Freefall (26 page)
Authors: Tess Oliver
The crowd at the car show was already thinning, and Clutch still had had no offers on the Pontiac. But now, because of his budding side business, selling the thing had fallen off his priority list. Just as I thought about the Pontiac, it rolled by. Only Clutch was still sitting across from me. His back was facing the car.
“Uh, Clutch, I don’t want to freak you out, but your Pontiac is making its way out of the parking lot, and a certain irritating seventeen-year-old is behind the wheel.”
Clutch jumped up and the whole table moved, even with the rest of us still sitting there. He shoved his hand in his pocket. “She snaked my fucking keys!” He lumbered after the car. Taylor must have spotted him, and the car picked up speed.
Dray took advantage of the unguarded taco basket, “Does Taylor have a license?” he asked before devouring a taco in three bites.
“Beats me,” I said. “I’ve never seen her drive though.”
Tires shrieked and you could almost hear Clutch’s feet pounding the asphalt as he ran after his car. Then the distinctive sound of car metal being twisted sent us all off the bench. Clutch was running for the street, and the rest of us followed.
The car had hit a street lamp, and the front end was at an ugly angle. Fluids drained from the motor. We stood and watched as Clutch ran to the driver’s side and wrenched open the door.
Dray placed his hands over Cassie’s glasses. “Don’t look. This isn’t going to be pretty.”
“I just hope he doesn’t twist
her
around that pole,” I said. Scotlyn took hold of my arm with a pleading look. “I’m kidding. He won’t hurt her.”
Clutch pulled Taylor out of the car. His face was red, and Taylor cowered beneath his scowl. Then my giant friend who loved his cars more than anything and who’d refused to admit that he was nuts about the kid, pulled Taylor into his massive arms and held her.
“I don’t friggin’ believe it,” Dray said. He looked over at me. “I guess all three of us are a bunch of saps when it comes to the women we love.”
“Again with the romantic sentiments?” Cassie said.
Dray dropped his arm around her shoulder, and they started walking back to the table. “Can’t help it. It just comes naturally.”
I pulled Scotlyn into my arms, and she peered up at me. “I can live with being a sap if it means holding you in my arms every day.”
She smiled up at me and then looked around to see that no one was within earshot. “Kiss me, Nix.”
And I did.
Other Books by Tess Oliver
Camille (Camille Series, 1)
Heart of the Huntress (Camille Series, 2)
Safe Landing
Bitterroot Crossing
Blackpool Cove
Distraction (Years from Home, 1)
Unbreakable (Years from Home, 2)
Destined (Years from Home, 3)
A Little Less Girl
Cowboy Dark
Angel Beach
Home is Where the Heartbreak is
Strangely Normal
Bittersweet Obsession
Paradise
Tess Oliver loves hearing from her readers.
CONTACT HER VIA EMAIL:
[email protected]
WEBSITE:
WWW.TESSOLIVER.COM
B
OOK
D
ESCRIPTION:
A unique summer job lands eighteen-year-old Eden Saxon into a lifestyle completely different than her own. She becomes a companion for nineteen-year-old Finley King, the daughter of a rock legend. Finley suffers from severe anxiety, and her father fears her being alone. Eden leaves her loving, but wildly dysfunctional, parents and dreary apartment and enters a world where no luxury is overlooked. She instantly adores Finley and her charming, quirky personality. The whole situation has only one flaw– Finley’s older brother, Jude. Jude King is cocky, arrogant and irritating. Unfortunately, he’s also completely irresistible.
Eden realizes she’s underestimated the depth of Finley’s problems, and suddenly her dream job turns out to be a lot more than she’d expected. Eden soon finds herself in over her head . . . and her heart.
T
EASER:
He placed down his pencil and walked across the floor toward me. The crackling energy I’d felt between us the night before when he’d stood over my bed returned now and grew with hot intensity as the space between us disappeared. I was not the only one noticing the sudden charge in the atmosphere between us. He stopped directly in front of me, and even with loud music bouncing off the walls, I could hear the unnaturally fast rhythm of his breathing.
He hesitated a moment and then his hand came up slowly and brushed the hair off my face. His fingertips had only grazed my cheek, but I felt the sensation of his touch through my entire body. He looked back at me as if he’d smoothed his hands over every inch of my skin. The air between us heated and what had started out as a casual session between an artist and his subject had somehow erupted into something completely different.
Tess Oliver’s New Adult title,
Strangely Normal
, is now available on Kindle, Nook, iTunes, and Kobo.
Table of Contents