Unfiltered & Unsaved (17 page)

“Hell if I know.” Cass turned on her heel and stalked out, intending to get Scott to help her load the bike back into his truck.

She felt very tired all of a sudden. She’d have to find a new mechanic, and she wasn’t going to have the Superhawk fixed in time for the next race, which put her deeper in debt to Wrex. This day was turning into a suckfest of epic proportions.

And it still wasn’t as bad as the night in the coffee shop. At least nobody had died today.

Yet.

“Hang on a sec.” Dev caught her hand in his and pulled her gently back into the garage bay. When she resisted, yanking her hand out of his, he held his up in a gesture of apology. “Look, I’m sorry I misjudged, okay? Wrex is bad news and so are the people he gets involved with.”

As an apology it wasn’t much, but Cass nodded, considering it was the best she was likely to get. “Tell me something I don’t already know,” she huffed. She jerked her head at her bike. “Gimme a few minutes, and I’ll be out of your way.”

“I’ll do it.”

“Excusemewhatnow?” She clearly must have a hearing problem. Great. How much would those disappearing hearing aids cost? There was no way that sexy mechanic man just
re
-offered to fix her baby. Not after all of the drama of the last few minutes.

“I’ll rebuild your bike.” He grinned at her confusion. He had a very nice grin. It was the kind of grin she could feel in between her legs. Cass didn’t know whether to be happy or embarrassed.

“Are you serious?” Was he just jerking her around? “You made it pretty clear how you feel about anything having to do with Wrex.” She couldn’t help the suspicion that crept into her voice. Things that seemed too good to be true usually were.

He shook his head. “Hey, I still think he’s an asshole, don’t get me wrong, but I’ll fix your bike. As an apology for jumping to conclusions. You can pay me in installments when I’m done.”

“I’ve got the money,” she said, thinking of the cash in the backpack underneath her bed. She wasn’t a charity case. She didn’t expect a free rebuild, especially when nothing was ever free.

He stuck out his hand. “Deal then?”

Cass eyed it for a moment, and then took it. “Deal.” She sighed. One less thing to worry about.

Dev’s expression turned serious. Pulling a pen from his back pocket, he rummaged around for a sheet of paper. He wound up finding a matchbook in the second drawer of the toolbox. Ripping the matches out of it, he scribbled on the inside of it and handed it to her. “This is my cell. I’ll call to give you updates on the rebuild, but if you want to check on it, just use that number.”

He folded the matchbook closed and pressed it into her palm, closing her fingers over it.

Cass swallowed, caught up in his nearness, unable to do more than clutch at the matchbook spasmodically. His body was close to hers, so close she could feel the heat of him, smell the scent of him. Her fingers clenched convulsively, crushing the matchbook in her hand. His face was close to hers, his eyes searching her face. All she wanted to do was lean forward to close the distance between them and press her lips to his. To slide her tongue into his mouth and wrap her arms and legs around him and feel the strength and warmth of him all over.

His gaze lowered to her mouth. Cass licked her lips, watching him from beneath her lashes, anticipating his kiss. Dev’s hand slid around her neck, gripping the hair at the nape of her neck in a loose hold. She thought briefly of Scott, sitting in his truck and probably watching them, and then decided she didn’t care. She stepped into Dev, her own hands grabbing the sides of his shirt.

The sound of a fist banging on metal made her jerk out of her hormonal haze. Scott beat on the side of his door once more, shouting, “Come on, Cass! I’ve got a bar back shift!”

Dev pulled his head back slowly, but he didn’t let go of her hair.

She stared at him, feeling the pull of his gaze like the tide feels the pull of the moon. “I should go,” she said, but made no move to leave.

“Okay.” He didn’t let her go.

They stood in the garage bay, still in a half-embrace. Cass didn’t know what the hell she was doing, but it didn’t matter. Her life felt like it had careened off course when she wasn’t looking; what did one more detour matter? If she had ordered a man from a menu, picking all of her biggest turn-ons, she couldn’t have done better than the man who had his hand in her hair right now.

“Damn it, Cass! Let’s go!”

Dev let go of her reluctantly.

Cass took a shaky breath, feeling too full and not full enough, almost like she was on the edge of something. Insanity? Tears? Sexual frustration? A little from Column A and Column B? She didn’t know what she was doing anymore.

She slid her hands down the plackets of Dev’s gas shirt. “I’m gonna go now.”

Dev nodded, amusement in his eyes. As she took a step back, he said, “You use that number, you hear?”

“CASS!”

“Be right there!” she shouted back, rolling her eyes. “Thanks,” she said, flashing Dev a shy smile as she stepped out of the garage.

“Your bike’s in good hands,” he assured her, hooking his thumbs into the front pockets of his jeans. “No need to worry.”

Her smile faltered, falling away completely as she climbed into the cab of Scott’s truck. Her bike might be in good hands, but now what was she supposed to race?

—◊—

Read the rest of Cass and Dev's story in
Unfiltered & Unhinged
, coming April 14, 2014 from Payge Galvin & Jane Lukas. If you want to be notified when future books in the series are released, sign up for the mailing list
here
.

Thanks so much to my Unfiltered gal-pals for encouraging me to take the plunge into the deep end and write this book – it turned out to be an emotional, empowering experience and I am so grateful! Thanks also to the readers who are in for our Unfiltered journey, and to the reviewers for taking a chance on a bunch of new writers.

Bridgette.