Mustang Sassy (7 page)

Give it a rest, Carlyle
.

He called his shot, ten in the corner pocket, and sank it, only to deliberately miss his next one. While Carlos took his turn, Jordan went to the bar to grab beers for the table. Anything to avoid having to make small talk with Tori.

He got back just in time to see Carlos miss his shot and, as luck would have it, Tori wandered off, presumably in the direction of the ladies’ room.

As Jordan chalked the end of his cue he intended to ask Carlos about his car, but instead, some other question tumbled out. “So, what’s the story on that little dark-haired receptionist at the shop?”

“Who? Alice?”

Jordan shot and missed. Again, on purpose. “I think she said her name was Sass.”

The expression on Carlos’s face changed. His eyes narrowed. “Sass?” He tugged on his goatee. “Yeah, we work together. She’s…something, that one.”

“What do you mean?”

Carlos cleared his throat. “We hooked up a couple of times, casual-like.” He took his shot, missed, and then cursed under his breath. After guzzling half the bottle he set it down hard and said, “Even when it’s casual, you know how emotional chicks get after you’ve seen them naked.”

“Yeah,” Jordan said, thinking about Lecia, his ex. She hadn’t been emotional so much as she’d been dramatic. Everything was a big catastrophe in her world. And it usually ended up being Jordan’s fault. It’d been six months since he’d called it quits, but she’d stalked him for three months afterward, texting, Facebooking, calling in the middle of the night. Thank God that was over with. “Sass some kind of stalker?” Jordan asked.

“Nah. Just messed up. Plus, there’s her dad.”

Of course someone like Sass would have some crazed father. Probably of the gun-toting, you-touch-my-little-girl-and-I’ll-blow-you-into-next-week variety. Thank God he’d kept his hands to himself. Sort of. “Protective is he?”

“Protective? Shit, man. He’s my boss. I’d be an idiot to piss off Buck.”

“Buck Hogan!” The words exploded out of Jordan’s mouth before he could stop them. Sass was Buck Hogan’s daughter?

“You know him?”

Jordan spoke quickly to recover from his blunder. “Sure, I’ve heard of him. Anyone into muscle cars has heard of Buck Hogan.”

“Right.” Carlos shot and sunk the two ball. He kept playing even though he didn’t call the extra bank. “Anyway, Sass was great in the sack…”

Jordan chose to focus on the lyrics of the Miranda Lambert song that blared out of the speaker system rather than listen to Carlos tout his sexual exploits. His fingers curled tightly around the beer bottle as he drank, fighting the urge to punch him so he’d shut up.

Why? Over some girl? Buck Hogan’s daughter? Are you insane?

All he’d done was kiss her. Though, if fantasies counted, he’d done more than that. Much more.

Before he got himself all wrapped up in thinking about her again, he changed the subject back to cars. “Buck had some cars in the rally in Denver last June, didn’t he?”

“Yeah,” Carlos puffed out his chest. “Mine was one of them.”

“Was that your ’Stang?”

“Damn straight.”

“You know, after I saw it, I knew I had to have one.”

“No shit?”

Jordan watched as Carlos put the eight ball away with authority. “So, did you do the restorations yourself?”

“Of course,” Carlos said, voice smug.

“I hope you’re the one who’s gonna put mine back together.”

Carlos grinned and punched him in the shoulder. “Oh yeah. I’ll fix her up, better than she was before.”

Perfect. That was precisely what Jordan wanted to hear. He was pretty damn sure that Carlos was the man for the job he wanted. Just then Tori returned but the earlier flirtatiousness was gone completely. She moved closer to Carlos with her gaze fixed on something behind Jordan’s back.

Jordan turned to see the very woman they’d just been discussing. Sass approached, carrying a beer and a plate of fries. As she passed their table, her gaze met his and then she quickly looked away. A tall, willowy redhead followed close on Sass’s heels. He realized he hadn’t been the only one to notice their presence. Carlos watched them, too, with gaze narrowed and arms crossed. Tori, for all her claims of no commitment, sure was playing the possessive girlfriend, draping herself all over Carlos.

Interesting.

He supposed this was what life was like in a small town. Everyone knew everyone. And, probably had some kind of history. Whatever the history here, he wasn’t going to be around long enough to get involved.

