Super Nova (22 page)

Carver whooped even as Bryce and Holden slapped each other on the back.

Roman moved toward her, but before he could spit out whatever he was on the brink of sharing, a grime-covered man entered the shop. The reek of cigarettes rolled off him as if he’d chained smoked twelve packs before coming in.

“Who’s in charge around here?” the man demanded in a too-loud shout.

Kaige’s cheeks grew red at the interruption and the crass greeting of their crasher. Nola laid her hand on his arm and squeezed lightly. Stiffness leached from his muscles and he turned to her with a rueful smile.

His temper dissolved easily when she was there. Learning to read the signs of his escalation had been easy, and together they could usually diffuse him before he lost his cool. Proud of his progress, she hugged him around his waist.

“Can we help you?” Eli asked the intruder.

“Well, it ain’t me I’m worried about.” The guy wiggled his brows. “Some rich bitch is stranded on the side of Route 33 in a maroon Maserati. She paid me a thousand bucks to find a tow truck for her. Says her phone is dead too.”

Bryce stood up so fast he knocked over a rack of custom license plate holders. Ignoring the mess, he asked, “What model?”

“Hell if I know. It’s a Maserati, dude. I never seen one before.”

“What does this woman look like?” He acted like Buster McHightops with his favorite chew toy. Relentless. Unlike the usually laid-back giant. The rest of the guys watched the exchange with raised brows.

“Tall. Real blonde. Like a movie star. Bright blue eyes…”

With every description, Rebel seemed to clench his jaw harder. Nola worried about his dental work.

“…and perfect tits except for a little mole right about here.” The jerk pointed to his left pec.

Bryce put his hands on his knees and sucked in a deep breath.

“If you ain’t got anything available, I can go back and fetch her.” The guy’s small bulge was obvious from where Nola sat. Kaige tucked tighter against her, as if to shield her from the creeper. From his bed in the corner, Buster growled. “I offered to drive her into town, but she turned me down. Guess my truck is too dirty for a broad like that.”

Nola didn’t think it had anything to do with the state of the guy’s ride. The woman had been smart to stay put. They had to go help her. But what the hell was up with Rebel?

Holden put his hand on Bryce’s back. He asked quietly, “You okay?”

“No. Not really.” His low bass sounded strained. Odd.

“You know that chick?” Alanso wondered.

Eli shooed the informant out, assuring him he’d earned his fee. When the guy was gone, they turned to Rebel. “Who is she?”

“My past,” he snarled. “I’ve got this.”

“I’ll come with.” Carver offered.

“No. I’m going alone.” Bryce didn’t allow any other discussion on the topic, though Buster refused to stay put. When his adopted master moved toward the storefront, the dog was right on his heels. Rebel stormed out of the office, smashing the door into the garage wall hard enough Nola expected it to have cracked. The giant guy grabbed some keys off the pegboard on the wall, clipped Buster’s leash on, then stalked to the lot. The roar of the tow truck’s diesel came a few seconds later.

“Well, this should make for an interesting evening.” Holden grinned. He reveled in mischief.

“What a welcome, Nola.” Sally squeezed Nola’s hand. “We’ll celebrate later. Promise.”

“I thought that’s what we’ve been doing for the past several weeks.” Nola assured them it was fine. She had the important things she needed in her life. Starting with the man lingering beside her, where she hoped he’d always stay.

“Good point.” Roman nodded. “But like birthday cake, you never can have too much great sex.”

“In that case, we’ll have a party. Hot Rods style. As soon as we make sure Rebel’s okay.” She wouldn’t turn them down. Not now, or ever.

After scanning each of their smiling faces, she turned to Kaige.

The pure adoration radiating from him warmed her inside and out. She went into his arms easily as he plucked her from the desk. “Eli, I’m taking the afternoon off. I have something I want to do. With Nola. In my car. It’ll take a while to get right. Call if you need us. If Rebel does. But otherwise…we’ll see you for dinner. Probably.”

Nola wrapped her arms around her man’s shoulders as he toted her to his ride. She knew they’d finally christen that backseat properly. And she couldn’t wait to drive him wild.

After all, she’d taken to calling him Super Nova like his friends. Not because of his temper anymore, but because of the intensity they generated between them when they exploded together.

It seemed fitting.

She hoped to set astrological records tonight…and every other.

For the rest of their lives.

About the Author

Jayne Rylon is a
New York Times
and
USA Today
bestselling author. She received the 2011 Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award for Best Indie Erotic Romance. Her stories used to begin as daydreams in seemingly endless business meetings, but now she is a full-time author, who employs the skills she learned in her straight-laced corporate existence in the business of writing. She lives in Ohio with two cats and her husband, who both inspires her fantasies and supports her career. When she can escape her purple office, she loves to travel the world, avoid speeding tickets in her beloved Sky, and, of course, read.

Jayne loves to hear from fans. You can reach her by email at
[email protected]
or chat with her while she’s procrastinating on Facebook—
www.facebook.com/jayne.rylon
—or Twitter—
@jaynerylon
.

