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CHAPTER ONE

“Ah, lass tablet said, and Peri flicked her eyes to hi his words as she lifted the handle of the hundred- thousand-dollar car I a soft hush of sound that meant money well spent as she slipped inside and let the leather seats enfold her

“Ma’am?”

It smelled new, and her eyes closed for a moment as she al as her shoulders eased and an odd relaxed tension filled her It was sleek, sexy without being over-the-top as if confident in its power and coht Its red color went deep, showing shadowed layers that only an off-the-assembly-line paint could deliver A two-seater, it looked fast, ide tires that had a radius in the wheel wells and an antenna array panel to plug in just about anything now or in the future The sound system was adequate at best, but the onboard colass coh, and Peri’s nose wrinkled

“It looks as if it was made for you,” thehis s leaf

Peri tossed her straight black hair out of her eyes, her smile real as she looked up at him “I bet you say that to everyone”

He rocked closer “No Only those who look like they belong in it” He cleared his tablet, and the car’s logo ghosted into existence on the clear glass “Well?”

Angling her sliot out before he had a coronary Immediately the chaos of Detroit’s auto show beat anew upon her, the air s of ozone and popcorn, and the rhythe pounding into her Content, she sent her gaze up to the multitude of cae that the swirls of black smut she’d painted on her face would keep her anonymous

She wasn’t alone wearing it—face paint had beco hats and mint juleps were to Churchill Downs Both uise themselves as they checked out the coed and sent literature As she was dressed in black leather pants and a cropped jacket with a silk shell and six-inch black boots, the paint made her feel especially flirty and powerful Sexy

She turned back to the coup, thinking it was cheating to show it in a paint job that you couldn’t get froht issue of the batteries? You’ve got theht isn’t over the wheels, and it’s going to turn as if it was on pudding”

His interest sharpened “It’s not an issue at posted speeds”

Peri nodded, and he winced as she ran a hand caressingly over the car’s sleek lines—all the way from the front to the back “Over posted speeds is when you need the control, though Acceleration?”

“Zero to sixty in four-point-two seconds,” he said, tapping his tablet awake