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She glanced around with surprise at his scandalized tone "What?"

"Did you just say what you said?" Jake asked, eyes wide and laughing as he glanced fro it She-- "Oh!" Her eyes widened incredulously as she suddenly understood his play on words Flushing a brilliant red now, she protested, "I meant at the food court! You ate out at the food court e first got there" Adding a frustrated "Ohhh," she smacked his arm

Jake chuckled "You should have seen your face when you caught on"

"Yeah?" Nicole asked, eyes narrowing He really was enjoying this, whichher, she could do a little tor, she announced, "Well, I think I want dinner out after all"

Jake’s eyebrows rose at her change of heart

"It’s probably the only way to ensure I’ll get fed within the next several hours," she added dryly

"Yeah, it is," Jake adetic sed "Sorry Can’t seem to help myself Every time I touch, ss that wouldto sort out what those things ht be when he asked, "Is there anywhere special you want to go?"

Nicole iood food, low lightingand booths

"Okay," Jake turned down the next road to head for Highway 417 and take it across town

They’d shopped at Bayshore Shopping Centre, a good twenty-ive her ti and privacy of the restaurant booth to drive theabout it She suspected it would mean she’d find out what it was like to have sex in the backseat of a car on a dark country road on the way hoer, and new experiences were a good thing Right?

They’d only been on the highway for a couple ofby a low curse frorab the overhead grip to steady herself as he suddenly swerved sharply into the outside lane to avoid rear-ending the car in front of the the frown on his face

"The brakes aren’t working," Jake said through his teeth, hands tightening on the steering wheel

"Are you sure?" Nicole asked, and then realized how stupid that sounded Of course, helike that Besides, one glance down showed her that he was pu at all

"Yes, honey, I’rilancing toward the road ahead It was clear for a bit, but she could see rear lights in all three lanes about a half mile ahead "I had the car in for its winterization last week They checked everything then, including the brakes, and said it was fine"

"Yeah, well they aren’t fine now," Jake said quietly "Worse yet, I’ve had as pedal for a fulldown"

"Oh, that really isn’t good," Nicole said faintly, her eyes shifting back to the road ahead again

Jake didn’t coor perhaps he was trying to decide what he could do Sensing lanced over just in tiency brakes Nicole instinctively braced herself for an abrupt halt, but nothing happened Jake didn’t look terribly surprised In fact, he seeri ato do?" she asked nervously

"Downshift," Jake answered, and did just that before hitting the hazard lights

Nicole bit her lip and glanced out the frontagain They were co up on the cars quickly and it didn’t see had worked Her head swiveled to thebeside her when it started to roll down

"Wind resistance," Jake shouted over the sudden roar of air rushing into the SUV "Itthat he’d opened all the sand it was da up her coat This really hadn’t been the best ti out of her jeans at theto use the center barrier to try to slow us down," Jake yelled

Nicole nodded, but didn’t bother trying to talk over the wind Nothing see yet At least, it didn’t appear to her that they’d slowed any, but she kept that opinion to herself and let hirateful that Jake was driving though She’d have tried the e, or sor scraping the car up against the center barrier to try to slow the vehicle She added that last thought as the tires hit the bottom of the pear-shaped barrier Nicole had expected the driver’s side door to scrape along the concrete, but it was just the tiresfor now

She started to bite her lip, and then quickly stopped doing that, afraid that if they crashed, she’d bite it off Instead, she tightened her hold on the overhead grip and grabbed for the car seat with her other hand and waited

Nicole was sure what followed only took seconds or a er to her In fact, the wait seemed interminable, and then they were o

Jake tried hitting the horn repeatedly, but the car in front of theo There were cars in front of and beside it as well When the driver of the car beside the and hit the brakes, slowing out of the way and forcing those behind him to do so as well, Jake took a chance and swerved into thethe horn the whole way Much to Nicole’s relief the car in the next lane did the same as the center car had done and slowed quickly