Chapter 5

Once we arrived at the store, Dominic pointed out his car in the early dusk of evening.  “That’s her,” he said with a slight grin.  And he said I had a nice car.  

The man drove what was clearly a customized new Shelby-GT Mustang.  That piece of machinery had to cost at least 80K.  The sleek, black body with its gold race-stripes hunched low to the ground.  The 18-inch polished wheels glistened even with the fading light.  The windows were dark, adding to the smoothness of the vehicle as a whole.  

I stopped my BMW and pulled the emergency brake.  I never took my eyes off the Mustang as I climbed out of my car.  This car made my mouth water with its sheer impression of power.  I wanted to touch the smooth black body.  I wanted to slide behind the wheel and feel the power of the engine beneath me, vibrating through my hands as I gripped the wheel and shifted from gear to gear.  I longed to feel how tight she was on the road.

“You wanna drive her, don’t you?”  Dominic’s question drifted through the bubble that had encased me at the sight of his car.  All I could do was nod slightly.  My eyes ran the length of the car as I turned my head to look at him.  When I met his eyes, he was grinning from ear to ear, apparently enjoying the lust he must have seen in my scrutiny of the vehicle.

A smile spread across my face at the thought of driving the only American muscle car never taken out of production.  She had to be fast.  She had to be tight.  I longed to feel her power, but not now.  “I really need to get home,” I said as I turned back to the car again.  “But I’ll take a rain check on that offer.”

“Whenever you like.  Of all the people I know, you’re the only one I’d let drive her.”  He had walked up to me and slipped his arm around my shoulder.  It was amazing how right and wrong the situation felt.  His arm fit my body so well, so comfortably, and it felt right in some deep part of my being.  It felt wrong because of Michael.  My mind was spinning in inner turmoil.  What I really needed was to get away from Dominic and clear my head.

“Thanks for the offer.”  I turned to face him.  “It was really great to see you again.”  I didn’t want to leave him, but I had to go home.  The nurse would be waiting with Michael and Allison.

“Hey.  It’s not like we’ll never see each other again.  I live here, remember?”  He wrapped me in a hug.  “Can I see you tomorrow?”  The question breathed into my ear sent shivers down my spine and need coursing through my blood.

“I don’t know Dominic.  Friday’s a long, busy day at the bank, and I usually take Allison out to dinner.  I’ll call you later tonight and let you know.”  

“I look forward to it.  I’ll be sitting by the phone, so don’t leave me hangin’.  Let me walk you back to your car.”

“My car’s right here,” I said giving him a look of humorous suspicion.

“I know.  Why do you think I offered?  I don’t have to walk far to get back.”  This time he laughed heartily when I gave him a light punch on the arm.  Then he opened my door for me, and I climbed in.

Before he closed it, I looked up at him and said, “It really was good to see you.”

With one arm propped on the roof, he leaned down so we were face to face.  “It was good to see you, too,” he said.  Then, without warning, he leaned in and gave me a quick kiss, mouth to mouth.  

It happened so fast I didn’t have time to react.  But if I had, I don’t know if I would have pulled away or leaned into it.  There was a brief, but very hot, spark when our lips touched, and it scared me.

He closed the door and I started the car.  When I glanced through the open window, I couldn’t look away.  I was compelled to watch him as he walked to his car.  The wind caught his hair and played with it.  I could see the muscles in his back and arms moving under the soft cotton of his button-down shirt, which tucked into the waist of his faded blue jeans and allowed an uninhibited view of his tight rear.  The man still had the build of a twenty-year-old man.  That and the brief brush of his lips stirred an intense desire deep in the very pit of my being.

I pulled away with a wave as he closed his door.  I didn’t want to hear the Mustang’s engine when he started it.  The need the car stirred in me had me hovering on the edge as it was.  Hearing it could push me over.  To block out the sound I rolled up the windows and cranked the radio.  Then I took off through the empty lot and headed for home.