Test Drive

by Marie Harte

  Her cheeks heated. “Yeah, right. Anyway, see you later.”

  He waved and left, heading in the opposite direction. As she made her way back to Nurse Guyen at the nurse’s station, she wondered if having lunch with an attractive man was a bad thing. Even though she and Johnny were “dating,” surely that didn’t mean she couldn’t talk to other guys, did it? Imagining him chatting with an attractive woman didn’t make her feel good, but she couldn’t say it put her on edge either. Not if Johnny had no intention of anything more than conversation with the woman.

  “You’re late, Ms. Valley.” Nurse Guyen looked pointedly at her watch.

  Over Guyen’s shoulder, Lara saw Angi giving her a sympathetic look. “Sorry, Nurse Guyen. It won’t happen again.”

  “It had better not.”

  One minute past the hour and she was late? This woman had a definite bug up her ass. “So, Nurse Guyen, when do we get to—”

  “No time for questions. Follow me.”

  No time for questions? Wasn’t that what this clinical was all about? Learning?

  A fellow student joined them. Kelly something. “Nurse Guyen, I’m Kelly—”

  “And you’re late. Honestly, I have eleven patients today, and two students to take by the hand.” She gave a loud sigh. “Try to keep up, ladies.”

  The shift seemed to last forever, and Lara didn’t get to administer the medications or do the intakes she’d been told she’d do today. Instead, she’d been tasked with a lot of clean-up and busywork Nurse Guyen didn’t have time for.

  “Honestly, it’s like she’s running a race and losing,” Kelly muttered as they emptied a patient’s bedpan and cleared the sheets. Though housekeeping would be coming up to clean the room, Nurse Guyen had thought the experience of mopping up after a patient would do them good.

  Lara didn’t feel like she was too good to do anything, so it wasn’t the idea of cleaning that bothered her. She’d washed her share of fluids and vomit from overstimulated little girls and the drunks at Ray’s more than a time or two. She just wished she could have spent her time learning more medical procedure, not how to best scrub a floor.

  “Yeah, she’s not my favorite preceptor,” Lara admitted. “You done your paper yet?”

  “I’m presenting my ICU paper in two weeks. The paper is half the battle. It’s the presentation part I hate.”

  “Ugh. Me too. And just think, we’re only into our third week of the term.”

  “Kill me now.” Kelly made a face.

  Nurse Guyen arrived in the doorway and hurried them up. “Come on, ladies. We have a new admission, and I’d like for you to learn something about the process. I’ll be at the desk. Chop-chop.”

  Kelly and Lara shared a pained groan. Time with Nurse Guyen would no doubt feel like an eternity.

  When Lara arrived home that night, she was tired, hungry, and pissed off. Johnny hadn’t texted her all day. Granted, they’d just started hooking up, but he hadn’t responded to her message about Friday night. For once she had two nights off from work, and she had nothing to do for one of them.

  Silly to feel let down just because a guy hadn’t answered a simple text. Yet she had a feeling her disappointment was her own fault. Dating had rules a smart girl followed. Rule number one: stop reading into every damn thing he does. Rule number two: stop caring so much, or your heart will be broken in tiny pieces when he eventually acts like a dumbass, as they all do.

  Groaning at her inability to reason like a mature woman, she deliberately avoided thinking about him. Instead, Lara dressed in her favorite grubby sweats, ate a PB&J for dinner, and washed it down with a glass of milk. She vegged out for an hour, but by eight she was dragging. Just as she’d started to fall asleep on the couch, watching her favorite sitcom, someone knocked on the door.

  She debated ignoring it. Had it been important, someone would have called.

  More door banging. “Hey, it’s Johnny.”

  She woke in the blink of an eye and forced herself to calmly get up and walk, not run, to the door. After checking through the peephole and verifying it was, in fact, the-man-who-didn’t-text, she again took her time answering.

  She opened the door and waited. “Yeah?”

  He held out a bouquet of flowers. “For you.”

  Nonplused, she took them and moved back when he stepped forward. He’d maneuvered himself into her apartment with ease.

  “Smooth, Devlin.”

