“Yeah, dude, I was just wondering if you would give her a once-over to make sure I’m good for tonight. I know we usually tune her up at my place, but I was in the neighborhood.” I run my finger across the hood. “Do you mind to help me shine her up too?”

Derek looks at me with a mischievous grin and raises an eyebrow. “Who are we trying to impress, Romeo?”

“I just want my car looking her best, Fucker. Why do you automatically assume I want to impress someone?” I grab two beers from the fridge in the garage and toss one at Derek. “Heads up.”

He catches it and says, “Because we just detailed the bitch like four days ago, Fucker,” taunting me with the same tone I just used. “There isn’t even any road dust on it yet. So, who’s the broad?”

Damn it. I can’t get anything by him. I blow out a forced breath and run my hand through my hair. “Just some chick I ran into twice today. She’s hot and a little sassy, and she handles getting a tattoo better than some grown men I’ve seen. I invited her and her friend out to the race tonight. I just don’t want to look like a total loser, that’s all.” I take a few swigs from my beer and pop open the hood of my 2015 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat. She’s Bacardi Hurricane Blue and goes zero to sixty in three point five seconds.

I set my beer down on the work bench and start cleaning the Hellcat while Derek makes sure everything is good to go under the hood.

Derek grabs an oil rag, wipes his hands clean, and sits down on the porch to finish his beer. I head over to join him. Sitting down in the chair, I finish what little bit was left of my beer and notice music coming from across the street from a black 2014 Shelby GT500. Whoever this chick is, she doesn’t sing half bad.

I nod my head toward the house across the street. “Who’s the hot piece hanging out of the Shelby and singing like nobody’s listening? I haven’t noticed her over there before,” I say to Derek, eyeing up the view of some chick’s ass as she wipes down the seats of her car.

“Ah, that’s just Lexi, my neighbor. She works a lot, so she’s usually not home when you’re here,” Derek answers.

I start to nod my head in acknowledgment, but then his words finally sink in. “Did you just say her name is Lexi?” I don’t take my eyes off of her.

“Yeah, man, why?” Derek asks, looking puzzled. And then I see her silky red hair as she steps back out of the car, continuing to shake her ass and sing along to Mötley Crüe as she gathers up her cleaning supplies.

Must’ve been a good day to clean a car.

My heart starts racing about as fast as my Hellcat. This girl does things to me that I haven’t felt in a really long time, and that scares the living shit out of me. But I can’t stay away. Running into a person three times in one day can’t be a coincidence. I’m starting to believe the higher powers of this universe are trying to tell me something. Who am I to ignore that?

I set my empty bottle down on the porch railing. Eyes still focused across the street. Fuck, if Lexi keeps shaking her ass like that…

“Earth to Coen! You wanna come back from outer space, dude? What’s the big deal about Lexi? You act like you haven’t seen a hot little inked up redhead with a nice ass before.” Derek breaks through my dirty thoughts. I stand up and adjust my semi-hard cock through my jeans. Down boy. Save it for later.

“Man, that’s the chick I was telling you about. I’m gonna go talk to her. Thanks for your help again with the car, bro,” I say, gripping Derek’s shoulder. “I’ll meet you at the race later.”

“No prob, Romeo. I’m going in to get showered and have something eat. See ya later.”

Derek heads inside his house and I start walking across the street to Lexi’s place. It looks like she’s about to go inside. The music has stopped, and she’s sitting in the driver’s seat with the door open and one leg outside the car. Just as I approach the end of her driveway, “Come with Me Now” by the Kongos starts blasting through the Shelby’s speakers.

I clear my throat to make my presence known. “Nice ride you got here, Legs.”

Lexi yelps like someone just pinched her ass.

I’d love to do more than pinch it.

“What the fuck? You really are a fucking stalker aren’t you?”

“Sorry, sweetness, didn’t mean to scare you. And to answer your question, no, I’m not. Believe it or not, my buddy Derek lives across the street. He was helping me tune and clean up my car. I was getting ready to leave when I noticed you over here, singing and swaying that sexy ass of yours, so I figured I would come say hello.”

She stands up and looks up at me with those big brown eyes. I can’t help but wonder what’s going through her head. I can’t tell if she wants to kick me in the balls or suck me off. I hope it’s the latter.

“For one, Coen, I told you my name is Lexi, so you can stop it with the pet names. I’m not your girl, nor do I have any desire to be. And two, you didn’t scare me. You just caught me off guard a little.”

“I’m not a bad guy, Lex. Is it really so wrong that I’m interested in you?” I stare down into her eyes and slowly bring my hand up to cup her face. Her breathing hitches, and she gradually drags her top teeth across her bottom lip. She may say she isn’t interested, but her body is giving away all of her secrets. “We’ve managed to end up in the same place three different times today. I don’t know about you, Lexi, but I don’t really believe in coincidences.” I nod my head toward her car. “Mind if I take a look? My old man used to have a Shelby.”

She steps aside and folds her arms in front of her. “Have at ‘er.”

I sit down in the driver’s seat and pretend like I’m checking out her stereo system and interior. What I’m really doing is trying to buy more time. Time to convince her that she needs to give me a chance. I notice a neon green spot next to the handle on the passenger door.

“Hey, Lex, what’s this green spot over here?”

“Brea was painting her freakin’ toe nails on the way home earlier, she must’ve got some on the door.” She ducks in the door and leans over to get a better look. “I didn’t notice it until you just pointed it out. I’ll get it later.” Her foot slips on a rock, and she falls into the car and across my lap. “Ugh! Sorry, my foot slipped,” she says, turning over so that she’s now sitting on my lap. Without hesitation, I brush a strand of hair from in front of her face, letting my hand rest on her cheek. Softly, I brush my thumb across her lips and look into her eyes again. God, I’ve never seen brown eyes so beautiful.

“You wouldn’t ever have a reason to say you’re sorry while sitting on me, Lexi. I would make damn sure of that.”

“Coen.” She wets her lips with her tongue.

I can’t hold back any more. I crush my mouth against hers and kiss her like I’ve been waiting for this moment for years. She’s kissing me back just the same. She wants this as much as I do, whether she believes it or not. I reach down and ease the seat back so that there’s more room between me and the steering wheel. Then I grab her by the waist and reposition her so that she’s straddling me.

“Coen.”

“Don’t talk, Lexi,” I pant. “We’ll talk later. I’ve been dying to do this all day.”

I cup her face in my hands and pull her back into a slow, passionate, soft kiss. Gently, I part her lips with my tongue while slowly sliding my hand up her thigh and teasingly brushing my fingertips under the seam of her shorts. I’m as hard as a fucking rock now. She must know it, too. She lifts herself up, never breaking our kiss, and positions herself so that her pussy is right on top of my thick, hard, throbbing shaft, and teasingly gyrates her hips.

Things are getting hot in here really fast. I don’t know what it is about this girl, but she sets every inch of me on fire. My balls ache like I’m going to explode, right here, right now. It’s like the rest of the world has ceased to exist.