Free Hot Shot by Susan Elizabeth Phillips Page A

for repair work. She could smell the rain in his hair as he came close. Her eyes fastened on a few dark strands that were sticking to his cheek, then moved to his silver earring, which was shaped like one of the primitive heads on Easter Island. It swayed back and forth like a hypnotist's watch as he spoke. "I usually expect too much from people, and then I'm disappointed."
    She slipped her hands into the pockets of her blazer and prepared to keep silent, as she frequently did when she was uneasy. Ironically, these silences had earned her the reputation of being totally self-possessed. And then—as if she had fallen under the spell of that hypnotically swaying earring—she heard herself saying exactly what she was thinking. "Sometimes I don't think I expect enough from people."
    For her, it was an uncharacteristically bold piece of self-revelation, but he merely shrugged. "I'm not surprised." His eyes moved over her face with an intensity that further unnerved her. And then his lips curved into a cocky grin. "You want to take a ride on my Harley later?"
    She looked at him for a moment and, amazingly, felt herself beginning to smile. His question was so unexpected, so wonderfully startling. No one had ever asked her such a thing.
    "I'm not exactly the motorcycle type."
    "So what? Have you ever ridden one?"
    For a moment she actually considered the idea. Then she realized how ridiculous it was.
    Motorcycles were dirty and unsafe. She shook her head.
    "It's great," he said. "Incredible. Straddling the bike. Feeling all that power between your thighs—the vibration, the surge of the engine." His voice dropped and once again his eyes caressed her face. "It's almost as good as sex."
    She was a world champion at hiding her feelings, and not by a flicker of an eyelash did she betray the effect his words had on her. All too clearly, she saw what a mistake she had made by coming to meet him. Something about him fed those inappropriate erotic fantasies that plagued her. "I was under the impression that you asked me to come here today to discuss business, Mr. Gamble."
    "I thought redheads were supposed to have hot tempers. You don't look like you ever get mad."
    She felt strangely defensive. "Of course I do."
    "Have you ever gotten royally pissed off?"
    "I get angry like everyone else."
    "Have you ever thrown anything?"
    "No."
    "Hit anybody?"
    "Of course not."
    A mischievous smile tilted the corner of his mouth. "Have you ever called anybody an asshole?"
    She started to make a properly stuffy response, only to feel that treacherous smile once again tugging at the corners of her mouth. "I've been much too well brought up for that sort of thing."
    He lifted his arm and, without warning, gently scraped the backs of his knuckles over her cheek. "You're really something, Suzie. You know that?"
    Her smile faded. His hand felt slightly rough, as if the skin were chapped. Cal's hands were so smooth that she sometimes didn't realize he'd touched her. She eased her head away from him. "My name is Susannah. No one ever calls me Suzie."
    "Good."
    Discomfited, she slid her fingers along the leather shoulder strap of her purse. "Perhaps you should tell me why you wanted to meet me here today?"
    He laughed and lowered his arm. "Other than a couple of English professors I had in college, you're the only person I know who can use a word like 'perhaps' and not sound like a phony."
    "You went to college?" Somehow, it didn't fit his wild biker's image.
    "For a couple of years, and then I got bored."
    "I can't imagine anyone getting bored with college."
    "Yeah, well, I'm pretty restless." Without asking permission, he clasped her arm and led her over to one of the wooden crates the workers had left. "Sit down here. I want to show you something." She sat and crossed her hands in her lap as he lifted his case to the spot beside her.
    "I like challenges, Suzie. Adventure. Maybe you'll understand who I am when you see this."
    She found herself holding her