  “Thanks.” He looked harried, which was unlike him.

  “You okay?”

  “No.” Before she could ask what was wrong, he dragged her into his arms and kissed the breath out of her. “There,” he rasped. “Now I’m better. I’ve been dying to do that for days.”

  She clutched the flowers in one hand, his jacket in another. “Uh, hi.”

  His green eyes deepened as he smiled. “Hi.” Then he did that thing where he caressed her cheek. He cupped her chin and kissed her again, so tenderly and with so much feeling she didn’t know what to think. “I missed you.”

  “You did?” She frowned. “You didn’t answer my text.”

  “Good.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “I had Foley’s phone, and he had mine. I’d be more worried if I’d texted you back, because it would have been Foley being a smart-ass. Don’t worry, I’ll get my phone back tomorrow. As it is, I’ve already spent a lot of time talking with Mrs. Sanders today. Foley’s mom is such a trip.”

  Relieved he hadn’t deliberately ignored her, she perked up. “So what brought you by? You just happened to have a bouquet of flowers on hand with no one to give them to?”

  “Something like that.”

  She left him to put them in water and thought they cheered her dented and dinged dining room table.

  “So did you miss me?” he asked, his hands in his pockets. He’d thrown his jacket over the arm of the couch and wore a plain black T-shirt and jeans. It should have been illegal what the man could do to denim and cotton. The tattoos on his forearm stood out against his golden skin, and she wanted to trace them with her tongue.

  Swallowing hard at the thought, she considered how to answer him. “Did I miss you? Hmm…”

  “A simple yes-or-no question, Ms. Valley.”

  “Well, I missed some parts of you.”

  “Oh?” He grinned.

  “Your charming wit. Your pretty face.”

  “And?”

  “And that awesome tattoo I still haven’t seen all of.”

  “I can remedy that.” He pulled her with him to the couch and sat, then pushed up his sleeve, letting her look him over. “So what else did you miss?” He raised his brows up and down.

  “That’s about it. I’m good.” She held his thick forearm, running her fingers over his ink. A muscle car, snakes, some tribal work, and hearts, of all things. The color pattern had been very well done, the art a thing of beauty. “Did J.T. do this?”

  “Yeah. It’s amazing, right? But don’t tell him. He has a big head already.” Del’s brother could work wonders with ink. And he was a charmer to boot.

  “Well then, I probably shouldn’t tell you how amazing you are either. Your head is melon-sized as it is.”

  “Yeah, and other parts of me are just as big.” He grinned but didn’t pull her into contact with said parts.

  A good thing, because her libido revved way hot way fast around Pretty Johnny.

  She tried to subtly scoot away, but he held her fast. Instead of making a move, he cuddled her close in a hug. His body heat bled through quickly, and she snuggled back with a sigh. “You are so warm.”

  “I think you mean I’m hot. I hear that a lot.”

  She pinched him. “Braggart.”

  “Ow. Why are you always abusing me?”

  She felt him kiss the top of her head and eased even deeper into him. “Because I can.” She moaned when he started rubbing her free shoulder. “I had such a bad day.” Well, except for her lunch, but she doubted Johnny wanted to know about Peter�
�Pete. She smiled. Her one bright spot had been a male version of Rena. A gossip who’d made her smile and laugh, and he hadn’t been bad to look at either.

  “Tell me all about it, baby. But hurry before the commercial’s done. I love this show.”

  “Wouldn’t want to interrupt prime-time programming,” she said drily.

  “I was kidding. You take your time.”

  She told him about Nurse Guyen around yawns. Then she closed her eyes, just for a minute, and enjoyed the warmth of his body and the joy in his laugh. I could really grow to love this guy… Wonder if that’s covered in the dating rules, was her last thought before sleep overtook her.

  Chapter 15

  Johnny stared down at Lara and sighed. “You are so fucking beautiful it hurts.” She gave a soft little moan and tried to move closer to him. Figuring she’d start to grow cold, he lifted her in his arms, noting how perfect she looked there, then took her into her bedroom. He laid her in bed, amused to see she hadn’t made it that morning, and tucked her in.

