Jennie

Lisa Manoban!

I closed my mouth with a snap and tried not to stare too hard as she got to her feet. Oh, my… She only wears a sports bra, so the muscles beneath her skin flexed all over the place. I felt my own muscles start to tense.

Ignoring me, she headed over to switch the radio off.

Fuck. When did she get this…adult?

"How can I help you?" She turned back to me as she grabbed her shirt from where she had dumped it over the edge of a chair and quickly pulled it back on.

I found my eyes drawn to her arms in the sleeves. "Um," I swallowed heavily. "Hi, Lisa."

She furrowed her brow at me for a moment and for a split-second, it looked like she didn't remember me.

I wanted to crawl out of there in humiliation. We went to high school together. Maybe I shouldn't have been surprised she didn't know who I was because it suddenly felt like a hell of a long time ago. Even so, I recognized her like I'd seen her yesterday, the memory of her burned into my brain like a brand.

She still looked the same in some ways; the dark, slightly messy hair, that inscrutably strong jaw, those strikingly blue eyes, but now she had this body, and her features were sharper and more defined.

I never in a million years would have imagined that she could get any hotter, but here we were.

"Jennie Kim," she finally drawled, a grin curling up onto her face, as her eyes slowly worked its way down my body. "Haven't seen you in a while."

"Uh, I guess not," I offered in return. Jesus, why did I feel as though the ground had been swept out from underneath me? Like I was about to topple over on the spot? Nothing had ever even happened between us.

Lisa had ridden up on her black motorbike to my high school in my final year. No one really knew much about her other than she had an older brother who sometimes came to school to pick her up, but it was clear she was special. She was one of the cool, mysterious kids who instantly become the heartthrob of whatever school they went to. All the girls at school know something she has between her legs. Every girl found herself swooning over Lisa Manoban.

And yeah, sure, maybe I did a little swooning too. I would never have admitted it to anyone then, as I was too busy carefully cultivating an above-it-all teenager attitude. Then I caught her looking at me with those smoldering flame-blue eyes few times in the math class we shared and it put ideas into my head that for sure, shouldn't have been there.

Not that she spent too long hung up on me.

No, she had other fish to fry. Since most of the girls were busy fluttering their teenage eyelashes at her, she took advantage of their offers and ended up sleeping with as many as she could. Well, pretty much all the girls in my graduating year. Actually, she popped the cherries of so many girls she quickly earned the title of Cherry Popper. And that had been enough to keep me away from her.

I didn't want to be just another conquest she made, a box ticked in her mind. She asked me out once. I turned her down even though every fiber of my being was screaming for me to say yes, please.

Now here she was… working at the old garage that had been on the edge of town for years. Looking even better than she had before, her eyes filled with the same highly sexual gaze of many years ago, reminding me of the past and how much I'd wanted her while I pretended to be aloof and uninterested.

Problem was…I was now having a hard time remembering exactly what had kept me away from her all these years.

.

.

.

Lisa

"So, Princess, what are you doing in this part of town?" I asked, leaning back and eyeing her. She looked good. Real good. I would have recognized those brown eyes anywhere. Yeah, maybe that was a testament to how much her rejection had stung back in the day. Last I heard, she had moved down to the city and didn't come around here too much. But then if I'd been her, I wouldn't have bothered with this damn place either.

"Princess?" She frowned. "Where did that come from?"

"You know where." I grinned widely when she crossed her arms defensively over her chest and glared at me. She was hands down the cutest girl at school, but she was also from the right part of town while I, the pariah, came from the wrong end. Her parents were uptight as hell, but I had figured even a girl like her needed to have a little fun once in a while. You figured wrong, Lisa. She had shot me down.

"Nope," she retorted, clearly pissed. "I'm just here because I need help with my car. It broke down about a mile away, and I need to get it fixed."

"Surprised you come by here anymore," I remarked. I knew I was acting like a bit of an ass, but what were the chances of the one girl in this place who had sent me up in flames, turning up at my garage and needing my help? I was going to milk it, just a little bit. Anyone would have done the same thing.

"I'm not in town for long," she snapped. "And I'm not in the mood to have you playing all high and mighty."

"Me, high and mighty?" I held my hands up. "Pretty rich coming from you, but I bet you know a lot about rich, huh?"

