“You’re babbling,” he teased and stepped over to kiss her on the nose. “Why does this make you so nervous? You said you’re not happy at your job. Why not take this as a little test to see if maybe working on your own is really more of what you want.”
For a minute, she could only stare at him. He was offering her the perfect opportunity to test the waters of working for herself. For so long people had smiled and listened as she spoke of her dream of branching out and having her own business, but no one had done anything like this.
Serena moved the cutting board aside and reached for him – pulling Will to her and then kissing him soundly on the lips. “Thank you,” she said after a long minute.
His eyes were a little dazed and she could feel his erection against her belly. “For what?”
“For being wonderful. For giving me an opportunity to see if I have what it takes to work for myself.”
Will reached up and caressed her cheek. “Why would you ever think that you don’t?”
She laughed softly. “Will, you haven’t seen my work. For all you know, I’m terrible at my job and that’s why my boss only gives me the simple stuff to do.”
He shook his head. “Not possible. You’re too passionate about it. I listen to you talk about your ideas and that’s not what someone who is only mediocre at their job does.” Stepping away, he said, “One minute,” before stepping out of the room. He returned a minute later with his laptop.
Serena watched as he opened it and went online. Then he slid it toward her. “Now? You want to look at some of my work right now?” she laughed.
He nodded. “Humor me.”
She gave him a reluctant look but did as he asked and pulled up tab after tab of her work. Then she stood back and waited for his reaction.
“Holy shit.”
For some reason, she couldn’t tell if he was impressed or disgusted. And rather than stand there and stare – which right now felt a little like watching a train wreck – Serena busied herself with tossing the salad.
When that was done, she went to the refrigerator and saw several foil-covered dishes. “Do I need to take any of these out?” she asked.
He nodded. “All of them. Please.” But he was still distracted – looking at her websites.
Serena pulled three dishes out and uncovered them and was mildly surprised. There was a tray of stuffed mushrooms, a plate of marinated vegetables on skewers and an antipasto platter. Never mind mildly surprised, she was thoroughly impressed. Clearly Will knew his way around the kitchen.
She was about to comment on that when she saw Will shut the laptop. His expression was neutral.
Great.
It was one thing to second guess her own skills, it was quite another to have someone confirm that you aren’t as good as you thought you were.
Dammit.
“I uncovered those dishes and have the salad ready to go. What kind of dressing do you have?” she asked, opting to simply pretend that the last few minutes never happened.
But when she turned and faced him, he was smiling. Grinning. Broadly. And before she could utter a single word, he cupped her face in his hands and said, “You are one hell of an amazing woman.”
Seven
WILL WATCHED AS Serena seemed to sag with relief. Her whole face lit up with a smile that told him that she was pleased with his compliment. He might not know a whole hell of a lot about technology and web design, but it was obvious that the sites she’d worked on were eye-catching and pretty much exactly what Dylan had been talking about for the shop.
She launched herself into his arms and he held her tight. There were so many things he wanted to ask her, say to her, but for right now he was content to hold her as she thanked him and then seemed to ramble on about each of the sites and why she did what she did with them.
He was more than happy to listen to her talk. Placing her back on his feet, he put the mushrooms in the oven and then motioned for her to follow him out to the deck so he could light the grill and get the steaks and vegetable skewers going. Much of what she said – especially the technical stuff – went right over his head. If she were talking about engines and everything that went into them, he’d understand it. But all of this talk about coding and HTML designs and graphics and he was lost.
But it didn’t matter, because talking about it made Serena happy and if she was happy, so was he.
When she stopped and looked at him expectantly, he almost cursed himself. Had she asked him a question?
“Um…”
Laughing, Serena waved him off. “Sorry. I tend to get carried away when I talk about my work. It’s not often that I get to go off like that. Most of my clients don’t sit and talk directly with me. They talk to my boss instead and then he gives me the assignment and acts as the go-between.”
“Wouldn’t it be better for the clients if they got to talk with the person who was doing the actual work?”
She nodded. “I’ve been saying that since I got hired, but Dan – my boss – likes to be the only one talking. He thinks it makes things easier if he’s the face of the company.”
“Or he likes taking the credit for everyone’s work,” Will muttered.
“That too,” she readily agreed and then sighed. “Anyway, I really do think I can do something nice for Dylan. Will he be around tomorrow for me to talk with?”
“Definitely. When I told him you were coming for the weekend and what I was thinking, he said he’d make sure he was available for you.”
“I don’t want to make him come in if it’s his day off…”
“Nah, Dylan hardly ever takes a day off. The shop is his baby.”
“From what you told me, he started it on his own and built it up from nothing. That’s impressive. And the fact that he’s there putting in the time just like the rest of you says a lot for his character.”
“Dylan’s a great guy – and a great friend and boss. I’ve known him for just about my whole life and there was a time when I thought I wanted to go into business with him.”
“So why didn’t you?”
