by Emma Hart
I levelled my gaze on him. “And you’re in a building full of potential murder weapons.”
“I’ll take my chances.”
“They’re weak.”
“I’m strong and scrappy—I could fight you off, darlin’.”
“I’m a mean hand at Chinese throwing stars,” I warned him. Still wasn’t sure how I’d acquired that skill…
He grinned. “Good thing I don’t have any of those stashed in here.”
“Wrenches spin the same way.”
He faltered. “Point well made. From now on, though, watch your mouth. I’m your boss.”
“Did I scare you?”
“Into thinking I hired a psychopath? Absolutely. Of a woman who wears lipstick to fix cars? Not really.” He tossed a clipboard my way. It landed with a clatter at my feet. “I’m starting you off easy.”
I bent to retrieve it. “So kind of you.”
“Mrs. Hawkins’ Ford needs an oil change, spark plugs replaced, and her two front tires changed.” He hesitated. “That’s the dark blue, three-door disaster in the back corner.”
“No, stop that,” I snapped back. “I thought it was that shiny as hell, black Dodge Ram to my left.”
Dex blinked his blue eyes at me for a moment. “Do you have a switch for that attitude? Does coffee turn it off?”
“No, but it gives me the ability to pretend to like people.”
He moved back toward the staffroom. “Cream and sugar?”
“Yes, and one, please.” I flashed him an almost-sincere smile.
“Damn, that was almost a real one.” His laughter followed him into the room—and I did, too.
I opened up my purse and pulled out the overalls I’d scrunched into a tiny ball. Creases made no difference when they’d be hidden by oil in mere minutes of being under a hood.
I kicked off my combat boots, sat down, and shoved my legs in the leg-holes.
Dex glanced over his shoulder, his eyes lingering on my shoes in front of me.
When he didn’t say anything, I did. “Yes?”
He peered back at me for a moment before returning his attention to the coffee machine. “I half-expected you to show up in those heels you wore to the interview.”
I bit my tongue, holding back a retort for half a second. “If you’d like me to, it’s not a problem. I’ve changed a tire in higher heels before.”
“Now, that’s something I’d like to see.”
“It’s something I’d like to forget,” I admitted, standing and zipping the overalls to beneath my boobs. Starting to roll the sleeves, I continued, “My mom was driving me to dinner with a few friends and we saw old Mr. Hooter on the side of the road with a flat. His cell wasn’t working. Neither were ours because we were out of range. I wasn’t exactly dressed for tire-changing, and we’ll just say he enjoyed the view.”
He snorted. “Now I definitely want a recreation.”
I levelled a flat stare at the back of his head. Not only was he sexist, but he was apparently a perv.
Or attracted to me.
I preferred the former option.
A perv, I could deal with. A guy as hot as him? Not so much.
Although, his mouth shut that shit down pretty quick… Probably just like mine did.
Thank God.
I’d have to go to pray for small mercies, aka sarcasm, this weekend.
Ugh… My mom was going to love dragging me to church.
Chapter Five – Jamie
“Could you get that?” Dex asked from beneath the Dodge Ram.
He was lucky I’d just finished putting the new front tire on Mrs. Hawkins’ Ford, or I’d have told him the answer was no.
Instead, I sighed and headed for the ringing phone.
I picked it up and put it to my ear with a glance through the closing door. “Good morning. Ryne Garages.”
“Good morning,” a familiar, raspy voice came through the phoneline. “My car won’t start. I think the battery is dead. I need it towed.”
A smile crossed my face. Yep. I knew exactly who that was.
“Are you sure it’s the battery, sir?” I asked.
There was a pause. “I know this voice.”
I fought a grin.
“Is this Jamie Bell?”
“Sure is, Mr. Daniels.”
“Then you know damn well it’s my battery, child.”
“Did you leave your lights on last night again?”
“It’s not me,” he replied. “The damn car has a mind of its own. Turns ‘em on like magic!”
I’d heard that story before.
I laughed. “I’ll see what I can do, Mr. Daniels. I might need a couple of hours.”
“I don’t have a few hours. I have to see my doctor at two.”
“You’ll have to ask Steph to pick you up,” I said, referring to his six-month pregnant daughter. “I might not be able to get it back to you until tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow!” He was aghast. “The service there ain’t like it was when your daddy owned it.”
“Dad never got your car back to you the same day. He either jump started it or made you wait overnight because he didn’t have a chance to get it done.”
“Then jump start it.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Mr. Daniels, I’ll head over to your place with the tow truck and take a look for you, all right?”
He sniffed. “All right. But you get here real soon.”
“I’ll do my best. See you soon, Mr. Daniels.”
“You do that, Jamie.” He hung up, and the line buzzed dead.
I put the phone down and slumped against the counter. Mr. Daniels and his forgetfulness where his lights were concerned had long been the bane of my family’s existence.
I was an idiot if I thought that wouldn’t happen.
“Are you all right?”
“Do you have a tow truck?” I asked Dex.
Well, the question was for him, but I actually asked the diary, where my face was currently planted.
“Of course I have a tow truck,” he replied, almost sounding offended that I’d asked such a stupid question. “Why? Did someone crash or something?”
