Jenny couldn’t believe it. Her best friend had actually sabotaged her car? Had Emily lost her mind?
Someone rapped on the window, and Jenny nearly jumped out of her skin.
“You okay?” came Mitch’s deep voice.
Jenny crumpled the paper into her palm.
He lifted the handle and pulled open her door.
“I’m fine,” said Jenny, hoping he’d accept her answer and go away.
“Car trouble?” he asked.
She shook her head, still staring straight ahead. She just wanted to get home, away from Mitch and away from the humiliating memories of this night.
“I heard you cranking it over. Want me to take a look?”
“It’s fine,” she insisted.
He was silent for a moment. “Are you mad at me?”
“Of course not,” she lied.
“Your car’s broken down, Jenny.”
She closed her eyes for a long moment. “I know. I’m tired. I was going to call a cab.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Pop the hood.”
She turned to look at him. “You’re not exactly dressed for mechanical repairs.”
He glanced down at his pristine white shirt and silk tie. “Good point.” Then he held out his broad hand. “Come on. I’ll take you home.”
Jenny glanced around the parking lot, desperately searching for someone else who could serve as her knight in shining armor. The very last thing in the world she wanted right now was to spend more time in Mitch’s company while he failed to notice the new, improved and sexy Jenny. But nobody else was around to save her.
“I’ll just go back inside,” she began.
“Will you stop?” He reached down and snagged her hand, drawing her gently but firmly from her vehicle.
She grabbed her purse and came steady on her feet just as he slammed the door shut behind her, obviously annoyed. Well, she was annoyed, too. Even if he hadn’t been bowled over by her chic new look, he could have at least complimented something. The hair, the dress, the shoes. But he couldn’t even throw her a crumb.
He kept hold of her hand. “This way.”
She spotted his sleek, gleaming Corvette parked haphazardly next to the front garden. “That’s not an authorized parking spot.”
“I was late. I’ll pay the fine tomorrow.” He swung open the door. “Now, get in.”
She huffed out a breath, and braced her hand against the back of the bucket seat, stepping one foot inside the car and nearly losing her balance on the high heels.
His arm snaked around her waist, and she felt her dress hike high on her thighs. Her bottom pressed against his leg as he braced her steady.
“I’m fine,” she ground out.
“You’re grumpy,” he responded, a trace of humor in the voice that was close to her ear.
“Will you let go?” Her pulse was doing unnatural things under his touch. Her face flushed hot, and her knees suddenly felt unsteady. She determinedly pulled herself into the car.
He let her go, and she dropped onto the seat. She quickly straightened her skirt, covering as much of her thighs as possible. Then she glanced down to catch an expansive view of her cleavage. She adjusted the shoulder of the dress and tugged at the bodice.
Mitch had paused, watching her, the door still open. But she refused to glance up. He was probably laughing at her clumsiness.
After a long moment, he stepped back and firmly closed the door, moving around to the driver’s side. There, he climbed inside without a word, started the engine and pulled the sports car smoothly out of the parking lot.
As their speed increased, the overhead lights flashed above them, alternating with the branches of stately oak trees lining the street. The silence stretched out between them. A mile farther down, they turned off River Road to take the shortcut along Rooster Lane. Given the potholes and sharp gravel on the little-used road, and Mitch’s deep love of his Corvette, Jenny could only assume he was in a hurry to get rid of her.
Fine by her. She couldn’t wait to get home.
Then, abruptly, he pulled off the road onto a grassy patch beneath the oak trees, rocked the car to a halt and set the emergency brake.
“What are you doing?” she asked in confusion, wondering if something was wrong with his car. Surely, Emily couldn’t have sabotaged them both.
But he turned in his seat, draping his arm across the back of hers. “Spill, Jenny. What’s wrong?”
His abrupt question took her by surprise. But she quickly regrouped. “I’m tired and I want to go home.” That was definitely part of the truth.
“You’ve been acting weird all night,” he pressed.
“I have not.” She folded her hands primly on her lap.
“You didn’t even dance with me.”
The accusation in his voice made her own tone rise along with her blood pressure. She spoke past a clenched jaw. “You didn’t even ask.”
“I had to ask?” he retorted.
“It’s kind of traditional.”
“Like you needed extra partners,” he scoffed.
She turned to look at him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means—” he gestured with one hand “—the way you’re dressed tonight, there was a line around the block.”
“Nice that some people noticed.”
His eyes glittered in the dash lights, and there was a long moment of tense silence. When he spoke, his voice was a throaty rasp. “You think I didn’t notice?”
Jenny wasn’t sure how to answer that. If he’d noticed, he’d done a darn good job of hiding it.
“You think I didn’t notice?” he repeated, louder this time, crowding her.
Was the car getting smaller?
“You didn’t say anything,” she pointed out, fighting the urge to shrink back against the door.
“What, exactly, was it that you wanted me to say?” He leaned closer still, and a few beats of silence ticked past. “That your eyes look like emeralds without your glasses? That you have unbelievably sexy legs? That you should show off more often, by the way.”
The front of his shoulder brushed the tip of hers, and Jenny swallowed against the electric sensation that passed between them.
His voice went lower. “That those shoes were designed to keep a man awake at night? That I’ve been watching the wisp of your hair, curling over your temple and resisting the urge to smooth it back all night long?”
Jenny couldn’t move. She couldn’t breathe. Her chest was frozen in place, while her pulse tripped over itself.
His fingertips fluttered against her temple, touching her hair. “Or that your red lips look soft, smooth, delicious?” His hand eased around to the back of her head, fingers splaying into her hair, as he drew her forward, his mouth coming down on hers in slow motion.
What was happening? What was going—
And then he was kissing her.
He was kissing her.
Sparks flew out from every corner of her body. Her skin prickled hot in the sultry car.