DRIVE
Hot Rides #1
Sidney Bristol
Released February 23rd, 2016
Zebra: Kensington Books
Blazing
Miami sun. Cool classic cars. Dangerous undercover assignment. In Sidney
Bristol’s scorching new Hot Rides series, the cars are fast and the romance is
furious…
Aiden
DeHart has a history—and secrets. His classic car garage is a front for an FBI
operation. His current mission: get some evidence from a drug dealer’s ex-wife,
then get out. Madison Haughton sending his engine into overdrive isn’t part of
the plan, though, especially considering she might not be as innocent as Aiden
thought…
Since
her divorce from her sleazeball ex, Madison has sworn off bad boys, gotten some
sweet tattoos, and become a star of Miami’s roller derby scene. But however
fast she skates, her ex is always on her tail. When the sexy guy in the muscle
car offers to help, he could be her ticket to safety—or a detour down a deadly
road…
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The idea of meeting Aiden again had
her stomach clenching. She didn’t know if she should be afraid of the man or
not. Those eyes, his body, that car—it was the kind of bad-boy siren’s call
that turned off her better judgment. Which was exactly why she was here when
the shop was closed and everyone was gone. She was not looking to run into
Aiden, she just wanted to learn a little more about him. She’d passed it at
least a hundred times on her way to derby practice.
She swung her leg off her Honda
Rebel and frowned. The lights were off, there was a chain corralling the cars
out front, the bay doors were shut, and yet the low gate wasn’t barring entry
to the parking lot.
Maybe someone had forgotten to close
it? That was stupid. Someone could cut the chains, bust some windows, and be
gone with all those pretty cars. But, that wasn’t her problem. She just wanted
to look around. If this man was going to follow her, confront her while she was
doing a fund-raiser, well, she wanted to know more about him. The Internet
hadn’t told her anything, except he was a co-owner of the garage and involved
in a wreck some years ago. That was it. No one could have that little of an
online footprint. These days people had a Facebook profile for their dog and a
Twitter account for their cat. So who was Aiden?
The hours on the front window said
they were open until seven, and it was edging past eight. The neon signs in the
windows of the businesses up and down the street lit up the night and somewhere
nearby a band played a salsa tune. She cupped her hands around her face and
peered into the darkened interior. She could make out
a counter, a
rack of shirts, and some other displays that meant nothing to her—but no
people.
What kind of a business were they
running here? Henchmen “R” Us? What would make a businessman turn hired muscle?
She’d glimpsed enough of Dustin’s so-called work to know the type, and Aiden
was not the
type to be
hired out by anyone. He was something else entirely.
“Can I help you?” a voice said
behind her. Madison spun around. What she wouldn’t give for her baseball bat
right now! She had pepper spray attached to her keys, but for some reason the
bat made her feel safer. The way Aiden stared at her, assessing and weighing
her presence, she could have been one of his cars. Well, if he wanted a look
under her hood it wasn’t happening.
He’d showered. She could smell the
scent of his soap. He’d changed into a black button-down shirt with
LUCKY 13
stitched onto the shoulders in white thread, the sleeves cuffed around his
biceps.
“Shit, you scared me.” Madison took
one step back and her calf hit the outcrop of rock below the window.
Aiden was maybe
two feet away from her. Where the hell had he come from?
One brow arched and he tilted his
head to the side. His gaze traversed her body without a care if she noticed or
not. Her nipples tightened and she balled her hands into fists. No, she would
not have a “thing” for the man who wanted to manipulate her. She was going to
date nice, rule-following types from now on.
“What are you doing here, Madison?”
The way he rumbled her name, deep and low in his chest, revved something inside
of her. She licked her lips. This was about being free from Dustin and all the
crap he slung her way. For better or worse, Aiden was linked with her ex.
“I, uh, thought we should talk
more.” Maybe she could get him to talk his way into the truth. “You surprised
me earlier. I didn’t know what to say or think.”
The muscles in his jaw jumped. Did
he believe her? She didn’t believe herself.
“Look, I just want Dustin to go
away, so whatever it takes to make that happen, I want to do it.” Preferably
her ex-husband would end up handcuffed and in jail, but she doubted that. He’d
acquired a new boss since they separated.
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
“What changed your mind? You didn’t
seem that interested earlier.”
