Harper recognized the purr of a motorcycle just as the second nut loosened. As she bent to fit the wrench over the third, she realized the bike was stopping. She peered down the length of the car just as a man in motorcycle dark brown leathers stepped around it.
He was tall, with ropes of muscles over his spare frame and a three-day scruff of a beard. His face was heartstoppingly handsome-young but tanned and already slightly weathered, just the way she liked them. His grin when he saw her was distinctly predatory, and he pulled off his sunglasses to reveal delicious amber eyes and shoved them into the pocket of his jacket. Big, rawboned, and as hot as sin on a three-day bender.
He-llo.
"Nice view," he said, his gaze resting on her rear, which was still pointed skyward as she bent to push the lug wrench into place.
No kidding.
"You going to help?" She cocked her head at the tire. "Or are you just here to admire?"
He leaned against the side of the car. "Looks like you're doing fine."
She snorted and stood, folding her arms and cocking a hip. His eyes flickered down to her cleavage. She knew full well that her posture drew attention to it, and she smirked back at him.
"You could at least pretend to be a gentleman. You're more likely to get what you want that way."
His gaze raked across her, taking in her dangling earrings and small nose stud, then coming to rest briefly on the small butterfly tattoo on her inner arm. The tattoo covered up another mistake-the initials of her high school boyfriend she'd gotten on her eighteenth birthday, the boyfriend who had already been cheating on her with her so-called friend. Even then, she'd known in her heart of hearts that guys always leave. She'd just been naïve enough to think that maybe if she pretended they didn't, it would make a difference.
"I doubt it," he said.
But he stepped forward, taking her place and loosening the last few lug nuts with quick, efficient motions. Harper planted her rear against the hood, quite deliberately in his peripheral vision.
Harper might have a habit of jumping in too quickly, but this was fast even for her. She wasn't often quite so interested so soon.
She gauged him again, taking in the rugged jaw and chiseled nose and cheekbones.
Okay, never ever.
All things considered, though, maybe the day wasn't going to turn out so bad, after all.
He looked up at her. She could break her heart on that hard jaw. "Jack."
"Harper," she said.