Free Honeytrap by CRYSTAL GREEN Page A

apologize. You’re right—racing out here was foolish, and it won’t happen again.”
    Taggert wiped a hand over his face, hiding a laugh at the ass-kissing his rival was doing, and Mrs. Holland noticed.
    â€œWell, stud.” She drilled a glare into Taggert but gestured toward Micah. “Looks like this boy beat you twice in one night—once during your race, and then again in being man enough to own up to this idiocy. He was smart enough to take responsibility, although I’m not sure if he’s gonna carry through with his promises.”
    â€œI will,” Micah said, but he seemed to be dwelling on a double meaning as his gaze flicked toward me, glinting in the moonlight.
    He was thinking about carrying through with the bet while he was getting reamed out? What a braindead. Mom would kill me if she knew I was even in his vicinity. The cheerdevils would chide me to death. I should even kill me.
    The dog trotted over to Micah, rubbing against his leg, and he smiled down at her. Taggert seemed like he wanted to have it out with Mrs. Holland, but Jimmy stepped up to him.
    â€œTime for you to get,” he said, his fists bunched.
    Taggert grunted at him while Mrs. Holland rolled her eyes and then gave her son a look that said she’d be talking to him later.
    Darwin sidled up to her. “Ma’am, when Deacon and I heard about this nonsense, we hightailed it on over, trying to put a stop to it. Micah’s still new around here and is learning the lay of the land. He truly won’t be doing this again.”
    â€œHe’s extremely reformable,” Deacon added.
    Micah gave Mrs. Holland a forgive-me smile that was guaranteed to warm any woman’s heart. Even an ex-Marine’s. For a second, though, I thought she was going to ignore it.
    But . . . nope. A reluctant smile crept over her mouth before she shook her head and sighed.
    It was that Micah Wyatt Woman Voodoo.
    She waved the boys off and went toward her pickup. “If I hear about any of this racing again, I’m going to the law.”
    Jimmy slumped toward the truck, too. Faintly, I heard Mama’s Boy explaining that he hadn’t expected her back home tonight, and they got into her pickup, driving away.
    Taggert started to slip into his Impala, but Micah stopped him.
    â€œNice race,” he said, “except for the part where you almost hit the dog. Good thing you swerved in time.”
    â€œI should’ve just run over the bitch.”
    The dog barked as Taggert pulled out, disappearing down the road in a blur of taillights.
    No one—not Micah, Evie, the twins, or I—said anything for a moment. Not until the dog loped down the road, toward the Holland ranch, leaving us alone.
    â€œWell,” Micah said. “That was some party.”
    Deacon and Darwin began to walk toward the Camaro while Evie gestured at the starting line where my truck was before Micah could say anything to me.
    Too late, because he murmured something to the twins about walking me and Evie to our ride. The twins both gave me the same
hmm
look that I’d seen from Darwin earlier in their shop, when I’d dropped off the mower. But this time I knew there was more behind that expression.
    The bet.
    I didn’t make a big deal of it when the twins left and Micah followed me and Evie down the road. My pickup was the only vehicle left, and I thanked God that it hadn’t been a deputy who’d come upon the drag race. Even at my age, I didn’t want to get into hot water with Mom—it’d make for an even longer summer than the one that was already in front of me.
    Micah ambled along behind us, and from the shivers that were shimmering up and down my back, I had the feeling his gaze was all over me, caressing, imagining . . .
    I halted, waiting for him to catch up so I could put a stop to this. “I hear you have a bet with your cousins about me.”
    Evie sucked in a breath and