“I can tell…”
Heat rushed to my cheeks as I realized his gaze was pointed right at my breasts, which were covered by my bra, but still pressed very clearly against the damp, thin fabric of my tee shirt. My nipples were already on high alert because of the sudden drop in temperature, and it seemed they were enjoying Avery’s attention, because they somehow got harder.
“Could you not?” I scolded him, crossing my arms over my chest.
He laughed as he put on his seatbelt, then shifted the car into reverse. “I’m sorry, that was inappropriate. I’m teasing you though… like when you called me a baby earlier, remember?”
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see him smiling in my direction as we exited the parking lot, and I couldn’t help returning it. “I guess you might have a point. We can call it even then.”
“I’m fine with calling it even if you don’t think you can hang.”
Eyebrow raised, I turned to face him. “Excuse me? I’ll have you— oh, shoot, that was my exit! I should probably give you my address or something if you’re giving me a ride home.”
“Don’t need it yet. I need to make a stop first. Tell me what’s going on with your car.”
“I’m not sure , but it sounds bad.”
“What do you mean it ‘sounds bad’? Elaborate.”
I held up a finger, indicating I needed a second, and reached toward the control panel of his car. When he didn’t react, I went ahead and turned on the heat, angling my body away from his before I dropped my arm and pointed the vent toward me to dry my shirt.
He grimaced against the hot hair blasting into the car. “Now that you’ve got us preheating, can you tell me what’s happening with your car?”
“Fine. I went out to my garage this morning to leave, and when I tried to turn it on, it kept making this weird sputtering noise.”
“Is this the first time?”
I shook my head. “I got it back from my mechanic yesterday evening, and it’s going right back on Monday. Umm… what are we doing here?
It wasn’t raining anymore, and I could clearly see we were in a part of the city I’d never been. As we pulled into a parking lot, a glowing neon sign caught my eyes. He’d taken me to one of Dallas’s two Ignition locations.
“When I take you home, I’m gonna look at your car for you, but I need to grab a couple of things from here.”
“Are you asking or telling?” I huffed.
Avery cocked his head to the side, giving me an amused half-smile. “I’m insisting.”
Damn him for that sexy smile!
It was hard to be annoyed by him forcing his will on me when he looked so damned good doing it. “Avery, I appreciate the offer, but I already have a mechanic. They’ll look at it on Monday.”
“And do another shitty job on it, so you can be sending it back to them next week? Come on,” he said, opening his door to climb out. “You’ll get a real mechanic to look at it this time.”
Cocky bastard.
I waited until he’d made it around to my side and opened the door, offering his hand to help me out. “Why can’t I wait in the car?”
“I’m gonna need some information about your car. I promise it won’t take very long.”
Reluctantly, I unbuckled my seatbelt and allowed him to help me out of the car. Even though I was expecting it, the contact of his skin against mine made me lose my breath a little. I tried to mask it by immediately looking away, pretending to be very interested in the bricks that made up Ignition’s facade while he closed the door. His hand against the small of my back caught me off guard, and instantly brought back memories of the night of Des’ wedding. Gently nudging me forward, he led me to the door, which he opened for me before leading me inside.
— Avery —