She tapped her foot on the floor impatiently.

I could tell she was fighting the urge to chew me out. Okay, so this was a little fun.

"You know, I could just go back and call roadside assistance," she replied coolly. "I don't need you, or this shitty little place—"

"Yeah, good luck with that." I shrugged, glancing back to the car I'd been working on, playing it as cool as I could.

"Oh, aren't you going to stop me?" She arched one perfectly-shaped eyebrow. "I don't need to give you my business, you know."

"No, you don't," I agreed. "But if you call roadside assistance, they're just going to send you back to me. The nearest tow truck is a hundred miles away and they're not going to drag it all the way out to the ass-end of nowhere when I'm just nearby."

She sighed heavily again, clearly annoyed.

I could feel the tension crackling in the air between us, just like it had back in high school.

Her shoulders slumped. "Fine," she replied, shaking her head. "I'm not in the mood to fight about this. Are you going to help me or not?"

I paused for a long moment, letting her think for a split-second that I might turn her down. Obviously, there was no way I intended to pass up on the chance to help Jennie Kim out. I wasn't exactly averse to spending a little more time with her. "Sure." I shrugged, as though I could take it or leave it.

She took a deep breath and exhaled with sheer relief. She was wearing a tank top and it made her boobs rise and fall enticingly.

"Where were you headed? I'll give you a lift into town and then come back and work on your car."

"I was headed down to my parents' place." She chewed her bottom lip. "But my stuff is in my car and I need to pick it up. Can you run me down there first?"

"Sure thing, Princess," I replied with an unholy grin. I still couldn't get my head around Jennie Kim in my little garage.

She opened her mouth to challenge me, thought better of it, and let her jaw snap closed. Clearly, it was a bad day for her. She was obviously pissed about more than just the car.

I brushed by her, and was sure I felt a little spark of static move from her body to mine. Yep, nothing had changed. Amazing how things could just stay the same like that.

We got into my old truck and made our way back down to her car. I noticed her hands fisted on her lap. Jesus, what had gotten her in such a state? Anyone would think the world had ended and I was the one to blame.

I helped her move her bags from her car to mine. "You planning on moving back, or something?" I asked.

She shot me a look that told me it would be a good idea for my paycheck if I were to keep my damn mouth closed. Well, that sucked for her, because I had never much been good at that. Apart from when it came to one thing, but I shoved that reminder from the past to the back of my mind. I was having fun. No need to dredge up those memories now. They are almost like dreams that never happened. An unhappy little girl's nightmares.

"None of your business," she replied tartly.

I hid a smile. She was so prim and proper. "So, what are you up to while you're here?" I asked.

Jennie sat rigidly on the passenger seat with her arms crossed over her chest and the corners of her mouth tilted down. She turned and looked at me with a surprised expression, as though she'd never had to make conversation with anyone in her life. She was probably used to being driven around in the city by her chauffeur.

Well, I hated to break it her, but I wasn't anyone's chauffeur.

"Attending Jisoo's wedding," she replied, rubbing her hand over her face absently.

"And then you're back to the city?" Jesus, I could have bitten my tongue out. Why the fuck couldn't I mind my own business?

She opened her mouth, then furrowed her brow, and fell silent for a few seconds. "You know, I'm not sure what I'm going to do after that." She sounded genuinely lost for a moment.

If I hadn't known better, I might have felt sorry for her, but I did know better. She was a spoiled little rich girl having an existential crisis in her twenties, because what else do you do when you have everything you could possibly want?

I arrived outside her parent's place, one of the fanciest houses in town. Actually, more a mansion than a house. Someone must have been monitoring the entrance as the wrought iron gates opened slowly. No way would I be going in there. I jumped out and hauled her bags to the ground.

She sat there staring straight ahead, as though she didn't want to go in and face them.

I walked around to the passenger door. "Unless you want to help me fix up your car, you better get moving, Princess," I nudged.

She blinked as though realizing where we actually were. "Right, right." She opened the door, then paused and glanced back over at me. "Thanks, Lisa." She nodded. "For the lift and sorting my car out. I really appreciate it." With that, she grabbed her bags and started dragging them up to the house.

