Page 67 of Date with a Devil
The plunging v-neck collar of his t-shirt gave a glimpse at the dark thicket of chest hair that grew between two sculpted pecs. She had to keep her eyes off of his muscles, though—she didn’t want to send him any mixed messages. After last nightespecially.
“It’s pretty sexy,” she admitted.
“Wait ’til you hear this,” he said as he turned the key.
The exotic engine came to life with a snarl that quickly became a smooth purr. Dane put the car into gear and slowly pulled out of the garage.
It was always scary getting into a car like this, with a guy like Dane—you never knew if he’d be the type of guy to stomp on the gas pedal to show you just how fast his car was, as if any girl in history had everbeen seduced like that. Thankfully, Dane didn’t launch through his neighborhood like a bat out of hell. She felt safe with him behind the wheel.
“So where are you getting dinner tonight?” he asked as they rolled up to a stop sign.
“Some ramen place,” she said. “And no, I’ve never eaten there, so I can’t say if I recommend it or not.”
He laughed. “I don’t think I need any local recommendations, anyway.”
It took her a second to realize he meant the trade.
“Oh. Right,” she stammered. “Sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it.” He waved his hand through the air. “You’re meeting up with your friends tonight, I take it?”
The path of least resistance would’ve been to simply lie, but for some reason, Austen told him the truth.
“Um, it’sThayer,actually.”
“Good old Thayer.” Dane’s knuckles whitened as his grip on the steering wheel tightened. “He’sdefinitelynot trying to bang you. He just wants to take you out to dinner on a Saturday night, you know, like normal bosses do.”
“It’s not like that.”
“How do you know?”
She sucked air through gritted teeth. “Because apparently, after my vital role in helping to destroy your reputation, I’m getting promoted? Yay for me, I guess.”
“Deeper into the belly of the beast you go.”
“I know. I don’t know what to do. Part of me wants to quit, but I can’t.”
“Thayer’s proven who he really is. I don’t think it’s a good idea to work for a guy like that. If I were you, I’d take the promotion but I’d start looking for a new job.”
They were quiet as they made their way through stop-and-go traffic.
The cayenne pepper from Dane’s drink had left a lingering heat in her mouth. Annoyingly, the burning sensation could only be temporarily extinguished by drinkingmore.Reluctantly, she drank more. But as she drank more, she found herself only tasting the sweetness of the honey and the fresh zest of the lemon juice—was this stuff actually becoming drinkable?
“Wow, you’re really slammin’ that thing,” Dane said. “How’s it treating you?”
“I’m feeling better already,” she said. She glided the tips of her fingers along the pristine dashboard, admiring the hand-sewn stitchwork. “But I think it might have more to do with your car.”
“Hey, whatever works.”
Dane turned onto the highway on-ramp and punched the gas to get up to speed. The car roared as the world outside the window became a blur. The beautiful car’s brute power put a knot deep in Austen’s belly, and she melted lower in her seat, a small gasp nearly escaping her lungs.
“This car issonice, Dane,” she gushed, her voice husky.
“Yeah, right?”
At highway speed, the engine’s constant throaty growl produced a subtle rumbling in the seat of her chair. The tingling sensation mounted over time, growing ever stronger, until the spot between her thighs began to pulse with a luscious warmth. She had to breathe deep, bear down, andfocusto fight off the prickly waves.
This car? It tried to get in your pants—just like the athlete himself. After riding in this thing, Austen began to understand how the athlete could get away without giving head … he could just take a girl for a ride.