“No.” I forced myself to stand up, turn, and look at him. “Mr. Daniels’ battery has died, and if I can’t jump start it in his drive, I’m gonna need to bring it here.”
He blinked at me for a second.
Honestly, his eyelashes were so long it was unfair.
What had I done to not be born with those? Was I a murderer in a previous life?
“I don’t know what to deal with first. You thinking you’re going to drive my tow truck, or the fact his battery is fucking dead already,” Dex said slowly.
“Why the hell shouldn’t I drive it?” I said. “And what do you mean already?”
“I sorted that for him about two weeks ago. And you’re not driving my truck.”
“Two weeks? That’s pretty good for him. You know he never turns his lights off, right?” I paused. “And why can’t I drive the truck?”
He rubbed his hand over his forehead. “Can we pick one thread of conversation and go with that?”
“Sure.” I leaned against the counter and folded my arms. “Why can’t I drive your truck?”
“It’s new. I don’t want anyone to drive it.”
“Is it silage season for the farmers, or is that your bullshit I smell?”
He shot me a withering look, even as his lips twitched. “Believe what you want, darlin’, but you ain’t driving my truck.”
I held up my hands. “By all means, you go deal with Mr. Daniels. I’ve done it for years. I’m happy to pass that task on.” I pushed off the counter and headed for the door.
“I didn’t say—”
I stood in the doorway and cocked my hip to keep the door open. Raising an eyebrow, I said, “I can’t drive the tow truck, and it’s a waste of time for me to go if it needs towing. No, you go deal with Mr. Daniels, and I’ll sit here and look pretty when you inevitably bring
the car in.”
His withering look turned a little darker, and his jaw twitched.
He’d talked himself into the most undesirable trip a mechanic in this town could ever make, and he knew it.
Dex: Nil.
Jamie: One.
I licked my finger and swiped a one in thin air. Then, with a wink and a grin, I shut the door and went back into the garage.
Wow.
That cheap point was way more satisfying than it should have been.
***
The loud rumble of the tow truck as it pulled up into the garage’s lot.
Clambering over the sofa, I peeked through the blind on the window. A smile crept over my face. It was smug, because on the back of the truck was the ancient Ford that Mr. Daniels had been driving for as long as I’d been alive.
It was impressive, to be honest. But there was something to be said for those old cars—especially one that was as well looked after as his was.
“Mr. Daniels,” I heard Dex say as he got out. “I told you. It’s not your battery, it’s your alternator.”
“I think you’re wrong!” The belligerent old man rounded the truck, finger waving at Dex. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. The alternator is as good as new.”
I snorted. If new was the better part of a decade old, then sure…
“Where’s Jamie? I want her to look at it. I don’t trust this new blood. Jamie!” He started looking around the lot as if I were hiding in the bushes.
“Mr. Daniels, please go inside to the reception while I unhook your car and bring it into the workshop.”
“You’ll do nothing of the sort. Jamie will do that. Jamie! C’mere, child. Stop this damn hooligan manhandling Bettina!”
I let the giggle burst out of me as I jumped off the sofa. Thankfully, the walk through the garage was just long enough that I was able to wipe all traces of amusement from my face. I also grabbed a cloth and wiped my hands as I walked out.
Mr. Daniels didn’t miss a thing, and if I didn’t look like I’d just been working, he’d call me on my spying.
“Mr. Daniels. Always a pleasure.” I sent a playful grin his way. “What’s up?”
“What’s up?” He waved a wrinkled finger in Dex’s direction again.
“Please stop doing that,” Dex said wearily. “It’s giving me a headache.”
Mr. Daniels leaned forward and did it right in his face.
Good God…
Did I leave Dex to his fate, or… No, no. That would be cruel.
Fun, but cruel.
“Okay, okay.” I tucked the edge of the dirty cloth into the pocket of my overalls and stepped between them. “Someone explain.”
“He says it’s my alternator. I don’t believe him. He didn’t try hard enough on the jumps! I had to cancel my doctor appointment for this mess.”
“I tried fifteen times,” Dex said. “I looked, and I’m pretty sure it’s your alternator. I told you I can’t be one hundred percent certain until I can get it into the garage, but you’re refusing to let me do it.”
“All right. Mr. Daniels, why don’t you go take a seat in reception and I’ll bring you a nice cup of tea, hmm?” I raised my eyebrows at him.
He glared at me. I’d cut him off before he could respond, clearly.
“While you’re enjoying that, I’ll help Dex bring in Bettina and take a look. How does that sound?”
“Two sugars,” he demanded. “And none of that weak crap your mother tried to serve me once. Let it brew for a minute.”
“Yes, sir.”
He shuffled off in the direction of the front door.
Dex let out a long breath and slumped against the truck. “Is it always like this here?”
I side-eyed him. “You’re a city boy, aren’t you?”
“You say that as if it’s an insult.”
“No insult.” I whipped the cloth from my pocket and ran it through my hands. “Just an observation.”
“How’d you observe that?” he asked dryly.
