AllTangledUp

All Tangled Up

Crystal Jordan

Second in the Revved Up series.

The reality show
Revved Up
has made Kasen’s Kustom
Automotive a national sensation. For garage co-owner Jesse Kasen, the only fly
in his ointment is Lola Adams, the show’s producer. The little Georgia peach is
a blonde bombshell. All he can think about when she’s around is what she’d look
like all tangled up in his sheets.

Lola might use her sexuality to get what she wants, but it’s
her knowledge of cars, courtesy of her auto-racing family, that got her the
producer spot on
Revved Up
. Jesse is hot and the star of all her recent
steamy fantasies. Too bad he’s off limits—she won’t risk her professional
reputation on a fling.

Jesse sees one solution to their problem—burn off this
attraction in bed and get on with business. Lola agrees because she
has
to know what it’s like to touch him, but she wants demands discretion. One
sex-filled weekend in his secluded cabin, no strings attached. But one weekend
might not be enough.

All Tangled Up

Crystal Jordan

Chapter One

Reno, Nevada

A low, throaty laugh echoed through the massive garage. The
kind of sound that made a man’s brain fog with lust. It made
Jesse’s
muscles tighten with annoyance. Lola shouldn’t be flaunting her hotness around
his men, distracting them from their work. Kasen’s Kustom Automotive was a
business, damn it.

Unfortunately, it was also the set for a reality television
show that overhauled classic cars, and since Lola was the show’s new producer
there was nothing Jesse could do about her flirting with anyone. Normally he
loved working on the show and he’d been thrilled when
Revved Up
had been
offered national syndication, but that offer had come with Lola Adams. He glanced
up from the sound system he was installing to see her flashing a smile at one
of his grease monkeys.

“That’s a great idea, Sanchez.” Lola’s voice rolled out in
her slow Georgia drawl, her tone sugary sweet. She laid a hand on the skinny
Mexican’s tattooed forearm and he grinned back, leaning closer.

The two of them walked toward the car, rejoining the camera
crew and mechanics who were hard at work. Eddie, one of Kasen’s other
employees, was bent across the hood, attaching the windshield wipers, and Jesse
watched his eyes glaze a bit when Lola came near. She gave Eddie a wink. “Not
that we don’t love your handsome face on camera, but I think we want this shot
to focus on what Jesse and Sanchez are doing with the sound.”

Eddie flushed when she called him handsome, and his
expression conveyed how eager he was to please her. “I’ll get this done in
under a minute.”

“I’m always impressed with the speed of this garage’s crew.”
Her smile was charming, and combined with the form-fitting skirt and shirt made
of some soft, expensive fabric, petite height and knockout curves, she was a
walking wet dream. It didn’t hurt that she had a face that would make Venus
envious. With creamy skin, light-brown eyes that tilted up at the corners, and
long blonde hair, everything about Lola made any man with a pulse want to reach
out and touch.

“Let’s just get this done,” Jesse said, giving Eddie a
pointed look through the windshield. The man quit staring at Lola and got his
task finished as quickly as he’d promised.

“Great job,” Lola complimented. Her gaze fell on Jesse and
for a split second her grin faltered. Her gaze slid down his body, where he was
sprawled half in and half out of the vehicle, working under the dashboard. Her
perusal paused for just a moment too long on his chest and where his jeans were
stretched tight over his cock. He saw the burn of lust in her gaze, felt an
answering spark inside him. She jerked a bit, shook her head and turned to
Sanchez with a dazzling smile. “Are we ready for y’all to do your thing?”

Jesse barely managed to suppress a growl, forcing himself to
focus on the car. If he were honest, he’d admit he was pissed off because Lola
showered her attention on someone besides him. If he’d been getting more
interest from her, he probably wouldn’t give a damn who else she flirted with.
He was clearly losing his mind. Why he even cared was beyond him. From the look
of her, she’d slept her way into this job, and he had no time to babysit
someone who didn’t know one end of a wrench from the other. He’d been working
his ass off to turn Kasen’s Kustom into a force to be reckoned with, and now
classic car owners from all over the world were flocking to their garage to
have them work their magic in customizing those beauties. Lola was a
distraction he didn’t need, and it was a damn shame that all he could think
about when she was around was what she’d look like all tangled up in his
sheets.

