The Darkest Link (Second Circle Tattoos) Read Free Page A

to give me the keys and let me turn it over?”
    Lia hesitated and bit her lower lip. “How about I turn it over, and you look under the hood?”
    Smart girl.
Cars often got stolen by people masquerading as Good Samaritans. “Whatever makes you most comfortable,” he said. He walked around to the driver’s side and opened the door for her, watching discreetly as she sat down on the seat with both feet still on the ground, before twisting in the seat while keeping her feet together. It was a classy move. His first observation was accurate: she had great legs.
    Lia looked up, pinning him with those expressive eyes of hers, which clearly said she had him pegged. “Ready when you are.”
    She turned the key, and the car made a knocking sound that told him all he needed to know. He mentally ran through a litany of tests he would need to do, none of which could be done roadside, since he only kept basic tools with the bike. If he wasn’t mistaken, the engine had a busted valve spring. Reid had a soft spot for Plymouths. A million years ago, he’d promised to fix one up for his sister, Taylor. But that was before . . .
    “So what’s the verdict, doc? Will Cherry live?” Lia asked, surprising him as she appeared next to the car. Damn, she smelled good enough to eat. She stood close enough to him that her umbrella offered him some shade from the baking Florida sun. It was one of the things he actually missed about Chicago. The seasons actually changed. Fort Pierce was hot and dry, or hot and wet. He missed snow. Or at least the nostalgic thought of snow. He cleared his head of the melancholy thoughts.
    “I can bring anything back to life,” he said, checking the connection to the alternator one last time. He looked up to find her staring at his hands, and she blushed. Wiping them on the back of his jeans, he stood up to face her, forcing her to lift the umbrella higher. Reid took a half-step closer to her. She didn’t step away, but she did arch a perfectly shaped eyebrow at him. In her tall heels, she was likely five feet nine or ten, still inches shorter than his own six two, but he liked the way she was looking up at him right now. Until her nose crinkled a little across the bridge.
    He stepped back with a grin. “Sorry, long day, hot ride, was heading home for a shower.”
    “Oh shit, I’m sorry for holding you up. Look, I can call someone else to—”
    “No,” Reid interrupted a little too hastily, reaching for her hand. “I was just explaining why I smell like day-old garbage.”
    “I don’t know . . . there’s something very attractive about the smell of a man who knows how to work hard. And it was the sun behind you that made me squint, not the smell.” The corner of Lia’s mouth twitched with a smile, those perfectly made-up red lips making him think all kinds of thoughts he shouldn’t.
    “I’ll have to remember that,” he said, studying her for a moment before pulling out his phone. She was flirting with him, and he found he liked that kind of confidence a lot. He stayed in place as he dialed the garage and studied her. “Jarod, can you bring the truck out to Ocean Drive, about a half mile north of Hutchinson Island? Look for the bike and a red Plymouth.” Reid gave Jarod the rest of the information and asked him to get Shaun to follow him in the loaner. He should have asked them to bring out tools, see if he couldn’t fix what was going on roadside first, but in truth, he wanted the lovely Lia to himself for a little while longer and he was pretty certain anyway that the knocking was a broken valve spring. It had been a while since he’d allowed himself the pleasure of a woman’s company, and he liked this one.
    “Truck’s on its way,” he said, tucking his phone back in his pocket.
    “So, what do we do now?” Lia asked, resting the umbrella on her shoulder and twirling it in what seemed a flirty yet almost mindless action.
    “You want an honest answer to that?” he asked.
    Lia looked