He backed away with a smirk dancing over his face.
“Not sure what you think you’re talkin’ about, Brock, but I suggest you get your ass back to work and don’t come sniffing around in here again. Hear me?”
Brock swung his attention to me, and his eyes raked down my body.
Jud’s lie hung in the air.
The falsity of it was clear in my mussed hair and disheveled clothes, my blouse untucked on one side of my dress pants.
Crap.
I tried to inconspicuously readjust things.
Apparently, that made things worse because Brock’s smile only grew. He looked back at Jud. “Loud and clear, boss, loud and clear.”
He dipped back out through the door, and Jud was coming my way again, and I was pushing out my hands like I could protect myself from the impact of him. “No, Jud. I don’t think I can do this.”
He was in my face, dipping down, a heated whisper at my ear. “I’m taking you home tonight. Want to make sure you get there safe.”
I could feel the refusal curl between my eyes, every reason we shouldn’t do this pouring out. “I ride with Darius, and you know it’s a bad idea, anyway. I think we should just leave it at that. You don’t know me and I don’t know you and—”
Jud leaned in and softly smoothed the wrinkle out, cutting off my refusal. “Don’t get those pretty panties in a twist. It’s just a ride.”
Then he started to saunter away, only to pause at the organized stacks I’d made, his index finger jabbing at the papers. He looked back at me. “And for the record, you’ve already earned me far more than the cost of your car. You’re off the hook, darlin’, but I sure as fuck hope you’ll stay.”
Then he strode out, tossing open the single door that led to the shop, leaving me there gasping in his wake.
ELEVEN
JUD
It was just after five-thirty when I felt the shift in the air. One where shivers went racing along my spine and my stomach thought it fit to tighten in a fist.
I swiveled around from where I was kneeling in front of the chopper I was working on to find Salem strutting out.
She wore that silky blouse, painted-on black pants, and those sky-high heels that were trampling all over my good sense.
Poking holes in the commitment that seemed to get hazier and hazier with each moment that passed.
It blurred over the edges since the sight of her caused every cell in my body to go haywire.
Short-circuiting.
My senses on overload because fuck…I wanted her.
Wanted to fist my hands in those tresses of black. Get lost in the turbulence of those blue eyes. Drown on that vixen mouth.
I wanted her in a way that wasn’t right. In a way that slanted dangerous. In a way that was at odds with every damned thing I’d been living for.
Remnants of earlier in the lobby still buzzed in my nerves.
The way I wouldn’t have thought twice about fighting for her when I’d gone for the blacked-out BMW parked on the opposite side of the street.
The way the demon inside had gone to thrashing and jerking and tearing at the chains in a bid to get free.
The way I’d wanted to hop on my bike and hunt the motherfucker down when the pussy had jumped from the curb and fled.
Truth was, everything about whoever had been sitting out there was sketch as fuck.
Knew it in a moment.
In a heartbeat.
The instinct that had kept me alive for all those years when I’d been living in the dregs of society.
I’d been set on ripping the asshole from the car and demanding to know what he was doing creeping around my lot.
The problem was, that rage hadn’t dissipated when the threat had gone, it’d only shifted.
Changed.
Taken new shape.
It had grown into a beast that wanted to fight for her all the harder when I’d come back in and found this fierce, ferocious girl pale and shaking, like she’d come face-to-face with a ghost she couldn’t outrun.
I’d only meant to comfort her.
Promise her it would be fine.
Then I’d touched her, and all bets were off.
This girl who with one kiss had knocked me senseless.
“Hey there, darlin’,” I called.
She normally strode in here all kinds of confident, but this time, those eyes darted around, landing on every single thing except for me.
Finally, she exhaled the strain and lifted that chin as she sauntered my way. “Are you ready?”
A grin cracked my face as I pushed to standing and tossed the wrench to the worktable. “You in a rush?”
Suggestion rode out with the words, no holding it back.
Not when just her walking into my shop knocked the breath right out of my lungs.
Her tone turned almost defiant. “I am, actually.”
I hooked my hip on the table and crossed my arms over my chest. “Yeah, and why’s that?”