When she stepped out into the sunlight, her heart was still pounding, her nipples hard, her thighs quivering, and she stopped worrying about Hope entirely.

Because her car was gone.


***

After that steamy kiss, and then Mia's furious escape, Kevin let his wobbly knees collapse, and he slid weakly into his chair.

"Mr. McKnight?" Sara, the college student who supervised the kids for the morning hours at the center, stood in his doorway. "You okay?"

"Yes, of course."

"You didn't answer my knock-"

"Sorry." Sex on the brain. "What can I do for you?"

"You've got to get to the high school, right?"

Ah, shit. "Yeah." He stood up again, locked his knees in place, and hoped he didn't have Sucker-Kissed written all over his face. "Thanks."

She smiled at him, then vanished.

Kevin did his best to shake off the sensual languor sapping his strength and headed toward the door. What had he told himself?

No more, Mia, that's what.

And what had he done the second she'd touched him?

He'd been all over her.

But telling himself no more and actually following through were two different things. She was a puzzle, and he liked puzzles. She presented herself as a sophisticated, elegant businesswoman without an inch of softness or weakness, but he'd seen flashes of both now. Oh, yeah, she was a mystery, one he'd enjoy unwrapping if he didn't suspect it came packed with deadly explosives.

As he left out the back way of the teen center, cutting across the football field toward the high school, he wondered if she'd come knocking tonight.

But all fanciful wondering ceased abruptly when he caught sight of his classroom, one window open, the screen flapping in the breeze, and an Audi in the middle of the field.


***

Mia stood on the sidewalk staring at the spot where her car had been. Then she whipped out her cell phone to call Tess.

"Did you get a good eyebrow pencil?" her assistant asked sweetly in lieu of a greeting. "Or did you just plan on losing your other one today?"

"Ha ha."

"Good, you're going to need a sense of humor today. Layoffs are imminent."

"Damn it. Who?"

"Don't know." Tess sounded a little stressed. "But I can bet you it's at my level, not yours."

"Shit."

"It's okay. I'm too good to be fired."

"Well, that's the truth. I'd die without you there. Speaking of there, and getting there… I have a little car issue."

"No. No, no, no. You have the Anderson people due here in… Ohmigod, twenty minutes. Mia-"

"I'll be there, but if I'm a few minutes late, ply them with coffee and donuts." She snapped the cell phone shut. She was going to kill Hope.

Turning in a slow circle of frustration, she stopped halfway, staring in shock at the football field between the school and the teen center.

There was a car in the middle of it. Some idiot had parked on the grass and-

She shielded her eyes from the sun so she could see more than just the outline of the car and felt a fresh onslaught of temper.

Her car.

Her car was parked in the middle of the field. And sitting on the hood was her soon-to-be dead niece, and a-oh, hell no, a boy. Next to them stood a man, who even from here she recognized. She had a feeling she'd recognize that body from a hundred miles, much less a hundred yards.

"Save me from idiots," Mia muttered and stepped onto the grass, her one good heel sinking in. Perfect.

Kevin turned and watched her hobble toward him, and if she wasn't mistaken, his mouth curved.

When she got close enough, she spoke directly to Hope. "What the hell is wrong with you? You looking to get arrested in this state, too? I nearly called the police and reported the car missing!"

Hope opened her mouth but Mia lifted up her hand. "No. No excuses. Get off the hood, get the hell off my hood-" She spared a scathing glare at the teenage boy sitting next to Hope, and then started around the car for the driver's door.

Kevin shifted, and as a result she bumped right into him. "Out of my way, Ace."

He didn't, just studied her while he rubbed his jaw. The at least two-day growth there rasped in the morning air and scraped low at her belly.

She knew what that growth felt like against her jaw, her breasts… between her thighs.

''Sometimes things aren't as they seem," he said quietly, for her ears only. "And yelling isn't going to get you anywhere. Patience-"

"Do I look like I have an ounce of patience?"

Instead of answering that, he lifted a hand toward her face.

She pulled back.

"You have a-" He waggled a finger at her cheek.

She put her hand there. "What?"

"Here." His warm fingers brushed her skin and her nipples reacted again. Very annoying.

