Read Online Driving in Neutral by Sandra Antonelli - Free Book Online Page B

thinking any further nonsense about touching and feeling and tasting.
    The horn did nothing to put off Emerson’s one-track mind. Blasé, he waved a hand at the noise and said, “You’re not married, are you?” He smiled, but a worried crease suddenly appeared between his brows. “Well, I’m assuming since you kissed me you’re not married. Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe I shouldn’t assume anything,” he said.
    Nonchalant, Olivia tucked hair behind one ear. “I was married.”
    He sighed. “I’m divorced too. She said we grew apart because I made business more important than her.”
    “And did you?”
    “Probably. Karen was a good woman. Now she’s married to a dentist. They have four little girls, she’s happy and I’m happy for her. What’s your story?”
    The keys on her fingers stopped swinging. He watched her breasts rise as she inhaled and exhaled with something he thought seemed like impatience. “Which story do you want, the one about my first or second husband?” she asked.
    The space between his eyes and brow-line widened, arched skyward. “You’ve been married twice?”
    “Don’t look so shocked,” she said. “I was eighteen and married my high school sweetheart right after graduation. Four months later he ran off with our landlady. I didn’t get married again until I was older and more sensible. Or thought I was more sensible.”
    “I take it you’re recently divorced?”
    “It took a while for the paperwork.” Olivia pushed a strand of hair out of her face and sighed. She was surprised he didn’t know the glossy scandal magazine details. But this was America, not Europe. Motorsport coverage here was usually limited to NASCAR and the Indy 500. “Karl,” she said, “engaged in a number of off-track events with a grid girl he met at the Australian Grand Prix. He made a few decisions that didn’t include me. Our divorce was finalized about seven months ago.”
    “I’m sorry.”
    “Does knowing those details make me a little more respectable now?”
    “I didn’t think you were unrespectable.”
    “Then what was with the surprised look on your face?”
    “What surprised look?”
    As she planted her hands on her hips she made a face, her mouth hanging open in a round O . “Your jaw made a pretty big clunk when it hit the pavement after I said I was married twice. In fact, it made more noise that time than when you found out I used to race.”
    “You just don’t look the type.”
    “For what, racing and test driving?”
    “No, for being married twice.”
    “There’s a type?”
    “Sure.”
    “And that is…”
    “Las Vegas strippers and gold-digging girls in their twenties.” His eyes wandered over her, dipping low to glance at her breasts before returning to her face. “You don’t look like a girl to me.”
    “I don’t?”
    “No. And I don’t like girls.”
    “I guess I’m not your type then.”
    “Why would you think that?”
    “You don’t like girls.”
    “I don’t like girls. I like women .”
    “How old are you, Maxwell?”
    “Almost forty-eight.”
    “Then you’re old enough to know better than to play this kind of game.”
    “I’m not into playing games.”
    She moved to the car’s open door, leaving one hand on the frame and the other on the low roof before she swung inside. “You’re my boss, so how about we just keep this a strictly business, employer-employee relationship and handle it with good taste?”
    “I know exactly how good you taste.”
    Olivia maintained a blank façade. There was no way she’d let on she’d thought about how he tasted too. Kissing him had switched on a natural yearning to be touched, only she didn’t want him touching her again. She didn’t want to think about the flavor of his kiss or how it felt to sit in his lap, and she most certainly didn’t want to add more fodder to the office grapevine than they’d already managed to create from this morning’s elevator extravaganza. She’d ridden the