Slide (Boosted Hearts Book 3) Read online

  Her spine instantly straightened at the judgment she’d heard in his voice. “Well, whoopee for you. Do you have something to add? Anything my brothers forgot? Do you have the burning need to share your disappointment, your disapproval, at my irresponsible behavior as well?”

  He shook his head then he was moving toward her. His movements were slow—hell, predatory. But instead of wanting to run like a frightened woodland creature, she wanted to stay right where she was, fall to her back, expose her throat, and let him devour her.

  What is wrong with me? She knew better than to entertain those kinds of pointless thoughts. All they did was keep her trapped in a useless cycle of hope followed swiftly by inevitable pain. Either by his disinterest, his rejection, or seeing him with someone else. She’d experienced all of the above. More than once.

  He stopped in front of her. Close. Too damn close. “No.”

  She blinked up at him. “No?”

  The irritation she’d seen in his eyes a second ago vanished, and the smirk returned. “I have nothing to add.”

  She forced a snort. “There’s a first.”

  He chuckled, low and dark and rough. And dear God, she felt it. Felt it right between her thighs.

  His fingers went to her hair, resting on her shoulder, and he rubbed the strands between his fingers. “I have to ask one thing, though.”

  He’d done the same thing four years ago, touched her hair like that. She’d never forgotten; remembered it like it was yesterday. She remembered the way he’d made her feel as well. Another reason she was a damn fool for wanting this man. “I wouldn’t dream of stopping you.”

  “Do you plan this shit out, or are you just naturally gifted?”

  It took her a second to process what he’d said, the way he was looking at her. He was back to pissed off, and had a growl to his voice that backed it up.

  “Naturally gifted at what?”

  “At making people fucking crazy. Winding them up, infuriating them…getting under their goddamn skin.”

  She jerked back, tugging her hair from his fingers. The way he’d said it, it was obvious he didn’t just mean her brothers. Her heart did a volley of erratic pumps in her chest.

  They argued a lot. A lot. And the kicker was, getting him all hot under the collar like this—though she still wasn’t sure what he had to be angry about—only made him sexier. All flaring nostrils, bright eyes, heaving muscles.

  Angry Adam was hot, goddamn it. And that just pissed her off more.

  “Well, look at that. You did have something to add after all. Feel better now?”

  He shook his head again. “Not really, no.”

  “I fail to see how my being home affects you.”

  He was somehow closer, and she didn’t miss the tic in that strong jaw or the way he swayed even closer still.

  His mouth flattened into a grim line. “Baby girl, you fail to see a lot of things.”

  She blinked up at him. “What the hell’s that supposed to mean?” Their chests were almost touching, and the rough way he just said baby girl caused the relentless pulse between her legs to get stronger. She had a love/hate thing going on with that nickname. She knew he used it to put her in her place, to keep her at a distance. But the amount of times she’d lain in her bed, touching herself, imagining him above her while he said those words…

  It happened more than she’d like to admit.

  A rough sound slid past his lips. She shivered before she could stop herself. God, his boot was against her foot, their bodies plastered from knee to chest. What the hell is going on here?

  He gritted his teeth. “It means you—”

  His phone started up in his pocket.

  Adam stilled, then looked down at her like he didn’t know how he got there. He took an abrupt step back, but that cool blue gaze stayed locked on hers, body stiff.

  “It means I what?” Her voice came out husky, softer than she’d intended.

  His fingers curled into fists and his jaw ticked again. She thought he might actually answer her, but instead he yanked his phone from his pocket.

  “Just…give your brothers a goddamn break. Last thing they need to be worrying about is keeping your ass out of trouble.” Then he answered the phone, dismissing her.

  She spun around before he saw how his words affected her, how much they hurt. Especially after the way he’d just pressed up against her, the way he’d looked at her. God, she’d actually thought he was going to…

  Idiot.

  Cutting off those thoughts before they could fully form, she bent to pick up her bags. There had to be something seriously wrong with her, wanting—shit, loving a man like him. But what could she do? Where Adam was concerned, the heart wanted what it wanted. Turned out her heart was insane and masochistic.

