Page 10 of Midnight Racers

“Are we going to continue this conversation on the phone, or can I hang up?” he queried, giving me a sexy ass squint.

I took my phone away from my ear, hanging up and shoving it in the pocket of my overalls. The asshole was enjoying my discomfort since he was still smiling, and I felt a traitorous warmth in my cheeks.

“This isn’t funny,” I muttered.

“Really, I think it’s absolutely hilarious,” he mused. “It isn’t every day a strange woman kicks you in the balls and then threatens to assault you with a spanner. Although, if you’re going to continue to try that, we’ll have to give you proper lessons on the use of a spanner.”

There had to be somewhere for me to curl up and die. How did today end so badly?

“I didn’t know who you were, and in my defence, you pretended to put a gun to my head.”

“I wasn’t pretending,” he said, pulling a gun from the back of his jeans. “When it comes to my cars, all bets are off.”

My jaw dropped open at the easy way he handled his weapon. I had gone a little rogue when I was younger and dated a few guys from biker gangs. It drove Dad crazy, but every girl had a type that made her weak at the knees, and alphaholes tended to be my Achilles heel.

I took a deliberate step back. “I don’t want to know why you have a gun with you, but could you please put it away while I am here?” My lips pursed together again. “This wasn’t in the contract Jordan put together.”

His laugh washed over me like smooth honey. “If Jay crafted it, I would say it is ironclad, and considering he has more guns than me, I’m sure they’re in there somewhere.”

I couldn’t remember the last time a man had this much of an effect on me, but my heart was hammering, my palms sweaty, and there were butterflies beating their wings against my tummy. There was a magnetic attraction to Flynn that made my body sway closer to him, even though my head screamed for me to resist him.

I mentally slapped myself because this was not how I should be reacting to my new boss. Jordan was drop-dead gorgeous and I didn’t lose my head and my panties over him. I straightened my shoulders and held out my hand to him.

“Charlotte Jones, pleased to meet you,” I said.

His smile made my tummy flip. “Flynn Dempster, pleased to meet you. I’ll be honest, when Jay referred to you as Charlie, I assumed you were a man.” His gaze flicked down briefly. “That appears not to be the case.”

“No, I can assure you that it definitely has me listed as female on my birth certificate.” I should just stop now because the woman who was normally so calm and focused was starting to flounder in his presence.

“Now that we’ve established that you are a genuine female and not a pretend one, why don’t you tell me about your career?” He leaned back against the car, and fuck me sideways, I had an image of him doing just that to me on the bonnet.

I had just jumped from the frying pan and into the most seductive fire of my life. Yeah, I had been attracted to some of the guys in the past, but nothing like this. None of them had made me want to peel my clothes off and present myself to them.

To avoid eye contact with him, I turned around and started to organise the tools I had laid out. “I studied for an engineering degree and wrote my thesis on engine modifications and the sustainability of a green racing car, and I don’t mean the paint colour.”

“So, you want to turn petrol heads into gardeners?” His lips twitched. “Will we require specialist gloves and sheers?”

“Maybe you should order a few greenhouses?” I replied. “Some fertiliser?”

“Ammonium nitrate looks a bit suspicious if I buy it in bulk. The authorities frown on us bombing the competition.”

His humour made me smile. No one ever teased me.

“It’s okay. Jordan had them physically remove the engine from our competition since technically I owned it.”

Flynn threw his head back and laughed. It transformed him and my breath caught. “That sounds like Jay. He would have taken a hatchet to it to get it out if he thought it would piss someone off. So, talk me through your career and show me your observations about our car.”

I glanced at the clock on the wall. “It’s four in the morning.”

“Yeah, well, I’m up now, and sleeping is overrated.” He stretched and his top rode up to show a tight stomach with sculpted abs. Holy shit. Could the man just ease off the throttle a bit and not be so tempting?

“How did you know I was here?” I asked, pushing the bonnet up again.

“Alarm activated. You mustn’t have turned them all off and tripped one.”

“There is a lot of them,” I replied. More than I had ever seen in my entire life. I was expecting to find the crown jewels in here in a display case.

He easily took the weight on the bonnet and attached the stand. He was close enough to smell delicious, and I was seriously tempted to push that top up again and lick his abs.

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