I found myself unable to move. I just stood and watched her make her way up the drive. Then I shook my head, got into my truck, and kicked the ignition. What the fuck was I doing, staring at her like a horny teenager? Just because I had a thing for her in high school didn't mean that I still had to be drooling over her like a stray dog. I headed back to the shop. Time to put her out of my head. As soon as I was done with her car, I would be done with her.

And I was more than all right with that.

.

.

.

Jennie

"You did what?"

My mother was standing there, hands planted on her hips, glaring down at me like I had just strolled into the house and slapped her around the head.

I sighed, clasped my hands in front of me on the breakfast bar, and repeated what I'd said, "I left Mark because he was cheating on me."

My mother's mouth dropped open, but she couldn't give up on her dream. "When was this? How long ago?"

"Uh, earlier today?" I replied. The city felt so far away, the apartment a million miles away from where I was right now. I wondered if he had cleaned the cake. Maybe he was stress-eating the smashed bits right now, knowing that the party I had organized for him was going to kick off soon, and then he would have to explain why I wasn't there. No, nope, no. I refused to think about him. He didn't deserve anymore of my time.

"Christ." My mother tossed her hands in the air. "Just like that? It's over?"

"Trust me, he made it pretty unequivocal," I assured her. I wanted to tell her what I'd walked in and seen, but I knew that she either wouldn't believe me or would be mad at me for telling her. She was a prude, through and through, and even the notion of Mark fucking one of my friends in such a visceral way would set her off again.

She paused for a moment and then came to sit down next to me. She covered my hand with hers.

I felt surprised at the show of tenderness; if I had to come up with five words to describe my mother, I was pretty sure 'tender' wouldn't have been high up there, but I guess she was trying her best.

"I can't believe that," she shook her head.

My father was elsewhere, reading in his study, where he had vanished to after he found out that I'd broken up with Mark. He just needed some time to process the information.

Frankly, I felt glad there wasn't another person I had to deflect commentary from about the break-up. "I can," I replied, and I almost sniggered at the ridiculousness of it. "He was a jerk, Mom. Always has been. It's that simple."

"Still…" She shook her head once more, like she was trying to rattle free the thought of Mark being a jerk. "He always seemed like such a good man. So well-suited to you."

Well-suited to what you wanted for me, I filled in the blanks in my head, but said nothing. She was trying, and I had to at least appreciate that.

"What are you going to do now?" she asked in a bewildered voice. "Have you told everyone?"

"Not yet, but I think I'm going to leave that up to him to do," I replied. "I don't want to have to think about him again."

"What about the wedding arrangements? Who will cancel those?"

"Let him sort that out since it's his fault and he can damn well refund Dad for the deposit money too."

"Okay." She took a deep breath and exhaled it, something she'd probably learned in one of her yoga classes. They were specially set up for the time-rich ladies of this town.

I stared at her. "You okay?"

She nodded slowly. "And what are you going to do after that?"

"I guess I'll just move my stuff out of the apartment and find my own place?" I shrugged. "I mean, I could freelance. I don't have to worry about sticking to my job. I can go wherever I want."

"You could come back here," she said quickly.

I fought the urge to roll my eyes. I didn't want to be anywhere near this place on a long-term basis. The last thing in the world I wanted to do was move back here. Not that I loathed the place or anything, but it always felt limited and limiting, like the town boundaries were clamping me in. "I don't think so," I replied. "Not much for me here, after all."

"But there are lots of eligible men here," she reminded me. She probably had a list as long as my arm of the guys that I could already have been married to if I had just swallowed my pride and married someone from my high school graduating class.

For some weird reason, my mind flashed back to Lisa and I hurriedly shoved her out of my thoughts. She had nothing to do with this conversation. I didn't even know why I was giving her space in my brain. "Yeah, okay, but it's all a bit early," I said softly. I didn't want to get into the same argument with her right now. This was her way of supporting me and I should just take a step back and appreciate the fact that she hadn't found some way to blame me for the break-up.

She squeezed my hand, got up, and started to pace.

I could see her matchmaking abilities clicking into high gear, as she ran through the names of every one of the sons of her friends who was still single right now. "Mom, you really don't need to worry about setting me up with anyone new," I tried to stop her. "I'm not looking for a relationship. I think I need a break from men, get my head together a little—"

"It's such a shame things didn't work out with you and Bob." She sighed.

