“It’s cute,” she said, rushing to keep up with his long strides. “No, really. I like that. Foxes are adorable.”
His answering grunt made her chuckle. He opened a door on the other side of the foyer and she followed him through it into a dark room where the air felt hot and stale. A click came from beside her. then the lights turned on.
They were in a garage full of cars. It was huge—at least as wide as two double-car garages. The cement floor was as clean as the foyer despite the smell of oil and exhaust.
She counted the number of vehicles in her head. Four cars and two bikes in the farthest corner. Not just any cars—luxury and sports cars. She felt like a kid in a candy shop. The urge to smell them, run her fingers over them, hear the purr of the engines, was overwhelming.
Her gaze got stuck on the red Mustang convertible in the middle. She had a fantasy of fucking in a convertible on a deserted road. Was it normal for a garage full of expensive cars to be giving her a girl boner?
“Holy shit.” She spun to face him. “You’re like me!”
Fox shook his head. “No, I’m not like you.”
She couldn’t stop grinning. “You are. You’ve got a better set up, but you steal cars too.”
“No.”
With a hand perched on her hip, she cocked a brow. “Then how do you explain all this?” She gestured to the array of vehicles.
Face impassive, his gaze moved from her to the garage then back again. “I won the lottery.”
“Sure.” She laughed. “And that was my Lexus and I’m the Princess of fucking Wales.”
After glaring at her in irritation, he walked to the first car in the line—a small green hybrid that looked like it would suit a middle-aged store manager who wanted to save on gas.
She gave him an incredulous look. “Seriously?”
He opened the passenger door.
“Can’t we take the—”
“No.” He pointed to the car. “Get in.”
Her shoulders drooped in disappointment. “Killjoy.” An entire fleet of cars she’d give her right arm for, and he was going to drive her home in the old man mobile. Figured.
She tried not to sulk as she climbed into the passenger seat and he got in the driver’s side.
“What’s your address?” He reached toward the GPS on the dash.
“Just take me to my car. It’s parked behind the plaza on Sweeny Street.”
Abandoning the GPS, he leaned back and buckled his seatbelt. The irony of a high-end car thief putting on his safety belt in a sensible hybrid economy car made her laugh inside. He probably had a retirement fund. Not so different from her dad.
Ugh. Gross. To clear that thought away, she pictured him speeding down the highway, outmaneuvering cops and dodging bullets. Doing badass things. Wrestling crocodiles. Anything.
He pulled the car out of the garage and into the driveway. As they meandered down the dark road, she paid careful attention to where they were so she could find her way back later.
Seeing the house from the outside, she’d confirmed it was as big as she’d predicted after having just stood in the foyer and garage. Clearly, car theft was working for Fox. Did he live there alone? Was he married? Did he have kids? None of those things had crossed her mind when she’d been lusting after his tattooed biceps.
A house that large wouldn’t fit in the city, obviously. As expected, he lived in the outskirts, closer to the developments in the desert. It wasn’t quite in one of the rich neighborhoods—those were more to the west—but it was far enough from civilization to stay inconspicuous and close enough to the wealthy area not to stand out.
Once they hit the freeway and she knew where she was, she turned in her seat and leaned her elbow casually on the center console. “So,” she started, “how do you do it?”
“We’re not talking about this.”
This was exactly what she needed to turn her mind-numbing career path into something fast and exciting. Money, hot guys, expensive cars . . . What could be better? Stealing cars by herself would never amount to much. Not only did she need someone to watch her back when shit got more serious, but she needed connections to people she could trust. Why build that from scratch when it was all right here in front of her? All she had to do was convince him he needed her. “I want in.”
Fox took his eyes off the road to give her such a condescending look she wondered if his cocky head would suddenly inflate and pop through the moonroof. “You’ve got to be kidding.”