He shrugged. It wasn’t the most flattering story, but…he wanted Serena to get to know him. All of him. Warts – so to speak – and all.
“I went to trade school right out of high school – local,” he began, “and felt like I knew what I was doing. But…I was young and stupid and for a while I was more interested in partying than working and the few part-time jobs I had at shops outside of Sapphire Falls didn’t last long because I wasn’t taking them seriously.”
“What changed?”
He liked that she didn’t try to make excuses for him. “I went into work one Saturday and I was hung over – hadn’t slept more than two hours before going in. I was working on a car and put it up on the lift but it wasn’t secured and it came off. Totaled it. It didn’t fall from the full height it could have, but it fell far enough where it was beyond repair. It was a miracle that no one got hurt but it was totally my fault.”
“Wow.”
Will nodded. “I was fired. The accident was covered by insurance – both by the owner and my boss – but there was damage to some things in the shop and I had to make restitution on it. I was a complete screw up and for a while, no one wanted to hire me. I was a liability.”
“What did you do?”
“I took odd jobs. Stopped partying so much and got my shit together. It took about three years before I even tried to get a job with a mechanic again. That’s when Dylan began talking about opening a shop. We would talk about it and I wanted to ask to go in on it with him. I didn’t have a lot of money, but I had some.”
“And what did he have to say about it?”
He shrugged. “Nothing. I never told him what I was thinking. He was so organized and had this great plan and I didn’t want to mess that up. He offered me a job as a part-time mechanic in the beginning. It didn’t take long before the business started to grow and he promoted me to full-time. And…here we are.”
“Do you still want to be m
ore involved? A partner?”
“That ship’s kind of sailed.”
“Maybe not. What if he wanted to expand? What about investing in it now?”
It was almost too good to think about. He and Dylan had talked about getting more into body work – something that Will excelled at – but they would need to build an addition to the shop and get new equipment and…
“I can see you’re thinking about it,” she said with a smile.
“I’m always thinking about it. But…”
She sighed lightly. “But you and I just found something else in common.”
He looked at her quizzically. “What’s that?”
“We’re both scared to take that giant leap toward achieving our dreams.”
Adjusting the flame on the barbecue, Will put the steaks on and then turned back toward Serena. “I don’t know about that,” he said smoothly, wrapping his arms around her. “I think we each took a chance with finding each other and so far – I must say – it’s working out great.”
And it was true. Even though she was the one who ultimately made it happen, Will knew that the Halloween festival would have brought them together no matter what. She made to argue with him – maybe – but he cut her off with another kiss.
****
It was after midnight and Will was sound asleep beside her. Serena, however, couldn’t sleep. They’d had dinner out on the back deck and then came inside for some ice cream while they watched a movie. Afterwards, Will took her by the hand and led her to bed where they made love.
Perfect. Night.
Perfect man.
Yeah, that thought had been spinning around a bit and it scared the hell out of her. This is what she did – what she always did – she fell hard and fast for guys and then realized they were all wrong for her. Now she was wondering if the same thing was happening where Will was concerned.
That whole issue – the hard and fast – was exactly what Peyton had been trying to break her of and now look where she was? True, it had been a slow build for three years but then as soon as she finally took the steps to truly meet him, she was all in and thinking about the future.
More specifically, a future with Will.
Even though his car hobby was enough to make her want to roll her eyes and yawn loudly whenever it came up, she could probably get used to it.
Then she started thinking about cars.
And topics she could use to change the subject of cars when he brought them up.
Great, now her mind was going a million miles an hour and wouldn’t shut up long enough for her to fall asleep.
She needed the sleep – needed to bring her A-game to meet with Dylan in the morning and show how creative she could be. The last thing she wanted was to blow her chance at starting to build her own portfolio of clients so that she could start her own business.
Then she thought of Will and his dream.
Serena knew it had to have been hard for him to admit his past to her earlier. She wasn’t so sure if she was ready to be that honest about her own screw-ups. But he had put it all out there and she respected him for it. She was also fairly certain that he was being harder on himself than anyone else was. Without knowing anything about his skills as a mechanic or with doing auto body work, she couldn’t say with any great certainty that he should approach Dylan about a partnership. However, she knew how paralyzing the fear of taking that step could be.
And she wouldn’t wish that on anyone.
Especially someone as good as Will.
As if reading her mind, he rolled toward her and gently pulled her into his arms. She smiled and gladly settled against him – her hand on his chest, her head on his shoulder. Their legs tangled together and she felt him place a small kiss on her head.
Slowly she felt herself relax. This was so nice, so good and she wondered how she had gone for so long not being with him. How could she have wasted three years? And just like that, her mind started to race again.
“I can hear you thinking from here,” Will murmured quietly. “Why aren’t you sleeping?”
What was the point in lying? They were eerily in sync with one another. “I can’t get my mind to quiet down enough to let me.”
“I hate when that happens. I’m sorry.”
Serena placed a light kiss on his chest. “Me too. I’ll be all right. I’ve never let it keep me up all night before.”