I fell silent and blinked for a moment, trying to place the name. "Bob? Jisoo's Bob?" I blurted when I figured it out. I shook my head in disbelief. "Mom, he's getting married to one of my friends. Now's not the time—"

"I know, I know." She waved her hand. "But he was crazy about you."

"And I kind of hated him," I reminded her. "There was nothing there between us to work out. He liked me, I never liked him, and that was years ago anyways. He's moved on and so have I. I'm going to be at his wedding in a few days' time, so I think you might have left things a little late for me to pick up where we left off."

"He's such a nice man, though," she went on, as though she hadn't heard a word that had come out of my mouth. "He would never have done something like this to you."

"Well, I'll make sure to pass that along to Jisoo when I see her tonight."

"She's not good enough for him." She sniffed.

"Well, that's not for you to decide," I replied firmly, getting to my feet. "I'm off. I need to take a shower."

My phone rang and my mother whirled her head around, her eyes wide and full of curiosity.

I was positive she expected it to be Mark. I fished my phone out of my purse and looked at it. "Talk of the devil," I muttered as I clicked accept.

"You're already in town!" Jisoo screamed into my ear.

"How did you know?"

"Nayeon told me."

"Right." Of course. I forgot how fast news traveled in Cold Creek.

"Oh my God, I'm so excited. This means you can make it to my bachelorette party tonight?"

"Umm…well…Actually."

But she didn't even hear anything I had to say. "So, we'll see you at about eight at Tom's Dive. All the girls will be there. It'll be such fun."

I crinkled my nose. "Tom's Dive?" When did Jisoo ever go to a crappy bar like Tom's Dive?

"I want to let my hair down where no one knows us."

That made sense, but I really didn't feel like getting drunk with a bunch of my old friends tonight. I had wounds to tend to. They were shallow, but they still needed licking. "The thing is—"

"I know," she cut me off. "You have no car. I'll get Ella to pick you at about quarter to eight. She can drop you off on the way home."

"Okay, see you there," I agreed with a sigh. She hung up and I met my mother's eyes. "I guess I need to get ready for Jisoo's bachelorette party."

"Yes, it's a good idea for you to go out." Mom waved her hand at me absently. "I should go and see how your father is feeling."

"Thanks, Mom." I made my way out of the room and started toward the stairs.

"Oh, and Jennie?" she called after me.

I closed my eyes and came to a halt. This was the bit I'd been waiting for ever since I arrived. I turned around, prepared for the worst. "Yeah?"

"You did the right thing," she went on brusquely. "Well done for getting out of there."

I smiled slowly. Maybe I had remembered my mother wrong. Maybe things weren't going to be as bad as I had thought. "Thanks, Mom." I headed up to my room and straight to the shower.

As the warm water cascaded over my body, I realized that a night out with the girls might actually do me some good. I hadn't seen most of them in years, but perhaps going out with people who weren't going to watch me with sad, pitying eyes all evening would be helpful.

I dressed, blew out my hair, and went full-out with my makeup. Mark always hated it when I got really dressed up like this, saying that I looked like a hooker, but right now, I wanted to do everything I could to spite him even if he wasn't here to see it. I rolled over what my mother had said in my mind, about Bob. Bobby. He had always come across to me as the kind of guy who oozed a kind of sad desperation around any woman he was remotely interested in. The way he chased me back in the day had been more than a little pathetic. He wanted to give me a ring on our second date, but maybe he had changed and turned into someone actually worthy of a catch like Jisoo. True, she was very competitive, always scoring points with me, but she was smart, funny and cool, so I couldn't see her settling for anything second best.

Out of the shower, I pulled off my ring, and dumped it amongst my makeup on the dressing table. God only knew how much he dropped on it. He never told me, despite the fact that I'd told him a dozen times that I didn't want him to spend a silly amount of cash on the ring because then I would be always terrified of losing it. Just another example of how he had never really paid a lot of attention to a word that came out of my mouth.

My parents were out in the garden when I slipped out and got into Ella's car. Ella kept house for Jisoo's family. She was a kind cheerful woman who kept up a light conversation all the way to the Tom's Dive.

"Have a great time," she said, before driving away.

Flicking back my hair, I opened the door to the bar. I found the girls were already in a corner booth and were waiting patiently for me to get there.

