Read Online Super Nova by Jayne Rylon - Free Book Online Page A

all of you.
    “Then again…” Bryce’s smile spread as he scanned her from head to toe. “Kaige has a thing for women in heels. You know, if you want to butter him up.”
    Nola sputtered a bit at the revelation. It should have been an innocent remark. The last thing she wanted was for them to think she was coming on to them, Kaige especially. When the rest of the men laughed, she gave in to the sense of humor she could sense twinkling in their eyes.
    Maybe they were right. This professional ruse didn’t suit her. Most times she needed it to get her employers to take her seriously. Young and attractive didn’t always make for a good combination in her role.
    Unable to help herself, she relaxed a bit. A giggle escaped her despite her belated attempt to clench her teeth. “Okay, I’ll see if I can do better tomorrow.”
    With that, the crowd dispersed. The guys got back to work. Serious about their jobs, and loving what they did, they didn’t waste precious Hot Rods time though their shouted jeers and the music pumping from the radio they turned up chased after her and Kaige as they rounded a corner at the back of the garage.
    She checked out their state-of-the-art equipment—impressed as she mentally compared it to the stuff she’d dug up on the Internet—and the neat, orderly shop layout. They may have been involved in dirty work, but they kept their areas tidy. This was no fly-by-night operation. From her brief analysis, she could tell the business was healthy.
    A wave of disappointment snaked through her guts. They may not need the services of Brown & Brown after all. If her assessment today, after peeking at Kaige’s plans, left her with that impression, she’d say so. Scamming customers wasn’t a cornerstone of her own model.
    From the quality of the workmanship around her, ripping people off wasn’t a tenant of the Hot Rods trade either. The more she learned about them, the more esteem she had for the seven guys and one woman who’d built this domain from the ground up.
    Her heels tapped on the sealed concrete.
    Kaige never took his cupped hand from her elbow. His thumb brushed an arc over the sensitive skin there. “Careful now, it’s slippery sometimes. Mustang Sally does her painting and polishing back here. We’ve busted our asses a few times when wax spills on the floor. It’s funny to see Carver or Alanso doing their banana-peel routine. Wouldn’t want you to hurt yourself, though.”
    The genuine affection in his tone turned her on even more. Thank God she had worn her thick jacket, despite the searing temperatures outside. Otherwise it’d probably be very apparent that her nipples were about to jab through her lace bra.
    Kaige poked his head around the corner, into an open doorway. “Sally? You there, Mustang?”
    “Come in. I haven’t started taping the Schultz job yet.” The crisp answer seemed at odds with the tough young woman Nola spotted covered in paint-splattered coveralls that matched the rest of the gang’s. Her jet-black hair was pulled back today and covered with a Louis Vuitton handkerchief. She stood up straight, though that didn’t make her very tall, especially not with Kaige and two other men nearby.
    The woman had immediately earned the envy of Nola and her sister when she’d showed up to her wedding planning appointment sandwiched between two drop-dead gorgeous men and announced she needed help in staging a non-traditional commitment ceremony. To bind her to both of them.
    Alanso, the bald Latino guy Nola had also met briefly then, hovered by Sally’s side. An older man, who looked far too much like Eli to be anyone other than his father, half-sat on a drawing table in the corner.
    Damn, even with a few decades on him, the guy had sex appeal in spades.
    “Good morning, you lucky bitch you.” Nola didn’t hesitate. She took Bryce’s helpful hint about casual, genuine interactions to heart. Trusting her intuition, she stepped forward and hugged Sally.
    “Hey,