“What are you thinking about? Anything I can help with?”
And now she felt bad because she’d kept him awake when he needed sleep more than she did. He had a real job to do tomorrow and thanks to her, he was going to end up going in tired.
“It’s nothing. Go back to sleep,” she said softly, running her hands over his warm skin in hopes of relaxing him. He was so warm and muscular – more muscular than she had let herself imagine over the years – and he felt wonderful. Somehow she couldn’t imagine every growing tired of touching him.
Another kiss on his chest.
And then another.
Will hissed out a breath when her tongue teased around his nipple and his arms tightened around her. “You really don’t expect me to go back to sleep now do you?” His voice was rough and deep and it sent tingles down her spine.
“Maybe,” she teased even as she moved over him, straddling him under the sheets. “I can’t help it. You just feel so good.”
Then Will’s hands joined in – caressing the backs of her thighs, her bottom and then up her back. Serena’s back bowed and before she knew it, he leaned forward and captured one of her nipples with his lips.
“Payback,” he said against her skin.
She sighed with pleasure. It felt so good. Everything he was doing felt so damn good. Between his hands and his lips and the erection that was pressing fully against her belly, she forgot to feel guilty about waking him up.
“Serena,” he whispered and she didn’t wait to hear what else he had to say. She bent forward and kissed him. Poured everything she had into it.
And as he slowly positioned her so he could sink into her, the only things going on in her brain were how amazing he felt. And how she could stay like this with him forever.
Eight
FALL WAS IN the air as Will stood next to Dylan grinning at their new website.
Compliments of Serena.
“Is it wrong that I’m so damn happy about this?” Dylan asked.
“Not at all. My girl does some great work.”
Dylan chuckled and then shook his head. “I’d say something, but that was too easy.”
“Dude…grow up,” Will murmured. “What about…?” He stopped talking when the door opened and Levi Spencer walked in. “Hey, Levi. What’s up?”
“Not much,” he replied easily, smiling. “Rumor has it that you’ve actually found this elusive kissing booth chick. Although no one’s really seen her, I guess it could just be a vicious rumor.”
Will took the good-natured teasing and even chuckled. “I’m not really ready to share her with the town yet. I don’t want to scare her off.”
“I can understand that – especially if she found out just how crazy you were getting about finding her,” Levi teased on. “We were taking bets on you just putting a kissing booth out on the highway in hopes of her coming back.”
“Ha, ha. Very funny,” Will murmured, unwilling to admit that Levi wasn’t that far from the truth. “Anyway…are you here for a reason or just to poke fun at me?”
“Oh, don’t be so sensitive,” Levi said with a sincere smile. “You know I’m just joking. Whether this woman is real – or not, whatever – that’s completely your business.” He grinned and winked at Dylan. “Right?”
“I’m not saying a word,” Dylan laughed, holding his hands up.
“So,” Levi began, his tone a little more serious. “It took me a little time, but I finally think we’re ready to work on the Camaro. Are you still interested?”
Will took a quick glance in Dylan’s direction before answering. “Absolutely.
I’ve looked over the info you emailed me but didn’t think you were really going to do it.”
“Why not?”
Shrugging, Will replied, “Because it’s been a few weeks. I just figured you changed your mind.”
“Well,” Levi began, “there was a bit of a problem – which is what I need to talk to you about. Both of you.”
Dylan and Will exchanged glances and then waited.
“There’s a little more body work to be done than we originally anticipated,” Levi said cautiously.
“What does that mean?” Dylan asked before Will could.
“It seems my buddy’s son took the car out for a joy ride.”
“I thought it wasn’t drivable!” Will said irritably and then caught himself. “I mean…”
“No, no…you’re right,” Levi said evenly. “It really wasn’t. The kid just didn’t believe it. Now we have some front end damage to deal with.” He paused and seemed to let that sink in for a minute. “So now instead of just dealing with some minor dents and rust, you’re going to be looking at some major body work. I need to know if you’re really equipped to do the job. I feel like shit wording it like that but…” He shrugged. “I know that body work isn’t what you do here.”
And right then and there Will felt like he was going to lose out on working on a really great car because some teenager couldn’t follow the rules.
And man did that seem like bitter irony.
Beside him, Dylan was silent – standing with his arms crossed and studying Levi. It was a long minute before he spoke. “What kind of a timeline are you looking for on this, Levi? What kind of turnaround?”
“As of right now? No expectations. We want it done right,” Levi said, his tone very businesslike.
Nodding, Dylan said, “So if I said we’d need a couple of weeks to work out logistics and whatnot, would you still trust us on this? After all, we haven’t done this sort of thing before.”
“Understood,” Levi replied. “But honestly? I’ve seen the work Will has done with older cars – dealing with rust and whatnot. He pays attention to details and there isn’t a doubt in my mind that he can handle it with the right tools.”
Sapphire Falls: Going To Be Yours (Kindle Worlds Novella) Page 5