  Adam was murmuring into his phone behind her, deep in conversation, and though she tried, she couldn’t help but sneak a glance over her shoulder before she straightened. His phone was to his ear—but his eyes…his eyes were locked on her butt. So engrossed was he in his ass ogling that he hadn’t even noticed her watching him watching her. The way the fingers of his free hand were curled into a tight fist, or the way his body was held so rigid, he looked carved from stone. Her gaze dropped and she sucked in a breath.

  Or the way his cock was hard as iron, clearly outlined through his snug jeans.

  She straightened, quickly looking away, and headed for the door, heart racing, head swimming, confused, turned on…

  Mostly confused.

  What was that? Had she stepped through some portal into an alternate universe? Because that had never happened before. Well, she assumed it hadn’t.

  Had it?

  Had Adam been getting as turned on as she did when they fought all this time? Did he…did he want her…like that?

  No. Stop it, Lucy.

  He was a guy. And not just any guy. He was Adam the manwhore Grady. An ass was in front of him so he looked at it. It could have been any random woman’s ass. Second nature to a guy like that, right?

  After everything she’d been through lately, her grip on reality was more than likely compromised. She needed to focus on getting her life back on track, not lust after the surly, unattainable bastard downstairs.

  That’s it. The end

  No more thinking about Adam Grady.

  ~ * ~

  Adam watched his best friends’ baby sister walk away, perked up ass swaying as she went, and his gut tightened, along with his goddamn jeans. He growled.

  “You still there?” his cousin John muttered down the line.

  “Yeah, sorry.”

  “So, you can do it? You’ll find her and bring her back to me?”

  This was a dumb idea, the worst, but the building excitement pumping through his veins at just the idea of doing this job for John made it impossible to refuse. “I’ll find her.”

  “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 w
asn’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.

  “Ah…” He cleared his throat so he could talk. “Yeah, I guess.”

  “I can tell.”

  When he glanced at her, there was this little knowing smile on her face, then she lifted her bottle and took a sip of beer. Soft lips pressed to the opening, slender throat working.

  He needed to get the fuck out of there. “How’s that?”

  Why are you still talking, asshole? Get in your car and get the hell out of there.

  She lowered the bottle. “You get this…I don’t know…” She lifted one shoulder and let it drop. “This look. All focused, eyes intense”—her eyes dropped to his lips—“mouth kinda firm.”

  She licked hers and his cock surged in his jeans.

  “Only someone that likes what they’re doing would get a look like that.” She rested her hip against the front of the car beside him. “It makes me happy that you have that, that you’re so passionate about something.”

  “Yeah?” Somehow, she’d gotten closer and he realized her eyes weren’t just green, they were like emeralds. So many facets he could stare into them for days and not see all the shades. Shit, he’d heard it, read it before, and it was corny as fuck, but he could get lost in those eyes.

  If that happened he’d happily stay that way.

  “Yeah,” she repeated. “After your mom passed away…I didn’t think…I thought you might…”

  Adam jerked back, the mention of his mother like a bucket of ice water down his back. This girl, this kid that he had no damn right looking at or thinking about—she pitied him, felt sorry for him. He fucking hated it. Didn’t want it.

  Taking a step back, he forced a grin. “Thanks for the concern, Luce. It’s nice you care, but—”

  Her hand came down on his arm, her soft fingers curling around his forearm.

  “I do care. A lot.”

  He lifted his gaze from her hand and locked on those exquisite eyes. That’s when he saw it. A whole lot of lust.

  Lucy wanted him.

  Tits brushing his arm, she moved closer.

  He gritted his teeth. The two of them? It could never happen, for so many reasons. And if he didn’t stop this now, he’d lose the only good thing he had left in his life that meant something. For a long time Hugh, Joe, and their business were the only things that kept him going. He couldn’t betray them like this. Couldn’t hurt Lucy, which is what would happen if he went there with her.