He snorted at his own stupidity. Yeah, he had a jones for
her. She knew it too, the same way he knew she was attracted to him. But a
woman like her had “high maintenance” written all over her—she was used to men
giving her whatever she wanted if she so much as batted an eyelash at them.
Jesse liked his women as low maintenance as possible, so for the moment, he was
keeping his distance. So was she. They’d been dancing around each other since
she’d arrived to start shooting the new season of
Revved Up
. Three very
long months.

“Sanchez, you want to give me a hand with this?” Okay, so
Jesse might not be pursuing her, but that didn’t mean he wanted to watch his
employees drool. Besides, sound systems were Sanchez’s babies.

“Sure, boss.” There was a hint of laughter in the man’s
thick accent, but Jesse ignored it.

It took a few moments of reshuffling for the cameraman and
the guy with the boom microphone to position themselves on Jesse’s side of the
car while Sanchez squeezed in under the steering wheel. The interior wasn’t
large to begin with and Jesse was a full head taller than Sanchez, so he had to
contort himself and leave his legs hanging out the open passenger door to be
able to fit.

The hairs on the back of his neck rose and he knew Lola had
come alongside his legs while she watched what they were doing. “So, tell us
what you’re going to do to this old girl today.”

Dragging in a deep breath, Jesse could smell the light scent
of her perfume. His body reacted, his blood heating. Damn, but she got to him.
He didn’t even have to look to know the shape of her breasts, the curve of her
hip, the silky sheen of her pale hair. He wanted her, had since the day she’d
walked into his garage.

“Boss?” Sanchez smirked. “You gonna answer the lady’s
question?”

Right. The other man’s heavy accent made him difficult to
understand on camera, so they had him talk as little as possible. Jesse sighed,
climbing out of the cramped confines to let Sanchez work.

“Today we’re putting in some of the finishing touches on
this 1958 Aston Martin DB Mark III, which is usually just called the Mark III.
This is one of two coupe variants of the original model, the Drophead Coupe,
which was more common than the Fixed Head version.” Jesse leaned in to run his
hand down the smooth dashboard. They’d had to reconstruct the entire interior
of this one. When they’d started the overhaul, it had looked like rabid
raccoons had been chewing on the seats, dash and console for the last twenty
years. “Sanchez is about done working his magic with the electronics, and then
we’ll put the new seats in. Done by the end of the day.”

They’d painted the car baby-blue with a set of bright-orange
racing stripes up the middle of the hood. Considering how bad a shape it had
been in when it arrived, Jesse was pretty proud of the result.

He stepped out of the cameraman’s way so he could get a shot
of Sanchez connecting wires. When Jesse moved, he bumped into Lola, who’d also
shifted positions to let her crew work. Just that innocent a touch sent heat
arcing down his arm. Sweat broke out on his forehead, lust curled in his gut,
reaching down to grip his cock. He turned his head to look at her, wanting to
see the passion that would spark in her gaze at times like this.

But she studiously refused to meet his eyes. She reached out
to run a fingertip down the side of the sports car, a small smile curving her
full lips. “She’s beautiful.”

“Yes. She is.” But he wasn’t talking about the Aston Martin.

That was when she faced him, her gaze locking with his. The
moment stretched, heated. The heady smell of her hit him again, and he was
close enough to feel the warmth of her body. His cock began to stiffen, reacting
to her the way he always seemed to. He watched her drag in a breath that lifted
her round breasts. So lush and lovely.

Her tongue darted out to lick her lips, and he fought a
groan. “Jesse.”

“What?” He edged closer, even though he knew he should back
off. It was all he could do not to touch, to take. “What is it you want, Lola?”

Her brown eyes darkened, her cheeks flushing. She leaned
into him until her breasts
almost
brushed his chest. “I want…”

“I think we got this shot, Lola.” The cameraman cleared his
throat. “Should we move on to something else?”

Shaking herself, Lola flashed an easy grin at Jesse, but
avoided his gaze again. “I think Dean and Andi should be back with lunch for
everyone soon. Why don’t we take a break early and let the guys finish up with
the electronics so they can do the seats after we eat?”

Jesse shoved a hand through his hair, gripping the strands
tightly. He blew out a breath. “Andi and Dean were doing that cake tasting
thing for their wedding today too, so don’t be surprised if they’re a little
late.”

The food and bachelor party were the best part of weddings,
so he hoped they picked a good cake. Jesse had been roped into being his
cousin’s best man. It still amazed him that Dean had finally broken down and
hooked up with Andi, the only female mechanic who worked for their garage.
She’d also recently become the host of
Revved Up
, which Jesse had
engineered to push the two together. Yep, he was a real matchmaker.

