Page 2 of Loving Hard on the Highway

I was impressed that he did more than the basic dude shuffle. He was bringing it, so I started to grind against him as he pressed against me. I figured, why the hell not?

And then the beat shifted. The smooth, slow rhythm coupled with his sexy gaze drew me in.

“You are one hell of a dancer.” He leaned down into my ear, his voice low enough for me to hear over the music and feel the warmth of his breath against my neck.

I raised an eyebrow, amused. “Is that your line?”

“Nope. Just an observation. It’s nice to see such a free and pretty…smile on the dance floor.”

I laughed—genuinely—and relaxed a little. “I’m rusty. It’s been a while since I let myself do this.”

He grinned, and damn, if it didn’t look good on him. “Well, you’re doing fine. Not that I’m an expert.”

He spun me once, and when I landed back in front of him, something shifted—the air between us felt close in a good way. His hand steadied me, and his smile softened.

“You’ve got a great laugh,” he said. “More people should try to earn it.”

“Flattery from a stranger? Dangerous territory.” I peered up at him with a coy smirk.

“I’m taking my chances,” he smiled, appraising me. “You got a name?”

“Gabrielle. Gabbie.”

“Sean,” he said, leaning in even closer. There was little space between us, and he smelled delicious. “You from here?”

“Yeah. I’ve been here for a couple of years.”

My heart dropped a little. I can’t fall for this guy because I’m leaving. But I couldn’t tell him that. It nagged the back of my mind that Rick might find out.

“And you?” I asked awkwardly.

“I’m just up from Miami,” he said, his expression hinting that he knew I wasn’t relaxed anymore.

Thankfully, the slow song ended, and the beat picked back up to a rapid pulse.

“I’d better get back to my friends.” I pulled away from him. “We’re having a girls’ night.”

He looked confused as I quickly hurried back to the cocktail table where Laurel and Evie were waiting.

I glanced back to see him check his watch and then disappear into the crowd. Damn. I could have left Florida with a bang.

Chapter 2

Sean

“I called URyde, and a driver will be around to take you back to the hotel shortly. Let me know if you need anything else, boss,” Myra said from the other end of my phone.

“Don’t call me boss. I see us more as partners,” I said.

“When personal assistants have multi-million-dollar salaries and own a portion of the company, then maybe,” Myra teased.

“Fair enough. Again, I’m sorry to call you while you’re on vacation.” I paced outside of Marco’s High Performance Automotive.

“It’s my job to make sure you’re taken care of,” she replied before hanging up.

I went from having a great night at Club Vida, hoping to get lucky with a really gorgeous girl, to finding out that some drunk had hit my parked custom Ducati motorcycle, Reba. I was surprised that Myra got the shop owner up and running, but money talks.

The smell of oil and rubber met me as I made my way back into the garage. I paused, letting out a lamenting sigh when I saw my beautiful baby on the lift, its rear tire and part of the fiery red casing removed. “Oh, Reba.”

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