California Nights (Rich Boys of California Duet 1)

And did a double take.

She might be gorgeous and spoiled. She also looked like she was on the verge of tears.

“Hey, are you hurt?”

She shook her head, that gorgeous hair tumbling over her shoulders. I felt something inside me twist open and break free. I reached down and adjusted myself.

My cock was getting hard in the middle of the God damn street!

It had been way too long since I got laid, that was for damn sure.

Still, the girl was about to cry and I sure as hell didn’t want that.

“What’s the matter, then?”

“I just – I have to get my thesis to the college before 9.”

She sighed, reaching into her bag.

“I don’t have a lot of cash on me… I need a cab. Can I give you a check for the tow?”

I stared at her then back at the car, changing my assessment.

Tiny gold hoop and diamond earrings. Expensive looking shoes that had seen better days. A worn in denim skirt and button down blouse that was… I squinted… missing a button.

Actually, she didn’t look quite as rich as I first thought. I started thinking, fast. Normally I avoided college girls like the pain in the asses that they were. Almost as much as I avoided rich girls. Lord knows there were plenty of them around here. And they liked to get drunk and go slumming.

Hit on local guys like me.

Live dangerously.

But this girl… she might be something else entirely.

Maybe she was fair game after all.

I smiled at her, leaning against the car.

“I’ll get you where you need to go. We can figure out the money later.”

She blinked at me in surprise. Like she didn’t have guys bending over backwards to get into her pants all the time. Her cheeks got pink, sending a shot of lust straight to my cock. It lurched towards her, making me glad we were standing in the dark.

Then she nodded.

“Okay. I… thank you.”

I let out a deep breath. I felt a strange sense of relief as I opened the passenger door to my truck and watched her fold that sexy little body inside it. She smiled at me tentatively as I closed the door.

That smile did something to me. It was shy and so sweet it could give you a tooth ache. This girl was not stuck up, no matter how sexy she was.

In that moment, I would have driven her anywhere.

That was before she leaned over to unlock my door for me.

Crap, the girl was just about perfect.

I got in and looked at her, my eyes raking over that insane cleavage of hers.

“Let’s just drop this off and then we can get you where you need to go.”

She nodded.

“Thank you so much…?”

Her soft voice trailed off, asking for my name.

I shifted gears and grinned at her.

“Jace.”

“Thanks. I’m Frannie.”

Frannie.

Francine, probably.

For some reason I found it adorable that she had a grannie name.

Fuck if I didn’t like the sound of that.

I drove back to the shop, having a sudden suspicion that something big was happening. A sea change. I couldn’t stop looking at her in the rearview mirror.

Things were about to get good.

Chapter Fifty

Frannie

We didn’t talk much on the ride. It was too loud and I felt tongue tied in the face of such overwhelming hunkiness. The truck rattled like crazy as the mechanic drove me back to his shop.

Not ‘the mechanic.’

Jace.

His name was Jace.

The name was hard, unusual, masculine and yet somehow pretty.

Boy, did it suit him.

I faced straight ahead but my eyes kept sliding to the side. I couldn’t help but check him out. The tight fabric of his jeans looked exquisitely soft where it wrapped around his bulging thighs.

I wanted to touch it.

I wanted to touch him.

I dragged my eyes away but not fast enough. Our eyes locked for a second. He had caught me.

Unless… had he been checking me out too?

Keep dreaming, Frannie.

Except… it kind of seemed like he had been.

We pulled into an enormous parking lot on the industrial side of town. We were way off the beaten track now. I wouldn’t have known how to get home without GPS.

Hopefully it wasn’t too far from campus.

He came around and helped me climb down from the truck. I smiled at him, trying to cover up the shock of electricity that went through me when our hands touched.

If that was just his hand… I wondered how the rest of him might feel.

Frannie!!! Act like a lady!

My mother’s disapproving voice rang out in my head. Just like clock work. I pushed it away and followed him into the empty shop. It was surprisingly clean.

“This is where you work?”

He looked at me like ‘duh.’

“It’s amazing.”

Now he was staring at me with a look of incredulity on his face.

“I’m just not good at stuff like that.”

“Stuff like what?”

“I tried to take an engineering course. I was horrible at it.”