Chapter One
One thing Haley James loved was driving and even more so when it was a gorgeous warm, sunny day which meant she could take her car’s top down. There was nothing like having the wind whipping through your hair as you sped along, even if it caused said hair to look like a bird’s nest sitting atop your head by end of the journey.
Coming up to an intersection and noticing in her rear view mirror that there were no vehicles behind her, she slowed down a little to give the car that was waiting there a chance to pull out. However, she didn’t figure that the gorgeous midnight blue Jag would be driven by some little old grandma who was taking their sweet time pulling out.
Deciding against giving way, she increased her speed but it was just at that moment that Miss Daisy decided to pull out and despite slamming on her brakes, she hit the side of the Jag.
“No!” Haley screamed as she put her car into park and turned off the ignition. She had only just finished working on her baby and this moron comes along and wrecks all of the effort she had put into it. Opening her door, she got out of the car and stormed over to the driver’s side of the Jag. “What the hell did you think you were doing?”
Getting no response, she suddenly realised that maybe the driver was hurt and cupping her hands around her eyes, she tried peering in through the tinted windows. Her blood boiled in her veins when she saw some guy sitting there chatting on his cell phone. She immediately started knocking on his window and a couple of seconds later the car’s occupant rolled down his window.
“Give me a second.”
Haley’s mouth dropped open. Who the hell was this guy? “No, I won’t just give you a second. You just caused me to crash into you and--”
He held up his hand to her while he finished his conversation on the phone. “Yeah, okay… That should be good. I’ll call you in a few hours to finalise everything. Talk to you later.” Turning his head, he looked at the angry young woman standing beside his car.
“Now, I think you’ll find that I did no such thing,” he said as he opened his door and climbed out. “You slowed down which I thought meant you were letting me pull out in front of you. It’s not my fault you changed your mind but then again, you are a woman so…” He let his words trail off knowing that he didn’t need to finish his sentence for her to get his meaning.
“I beg your pardon! While I admit I slowed down to let you out, you made no move whatsoever which I figured meant you were wanting me to pass so I then decided to speed up. Maybe if you weren’t talking on your cell phone when you should’ve been concentrating on the road this wouldn’t have happened.”
“That call was important and--”
“I don’t care! If you have to take calls while you’re driving, then you should invest in a hands-free system or pull over somewhere to take it instead of endangering people’s lives because you’ve only got one hand on the wheel.”
As the young woman ranted, Nathan Scott couldn’t help but look her up and down and boy, did he like what he was seeing. He was so used to women fawning all over him that having this little hottie shouting and berating him was a nice change. More than nice.
Her face was pretty… Actually pretty didn’t do it justice. Beautiful or stunning were much more apt. Her rich, chocolate brown eyes were sparkling and her full, glossy lips looked like they were made for kissing and without thinking, he licked his own suddenly too dry lips. The honey blonde waves of her hair looked so soft as they swung with each move of her head as she continued her tirade.
His eyes wandered a little lower and he practically wolf-whistled. She sure did have some curves on her and his fingers were itching to touch them. He could only too well imagine how perfectly her plump, firm breasts would fit into his palms. Actually, they looked like they wouldn’t fit since she had quite the rack on her, he thought smirking to himself.
“Are you even listening to me?”
“Huh?”
Haley threw her hands up in the air. “Whatever!”
Nathan watched as she bent over the front of her car to examine the damage and he noticed that her back was just as hot as her front. That ass in those tight jeans… Woah! He made no attempt to hide his blatant perusal of her body when she turned and caught him staring at her. Everything about her was seriously turning him on and there was no way he was letting her out of his sight just yet.
“How bad is the damage?” he asked a moment later when she had finished checking out the entire front of her car which, he had to say, was pretty damn awesome.
“Bad enough,” she replied, giving him a hard stare. Looking around, she noticed the road was quiet except for some vehicles traveling in the opposite direction. As was always the case with accidents, a few cars slowed down to take a look as they passed by.
“Well, it looks like I haven’t escaped unscathed either. I’ll need to take the Jag in for repairs.”
“Oh, really? You don’t say.”
Sighing, Nathan ran a hand through his hair. It didn’t look like this girl was going to calm down any time soon so he figured he’d best suck it up and make the first move. “Look, I’m sorry, okay. You’re right, I shouldn’t have been talking on the phone especially when I was stopped at an intersection.”
Haley watched him through narrowed eyes as she walked towards him. “You’re taking responsibility just like that. What happened to it being my fault?”
Damn, there was no winning with this chick. “I shouldn’t have said that. If I’d been paying more attention I would have pulled out when I had the chance instead of sitting there talking to one of my clients.”
“Clients?”
“Yeah,” he said pausing for effect before adding, “I’m a lawyer.”
Her mouth dropped open before she started shaking her head from side to side. “A lawyer? I should’ve known what with the blaming something on someone else mentality.”
Nathan shrugged. She had a point. “Do you accept my apology?”
“If it’s sincere…”
“It is even though I’m sure you’re thinking there’s no such thing where lawyers are concerned, right?”
Haley laughed. “Right.” Moving away from him, she checked the side and front of his car and said, “The damage to your car doesn’t look too bad. Give me a peek under the hood and maybe then we can talk about switching insurance information."
