With her incredibly proper posture, which delighted Rux greatly, Dana moved her sensual, blue eyes over him and then traced them over the car. For some reason, the way she cocked her eyebrow at it as those eyes moved over the Cobra made Rux’s dick twitch in his pants.
“A ’65 Shelby Cobra?” Dana said, more as a fact rather than a question.
Rux felt his face light up like a streetlamp.
“You know your vehicles, ma’am,” Rux said.
Dana held her clutch in one hand as she walked over, that hip sway nearly making Rux moan aloud, to touch the car with the tip of her fingers. She caressed it as she walked around it to the front, stopping at the engine and looking back up at him with that sarcastic glow.
“You’ve had the quarter panel refurbished,” she said, her smile spreading wider.
Rux thought his face was going to crack in half if he smiled any wider.
“Wow,” he said. “If you’re trying to impress me, it's working.”
Dana let out a chuckle. It was a sweet serenade to Rux’s ears. She continued walking around the side of the car, looking at it with respect as if it were some precious treasure.
“You seem to have an appreciation for all things beautiful,” Dana said, still trailing the side of the car. “I didn’t know billionaire CEOs had the desire to stop and smell the roses.”
Rux realized then that she must have looked him up, or Gerri had informed him about his wealth and status. Her tone implied that she wanted him to know she was aware of it but wasn’t necessarily impressed by it.
“I grew up in a very artistic household,” Rux said, placing his hands into his pockets. “I found the art in everything that was around me; fashion, cars, you name it. You don’t have to hang it on a wall to call it art.”
Dana shot her head up from the car, bits of her lovely hair falling over her eyes, and her tongue slipped briefly between her smiling lips.
“That’s extremely poetic,” she replied. “A trait I, also, wouldn’t have attached to a billionaire CEO. You must never really want for anything, do you?”
I didn’t until I met you.
Rux stepped close to the Cobra and then placed a finger on the door. Her question had been rhetorical, and she had returned her admiring eyes to the black leather interior. He could have told her what he was feeling, but that level of proclamation might scare her off.
“So was it the art of cars that made you so interested in them?” Rux asked.
Dana continued to assess the inside of the classic car, moving her fingers slowly over the stitching in the backseat. The sun was going down, and a brush of wind would flick her hair out of her eyes now and then.
Her inky black hair and blue eyes made her look even more goddess-like in the twilight shimmer.
“My father was into classic cars,” Dana began. “We moved around a lot, so I was never able to make a lot of friends. I spent most of my free time with him in the garage.”
Rux had detected a change in her tone, that playful intrigue having vanished. She almost seemed a little sad.
“He taught me a lot,” Dana continued. “It made me feel wanted and needed. He was always so passionate about having me in there with him.”
She smiled small, her eyes gazing off toward the horizon with her hand still on the side of the car. Rux took the handle of the passenger’s side door and opened it for her. Her eyes flicked back to him with a look of depressed nostalgia.
“It seems like you loved your time with him,” Rux said softly.
Dana nodded, then moved around the car and sat in the passenger seat. Rux shut the door, then returned to the driver’s side, sitting with her quietly before starting the engine again.
“It’s funny,” Dana said, turning to Rux. “Most kids I knew would be grounded and asked to do menial tasks like helping their dad out in the garage. While with me, when I’d get in trouble, I was told to stay out of the garage.”
Dana laughed, light and full of life. It took away any weight that Rux had ever felt, so she was certainly magical in that way.
He laughed with her, then fiddled with the keys in the ignition. He gave her a dramatic frown before turning the key and bringing the Cobra back to life with a deafening roar.
“Mmm,” Dana said, closing her eyes. “I love how she purrs.”
Rux turned to her, still frowning.