Then she realized he was showing her what he had. A piece of confetti. "Go ahead," he said. "You can finish blistering my hide now."

She was certain steam was corning out of her ears as she pushed past him and got into the car. Hope had already gotten into the passenger seat and was staring sullenly straight ahead.

Kevin poked his head in the driver's side, his face incredibly close to hers.

Again her body reacted.

Bad body.

"Hope," he said, looking past Mia to the girl. "It was nice that you stopped and talked to Cole. I think he needed a friend."

Hope nodded, and Kevin smiled again and said, "See you tomorrow." Then he pulled back and, without so much as even glancing at Mia, turned to the presumed Cole. He put a hand on the boy's shoulder, guiding him across the field toward the school.

Mia turned to Hope. "Well?"

Hope slid farther into her seat.

"Nothing? Really? Not even an 'I'm sorry, Mia'? An T screwed up, Mia'?"

'You said don't let anything happen to the Audi. And nothing did."

Mia felt her mouth fall open. "You're kidding me, right?"

Hope crossed her arms over her skinny chest and turned forward, going the silent route.

Mia shook her head. She couldn't believe it, but Hope was seething with resentment and hurt when Mia was the injured party here! "I don't have time for this." She threw the car into gear and drove them off the field and onto the street, heading toward the freeway as fast as she could without running anything over. The entire drive from Glendale Hills into the LA forest of high-rises, Hope stared out the window, her eyes full of antagonism. She kept her silence until they pulled into the parking structure of Mia's downtown building.

"You were gone more than a minute."

Mia looked over at her. "What?"

"You were gone like ten minutes. You get a quickie in his office or something?"

"No, I didn't get a- You know what?" She shook her head. Forced a laugh. "You are not going to make this my fault. You came to me, Hope. I let you stay in my house, eat my food-"

"You don't have any food."

"-rattle my windows, and then I ask you for one thing. To wait in the car for a minute-"

"Ten."

Mia could actually feel brain cells exploding. She glanced at the teen, with her stringy black hair, black gloss, black eyeliner that looked painted on, and still had no trouble reading loud and clear the antipathy coming off her in waves. Nothing was going to be enough to break that, or her years of pent-up anger.

Just as nothing was going to cut through the years it had taken Mia to put a shine and polish on her lowly early existence.

There was no middle ground here.

She turned off the engine and got out of the car, walking to her trunk where she kept a spare pair of shoes. Teardrop Jimmy Choo slides, and though the color was just a little off for her outfit, that was the least of her worries. "Remember, this is a professional place of business," she told Hope. "No funny stuff, no loud music, and especially no sticky fingers."

"Gee, Aunt Apple Pie," Hope said in a slow, exaggerated drawl, cocking her head slightly to the side as if maybe she wasn't the sharpest crayon in the box. "Whatever will I do with myself if I can't square dance or steal stuff?"

Mia stopped short and turned to face her. "And don't even think about calling me that again."

"Ma'am, yes, ma'am." She snapped to attention, mockingly saluting her.

Oh, yeah. It was going to be a helluva day.

They entered the building. Mia had long ago stopped gawking at the gorgeous architecture of the glass and steel all around her, at the shiny marble flooring of the foyer bigger than her entire hometown. There was a flower cart, a donut shop where she bought Hope breakfast, an expensive jewelry shop, the glass elevators that rose so high into the sky they practically vanished, all surrounded by lush green tropical plant life cultivated throughout the bottom floor.

Hope hadn't even seen anything like it before, and she totally gawked, her hard, cynical face softening as it tipped back to catch all that she could.

"Pretty amazing, huh?" Mia showed her badge to the doorman to get into the elevators.

Hope closed her mouth and her expression and lifted that careless shoulder. "It's okay."

Mia shook her head, and they took the elevator in silence, even when the high-speed electronics whirled them up at a dizzying speed.

Hope merely clutched at the handrail, her face practically glued to the glass.

On Mia's floor, they entered a set of brass and glass double doors and stepped into the organized chaos that was Mia's entire world. Phones rang, well-dressed people hurried back and forth carrying files and laptops, talking, laughing, more talking…