The Omega Team: Love: Classified (Kindle Worlds Novella) by Liz Crowe

behind Joey. He spotted the red convertible he’d noticed on the way in and smiled.
    “Perfect.” He stuck his wallet in his pack and shouldered it, spotted the cigarette Paige had just stuck in her mouth and snagged it on his way past her. He broke it in two pieces, and then stomped on it, shredding it under his boots.
    “Hey,” she said with hands on her hips.
    “ Hay is for horses. Get in.” He held open the passenger’s side door. “Come on, Paige. Your chariot awaits.” He stared at her, half irritated, half horny.
    She blew out a puff of air, grabbed her suitcase and rolled it toward him. He took it from her with a frown. He had to get this thing back under his control, or he was going to flat out lose his mind. After slamming the door shut, he tossed her suitcase and his backpack in the trunk, climbed in behind the wheel and turned the key.
    As he waited for the top to fold back, he allowed a small tickle of fury at her. Cigarettes? Really ?
    “No girlfriend of mine smokes—cigarettes, anyway.” He gripped the wheel, unable to look at her. “Got it?”
    “Okay,” she said, her voice soft. “Sorry.”
    “It’s fine. As long as we have an understanding of that issue.”
    Keeping his fingers wrapped around the wheel, he looked down at the hand she’d placed about midway up his thigh. She pulled a pair of Raybans from the depths of her bag full of God knows what and leaned back, letting her fingers rest even closer to his crotch. “Nice car,” she said as he gunned the throaty motor. “Can I drive?”
    “Is your name on the rental agreement?” He signaled left in her direction and pulled into the light, late afternoon airport traffic.
    “No,” she said, turning to him as they waited at a light.
    “Well, there’s your answer.”
    “You sure are prickly all of a sudden, fake boyfriend.” She lifted her sunglasses at the same moment he turned to look at her. “All because of a little cig?”
    “My parents both smoked like chimneys. I thought everybody’s house, hair and clothes smelled like an ashtray until I went to my first of four grade schools and found out that wasn’t the case. They died within months of each other from lung cancer.”
    She took her hand off his leg, thank God. Joey forced himself to relax and enjoy the ride. It was hot but not terribly humid, with a decent breeze. He propped his left arm on the open window and signaled to exit the expressway when she told him. They waited at the bottom of the exit, the empty intersection mocking the need for a traffic light. Joey’s heart rate was slowing after the twenty minute, open-top car ride. He turned to smile at her. She was glaring at him.
    “Did anyone ever tell you that you drive like somebody’s grandma? Blow off the light already, Preston. I’m late.”
    He frowned at her, glanced back at the admittedly superfluous light, then gunned it, tires screeching, into a left turn. Mashing the accelerator, he reveled in the car’s power and the sound of Paige’s squeal of pleasure. They were on a mostly empty two-lane road, with just enough hills, twists and turns to make the next fifteen minutes an utter joy to drive. He braked and accelerated, focusing forward, only looking at her once to see she had both arms raised as if she were in the front car of a roller coaster.
    “That’s better,” she said, reassembling her hair. “Pull over here. I should change clothes.”
    “Where?” he asked, honestly confused. All he saw were a couple of unassuming houses set back from the road at the end of long driveways.
    “Right there,” she said with a flap of her fingers. “It’s a friend’s house. They’ll all be at the party already, but I can change in their driveway.”
    He turned into the drive, the gravel crunching under the tires, breathing heavily as if he’d just run a fast mile. Paige hopped out and grabbed her suitcase from the trunk, then tossed it into the backseat, humming under her breath.
    After a few seconds