Steel Lust Read Free Page B

he
wasn’t flirting back. Not the way she probably wanted him to, anyway.” She
shrugged a second time. “It hasn’t bothered me since.”
    “What hasn’t bothered you?” Jamie asked, setting his coffee
on the table and a scone in front of Leni.
    She gave him a serene smile. “The way you attract women like
you’re walking around naked, dipped in chocolate.”
    “Have you been spiking your coffee again, sweetheart?” He
picked up her cup and sniffed. “You know we’ve talked about this.”
    “I have to go back to the shop,” Leo announced as he came
back to the table. “That was Agnes. She said Pete showed up for work, but he’s
been in the bathroom sick since he got there and someone just walked in asking
about a piercing.”
    “I can run you back,” Jamie said, snapping the lid on his to-go
cup.
    Joy held up a hand to stop him. “I can do it. I really
should be getting back on the road anyway. My youngest sister has an exhibit in
a new art gallery opening tonight and I’ll never make it in time if I don’t get
back to the city.” She looked up at Leo. “It’s on my way back to the
expressway.”
    “You’re sure?” Jamie asked. “I can run and come right back.
It’s no trouble if you want to finish your coffee before you go.”
    “No, really. It was great meeting you,” she said to Leni as
she started to rise. “I’ll make another trip back when we can spend more time.”
    “Or we can come out to see you. It’s been a while since I’ve
been to Chicago.” Leni looked at Jamie, who looked as though he’d give her
absolutely anything she asked for.
    “I cleared my schedule for your birthday the first week of
April.” He looked from Leni to Joy. “Maybe we can come out for a few days
then.”
    “Perfect,” Joy said. “We can take your engagement pictures
then.” She reached for her coat but Leonardo was already holding it open for
her.
    Sexy, chivalrous, gorgeous man.
    His warm fingers brushed lightly against her neck as he
freed her ponytail from her collar and she shivered. Her voice nearly faltered
as she thanked him.
    “I have all your mother’s music,” he told her when they were
in her car. “Sorry, your parents’ music,” he amended.
    Which meant he knew her father co-wrote most of her mother’s
original songs.
    “Do you sing as well?” he asked.
    She laughed and started the engine. “Sadly, no. Fate has a
really twisted sense of humor. Not one of my sisters or I got her gift.”
    She felt nervous suddenly, confined in such a close space
with him looking at her the way he was. And that heady smell of his was making
her thoughts loopy. She didn’t want to take him back to the tattoo shop and
possibly not see him until Jamie and Leni’s wedding. She wanted to head
straight for Chicago with him in the car.
    “Sunny is my website guru,” she continued, dragging her
thoughts back from kidnapper crazy to someplace more rational. “She has our
father’s whip-smart business sense and his musical talent. She’s married with
little kids and runs her website-design business from home, so she doesn’t go
on the road when Mom travels, but she’s Mom’s drummer when she plays shows in
the city.”
    She put the car in drive and navigated around a massive
Cadillac taking up too much space in the driveway while it waited for her spot.
    “Love is a painter slash waitress,” she continued as she
merged into traffic. “She’s had several pieces in other exhibits, but this is
her first gallery opening. Her best friend is the gallery owner, so it’s a
really big night for both of them.”
    The light turned yellow just as she reached the intersection
where she needed to turn to get back to the tattoo shop. She ran it, taking the
corner just slightly faster than she might have normally, and her car jerked so
hard to the right as it came to a sudden stop that she banged her head on the
driver’s-side window. Leonardo, who’d been thrown against her for a second,
righted