Page 39 of Slide
“Your mustache is exceptional,” she said, because it was, just not in a good way.
“I’ve been told it feels good on…certain places of a woman’s body.” His arms were around her waist, holding her immobile.
Gag! “Oh, I bet.” She slid her hand lower, slipped her finger through the metal ring on the key chain sticking out of his pocket, and carefully slipped it free. “I bet you know how to do all sorts of naughty things.”
“You know it,” he murmured, voice kind of high and excited.
She squirmed, forcing a little laugh. “You hold that thought. I need a quick trip to the little girls’ room.”
He slapped her on the butt. “Hurry back.”
Lucy glanced at Adam, catching his eye long enough to tilt her head to the back of the bar, and started toward the restroom, then veered off to the back exit. Her hand was on the door handle when Adam came up behind her, wrapped his arm around her waist, lifted her off her feet, and carried her outside.
“What are you—”
“Do not say a fucking word,” he growled against her ear. “Not one.” He strode to the Superbird, dragging her behind him in plain sight of the bar’s big picture window. Adam didn’t seem to care. He unlocked the car. “Get in.”
There was a shout from inside and a crash as she climbed into the passenger seat. Then Chuck was out the door, running…or rather rolling toward them. Lucy spun in her seat to look back at the guy’s flushed face, cackling like a lunatic as they sped off.
She turned back to Adam, but he wasn’t laughing. He was still clearly pissed off.
“Look, Adam—”
“I said, not a fucking word.”
Shit.
They drove in silence for a long time. Finally, she couldn’t take it anymore. “How did you find me? Did you leave the rental at the bar?”
“No.”
“Oh. How did you…”
“I ran.”
“What?” she sputtered. That’s when she noticed how damp his T-shirt was, how it stuck to his chest and abs. How flushed he still was. “You ran?”
He ignored her. “We need to go back and cancel the rental and get our bags. I left them there when you got in the car…with a guy you don’t know. A fucking criminal. And decided you’d…” He turned to her. “What the fuck did you think you were doing?”
“You ran after me?”
His fingers flexed around the steering wheel. “What did you think I’d do?”
“Um…steal a car? It’s not like you haven’t before…or I don’t know…use the rental.”
His jaw did that hard-as-stone thing he had down to a fine art. “I wasn’t exactly thinking clearly. You’ll have to forgive my stupidity. But when I saw my woman in a fucking car with the asshole who’d stolen it a couple hours earlier, who could work for any-damn-one, I didn’t stop to weigh up my options. I assumed you were in there because he’d recognized you. I thought he’d taken you against your will. That he was going to hurt you. Jesus fucking Christ, Lucy! If he hadn’t stopped at the bar…”
The only words Lucy heard were his woman,andshe didn’t even think he was aware that he’d said them out loud. Her skin flushed hot. It didn’t mean anything. Just a slip of the tongue. He only meant the woman he was screwing around with for the next two days, that’s all. But then she looked at him. He was almost vibrating, God, shaking…with rage, fear, she didn’t know. What she did know was she’d scared the hell out of him. She felt ill. She also felt…
A shiver moved through her.
“I’m sorry.” And she meant it, but she wasn’t sure she sounded very sincere. There was this underlying current of excitement still pumping through her veins, and she couldn’t shake it. Having Adam call her his woman, hearing that he’d dropped everything and just run after her, she was having a hard time pulling it all back together. Darcey had told her one night over tequila shots what a turn-on boosting cars was for her. Then she’d started getting into details, details Lucy had definitely not wanted in on since they involved her brother.
“Bullshit,” he growled.
She squirmed in her seat, her skin suddenly too hot, her clothes too damn tight. “I-I meant it. It’s just I feel…after all that…I’m…well, I’m…”
Adam looked at her and his nostrils flared. “You’re what?”