  Man, he was falling, hard. Hell. Who was he kidding? He’d already fallen. Just three short days until he’d been supposed to see her again, and he’d had to come a day early, unable to wait. She didn’t seem upset that he’d arrived unannounced, but he knew he couldn’t show up whenever he wanted, not without appearing like some desperate loser.

  He hadn’t been lying about having Foley’s stupid phone. Not having heard from her had bothered him, and that he’d been bothered at all had annoyed and worried him. He was acting just like his father. When Jack Devlin went all in for a woman, he grew clingy, needy.

  The good ones, the ones Johnny had loved and Jack had wanted to share his life with, had vanished when they finally learned all there was to know about Jack Devlin. Handsome and charming on the outside, apparently empty within. The ironic twist to Jack’s sorry love life was that he dumped women who acted just like he did. Thus Johnny had grown up not knowing up from down when it came to relationships.

  Sure, he could do sex. He’d refined the art at a young age, in fact. But he’d never been able to stick with a woman, never had one he wanted to stick with, to be honest.

  He winced when he thought about his history. It was no secret he liked women. He helped out at a strip club and had dated his share of locals. But he’d never been a dick. Never cheated on any of them or had them cheat on him. In that he did not take after his father. Thank God.

  But with Lara, a woman who meant the world to him, he worried he’d start acting idiotic. Like coming to her a day early and admitting he’d missed her. Like worrying about how to make their date super special so she’d want more. Talk about putting too much pressure on himself. Damn, stop obsessing. Just roll with it. Enjoy spending time with her. Quit thinking so much about the future and enjoy the now.

  Easy to say, but hard for him to do. After giving her a quick kiss and leaving her a note, he locked up as he left and drove home.

  * * *

  Thursday he did oil jobs all morning and two more diagnostics during the afternoon. The mundane work and his annoying coworkers helped keep his mind off Lara. Foley and Lou could be so irritating when giving him woman advice. At least Sam had the sense to keep quiet, and with Liam on vacation and Del busy yelling at parts suppliers, he’d been spared Webster wisdom.

  The majority of Friday had been spent finishing up one diagnostic that took forever, which wouldn’t have been so bad, but he’d also had to squeeze in two more crap jobs. Man, he was so sick of oil changes, lube jobs, and the other tedious shit any monkey with a wrench could do. Webster’s Garage made its real money on the big stuff—emissions, engine rehauls, transmission work. Fixing difficult problems satisfied something in Johnny. Like he’d completed something important.

  The clients always gave him a ready smile when he’d solved a vexing issue. Well, they gave him the smile. Del and Dale did the billing.

  And speaking of…their service writer had returned from vacation in a much better frame of mind, even if Del did have him on bathroom duty. Today Dale wore blue-tipped blond hair that dragged past his eyes. He’d added larger gages to his ears but fortunately had decided against one in his nose. Jesus, Johnny didn’t understand the next generation. Who the hell wanted weights in their ears and noses to make larger holes?

  Ripped jeans, a long-sleeved skater tee, and a pair of boots completed the outfit, giving Dale a grunge-skater-motorhead look that the kid wore well. Went with the sneer too.

  “Hey, Johnny.” Somehow Dale turned his name into three syllables. “You done with Mrs. Rivera’s car?”

  “Yeah. It’s just—” His phone buzzed. “Hold on. Hello?”

  “Johnny.” His father sounded…off.

  Johnny tossed Mrs. Rivera’s keys to Dale. “Hold on a sec, Dad. Yeah, Dale. All set and cleaned up too.” He’d vacuumed the sucker as well as spruced up the inner windshields.

  “Great. So I gotta move it?” Dale gave a pained sigh but looked eager enough to get out from behind his service desk up front.

  “Just do it, sunshine, and quit your bitching.” Johnny took the call into the small lunchroom, where an old refrigerator that had seen better days hummed, on the throes of death. The Formica table and chairs were sturdy enough if not stylish. They went well with the scarred wooden cabinets, ancient microwave, sink, and overused coffeepot.

  He kicked back in a chair. “Yo, Dad. What’s up?”