For the latest news about what Jayne’s writing, where you can find her at events or to win one of her prize packs given to random subscribers in each addition of her newsletter, sign up for the Naughty News:
http://bit.ly/Y523Db

Look for these titles by Jayne Rylon

Now Available:

Three’s Company

Nice and Naughty

Play Doctor

Dream Machine

Healing Touch

Men In Blue

Night is Darkest

Razor’s Edge

Mistress’s Master

Spread Your Wings

Powertools

Kate’s Crew

Morgan’s Surprise

Kayla’s Gifts

Devon’s Pair

Nailed to the Wall

Hammer It Home

Compass Brothers

(Written with Mari Carr)

Northern Exposure

Southern Comfort

Eastern Ambitions

Western Ties

Compass Girls

(Written with Mari Carr)

Winter’s Thaw

Hope Springs

Two to Tango

Where There’s Smoke

Hot Rods

King Cobra

Mustang Sally

Print Anthologies

Three’s Company

Love’s Compass

Powertools

Love Under Construction

Two to Tango

Coming Soon:

Compass Girls

(Written with Mari Carr)

Summer Fling

Falling Softly

Hot Rods

Rebel On The Run

Swinger Style

Barracuda’s Heart

Play Doctor

Developing Desire

Print Anthologies

Hot Rods

Two men will give her the ride of her life.

Mustang Sally

© 2013 Jayne Rylon

Hot Rods, Book 2

Salome “Sally” Rider is flooring the gas pedal of her pink ’69 Mustang, desperate to outrun the memory of two of her fellow mechanics getting busy with some bar skank on the hood of a classic car. On
her
custom paint job.

For years her emotions have withered while her lost boys, her Hot Rods, have grown closer than brothers. Maybe some downtime with the Powertools sexperts will help her figure out why Eli and Alanso went looking for some stranger when Sally was waiting right at the ends of their grease-smudged noses.

Sally is dead wrong about what she thought she saw, and Eli “King Cobra” London and the rest of the thoroughly rattled Hot Rods are determined to prove it. They’ll show her in the sexiest possible way that she’s not merely an interchangeable part in their well-oiled machine.

Yet just as Eli gets up the nerve to make a very indecent proposal, a ghost rises from her painful past. Threatening to slam the brakes on their future before they can get it in gear.

Warning: A sexy car wash complete with lots of studs may not be enough to clean up the pages filled with massive ménage scenes starring extra-dirty mechanics.

Enjoy the following excerpt for
Mustang Sally:

The stainless steel skeletal butterfly on her fob rattled against her car and house keys as she ascended the open-backed stairs at the rear of the industrial building. The two slivers of metal reminded her of all the stakes. Her home. Her car. Her Hot Rods, who’d given her the trinket, binding them together on the first Christmas she’d spent with them a decade ago.

The badass butterfly had been her signature logo ever since, painted on each piece she created. That included her own Mustang and every other vehicle the Hot Rods obsessed over. Why did they mean so much to her if she didn’t matter a bit to them? Their sexy bodies and friendship had obviously warped her judgment.

When she went to fit her key in the lock, the door at the top of the stairs swung open. Had they forgotten to pull it closed? A bunch of them had grown up on the streets or in places a hell of a lot less protected. Security wasn’t something they slacked off on despite the relative safety of Middletown.

“Um, hello?” A shiver ran down her spine. Something wasn’t right. When a skitter of motion flickered through her unadjusted peripheral vision, she didn’t hesitate.

Using the self-defense instruction Roman had often given her, she balled her fist and swung at the shadow rapidly encroaching on her. Her knuckles connected with flesh.
Holy crap.

It hurt, but not enough to keep her from landing a second punch to someplace softer. Who the hell was in their house? In the dark? Had they hurt her Hot Rods?

She’d rip them apart with her bare hands if they had.

“
Oompf
.” The grunt sounded somewhat familiar. But Sally wasn’t sure the person she’d decked was Eli until he hollered, “Guys! Turn the lights on.”

Brightness flashed into existence, blinding Sally.

“Welcome home!” a chorus of male voices shouted, mostly together.

She nearly toppled onto her ass when fight or flight instincts propelled her headlong into the bizarre scene in front of her. Eli bent in half, clutching his abdomen with one hand and his face with the other. Alanso stood slightly behind him, eyes wide and mouth hanging open.

After them, a mass of guys milled around with beers, ridiculous party hats, oversized balloons from the shop and an impressive assortment of snack cakes that looked like they might have come from the convenience section of the gas station.

“Uh-oh.” She dropped her keys.

Holden cracked up first. He adored mischief. This one might go down in the history books as the most awkward greeting of all time. “Well, he had it coming.”

“Somebody hand me some paper towels.” Alanso rushed to Eli’s side. A trickle of blood spattered onto the floor.

“I’m fine. It’s fine.” Eli tried to shake it off. He lifted his head and ignored any discomfort he might be in. Peeking at her from the slivers of his eyes not scrunched in pain, he said, “Hey, there.”

“Oh my God.” Sally’s shoulders drooped. “I’m so sorry. I thought… It was dark. I didn’t think you were home. The door was unlocked.”

“And you still came inside. By yourself?” Roman practically growled at her.

“She can hold her own.” Eli surprised her by taking her side. He pressed the napkin, which Carver had offered, to his face and tipped his head back as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

And just like that, Sally couldn’t handle any more. She didn’t give a damn if they thought less of her. She’d always made a point of showing no weakness around the gang of mechanics. Or at least she’d tried. But tonight there was no stopping the flood of tears that swept over her.