Only one problem. He was having a hard time tearing his gaze away from a set of narrow hips and the way they switched in a pair of well-worn jeans. In his mind’s eye, he saw the tattoo hiding beneath those clothes, the swirls of red and yellow. The artistry.

He finally raised his eyes just in time to catch a flash of Sass’s perplexed glance over her shoulder. His arousal was immediate.

Not good.

“You want to play another game?” Carlos asked.

Jordan forced himself to stop staring. “Sure, one more.”

Chapter Five

Sass dove into her fries. She’d known Carlos would be there. He spent pretty much every night at the Pit. She, on the other hand, had hardly set foot inside the bar in the last year, aside from Saturday night, of course. She’d been working so many late nights at the shop—finishing up the Corvette and Buck’s Dodge Charger before that—she didn’t have time for socializing. If she’d wanted to see Carlos, she usually met up with him later. The fact that Carlos was here tonight…with Tori, well that rattled Sass. But damn if she was going to let him or anyone else know how much.

Strangely, it was the big blond dude Carlos was playing pool with who did more than rattle her. The minute their eyes met, her heart took a nosedive. What the hell was that about? Probably an equal measure of guilt and shame all rolled into one.

She must have glanced one too many times at the pool tables because Libby noticed and craned her head to see what had captured Sass’s attention.

“Is that Carlos over there? He’s kind of cute, isn’t he?”

Sass took a swig of beer to keep from gagging. Once she had herself under control she said, “Carlos? He’s okay, I guess.”

“Some guys can pull off tats . He’d be one. I think it’s the muscles.”

Oh God. Of all the people Libby had to focus on in the bar, why the hell did she have to choose Carlos? Karma sure was a bitch.

Sass shoved her plate toward her friend. “Want some?”

“Sure.” Libby took a fry but unfortunately went back to watching the pool players. “So how come nothing’s ever happened between the two of you?”

“Carlos? Are you kidding me?”

“Yeah. Seems to me he fits your criteria.”

“What criteria?”

Libby rolled her eyes. “You know, he likes cars. You like cars. He’s a friend. You work with him so you don’t have to have any
sleepovers
because you’ll see him the next morning at the shop.”

If there was one thing Sass regretted, it was telling Libby that she didn’t do sleepovers.

“Me and Carlos? That’s never going to happen. No way. No how. Nope.”

“Me thinks thou dost protest too much,” Libby said, fry in hand, eying Sass thoughtfully from beneath her sweep of bangs. “I’m just saying. What are your options?” She waved the fry around in a circle indicating the patrons at the bar. “This is Greenview. Pretty slim pickin’s.”

“Yeah, but Carlos?” Sass focused on the plate in front of her, dipping and redipping a fry into a mound of ketchup. “I’ve seen him pick his nose and scratch his ass. Kind of takes the sexy out of it.” Oh. That was a good one. Sass licked the ketchup off the fry, pleased with herself for coming up with that deflection.

“Eww. Okay. Never mind. I take it all back. He’s here with Tori.”

“Really?” Sass said, her voice going too high, sounding overly surprised, even though she was only too aware that Tori was with him.

“Yep. And I’m sorry to be hard on anyone of our sex, but that girl’s a skank.”

A laugh burst out of Sass’s mouth. She craned her head to get a view of the tables and saw Tori, draped all over Carlos. The image made her feel…annoyed and nauseous. Which was weird. Where was the rage? Where was the desire to hurt Carlos as much as he’d hurt her?

Maybe she’d exorcised all the anger yesterday. That or she was starting to believe her own lies.

“Sass?”

“Yeah?”

“Stop looking over there.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s creepy.”

“
You
were just doing it.”

“Yeah, ’cuz I’m skilled at covert surveillance. You, on the other hand, just sit there and stare. Openly. You don’t want Carlos to get the wrong idea and…holy Mama!”

“What?”

“Who is the hottie shooting pool with Carlos?”

“Hmm?”

“Blond hair. Sexy five o’clock shadow. Six-two, broad shoulders. Would go perfectly with my bedspread…”

Sass shifted in order to get a better look, pretending like she didn’t know
exactly
who Libby was referring to. “Oh. That’s Jordan Michaels. He’s the one who got his car totaled Saturday night.”

“I heard about that. Weird, huh?”