"Jennie!" Jisoo draped in a cheap nylon veil and clearly, a drink deep already, leapt to her feet shrieking my name as soon as she spotted me.

"Jisoo." I opened my arms.

She practically leapt into them, giving me a big hug. Anyone looking at us would have thought we were the greatest friends in the world.

The funny thing was, even though we had been friends all the way through high school, I didn't know for sure how Jisoo really felt about me. Scratch the surface and what was underneath might have been resentment and jealously. My family was richer than hers and though she always had a better figure than me and was classically beautiful, she always seemed secretly jealous.

The familiar scent of her expensive perfume enveloped me in a cloud as she drew away and let out a tinkle of laughter. "Look at you. You look amazing. Where did you get that dress? It's so cute."

I shrugged. "I think I got it in a sale."

Her eyes gleamed. "I'll have to come up to the city and go shopping with you one day. I bet you know all the best shops."

I grinned. "Yes, I do, and I could totally take you around."

She flicked her long brown hair back. "That's decided then. We'll talk about it later. Come and join us." She took my hand and led me back to the table.

It was crowded with a half-dozen of the girls I'd been to high school with. All of them greeted me as I took my seat. Nayeon, Krystal, Somi, Irene, Yeji, and a few others.

I settled into my seat and leaned back, letting out a long sigh of relief. "Man, it feels good to be back here." I smiled at them. "Are we ready for the next round?"

"We totally are." Krystal tipped the rest of her drink down her throat, before getting to her feet. "Come on, I'll help you get them back from the bar. I know what everyone's drinking."

"Lead the way," I said with a laugh. I followed her up to the bar and peered at the surface to see if the sticky patch that had always been there was still sitting next to the beer taps, and sure enough, it was. Some things never changed. Maybe that was a good thing. Because everything I'd gone chasing in the city hadn't exactly turned out too well for me.

We picked up our drinks and joined the group back at the table. Before I knew it, we were all shrieking with laughter as we recounted some over-the-top story of something that had happened in high school. I didn't mention the break-up to them, but eventually, Jisoo had zeroed in on the lack of ring on my finger earlier on and could no longer hold it in.

"No ring?" She grabbed my hand tipsily and held it up. "What's going on?"

"Oh, Mark and I are over." I waved my hand airily and marveled at the fact that it had all happened only a few hours ago and yet he felt like the distant past. "I'll tell you the story later."

Jisoo paused, and for a second, I thought she was going to freak out about what I'd just told her, but instead, she dropped my hand and lifted her drink. "To the newly-single Jennie," she toasted, and everyone tapped their drinks together. She leaned in close to me and whispered in my ear. "I never liked that asshole anyway."

I burst out laughing. "Trust me, you're not going to like him any more when I tell you what happened."

"I'll get that story out of you before you leave," she muttered, and squeezed my shoulder as the conversation turned back to other things.

I appreciated the fact that she wasn't about to make me drag the sorry story out in front of everyone. I also didn't want to draw attention away from her as the focus of the night, so I was happy to let it slide for the time being.

"Oh my God, you have to be kidding me," Irene exclaimed suddenly, and pointed toward the door.

All of us turned. Oh! My God, indeed. I felt my stomach drop and loop when I saw that Lisa had walked into the bar. She'd cleaned herself up from when I'd seen her earlier in the day, and I had to admit that she looked– she looked pretty damn good. Button-down shirt, jeans, hair styled. I bit my lip, took a sip of my drink and averted my eyes, hoping that she hadn't caught me looking. She'd been such a jerk to me earlier in the day, and I had no intention of giving her the satisfaction of knowing I had been thinking about her.

"Oh, fuck." Jisoo rolled her eyes and turned her back to Lisa. "That dick. Great."

"Hey, what's wrong with Lisa?" Irene cocked her head at the bride-to-be. "I think she's kind of yummy."

I was glad that my back was to Lisa, because I was pretty sure I could feel her presence, pulsing through the air and making my skin tingle.

"That's because you never really knew her in high school," Jisoo denounced with a shiver of disgust.

Irene frowned. "She had a nickname back then, didn't she?"

"Cherry popper," I blurted out, then felt my neck go hot with embarrassment.

