She Who Dares Read Free Page B

closed and pulled out the one underneath. A set of polished steel sprockets gleamed up at her, reflecting her face and her new, dark curtain of hair.
    Her heart kicked a little at the sight of it, and she wondered how long it would take to get used to. The colour emphasised her pasty complexion and made her look like an alien, all black bug eyes and pointy chin.
    And it didn’t match the Corvette one iota. If she was going to win Misses and Motors, it wouldn’t be with that particular hair and car combo. A rethink was on the books. As soon as she could think, that was. Seeing Sebastian again had completely addled her brain.
    She put her palm against the top of the tool box, leaned her head against her hand and shut her eyes. Just make it past two o’clock, she told herself. As soon as she was certain he wasn’t going to show up, her heart would stop thundering and her stomach would finish its gymnastics routine. She’d be able to stop thinking about Sebastian and Ella, get rid of the sick jealousy that always swamped her whenever she thought about the two of them together, and get on with her job.
    Nic watched the clock, wanting the time to hurry up so she could get this over with, yet wishing desperately that it would stretch out a little longer. She put her tools on the trolley and went into her office instead, needing some sort of simple task to keep her hands busy, preferably one which wasn’t likely to cause serious injury. Paperwork was safe, right? She lifted a pile of unfiled forms from the red plastic tray on the desk, dropping them a heartbeat later as pain sliced through her little finger.
    No, apparently paperwork was not safe, she thought, popping her finger in her mouth and wrinkling her nose at the taste of blood. Any sort of injury to her hands and she wouldn’t be able to work. Health and safety was more than just a bad joke as far as Nic was concerned. In the end, she occupied herself by cheating at solitaire on the computer until the tiny clock in the corner said 2.05.
    At 2.07 she let herself breathe.
    It was a mistake. ‘Hi.’
    The voice from the doorway was all male, a little husky, and that one simple word moved over her like hot smoke. Her toes curled up inside the soft cover of her boots, and her skin flushed like she was sitting on an overheated engine. ‘You’re here,’ she managed, getting to her feet and wedging her hip against the battered wooden desk to keep herself upright. ‘Right. You’re here.’
    ‘I did say I would be,’ he replied smoothly. ‘Ready to go?’
    Nic plastered on a smile. ‘Of course.’
    The bike leathers had gone, replaced by jeans and a navy blue polo shirt that had his team logo printed slap bang in the middle of his left pectoral and the buttons undone.
    She’d accompanied men on test drives before. Two test drives, to be precise. Obviously neither of them had been quite this good looking, but still. It was no big deal. All she had to do was stay calm, keep smiling, and remember that Sebastian had no idea who she was. There was safety in anonymity. The thought bolstered her confidence, though that was quickly splintered when she opened the safe and the keys for the Corvette weren’t there.
    ‘Why don’t you wait outside? I’ll just be a minute,’ she said, trying to make it look like she wasn’t searching the desk and panicking. Ella never panicked. She was always in control, always confident, and she never did stupid things like lose keys, or give a false name, or worse. And Nic had done plenty of worse over the years.
    She tried not to think about that, tried to keep her hand from straying to her hip. ‘I’m so sorry about this,’ she flustered. ‘They can’t have gone far.’
    ‘They’re in your pocket.’
    ‘What?’
    ‘The keys. They’re in your pocket.’
    Nic dropped her hand against her upper thigh, her fingers curving over the telltale bump in her pocket. ‘So they are. Right. Shall we get on with it, then?’
    He stepped back