Seduced By A Steele (Forged of Steele #12) - Brenda Jackson Page 0,2
to Phoenix. But then Priscilla had unexpectedly had to leave the day after Sloan arrived. Priscilla’s boyfriend had finally asked her to marry him and had sent her an airline ticket to Spain.
The good thing was that the rent was paid up and Priscilla told Sloan she was welcome to stay in the house for the remainder of the month. That meant getting a job to have funds to cover the rent for next month. For the past few days she’d studied interview videos on the internet and felt she was ready.
As she rushed into the store, she glanced back at her car. Her car. It wasn’t the Tesla sports car she’d left behind in Cincinnati, but a car that was probably older than she was. But it ran okay, and she’d only paid three hundred for it. It was hers and that was what mattered.
Since her parents had made good on their threat and placed a hold on the funds in her bank account, she had to watch her money. No telling what else they would do in order to get her to return home. Well, she had news for them. She would rather endure the hardship of not having the finer things in life she was used to than a forced, loveless marriage.
She knew she would be making decisions she’d never had to make before, decisions her parents had always made for her, but it was time for a change. For the first time in her life she felt a sense of freedom she’d never had before, and she truly loved it.
Two
A feeling of relief swept through Mercury when he located his car. Parking in the space beside it, he quickly got out and glanced around the shops in the mall, wondering where the driver had gone.
He was pissed when he pulled his phone out of his jacket to call the police again to give them his exact location. Putting his phone back, he walked around his car and was glad not to see any dents. Other than needing a good wash job, the old girl looked good. Deciding to check the interior, he pulled his car keys out of his pocket to open the door.
“Get away from my car!”
Mercury snatched his head up and was instantly mesmerized by the beauty of the woman’s dark brown eyes, shoulder-length curly hair that cascaded around an oval face, high cheekbones, the smooth and creamy texture of her cocoa-colored skin and one pair of the sexiest lips he’d ever seen on a woman.
He immediately flashed her one of his wolfish smiles and was about to go into man-whore mode until what she’d said stopped him. Then he became blinded to all that gorgeous beauty. “Your car?”
“Yes, my car. Now get away from it before I call the police.”
He crossed his arms over his chest. “This is my car. It was stolen from me three nights ago.”
“You’re lying,” the woman snapped.
Calling him a liar was a big mistake. The one thing he despised more than anything was for someone to question his integrity. “If you think that, then by all means call the police. However, you don’t have to call them since I already have. You’re the thief, not me.”
“I am not a thief,” she said, feeling brave enough to step closer and glare at him.
“Nor am I a liar,” he said, glaring back.
Suddenly a police cruiser with flashing blue lights pulled up and two officers quickly got out. One was Sherman Aikens, one of Jonas’s old high school friends. “I see you’ve found your car, Mercury.”
Mercury frowned over at him. “No thanks to you guys who should have been looking for it. And my car was never lost, it was stolen, and she’s the person who has it.”
“It’s my car!”
Both officers glanced over at the woman and Mercury glowered. Instead of saying anything, they just stared at her, male appreciation obvious in their gazes. “For crying out loud, aren’t you going to ask to see her papers on the vehicle since she claims to be the owner?” he snapped out at the officers.