"That's right," Irene said with a slow smile. "I remember now. She had that big black bike. They wanted to crown her Prom King, but they couldn't find her, because she was doing some girl in the garden."

"Exactly," Jisoo pounced. "She's the biggest jerk on two legs. That woman has slept with so many women she's probably crawling with STDs."

"Well, that's an image." Irene raised her eyebrows grimly and took another sip of her drink, but her eyes hungrily followed Lisa journey to the bar.

"Nah, she looks too healthy to have STDs," Nayeon said with a sigh.

"Even people who are HIV positive can look normal," Jisoo shot back.

"I don't think you should say things like that about people unless you know for sure," Yeji protested.

"STDs be damned, I'd do her," Somi declared loudly, pushing her chest out.

Everybody hooted with laughter except Jisoo. "Ugh…no thanks," she practically spat out.

"You only say that because you don't know what I've heard she can do," Somi countered, her eyes twinkling and her face full of mischief.

"What have you heard?" Nayeon asked.

"Well," Somi began dramatically, and all of us leaned in to hear.

.

.

.

Lisa

What the hell was that bunch of uptown snobs doing in a bar like this? Worse, Jennie had to be with them.

I saw her checking me out as soon as I stepped into the bar, even though she pretended she wasn't. I couldn't help but chuckle to myself as I made my way up to the bar, wondering if she'd been thinking about me the rest of the day. I had noticed a ring on her finger when she had come by with her car earlier, so I wasn't going to do anything about it, but still, it would have been nice to know I could finally have the one chick who'd turned me down all those years ago.

I grabbed a drink and took a long sip on it, enjoying the hoppy flavors as they spread out over my tongue. It had been a long day. Jennie's car had needed a lot of work, and some part of me resented having to do a job for a woman who probably wouldn't look at me twice if she could avoid it. But still, the money would be good, and the garage could always use any business I could get my hands on.

I could hear them laughing, talking and chattering loudly, but I did my best to ignore it. I didn't want to get involved. Half the women over there probably hated my damn guts anyway, and I made it a point to never waste a moment of my time with people who thought they were too good for me. Besides, I had just come for a drink, and I sure as fuck was going to do that. Not give a moment's more thought to Jennie or the ring on her finger or the way she'd spoken to me back at the garage.

Eventually, though, she made that impossible, as she came up to the bar to grab a drink; she had a smile on her face. It was clear she was having a good time, and might even have been a little tipsy. She ordered another round, then she glanced down in my direction, just casually. But as soon as our eyes met it was as though someone had pressed a volt charger to my body, sparks flew across my skin.

I looked away quickly and dropped my eyes to my drink. What the fuck was that? I'd only had one drink, and yet the way she had looked at me made me feel as though I had been drinking all day long. Jesus, I needed to get a hold of myself. I snuck another look at her as she was walking away, and noticed that she wasn't wearing the ring she had on earlier. Okay, so she'd taken it off to come out tonight. That was an interesting bit of data. Maybe she was hoping to a have little fun, to have the kind of fun that whoever had given her that ring might well not approve of.

"Hey, cut it out."

I heard her voice come from behind me, loud and furious. The whole bar seemed to turn together with me to see what the hell was going on. Jennie was holding a couple of drinks, and one of the regular barflies had his hand on her ass, as she was trying to turn around and face him.

Something in me clicked. I was six again, cowering in a corner, watching my father tower of my mother, hearing his voice become angrier and angrier, and wishing to God he'd just go away and leave us alone, or hoping that at least my brother, Jackson would come back. Jackson would know what to do. Jackson always did. I had turned to look out of the window to see the pigeons on the neighbor's roof. I'd watched them fly as the first sound of flesh hitting flesh started. The memory was as clear to me now as the day it had happened.

Without thinking, I sprang to my feet and shoved the man at the bar away.

He staggered backwards. "What the fuck are you doing, man?" He held his hands up and glared at me.

"Do I really have to tell you not to pull that shit with women at the bar?" I snapped at him. I just wanted a quiet night, and he had forced me to intervene. I glared back at him.

For a moment, he hesitated, then he seemed to think better of taking it any further. "Yeah, sure, whatever," he muttered, and turned back to his drink at the bar.

Jennie turned to me and smiled. "Thanks for that."

