All Will had to do was snap his fingers, and poof, there was a complex car frame sitting in his retrofitted barn. She knew he was rich, but this was the power to have anything he wanted. Anything at all.
And he’d said he wanted her.
A hot shiver shot through her body...along with a healthy dose of tension as she reminded herself that rich men played by their own rules.
By now, she knew that Will was nothing like the man who’d paid her parents to make his son’s car accident go away. But at the same time, no matter how nice Will seemed, she and Jeremy lived in a very different world. Harper wasn’t intimidated by much anymore, but she wasn’t going to lie and say that Will’s world of infinite luxury and power wasn’t overwhelming.
“It’s called a space frame,” Will told them. “Or a tube frame.” He trailed a finger down a metal pipe, and Harper felt it as though he’d run that finger down her arm.
“We’re going to attach the sheet metal and just about every single part somewhere on this frame.” He signaled Jeremy closer. Harper leaned in, too. “Each tube is for something specific.” He pointed. “This is where we’ll attach the firewall between the engine and the cockpit.” He patted the air over where she assumed the driver would sit. “Here is where we’ll put the floor panels.” His words drew a picture, and Harper could almost see the leather seats. “Those are the pieces we’ve got for the time being. The rest will be here next Friday.”
He wrapped his hand around Harper’s, and with her fingers engulfed in his, he took her back for the larger view. Jeremy followed suit. Together, the three of them stared at the hunk of metal.
Suddenly she saw it. “It’s like a bird cage surrounding the driver.” No wonder they called it the Birdcage Maserati.
“All we have to do is put her parts together, shape her, and bring her to life. With loving hands.”
Though they were talking about a car, with her hand in his and his heated gaze burning up every inch of her skin, Harper felt as though he was slowly bringing her to life, too...patiently working to uncover and unleash the sensual woman hidden inside of her with every word, every look, and every touch.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Will grabbed his camera off the workbench. “We need to document our work progress as we go along.” He snapped a couple of shots of the bare frame, then waved Harper into the picture.
“It should be Jeremy in the photo,” she protested, hanging back. “Not me.”
“Sorry, but he’s not the hot babe we need for our hot car shots.”
She glared at his teasing use of the term hot babe, and he wanted to kiss the disapproval right off her pretty lips.
Will took her hand again, her skin smooth and warm as he brought her over to the frame. Had she figured out that while he was teasing her, he was working himself up, too? He enjoyed her wide blue eyes, the puffs of breath that signaled her arousal—or anger—and the way she bit her lip without even being aware of it.
“We need you in the picture to show proportion,” he explained. “And you, too, Jeremy.”
Jeremy needed no further prodding to jump into the photo. Will didn’t always require human subjects, but he wanted them. This was a joint project. Plus, he had a major desire to see Harper on camera.
“Act like a model showing off the car,” he directed, watching her on the digital screen.
He thought she might be shy, but she surprised him by throwing her hands out, cocking her hip, and pointing one toe on the concrete in a ballet pose. Her hair swirled around her shoulders, and her pink lipstick glistened. An ache grew low in his gut, and he swallowed hard.
Watching her was addictive.
Beside her, Jeremy was a surprising ham, striking one ridiculous pose after another, and Will wondered when the last time had been that he’d had fun like this.
Finally, Harper stepped out of the camera frame and held out her palm. “Okay, give it to me. We need some of you and Jeremy, since you two are building this thing.”
He relinquished the camera, but not before making sure his hand lingered on hers. She met his gaze, pursed her lips, and shook her head. “Stop being bad.”
“You have no idea how bad I can be,” he said in a soft voice. And he couldn’t wait to show her.
He caught the way her eyes flared with heat right before she rolled them, and then she gestured for him to move toward Jeremy and the metal frame. He’d raised it off the floor with four jack stands, to which he’d added small pieces of cloth so they didn’t scratch the frame’s paint. He’d enjoyed their reaction. When the crate arrived yesterday, he’d considered the best presentation. In the end, he’d uncrated it, used the suspension crane to place it on the jack stands, and covered it with the tarp so he could whisk it aside to reveal the masterpiece. The effect was perfect. Even Harper had been impressed.