Just for Today.... Emmie Dark

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СКАЧАТЬ to the driver’s side.

      He settled into the familiar seat and smiled as the car started up with a welcoming rumble. Desdemona was more than a car. She was a friend, a shelter, a partner in crime, a symbol of his achievement. Occasionally, even, a home. Dezzie meant more to him than most human beings of his acquaintance.

      Tonight, she was an escape vehicle. Sean felt a weight lift as he maneuvered the car out of the hotel and away from the Paterson family, as if he’d been wearing a lead cloak that he’d finally managed to shrug off.

      “Would you like me to leave you two alone?”

      Sean was startled from his reflection by Jess’s amused tone. “Huh?”

      “The way you’re stroking the steering wheel. It’s almost...obscene.” She laughed, a warm, rich sound.

      Sean didn’t rise to the bait. Jess wasn’t the first person to comment on the close relationship he had with his car. And frankly, he didn’t care what other people thought. Not about Dezzie, anyway.

      “She’s been through a lot today,” Sean said. “Not the least of which was Rob driving her from the church. He’s my brother, and I love him, but the guy has no idea how to work a clutch.”

      “Go on, give me the specs.”

      “Seriously?”

      “Tell me as if I don’t know anything about cars.”

      “Because you don’t know anything about cars.”

      “Exactly.”

      Sean ran a hand over the dash as he spoke. “Dezzie is a Ford XY Falcon GTHO Phase III, affectionately called the Hoey. One of only three hundred made. This model won Bathurst in 1971 with Allan Moffat driving.”

      “Dezzie?”

      “Yeah, short for Desdemona—the woman who elopes with Othello. Most of the other cars that are still around today are in showrooms or collections.”

      “But you like to drive it—I mean, her, Dezzie.”

      Sean smiled, pleased with Jess’s correction. “Yeah. It’d be kind of like keeping a wild bird in a cage. She was born to be on the road.”

      Jess nodded with a surprisingly understanding look on her face. “I get what you mean. So, gonna show me what she can do?”

      He flicked Jess his best wicked look. “I thought you’d never ask.”

      The speed limit on city streets was disappointingly low, so Sean headed for the closest freeway he could find—then he could at least let Dezzie off the leash a little. When he reached the on-ramp and accelerated hard, Jess let out a yelp, but he backed off as soon as he reached the limit. Well, just over the limit. Dezzie’s top speed neared two hundred and fifty kilometers an hour, but Sean hadn’t let her rip like that for a while. He needed to wait until he’d earned back a few more points on his license.

      “That was fun,” Jess said.

      “It’s better when you get out on a racetrack.”

      “I can imagine.” She twisted and looked around into the backseat. Her dress gaped as she did, revealing to him that she wasn’t wearing a bra. Sean did his best to be gentlemanly about it, but the sight of her breast almost down to her nipple had his mind fogging over. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt such an instant attraction to a woman. And he didn’t for the life of him understand how she could have been left sitting alone at the wedding. She should have been slapping off come-ons like flies.

      “She’s very clean. Did you have to get her detailed for the wedding?”

      Sean struggled to focus on her question. “Dezzie’s always pretty clean, but yeah, she did get a spruce up.”

      “And ribbons.” There was no mistaking the tease in her voice.

      “Yeah. And ribbons,” he grumped.

      He glanced over and Jess met his eyes. She was smiling, more than a trace of amusement in her expression over his fondness for his car. But it was kindly meant—and after a day with his family, Sean definitely knew the difference.

      “You’re a writer, huh?”

      “Yep.” She was the first person all day to ask him about his work. It was probably just as well, as the big news he wanted to share wasn’t nearly final enough to make public. When he finally did make his announcement, he wanted it to be a big occasion—he wanted to be there to lord his triumph over his parents, see the recognition of his achievement light up in their eyes.

      “What kind of books do you write?”

      “This and that.” He’d learned it was better to be vague with most people. Unless they understood his genre, they tended to be dismissive, if not insulting. Better not to get into it at all. “What’s your favorite animal?”

      “Huh?”

      “Being a vet and all, I figure you must have one.”

      “Not really. I like all animals.”

      “What’s your least favorite then?”

      She paused a moment before answering. “I guess I’m less keen on reptiles. I’m more of a dog and cat person. But at my clinic I look after all kinds of house pets, and that occasionally includes snakes and lizards and the like.”

      “What happens when you get a snake and a pet mouse in to see you at the same time? Do you have a dividing wall in the waiting room or something?”

      “Generally people don’t just bring their snakes in and sit them on their lap,” she said drily.

      “But surely the potential is there for chaos.”

      “Not in my waiting room.”

      No. He could see that. She’d accused him of being overly confident, but there was a strength to her that he could see just from the brief interaction they’d had so far. She seemed very “together,” compared to other women he knew.

      He glanced across at her and their eyes met and held.

      One of her eyebrows arched. “Shouldn’t you be watching the road?”

      “Probably.” But it took him another few moments before he pulled his eyes from hers and turned back to face the windscreen. Jessica Alexander was seriously hot. And making him feel the same. He dearly wished he’d thought to remove his tux jacket before he’d gotten in the car.

      Jess shifted in her seat and from the corner of his eye, Sean watched her skirt fall open again. She wasn’t wearing stockings or panty hose—the bare skin of her legs was a pale pinky-gold that he just knew would feel like silk. Her fingers grabbed the fabric and she tugged on it to pull it back into place.

      “Don’t.” Sean covered her hand with his. The contact sent a warm thrill through him. He wanted to touch her all over. The arousal that had been echoing faintly through his body became an ache at the thought.

      Jess СКАЧАТЬ