I shrugged a shoulder. “Old people in towns like this are set in their ways. You’re new—and belligerent old codgers like Edward Daniels won’t trust you until he feels like you’ve proven yourself. He’s not trying to be a pain when he wants me to look at it. He just trusts me.”
“Really? Because it seems like he’s going out of his way to be a pain.” He followed me inside.
I tossed the cloth to the side of the sink. “You’re probably not wrong. He is known for being…difficult.”
“Difficult.” His tone was wry. “You don’t say.”
I set the tea kettle on the stove top to boil. “Like I said, the old people here are set in their ways. My family have been the only mechanics for eighty-something years. Trusting someone new is hard for them.”
“I’ll make sure to bring my grandfather and great aunt to the old people center. They’d get on like a house on fire with everyone else.”
I laughed and prepared the tea. “You’ll get used to it.”
“Yeah, all right.” He headed for the door. “Next time he calls, I might just let you drive the tow truck.”
Ahh, Mr. Daniels and his difficult personality.
Breaking Dexter Ryne down, one dead battery at a time.
***
Haley stopped, her fry halfway to her mouth. “Seriously? He refused to accept Dex’s summary of the situation until he heard you confirm it?”
I nodded.
“Actually, I’m not surprised at all. The old coot was cussing up a storm when the called the office today to cancel his appointment. I could practically feel the steam coming off him down the phoneline.”
I winced. Between all Dex’s grumbles and Mr. Daniels’ louder grumbles, I’d totally forgotten that my best friend was the receptionist at the only doctors surgery in town.
“Ouch. I bet that was fun.”
“Oh, it was. I was subjected to ten minutes of complaining about that “damn little shit in the garage” and I knew for a start he wasn’t talking about you.”
I paused. “He’s not far off in his summary of Dex, to be honest.”
“Is he still being a pain in the ass?”
“Still? It’s only been one day, Hales. I have another twenty days of his shit. He balked when I said I’d drive the tow truck.”
“What is his issue?”
I cupped my boobs, lifted them, then released.
She looked at my chest. “He likes your boobs?”
“I have boobs. You know that.”
“Actually, I’m starting to think he’s just a dick.”
Well, that, too.
I inclined my head in her direction in agreement and picked up my glass of Coke. Sipping through the straw, I cast my gaze away from her and over the rapidly increasing dinner crowd moving into Sherry’s Diner.
A staple restaurant in Rivendell, North Carolina, most of the residents here visited it at least once a week. Breakfast, lunch, dinner—it didn’t matter. Sherry’s was the place to go for gossip or news and everything else in between.
I just came for the burgers.
A low whistle left Haley’s parted lips. “Who is that?”
I swung my head around, glancing at her to see where she was looking so I could follow her line of sight. She was looking at door.
At the guy who was standing in it, looking around at the people who filled the recently-refurbished diner.
“Oh no.” The groan escaped me before I could stop it. “I have to hide.”
Haley blinked at me, then looked back at Dex. “Oh, shit. Is that—?”
“Dex? Yep.”
She tilted her head to the side. “He doesn’t look like a mechanic.”
“Is there a way we’re supposed to look?”
“I expected him to be dirty. You know. Oily and shit.”
I just barely resisted rolling my eyes. “He was when I left two hours ago.”
Haley jolted her head, facing me with her eyes wide. “I think he saw you.
He’s coming this way.”
I glanced over my shoulder. Shit. She was right. “Thanks. He probably felt your beady little eyes undressing him.”
She shrugged a shoulder with a half-grin on her face. “As long as he keeps his mouth shut…”
I kicked her under the table seconds before a shadow fell over it and us. “Are you following me?” I asked, turning to face him.
Dex laughed and held up his hands. “Sure. I’ve been following you for the past two hours, yet somehow managed to go home, shower, and get a take-out order for my entire family.”
“I wouldn’t put it past you.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” His eyes twinkled, then he turned his attention to Haley. “We haven’t met. Dex Ryne.”
Haley took his outstretched hand, a girlish smile lighting up her face.
Sweet baby Jesus in a chicken coop.
“Haley Allen. A pleasure.”
Barf.
“It’s all mine.”
Double barf.
“I’m about to order food. Can I get you ladies anything?” He glanced between us.
“We’re good,” I said tightly. “Thank you.”
Dex’s lips twitched, and he raised a hand as he headed to join the line.
Haley stared after him.
I snapped my fingers in front of her face. “Earth to Haley.”
“Man, that’s a great ass,” she said lazily, turning back to face him. “Have you seen that ass?”
Of course, I jerked my head around and got an eyeful of the way his bleach-wash jeans hugged what was, obviously, a very peachy backside.
“Oh, for God’s sake,” I muttered, focusing back on her and jabbing a fry in my ketchup. “Why were you so nice to him?”
“He’s pretty,” she replied with a straight face. “Like I said… As long as he doesn’t talk…”
I rolled my eyes. “I need the bathroom before I vomit on my dinner.”
I got up, leaving her laughing to herself at the table.
Chapter Six – Dex
I smirked when I glanced over and saw Jamie throwing a napkin on the table. She slid out of her booth, her shorts riding up her thighs and almost giving a peek at the curve of her ass cheeks as she straightened up.