“Uh…what?”
“Pop the hood so I can take a look at it from the inside and see if there’s any damage in there or if it’s just to the exterior.”
“Why?”
“Is you next question going to be ‘when’ or ‘how’?” she teased.
“I just meant why would you want to take a look under the hood?”
“Maybe because I’m a mechanic.”
“You—You’re a mechanic?”
“Yes. Is that so hard to believe?”
“Sort of. I mean, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a mechanic who looks like you.”
Haley blushed but she couldn’t help asking, “Is that a good or bad thing?”
Smiling at her, he answered, “It’s good…very good.”
Coughing to clear her throat, she averted her eyes from his which she had only just noticed were a sparkling shade of blue that reminded her of a clear blue sky or the deepest blue of the ocean. The red mist of anger that had taken her over after the accident had now dissipated and she was now taking in this stranger standing before her.
His thick dark hair was slightly mussed which she assumed was from him running his fingers through it during the course of the day, his eyes seemed to twinkle with amusement as he regarded her and his lips were curved up into a half-smirk. Even through his expensive suit, she could tell he had an impressive body and she couldn’t help wondering what he’d look like without a stitch on. Damn, was it getting hotter out here?
“So, I was thinking. Instead of going through the pain of putting in an insurance claim, I’ve got a proposition for you,” Nathan said as he watched her checking him out. He watched as she bit her lip and he felt a sudden urge to lean forward and soothe it with his tongue.
“Uh, what are you suggesting?”
“How about I just pay for any damage to your car. After all, it was my fault you hit me so it’s the least I can do.”
“Are you sure? Wouldn’t it be better to go through the proper channels and sort this out?”
“I don’t see why. Besides, accidents just bump up your premiums and--”
“Let me guess, this isn’t your first accident.”
Nathan smirked at her. “Maybe. Seriously though, it’s only fair that I pay for the damage I’ve caused to that sweet little ride.”
“You like it?”
“Yeah. I’m not usually a fan of red paintwork but it looks great on that Corvette.”
“It’s deep cherry,” she corrected. “And I built her up myself. My parents got her for me when I turned twenty-one and, believe me, she was a complete wreck. It’s taken four years of blood, sweat and tears to get her looking like this.”
“Well, from what I’m seeing, it was worth every drop,” he told her. “You’ve done an amazing job and now I feel like an even bigger ass for wrecking her.”
Giving him a crooked smile, she said, “Don’t worry about it. From what I can tell, the damage is mainly cosmetic so it shouldn’t take too long to get her looking pretty again.”
“That’s good to hear. Just send me the invoice when all the work is done and I’ll reimburse you. Unless you want me to pay you upfront or something.”
Haley shook her head. “No, that’s fine. It’ll be easier for me to invoice you afterwards. So, I guess we should exchange our contact details, right?”
“Yeah, I guess we should. I’ve got a notepad in my briefcase,” he told her as he made his way to the car and leaned in to get it.
Her teeth sunk into her lip even harder as she watched his black suit pants stretch over his ass as he was rummaging around in his briefcase. As she watched him, she fingered the thin strap of her tank top as her thoughts veered somewhere they really shouldn’t.
“Got it,” Nathan said as he turned to face her and they simply stared at each other for a long moment before he held out the notepad together with a pen for her to take which she did.
Their fingers touched and each felt a spark of electricity shooting through their bodies at the simple contact. God only knew how explosive it would be if any other parts of their bodies touched.
Taking slow, deep breaths, Haley jotted down her name and phone number on the paper before handing it back to him. In return, Nathan handed her one of his business cards.
“I’ve written my private cell phone number on the back so you can get hold of me without any problems.”
“Okay, thanks. I’ll be in touch once all the repairs are done and don’t worry, I don’t charge as much as some of those auto-shops out there.”
He laughed. “Good to know. I’d better get my car booked in and sort out the damage. Luckily, my dad owns a dealership.”
“Dan Scott Motors?”
“Yeah, that’s it. How did you know?”
“The sticker on your rear window clued me in. I noticed it when I was checking out my car but I didn’t know you were his son then.”
“Well, don’t hold it against me. I’m not as big an ass as he is. Although you probably don’t agree,” he kidded.
“You’ve sort of redeemed yourself but I’ll admit I did think that at first and it’s probably a good thing I didn’t know he was your dad then.”
“Definitely a good thing.” Checking his watch, he noticed the time and frowned. “I’m going to have to go. I’ve got a meeting in about forty minutes and I can’t be late. Is your car okay to drive?”
“Yeah, it’ll be fine. So I guess I’ll talk to you soon, then?”
“Uh huh. I know this probably sounds really stupid but it was nice meeting you, Haley.”
Laughing, Haley nodded. “I know what you mean. It was nice meeting you, too.”
They stood there for a moment, just looking at each other before they retreated and headed back to their respective cars.
As Haley passed Nathan, she gave him a small wave which he returned and as she made her way home, she did so with a big smile upon her face.
Driving in the opposite direction as he made his way to his appointment, the smile on Nathan’s face was just as broad. His day had just gotten better.