Overnight Sensation(21)

It’s a waste of time. I feel twitchy to skate and eager to prove myself.

I walk outside, fishing in my pocket for my wallet. I pull out a couple of singles. “Can I get my car?” I ask a waiting bellman. “It’s a…”

“Tesla Model X in Pearl White Multi-coat!” says a female voice. “This one is all mine, boys. Hand over that key.”

I blink, but Heidi Jo Pepper is still here. She’s curbside in that sleek dress that’s cupping her irresistible tits and fuck me-heels that glitter. As if my night weren’t long enough already.

And now she’s squabbling with the bellman, apparently over who gets to fetch my car.

“You said the next one was mine!” she says, holding her hand out for the key. “You promised not three minutes ago!”

“Miss Heidi…” the man says. “It depends on the vehicle.”

“Roger!” she gasps. “You’re kidding me! Don’t tell me you’re one of those. A man who thinks there’s something wrong with the way women drive!”

The little dude looks completely tongue-tied. And I’m betting he’s totally one of those.

“Hand it over,” she snaps. “Have you heard the term ‘hostile work environment’?”

This girl. Holy shit. It’s a struggle not to laugh.

Looking completely cowed, the guy hands over my key fob. “I parked it over by—”

“Oh, I saw where you parked it,” she snaps. “When you sent me to go get that 1994 Celica.” She tosses her hair. Then she turns to me. “Just a moment, sir.”

And then I’m watching her walk away into the darkness of the parking lot, her hips swaying defiantly in that sleek pink dress that I want so badly to unzip and peel her out of…

That’s when it hits me. She’s going to drive my baby. And suddenly I’m the same kind of asshole who’s worried about her skills behind the wheel.

So I take off after her. “Hey—Hot Pepper. Wait up!”

She doesn’t.

“Yo! You don’t have to get the car for me. I’ll get it.”

She lifts a hand and shows me her…pinky finger.

“What does that mean?” I ask as I finally catch up to her.

“It means I want to give you the finger but I’m too polite.”

Po-laht. There’s that word again. I want to know how polite she’ll look when she’s naked in my arms, begging me to let her come.

Jesus. My raging attraction to the commissioner’s daughter is really inconvenient. “Have you ever driven a Tesla before?”

“It’s a car, Jason. How hard could it be?” She stops in front of my baby, which is practically glowing in the moonlight. She opens her fingers to reveal my key fob, which is basically a small, smooth replica of the car itself, without any buttons.

She turns it over in her hand, and I can practically hear her gears grinding as she tries to figure out how to open the door.

This time I can’t fight off my grin. “Need some help?”

“Okay, this is weird,” she grumbles. “No buttons?”

“Touch the driver’s side of the little car in your hand.”

She taps it, and my car door opens slowly. “That is seriously cool!” She taps the model twice more, and now my back doors rise, too—bat-wing style—up over the car.

“You’ve got it now,” I say.

But before I can even finish the sentence, she’s tapping those sensors like crazy, opening and shutting all four doors. The car looks like a bird that’s flapping its wings for takeoff.

Jesus. “You’re draining my battery right now.”

“Oh, please,” she says. “Like you never did this?”

Fine. I totally did.

She marches over to the driver’s side and gets in. Then all the doors begin to close at once.

“Whoa,” I say, ducking under the backdoor, forcing it to pause in its descent. I drop into the backseat of my car, a place I haven’t admired before now. “Hey, it’s roomy back here.”

“Shall I climb on back, then?” Heidi asks, turning around to face me. Her pretty face sizes me up. There’s a challenge in her eyes.

Unngh. This girl is gonna kill me. “Very funny.”

“What if I wasn’t joking? I want another chance.”

“Another chance at…?”

“You. Jeez.” Her expression is defiant, but a telltale blush hits her cheekbones. “I’m not drunk, and I’ve sworn off alcohol.”

I clear my throat. “Well, I’ve sworn off you.”

“Because of the picture?”

“The picture doesn’t help,” I admit. “We both know that people will believe what they want to believe.”

“Which people?” She narrows her eyes. “Does this have to do with my father?”

“Sure it does,” I admit. “Do you know how he greeted me tonight? With, ‘My daughter is off limits.’ That was his opener.”

Heidi whips around to face the front again and thumps herself back against the driver’s seat. “FML.”

I snort. “You say it that way when you’re sober?”

“Yes. It sounds cheap when a woman drops f-bombs.”