Her friends didn't even seem to have noticed what had just happened.

"No problem." I waved my hand. "Damsels in distress are my specialty."

"I bet they are." She fluttered her lashes at me and bit her plump lower lip.

My eyes widened. Did she just… Nah, but if I hadn't known better, I would have thought she was flirting with me. I knew I should walk the hell away but I was drawn to her like a moth to flame. I just stood there staring at her like a dumbstruck fool.

"You want to dance?" she suggested, sucking her whole bottom lip into her mouth.

Shit, that was one wildly provocative gesture. She was wearing a hot pink dress that hugged in all the right places and her hair was all over her shoulders in thick, shiny waves. She looked different than when she'd come into the garage earlier. And not just physically too. There was something altered about her mentally, as well, as if she had clicked out of stress mode and into something, a little more… loose and a lot more fun.

I glanced around. The place had a small dancefloor, and there were a few people on it, slobbering drunk and clearly just using the music as an excuse to make out with each other.

"I'd hate to miss this song. It's my favorite," she added.

Her favorite song was Cotton Eye Joe by Rexnex? Bullshit.

She raised her eyebrows and subtly squeezed her arms against the side of her body so her chest spilled out.

Hell, I hadn't danced in years, but if she wanted me to play knight-in-shining-armor, then I was definitely game. The thought of getting that way with her was doing something to me.

Down girl.

"Sure thing," I drawled.

She slipped her hand into mine and followed me out on to the floor.

None of her friends even glanced up to watch her go, and I wondered what they would think if they saw me taking her off to dance.

Around us, people were linking arms, bouncing, and jumping up and down to the fast tempo of Cotton-eyed Joe, but she wound her arms around my neck and drew me in close. Whoa, how drunk was she? To be honest, I felt surprised at how open she was about this, how much she seemed to want me close, seemed to want me to touch her and be near her like this. I could already feel my cock stirring, but I knew I couldn't fuck her out here, not tonight, not so soon. I let my hands rest on her waist and she began to sway to the music, but it was clear that it was only a thin excuse for grinding her body into my erection.

Leaning her hips into me, she looked up, a sweet, sultry smile on her face. "Why Ms. Mechanic, is that a wrench in your pocket, or you just happy to see me?"

I grinned at her. If it was Mae West quips she wanted to trade… "It's my ladder of success, Princess. You can climb it all night long."

Her cheeks flamed. It was sweet. I guess she was just an innocent pretending to be wise and sophisticated. She cleared her throat. "You're a smart girl, why did you drop out of school, Lisa?"

I shrugged. "I was bored. Education is designed to turn people into cogs in the machinery of capitalism. I didn't want to be a cog."

She raised an eyebrow. "You prefer being a grease monkey?"

I grinned slowly. "I prefer looking under hoods, Princess."

She shook her head and smiled teasingly. "Spoken like a true dirt-bag."

"Talking of dirt-bags, you had a ring on earlier," I said, figuring that it was probably a smart move to cover my ass in case she did have a fiancé, or some shit. My days of hopping into my pants and shimmying down drainpipes were well and truly over.

"Yeah, and I'm not wearing it now." She lifted her hand and waggled her fingers in front of my face.

"Anything I should be worried about?" I asked, cocking an eyebrow, and she shook her head.

"Nope," she replied firmly. "That's done. I'm all about tonight right now."

I got it then. It wasn't me she particularly wanted. She was just out for a good time, to get over the owner of the ring. Maybe any man would have done, but hey, I wasn't complaining. I was more than happy to be of service.

She fell silent, content to give herself over to the music. A much slower song I didn't recognize had started and she pressed herself closer to me.

Then as we moved together, something happened. That chemistry I had been sure was crackling between us before, at the garage, morphed into something less combative. Something that flowed between us like liquid fire. From her groin to mine.

I traced my thumb over the small of her back, and she let out a small noise that could have been a moan. Her eyes were closed, but when she opened them and looked at me, I knew something had changed. Her gaze moved down to my mouth. She was openly hungry for me. She let her teeth catch for a moment on her lower lip.

"Fuck, Jennie," I groaned, "if you pull any more stunts like that I'm not going to be responsible for my actions."

Looking up into my eyes, she bit her bottom lip again.

