Page 6 of Slide

“If the fuckers that stole her have scratched her…if they’ve eaten in her…”

Adam snorted. “You’re gonna stroke out, man. The car will be fine. She’s too rare to break down for parts. My guess, some rich asshole wants it for his private collection. I’ll find it.” His cousin’s car was last spotted there in LA and Adam still had enough connections to track it down. He hadn’t been out of the game that long.

“I want you to drive her back to me. I don’t trust anyone else to get her home in one piece.”

“I’ve got you covered.”

His cousin let out a relieved breath. “Thanks. The cops haven’t done jack. I don’t know…”

Whatever John was saying turned into white noise because Lucy had walked back in to get her last bag. She’d pulled her long dark hair up in a messy bun and taken off her sweatshirt. The tank she wore was a pale purple color. Mauve? Lavender?

Jesus. He’d never in his life said either of those colors. Whatever the fuck it was, it suited her. Shit, made her eyes look even greener.

He gripped the phone tighter.

Christ. The infuriating hellcat wasn’t wearing a bra. He could see her nipples through it, clear as goddamn day. And fuck him, they were small and tight, delectable little peaks, begging to be sucked and licked, kissed. Worshiped…

Stop.

He tore his gaze away. Lucy Colton was not for him. He shouldn’t even look at her, let alone half the shit he’d imagined doing to her over the years. She was off limits in every way there was.

She bent down again, giving him a perfect view of her ass encased in jeans that hugged her just right.

Adam growled again.

“What the hell?” John said down the line. “You sound like a demented grizzly.”

He’d completely forgotten his cousin still yammering in his ear. “Sorry.” He ran a hand through his hair. “Look, I gotta go. I’ll call you in a few days, yeah?”

He disconnected as he watched Lucy walking back out the door. Returning his phone to his pocket, he got down to the business of closing up since Joe and Hugh had bailed. But no matter how hard he tried, one thought wouldn’t go away: Lucy was home.

For good.

Just the idea made his gut tighten and his dick hard. He barely kept his shit together around her or his feelings for her under wraps when she was home for short visits. Baiting her, bickering with her in an attempt to keep her at arm’s length—how the fuck was he supposed to do that with her living above the garage…seeing her every damn day?

He’d felt her absence when she left four years ago, but it’d been for the best. She’d been young, too damn young for him—and he didn’t do relationships, ever—but she wasn’t that kid anymore. And the way he felt about her, it hadn’t diminished, not even a little bit.

A memory rushed him and took hold before he could lock it down.

“Beer?”

Adam looked up from the engine bay at Lucy’s outstretched hand. “You brother know you drink?”

She shrugged. “You want one or not?”

He took it and did his best to keep his eyes on her face. Agreeing to service Lucy’s car before she left for school in a couple of days, since Hugh and Joe were out of town trying to track down their old man, had seemed like the right thing to do at the time. But faced with a barely dressed, fresh-faced, insanely sweet, incredibly sexy Lucy Colton, he was having second thoughts.

He also felt like a sick, perverted bastard. She was eighteen years old, for fuck’s sake. He was twenty-seven. That put him into dirty old man territory.

He took a swig of his beer, put it on the workbench, then got back to work—anything to avoid looking at her.

Which was damn near impossible because in a fucked-up twist of fate, it turned out Lucy Colton, his best friends’ little sister, was everything he’d ever wanted, everything he’d secretly dreamed of. Everything he could never have.

Shutting that shit down, he got back to work and tried to pretend she wasn’t there. Easier said than done when she moved up beside him and leaned in.

“Have you always wanted to work on cars?”

Her voice was soft and had this little husky rasp to it that lifted the hair at the back of his neck. And she smelled…fuck, she smelled like honey and spring blossoms, like the ones his mom used to have in the garden. Lucy smelled like heaven.