“Yep.” Sass kept her eyes down, making a mess of the ketchup. Libby was way too perceptive for her own good. She had to deflect this conversation, fast. There was only one thing she could think of that would get Libby’s attention away from the table across the room.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Of course.”

Sass dropped her voice. “It’s kind of personal.”

Libby tilted her head. “Sass. I’m your best friend. You can talk to me about
anything
.”

Oh, God. Sass had to gear herself up for this conversation. A couple years ago, Libby had started selling sex toys through a company called Sextopia. She’d had a couple of home parties before the business fizzled out. But regardless of the venture’s failure, it was Libby’s favorite topic. Sex and everything related. It was
not
Sass’s favorite. She was not a kiss-and-tell kind of girl, but Sass was desperate and if there was one way to get Libby to forget about Carlos and Jordan it was to get her to talk about her favorite topic.

“It’s about, well…sex,” she whispered.

Libby beamed like a light had come on inside of her. “It’s about time we had this little talk about the birds and the bees.” She playfully patted her hand. “What do you want to know?”

“Ha-ha. Very funny,” Sass said. “I just need your advice on something.”

Sitting back in her chair, a wide grin on her face, Libby said, “Shoot. Ask me anything.”

Sass moved some more fries around on her plate. The problem was, she had no idea what to ask. After chewing on her lip, trying to come up with a topic—and hoping it appeared as if she was simply uncomfortable—Sass said, “What’s your view on…a one-night stand?”

“A one-night stand, huh,” Libby said, nodding thoughtfully. “Not what I thought you were going to ask but a good topic of conversation, nonetheless.”

Phew. Now all Sass had to do was sit back, finish her fries, and let Libby go off on some diatribe about sexuality. Her steak sandwich would be done soon. She’d eat and they’d leave. She’d have survived a night at the Pit with Carlos and Tori—no scenes, no violence, no smashed cars. Afterward, no one would ever guess that she’d been the one to take an iron to City-boy’s car thinking it was Carlos’s. Hogan’s would be saved.

“Have you been listening to a word I’ve said?” Libby asked, giving Sass a kick beneath the table.

“Yeah, sure,” Sass said quickly. “You were talking about the fact that people take sex too seriously. That a one-night stand has it’s time and place and can be fun as long as you go into it with the right attitude and do it safely. No glove. No love.”

“Oh,” Libby said. “You were listening.”

Sass suppressed a grin. She
hadn’t
been listening but ever since Libby starting selling Sextopia stuff, this was her classic lecture. Sass had simply adapted it to the topic at hand.

“Now, take that delicious stranger over there playing pool.” Libby pointed.

Uh-oh. “Who? Michaels?”

“Yeah. That man is whipped cream and chocolate pudding poured into an expensive pair of jeans. He’s totally worth sampling.”

Biting her thumb, Sass said, “So, go for it.”

“Not for me, duh. For you.”

“You’re crazy!”

“Am I? Because if I’m not mistaken, he’s on his way over here.”

Shit! It was one thing to have to deal with Carlos and Tori at the bar, she’d been prepared for that, had geared herself up for it. But Michaels? She had not expected to run into the dude she’d accidentally on purpose kissed the day after taking an iron to his car. And she totally didn’t know what to do about it.

Maybe because she’d replayed that kiss about forty-seven-million times. But only because she’d been trying to figure out how things could have gone so wrong.

Sass took a long pull on her beer and then another until it was empty. Just as Jordan reached their table, she stood up.

“Be right back,” she said to Libby. She held up her empty bottle and then turned toward the bar. But she could feel him right behind her as if her body recognized the heat from his and responded. It was particularly bad when he shouldered his way right beside her at the bar and the hair on his forearm brushed her skin, making it tingle like a bazillion teeny tiny Tasers.

“If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were avoiding me.”

Sass didn’t say a word. She simply shrugged and slid farther away from him. When Sam came back with her beer, Sass reached into her back pocket for the money, but before she could lay the bills down, a twenty was tossed in front of her.

“It’s on me.”

“I pay my own way.”

“Look, it’s a thank you for breakfast yesterday.”

Sass cringed. “I don’t know what you think you’re doing here, but…” She leaned in closer, not expecting him to move toward her at the same time. The result was that her breasts pressed up against his arm, sending enough electricity through her to light a Christmas tree. Sass’s head snapped up from the jolt. “Yesterday was a mistake. We should never have done that.”