Free Mustang Sassy by Daire St. Denis Page A

her hand and pulled her to the dance floor, where there were only two other couples.
    Sass realized her mistake too late. He pulled her into his arms and started to sway to the music. Dammit! She didn’t want to slow dance. Being so close to Blondie did zero to relieve her of her pent-up frustration. With her hands on his hips, she eased him back in order to give them a little breathing room.
    “So, uh, you do marketing, huh?” Talk, Hogan. Just keep talking. That usually turns guys off.
    “Yeah.”
    “Who do you market for?” Good God. What did she know about marketing? It didn’t matter. She just had to keep him talking. About sane stuff. Like anything but sex and sex toys.
    “I’ve done some work for dealerships, auto bodies, car rallies.”
    “Oh really?” Now here was a topic she could get into. “Anything I’ve heard of?”
    Jordan’s grip loosened as he shrugged “Probably not.”
    “Then you’re not doing a very good job.”
    He chuckled. “Okay, let’s see, Aurora’s Fleet Sales and Service?” Sass shook her head and he rattled off half-a-dozen names of companies he’d done jobs for. She hadn’t heard of any of them except one.
    “You work for Carlyle’s Classics?”
    “Not really,” Jordan said quickly. “That’s where I picked up my beater.”
    “It’s a beater now, all right. Why didn’t you just take it back to Carlyle’s to get it fixed? I bet they’d give you a deal.”
    “It’s not exactly roadworthy.”
    “Right.” Sass hoped Jordan didn’t notice she was experiencing difficulty swallowing.
    “The tow would have cost a fortune.”
    “Uh-huh.” She continued to nod, feeling guilty as hell. She’d wrecked the guy’s car and now she was slow dancing with him, letting him buy her drinks and staring at his lips remembering what it was like to kiss them. What did that make her? A first-class shit, that was what.
    “Plus, I’ve heard of Buck Hogan. Of all places to have your car totaled, what a coincidence that it’s in the town of one of the best restoration shops in the state.”
    To him it must seem like an unlikely coincidence and if she hadn’t been the one to take the iron to the car herself, she’d have been suspicious of such a coincidence, too.
    Feeling light-headed, Sass whispered, “Yeah. That is weird.” Oh God. She had to change the subject. Fast. “Carlyle’s is one of Hogan’s biggest competitors.” Was it her imagination or did he stiffen at that?
    “Is that right?”
    “Mmhmm. I’ve never been there. What’s their shop like?”
    He pulled back a bit. “Fine. You know. Average. Nothing special. I, ah, wanted to see if they were interested in some of my designs. They weren’t.”
    “Your designs?”
    “Yeah.” He smiled crookedly. “I design cars. You know, the art thing?”
    “You design cars?” She knew people who rebuilt cars but not designed them. “I’d love to see some.” Shit! She didn’t want to get to know him, no matter how easy it suddenly was to talk to him. She was only pretending to like him. She didn’t really want to like him.
    Except, she sure as hell liked the way his hand was making little circles between her shoulder blades. That felt nice.
    No. No, it did not feel nice and she wasn’t going to hook up with him. This was all just for show. “About that kiss…”
    “Yeah?” he said softly into her hair.
    “It’s not going to happen again.”
    “Okay.” One hand slid lower, just above her belt loop.
    Somehow her head had come to rest against his chest and it was just as muscular as she’d imagined. Warm, too. She could even hear the slow, steady thud of his heart. Sass took a deep breath, inhaling his cologne. Mmm, nice. Like lemons or licorice or something else tasty. She licked her lips. “I just don’t want you to get the wrong idea.” She rubbed her cheek against his shirt. So soft.
    “Yeah. That would be bad,” he whispered. “We don’t even know each other.” His fingers found their way