  She was just a kid; she didn’t know what she wanted. But he did. He knew exactly what his future held, and she couldn’t be in it, not in the way he suspected she wanted to be.

  He had to put an end to this now.

  The chuckle he forced was rusty as hell. “Nice of you to worry, baby girl, but I don’t need your sympathy.”

  “That’s not…I just hate the idea of you being alone.”

  He turned into her and picked up a lock of hair from her shoulder, rubbing it between his fingers. “You don’t have to worry about that either, sweetheart. I have plenty of women willing to warm my bed at night.”

  She blinked up at him, and he felt sick to his stomach when her eyes went bright and she bit her lip, taking a hasty step back.

  “Right…well, that’s…that’s good then.” She spun away. “I better get back to packing.” Then she raced out the door.

  Adam cursed. He hadn’t thought about that day in a long time, didn’t want to. So much had changed. He’d changed. He wasn’t the same guy as he was then—he was worse.

  Lucy was off limits. Always had been, always would be. Not only was she too damn young, but Hugh and Joe would murder him slowly if he laid one finger on her. There was also the fact she hated his guts passionately. The girl bit his head off whenever they were in the same room. He was the only one feeling the off-the-charts lust nowadays. And thank fuck for that. The idea of tainting her, unleashing all the messed-up shit he had swirling inside him on her, made him fucking ill.

  If Lucy ever decided she wanted him again, only a fraction of the way he wanted her, he was royally screwed. They both would be.

  Fuck. He needed to get the hell out of there, away from the temptation that was Lucy Colton.

  Then he needed a damn drink.

  Chapter Two

  Dental assistant.

  Mouths. Blood. Terrified kids. Pass.

  Lucy ran her finger down the paper to the next job on the list.

  Stripper. Um…nope.

  House cleaner. Maybe. Must be okay with nudity. Nope.

  She’d circled six waitress positions, two retail, and one for a receptionist at the rival garage down the road.

  Someone snatched her pen from her fingers and slashed a line through the receptionist job.

  “No fucking way are you working for those butt munchers.”

>   She tried to grab the pen out of Joe’s hand but he held it above his head. Considering she only reached his chest, she was shit out of luck.

  “Give me my damn pen back, a-hole.”

  Joe shook his head. “I can’t believe you’d betray us like that! You goddamn traitor.”

  She yanked on his shirt, trying to pull him forward, but the bastard didn’t budge. “I need a job, and being your sister might actually help.”

  “How’d you figure that?” Hugh said, walking into the breakroom.

  She should have taken the paper upstairs. A rookie move on her part. “I figure hiring me and annoying you would be incentive enough to take me on.”

  “You’re not working there,” he rumbled like a grumpy grizzly bear.

  “Sorry, but you don’t have a say in this.”

  Hugh picked up the paper, screwed it up, threw it in the trash, and aimed his pissed-off stare at her. “I said…no.” Then he dropped his giant butt in the closest chair, leaned back, and closed his eyes.

  “You can’t do that.” Lucy poked him in the shoulder since it looked like he was seconds away from nodding off.

  He swiped her hand away and cracked an eyelid. “Do as you’re fucking told for once in your goddamned life, would you? I don’t have the energy to deal with your drama. You’re like a human swarm of locusts, flattening anything that gets in its way.”

  Ouch.

  His other eyelid popped open. “Why don’t you go stay with Ma for a while? She’d be thrilled to fawn all over you and praise you on your brave choice to throw your life away.”

  Double ouch.

  Lucy wrapped her arms around herself and tried like hell not to let him see how much his words hurt. Hugh got pissed at her sometimes, but never this pissed. Before she left college in San Francisco, she’d made the decision to turn her life around after what had happened, the hell she’d caused—been through. She needed to start thinking before she acted. She needed to leave behind the old Lucy, the reckless, irresponsible, carefree girl she’d been—the girl who had entered into a relationship with her goddamn professor and turned her life upside down, letting her hopes and dreams crumble to her feet. Convincing her family that she’d changed, though, wasn’t going to be so easy.