Look Before You Jump by D. A. Bale Read Free Book Online Page B

No,
not in that way, no matter how much the image of the plastic sheath
sliding over my seat reminded me of a condom. I was determined to
keep business separate from pleasure.
    “Where were you last Saturday night?”
    The question was tinged with an Aussie
accent. My entire body jerked so hard my head smacked against the
doorframe of my car and shattered the naughty images of me and the
boss floating around my mind. Nick’s perfectly mussed hair topped
off his perfectly chiseled face set upon a perfectly pumped-up
body. The perfectly hung silk shirt opened a little too perfectly
for my present sanity.
    “What the hell, Nick?” I asked as I stood up.
“You tryin’ to scare me half to death or just crack my skull
open?”
    The fragrance saturating his chest wafted my
way on the breeze and touched me all the way down there. Cologne he
likely got from one of his modeling gigs. Earthy. Expensive.
Erotic.
    “I missed you Saturday,” Nick said as he
brushed hair from my face and pressed in closer.
    I could feel how much he’d missed me. That
and the accent curled my toes so tight I thought my boots would
come flying off. He massaged the base of my skull where a knot
formed. I swallowed the one forming in my throat and reminded
myself of my vow. Didn’t the Bible say something about resisting
the devil and he’d flee? How many guys did a girl have to chase
away in one night before temptation fled?
    “Yeah?” My voice trembled. “I-uh took the
night off. Where were you earlier this week?”
    “Busy.”
    Velvety little kisses trailed across my
forehead where Grady’s lips had rested moments before.
    “You taste like old beer,” Nick said, his
tongue flicking in and out all the way down to my jaw.
    “Things got a little out of hand during wet
t-shirt night.”
    “Mmm. Did you win?”
    “I technically wasn’t a participant.”
    Smooth and tanned pectorals beckoned. Can you
say reach out and touch someone? I can. And did.
    “Why didn’t you call me?” Nick asked, sucking
in a sharp breath as my fingertips feathered his six pack.
    I thought girls were supposed to be the needy
ones? Questions dissipated as Nick dipped to my ear and nuzzled the
lobe between his teeth. Gooseflesh raced across the surface of my
skin. My spine turned to pudding.
    “Um, Nick?”
    “Hmm?”
    “Maybe you should slow down there. This is a
public parking lot.”
    A button popped and skittered somewhere along
the pavement as my wandering hands edged deeper into his shirt.
Warm lips suckled my neck where my pulse throbbed until plunging to
graze between my twin peaks. A moan escaped from one of us as he
pressed against me so hard I slid up and onto the hood of the Vette
until I was practically lying on top of it. So much for resisting
temptation.
    Headlights and blinding spotlights atop the
roll bar cut through the dimmed parking lot and brought Nick’s face
up to mine. I pushed him away and shimmied down when Grady pulled
his truck alongside, rolled down the window, and leaned out. The
crooked tilt of his mustache told me he’d enjoyed our little
show.
    “You alright there, Vic?”
    I straightened and adjusted myself, tucking a
sticky strand of hair behind my ear. Any chance of getting my
shorts out of my butt without surgery was a lost cause now. “I’m
fine. All’s good. You can go home now.”
    Grady offered a two-fingered salute before
rolling up his window. The creeping crawl of his truck said he
wasn’t leaving until I was safe in my car. The reprieve from
temptation and self-condemning acts was handed to me on a silver
platter from above – or from a black Dodge driven by my boss. I
patted Nick’s arm, leaned in and kissed him on the cheek.
    “Maybe next time, mate.”
    All I got in return was a husky sigh.
    I hopped in my car, revved the engine of my
little black Corvette then laid down a few skid marks, leaving Nick
behind in my dust. Reprieve indeed. It’d take a lot more to
untangle the numerous men from my life.