“We’re not late,” Andi called from the door, her brunette
ponytail swinging as she walked, a huge bag from the local burger joint
clutched in each hand. “Come and get it, guys!”

Just behind her was Dean, who glanced between Jesse and Lola
as the blonde hurried to step away from him, tossing her hair over her
shoulder. Dean arched his eyebrows and approached Jesse, pitching his tone low
when he spoke. “The two of you need to just bone and get that shit out of your
system.”

Jesse snorted. “Fuck you.”

“You’re not my type, and fucking me wouldn’t help you with
your Lola problem.” Dean lifted one of the drink carriers he held. “Take a
drink and chill out, cousin. You’re looking a little hot under the collar.”

“You’re right. You’re not my type—I don’t fuck douche bags.”
Glowering, Jesse pulled a Styrofoam cup free. “And I don’t
have
a Lola
problem.”

His cock ached and his gaze kept straying to the sway of her
ass as she walked away, but he was just fine otherwise.

“Denial is such a sad thing to see in a grown man. But have
fun with that, douche bag.” Dean shot him a pitying look, shook his head and
followed his fiancée to the break room to give everyone their lunch.

Sighing, Jesse took a swig of his soda and wondered how long
avoiding his attraction to Lola was going to work. Not that it was working very
well right now.

* * * * *

That was close.

Lola took a deep drag from the straw, welcoming the icy-cold
rush of Sprite in her mouth. Anything to cool herself down. She needed to knock
this off. Getting hot and bothered over a man who worked on the same show she
did was foolish. Worse was that he was as bad as every other man she knew, and
assumed she was a brainless bimbo who knew more about hair products than being
a producer. She did not have the time or energy to fight against that. She had
a job to do and she needed to focus on it.

Grabbing her chicken sandwich, she plopped down at the
cracked Formica table that filled the middle of the break room. The sharp scent
of motor oil and new tires mixed with all the other chemicals that made up the
distinct odor of a garage. It was a smell she knew well from her childhood.
With a NASCAR driver for an uncle, she’d spent plenty of time around cars.

The burble of conversation flowed around her while she ate.
She knew the moment Jesse walked into the room, and that annoyed her. This
attraction to him was inconvenient.

Too late, she realized the only free chair was right next to
her. Jesse slid into the seat beside her, his shoulder and thigh brushing
against hers. Desire shimmered within her, pooling in her belly.

“Sorry,” he grunted, inching his chair away. It didn’t help
much. The table was packed, and she could feel the body heat coming off him in
waves that enveloped her.

“No problem.” She swallowed a bite of her sandwich and tried
not to choke on it.

God.
Her hormones rioted, reminding her it had been a
while since she’d had some play. She’d been off the market for a while because
she’d found depending on a man was emotional suicide, and she wasn’t that much
of a masochist. There’d been too many guys who never saw anything but her
looks, never digging any deeper. Sadly, men seemed to fall into two
categories—those who wanted to bone her, and those who wanted to own her. Those
in the second category usually fell into the first as well. Her last boyfriend
had managed to fool her into believing he wanted a healthy relationship, but
instead he’d wanted to control her, make her his pretty, brainless arm candy.
Jackass.

Jesse was no different than all the rest, she reminded
herself. She knew the signs by now, and this guy fell into category number one.
All he saw, all he wanted, was sex.

But damn, at the moment, so did she.

She squeezed her thighs together and ignored the ache
between them. Every time Jesse moved to drink his soda or eat his burger and
fries, his sleeve brushed over her arm and sent goose bumps chasing over her
skin. She’d never been so intensely aware of a man in her life.

Reaching past her to grab a packet of ketchup from a pile
Andi had dumped in the middle of the table, Jesse shot her a quick grin as his
arm slid against the side of her breast. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine.” She wiped any expression off her face, but her
nipples tightened instantly and she hunched her shoulders to hide them. Fire
shuddered through her, spreading to every inch of her body. So hot, so ready.
Her sex went slick and soft in moments, and the muscles in her thighs clenched.
It was insane how easily he got to her. A quick touch and she lit up like a
Christmas tree.

She forced herself to eat, finishing her lunch mechanically.
Just get this over with and get back to work. That was what she was here for.
Producing a show, and doing it well. One by one, the guys finished their food
and began to filter out of the room.