I pulled her closer, testing the waters, seeing how much I could get away with, and she let me. In fact, she arched her body against mine, so I could feel every curve, every inch. Her dress hit her around mid-thigh, and it would have been so damn easy to push it up a little, slip my hand between her thighs and…

Before I knew it, I was pulling her off the dancefloor and toward the back door. I didn't know what the hell was going through my head, but I felt as though I didn't have control of myself, not the way I usually did. Sure, I'd had plenty of women before, but this was the only woman who'd ever turned me down and here she was, all up on me like she couldn't get enough.

She didn't pull away. She let me drag her away, her heels scraping the sticky floor, not even glancing around to make sure her friends weren't watching us. Not that I would have given a shit if they were.

I led her around the back of the bar, the night air cooling my skin. I tried to bring myself to my senses. She'd been so long in the city she didn't understand how this town worked anymore. If the two of us were caught out here, the whole town would know about it by the end of tomorrow night, but I couldn't find it in me to give a shit. I came to a halt round the back of the bar, in the parking lot. Then before I knew it, she had grabbed me and pulled me toward her once again, but this time, with more intention than before.

I slipped my hand around her curvy hips and pulled her close. As our mouths crashed into each other, I slipped my tongue into hers. She ran her fingers through my hair, balling them to fists and tugging slightly, sending a sharp pain across my scalp. But I found it mellowing into pleasure as she moaned my name against my lips, my cock hard against her hip.

"Lisa…" she gasped as I reached down to slide my hand up her dress just like I had imagined doing back in the bar.

She parted her legs, tipped her head back and moaned, while I ran my mouth all over her throat, letting my teeth tease at her soft skin. When her moans became louder and more pronounced I slid my other hand up, and used it to cover her mouth. I couldn't give a shit, my reputation was shot to pieces anyway, but if we got caught making out in public, it would be a mess, and the last thing she needed was a scandal.

Over the thin material of her panties, I cupped my hand over her pussy. It was fleshy and hot. She shivered with anticipation. I pressed into her lightly, and she moved against me, rocking her hips back and forth restlessly. I could feel her panting against my hand, could feel how desperate she was for more. I hooked my fingers around the crotch of her panties and tugged them down, just enough so I could push my fingers into her slick pussy.

She seemed relieved when I began to push in and out of her, the tension leaving her body as she slumped against me. Her eyes were closed and I watched her face intently as I moved my fingers inside her, reaching my thumb up to stroke her clit as I did so. Who knew an uptight upper-class girl like her would be into something like this? Dirty sex at the back of bar. Maybe, she had picked up some new habits in the city.

My cock strained against the confines of my jeans. I wanted to turn her around, push her dress up, and fuck her right here outside the bar, but I knew that would be hard to come back from if we were caught in the act. Besides, I kind of liked having this control over her, being the one in charge. It did something to me, lighting a fire in my belly that spread heat through my whole body.

She reached out and grasped my arms, fingers sinking into my skin, and I could tell she was getting close to the edge so I pushed myself against her, grinding my cock against her hip, and I could tell in that moment that she would have let me fuck her if I'd just gone for it. But I didn't want to, not yet. I wanted to feel her come, to render her helpless. I drew my hand away from her mouth tentatively, wanting to hear whatever noises were coming out of her mouth.

Her breath was ragged, her mouth open, as I leaned forward to kiss her once more. Her fingernails dug deep into my skin, but I didn't mind one bit. I pushed my fingers harder and faster into her while pressing my thumb down against her clit and moving it in small circles.

Seconds later, I felt her give out beneath me.

"Ah!" she cried out.

Pulling back for a moment, I caught her bottom lip between my teeth and tugged on it gently as her pussy contracted and gushed around my fingers. Her panties were soaked. How she was going to go back out and sit in them was beyond me. She would have to take them off and sit there bare-assed under her dress. I grinned as she ran her hands all over my back and my shoulders as she continued to shudder with pleasure against me.

I slipped my fingers out of her and moved them up to her mouth.

She caught my hand and drew it between her lips, cleaning my fingers eagerly with her tongue.

Holy fuck. It was smoking hot and the image instantly burned itself into my mind. She was so horny, so given over to the desire between us. Now it was hard to remember that this was the stuck-up prude who had turned me down all those years ago.