. Maybe it would lead to a nice dinner and some equally nice sex.
Before he could consciously decide, his hand covered his glass. Not right now, thanks.
There was a flicker of disappointment in the blondes eyes as she nodded and walked away, and Ford cursed himself. That was the kind of woman he should be attracted to.
Curvy mechanics with rainbow-bright ink snaking over their pale skin didnt belong in his life. Not even for a night. And not because of that brightness...but for other, darker reasons.
Settling back on the stool where hed been seated since the need to escape the shabby motel room had clawed at his skin, Ford blocked out the thunderous music from the old-timey jukebox and allowed his mind to pull up the image of herof Beth Marchande.
Nothing about her made sense.
She moved like she couldnt care less about anything but was quick to speak up when she had something to say. Confidentshe was quietly confident, owning her curves in a way that stick-thin women he knew back home didnt seem capable of.
Her hair, in that long, thick braid, was midnight black up top and twisted with bright purple below. Purple...what kind of woman had purple hair?
And yet he couldnt stop imagining it wrapped around his fist as he thrust into her.
Jesus. He needed to get a grip or hed embarrass himself in the middle of this dive bar.
Hed been in her presence for less than an hour, and yet he already knew hed never forget her. She was too vibrant to ever be erased.
Her hair, in that long, thick braid, was midnight black up top and twisted with bright purple below. Purple...what kind of woman had purple hair?
And yet he couldnt stop imagining it wrapped around his fist as he thrust into her.
Jesus. He needed to get a grip or hed embarrass himself in the middle of this dive bar.
Hed been in her presence for less than an hour, and yet he already knew hed never forget her. She was too vibrant to ever be erased.
Forget about it. Hed fucked it up that afternoon by being an asshole, he knew that. It would be best to signal that sweet blonde bartender and order another drink, to forget all about Beth Marchande of Marchande Motors.
But damn it...when shed stood there, hands clasped submissively in front of her? When shed issued that invitation, had said she liked being told what to do, while he could just make out the outline of a barbell piercing her right nipple, pressed against the tissue-thin fabric of that skimpy shirt?
Shed pierced right through to the core of his basest desires, the ones that he tried with an iron fist to keep locked away and buried.
Lots of men with his power, his position, indulged in all sorts of hedonistic things, and he didnt judge them for that. But after seeing his father go through wife after girlfriend after mistress, treating them all like his possessions?
As far as Ford was concerned, nice men didnt have the urge to tie their women up. Didnt have their palms tingle with the need to redden white skin, to leave a mark of mastery.
The tattooed little mechanic made every one of those latent desires come roaring to the surface, threatening to boil over.
That just wouldnt do.
And yet here he was. He hadnt been willing to be far away from the Turbo, sure, but that wasnt the only reason that, instead of calling a car to take him home, hed taken a room in the one small motel hed been able to find close to the shop.
The woman had hooked him. He was interested, even if he didnt want to be.
Bad idea, Ford. Very bad idea.
Excuse me? Lifting his head, Ford raised his hand to signal for the bartender again. Hed have that third drink, and then hed go take a long, cold shower. Hed work from his motel room until his car was ready, and then hed go, as fast and as far as he could.
Out of reach of temptation.
The volume of the music increased with the next song, something slow and sultry that he didnt recognize. Down the length of the vinyl-covered bar, a large young man wearing work boots stumbled onto a stool and slapped a fiver down. I need a beer, Sallie, and I need it now. Theres one hell of a show goin on over there, and Im thirsty.
Coming right up, Ned. Ford watched as Salliethe cool blondeslid a longneck across the bar to the rough-looking man. The bartender then leaned against the length of covered wood, looking off in the direction the man had come from, and the man looked that way, too. Both seemed to be settling in to watch a show.
Ford followed their gaze, and lust was an instant, heated punch to the gut.
His sexy little mechanic was on the dance floor, and she was working it.
Torn, faded jean shorts cut off high on her shapely thighs, barely covering an ass that was curved enough for a man to get a good grip on it. A white lace camisole on top revealed enticing flashes of skin as well as a black bra that held her full breasts up nice and high.
Black leather boots with high spiked heels wrapped the length of her calves and all the way over her knees. He could imagine her with nothing but those boots on, hands clinging to his headboard as he moved, hard and fast, between sweetly spread thighs.
She was gorgeous. Not his type at all, with the crazy hair and the tattoos spilling over her collarbone and arms. But on her, it worked. He shifted uncomfortably and noted that it seemed to work just fine for him, too.
Damn. Ford couldnt hold back the groan as Beth shifted, stepping into the light, and he realized that she wasnt alone. No, she had a woman at her front, a man pressed to her back and her eyes closed, her expression dreamy as she rocked between the two bodies, every movement sensual and sure.
The man behind her was dark and swarthy, and Ford might have thought to be jealous if he hadnt been so fascinated with the way the man fisted Beths hair and pulled her head back. What hed seen of her today said that shed protest being forced to do anything, but her lips, shiny with red gloss, opened with a moan that he couldnt hear but that resounded in his head regardless.
The woman in front of her, a redhead in a tight dress, rubbed her breasts against Beths own. Ford shifted on his stool, his cock hardening fully as the woman dipped her head and licked a slow trail down Beths neck.
Damn.
As if hed spoken out loud, Beths eyes fluttered open. Lifting her head, she looked across the bar, over to where he sat, aching...and right into his eyes.
Earlier today her eyes had been the color of the afternoon sky, but now they were sapphire fire, the flames licking along his skin. His gut tightened as she smiled lazily, then slowly, sensually disengaged herself from the tangle of limbs.
Behind her, the couple continued their dance, but Ford didnt carehis eyes were on the woman who was crossing the room toward him with slow, deliberate undulations of her hips.
Fancy meeting you here, Sir Lassiter. She stopped well into his personal space, and that vanilla perfume made his mouth water and his jaw clench.
Sir? He arched an eyebrow and tried really hard not to do what he wanted, which was to reach out and place his hands at her waist, to slide her shirt up and feel the warmth of her skin beneath.
Mmm, you seem like a sir. Beth smiled and inched closer, stepping right between his spread thighs. He felt his expression darkenshe knew exactly what she was doing, what she was asking for.
What makes you say that? His instincts told him to tug her flush against his body, to press her to him so she could feel exactly what she was doing to him.
He did not.
You seem all proper and noble...like an aristocrat. A knight. Sir Lassiter. Beth nudged forward just a whisper, and he felt the curve of her hip press into his inner thigh.
His mouth went dry.
Like youre trying so hard to do what you think is right. But tell me something. Tilting her head back, she looked up into his eyes, searching. Why is denying yourself something that you want, that we both want, the right thing? I know you feel it, too.
Her open question gutted him. Hed been in the boardroom with billionaires, with sheikhs, with sharks, and hed bested them all.
The little woman who smelled like cupcakes? She was bringing him to his knees.
I He started to explain, but she cut him off, stepping back, her sudden frown breaking the spell.
I see. Her lips pinched together in a mockery of a smile. Im not the kind of woman you want to get involved with, right? Not even for a night. Let me assure you, thats your loss.
Wait...what?
Wait just a damn minute. When Beth would have turned, Ford did as hed imagined, catching her by the waist and hauling her back into the vee of his legs. This time her pelvis connected with the steel length of his erection, and he savored her sharp little intake of breath. What do you mean?