She pushed her shoulders back. “I’m
not saying I’m interested. I’m willing to hear you out. It’s not like we had a
whole lot of time to talk this afternoon. Like, how exactly did you come to
work for Dustin?” Anyone who worked for her ex-husband wasn’t a person she
wanted in her life, that was for sure.
You listening down there?
Now if she could just get her libido
to fall in line.
“We don’t talk about that here,”
Aiden replied.
“Then where do we talk about it?”
“Not here.”
“What the fuck is that supposed to
mean?”
“You’ve got a mouth on you.”
She stared at him, but couldn’t figure
him out. What did he want?
He glanced over his shoulder, but
there wasn’t another soul on the lot or the street in that moment, and she’d
given her cop shadow the slip.
“Why the hell do you care?” Madison
had always had her daddy’s knack with language. It was one of the only things
the old sailor had left her with before he split.
“Never said I did.”
They were talking in circles. She
wasn’t getting anywhere with him.
“Got plans?” he asked.
“Uh . . .” She should have been at
roller derby practice half an hour ago, but this was more important.
He took a step toward her, invading
her space even more. He reached out his hand and plucked a leaf from her hair,
holding it out so she could see it before tossing it on the ground. “Are you
doing anything right now besides holding me up?”
She licked her lips and blinked at
him. “Not right now.”
Aiden might be a crook and a
criminal—which went against everything she’d promised herself she’d stay away
from—but she needed Dustin out of her life so she could really move on.
“I’m curious about something.”
“Curiosity killed the cat, you
know.” Right. She needed to not reply in movie quotes.
“Wouldn’t it be a lot safer for you
to give the drive back to Dustin?”
“Yes. Yes it would be.”
“So you have it.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You have it. So why haven’t you
given it to him?” He crossed his arms, which just made his biceps bulge.
Madison sighed.
“It’s complicated.”
“I’m a smart guy.”
She studied him for a moment. Did
she trust him? Could she? Madison didn’t know how much longer she could hold
out. “I have it, but the cops and Dustin want it. No matter who I give it to,
someone will want me dead or behind bars. I don’t like either of those options.
I’m not stupid, but that’s what people like to believe.
Appearances
work in my favor.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I mean, when people see a tattooed
girl like me, they make assumptions. I just let them believe whatever they want
to.”
“Where is the drive?”
She bit her lip. Could she trust
him? Her gut said yes, but then again her gut had also said yes to marrying
Dustin—the biggest fuck-up of her life.
“Somewhere,” she replied.
Aiden sighed. “You aren’t going to
tell me?”
“I can’t. I hid it from myself.”
“Can you get it back?”
“Maybe. If I think it’s the smart
thing to do.”
“If you aren’t going to trust me,
why are you here?” He spread his arms a little and glanced around at his
domain.
“Because . . . because I’m between a
rock and a hard place. I want Dustin out of my life, but he’s convinced
I’m trying to
steal from him. Then there’s the cops who have me over a barrel. I have to
sneak out of my own house just to get a little privacy. And now there’s you.
You say you don’t want to help Dustin.” She shrugged.
“So maybe
you’ll help me.”
“So maybe you’ll help me.”
She tipped her chin up, refusing to
be ashamed of her past. Dustin’s sins were not hers. When she’d left Dustin,
she’d promised herself she’d follow the letter of the law. All the rules. So
far, all it had gotten her was a burned car, all her cash stolen, a collection
of bruises, and a charge for assault for protecting herself after her ex sent
thugs after her.
The cops wanted her to spill the
beans on Dustin, except there wasn’t anything to spill. Their tactics of
refusing help were forcing her into this. Into making a deal with someone who
might be as much of a crook as Dustin. But did she have any choice? No.
Enter to Win a
Print Copy of DRIVE
It can never be said that NYT & USA
Today Bestselling author Sidney Bristol has had a ‘normal’
life. She is a recovering roller derby queen, former missionary, and tattoo
addict. She grew up in a motor-home on the US highways (with an occasional
jaunt into Canada and Mexico), traveling the rodeo circuit with her parents.
Sidney has lived abroad in both Russia and Thailand, working with children and
teenagers. She now lives in Texas where she splits her time between a job she
loves, writing, reading and fostering cats.
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