  “It’s…well…”

  Johnny knew that tone. With a heavy heart, he listened to his father’s downtrodden explanation of his recent breakup from Kathy. Finally, a woman with a halfway normal name and decent personality, in addition to her silicone double-Fs and tiny waist. He’d thought his dad might have struck gold, especially because Johnny liked her.

  “What did you do, Dad?”

  “Hell if I know. Kathy just got to be too much. Said I wasn’t sharing, kept it all to myself. Kept what all to myself? Shit, Son. You know me. Ain’t got but a few thoughts rattling around in here as it is.” His dad gave a half laugh.

  “Are you okay? Want some company tonight?” They’d made a tradition of sharing a six-pack of Bad Breakup Beer each time Jack lost another one, followed by a rousing night of whatever sports game happened to be on TV.

  “Nah. You go ahead. If I know you, you have plans with your new girlfriend.”

  “I do, but we can always reschedule.” Johnny loved his dad, maybe more because he knew he’d been the only constant in the old man’s life since he could walk.

  “I’m good. I, well, I broke it off with her. It was just too damn hard to get through a day without another lecture on how I’m closed off. Woman nagged too much, and life is about living and having fun. Not about wallowing in shitty feelings, right?”

  “True enough.” But Johnny knew his dad had been lectured on the same subject a number of times throughout the years. Johnny had no problems with his father. Life with Jack Devlin was about scoring a good time and enjoying the moment. Laughter, a good beer, and a nice-looking lady, and a guy’s life would be complete.

  But Jack’s lady friends seemed to want more from the man. It made Johnny wonder if that’s why he never seemed to gel with his own girlfriends. Was he the not-sharing type too? Would Lara eventually throw him over because he couldn’t figure out how to communicate well? A sick feeling balled in the pit of his belly.

  “Just thought you ought to know.” His dad paused. “I’m holding interviews for a general manager position this week. So if you can stand by me for another couple of days, that would help a lot.” And the pattern continued. When Jack went solo, he devoted himself to work. So much so he’d built a profitable business out of his club and bar in less time than it had taken many of his competitors.

  “No problem. I’m good helping out, just not all the time.” Johnny liked to keep up with the girls at Strutts, especially to make sure the dancers were taken care of. It helped that Jack made sure his people were nicely compensated, that the club was clean, and th
at no one was allowed to abuse his dancers.

  “Yeah, well.” His dad sighed. “I’ll talk to you soon. I’ll need you at the club during the evenings next week, but hopefully I’ll have the new guy or gal in place by next Friday. Fingers crossed.”

  “Okay. Talk to you later.” Johnny disconnected, knowing his father felt worse than he’d let on.

  He was torn, wanting to be with Lara but also needing to support his dumbass of a father. Lord love him, but Jack hadn’t had a lasting relationship in years. Even Kathy had only been a three-month fling. Hell, the one woman Johnny thought might have gone the distance had left fifteen years ago. To this day, he still thought about Amber and her generous heart. He wondered if his dad did too.

  Now depressed when he should have been pumped about finally getting with Lara again, he finished work. He left for the day and cleaned up. Plans for a wine-and-dine date night seemed too superficial, something he’d do with just any girl. So he did what he’d decided earlier—to live in the now and appreciate what he had.

  He picked up Lara at her apartment at six. She opened the door on the first knock. As usual, she turned girl-next-door pretty into casual-chic glamorous without trying. She wore her hair down, and it framed her face in a dark curtain of silk. A faint glitter of gold above her eyes, thick lashes, and a dusting of rose over her cheeks subtly blended to accentuate a beautiful face and slick, red lips he wanted to kiss and keep on kissing.

  And there goes my cock. Hel-lo, Lara. “You look downright hot.”

  “Not too creative, but I’ll take it.” She smiled at him. “You don’t look half-bad yourself. Anytime I see you out of a T-shirt, I think you’re dressing up.”

  “I am. Impressed?” He tugged at the collar of his black button-down shirt, which he’d tucked into dark jeans capped with his favorite biker boots. He fingered his hair, wondering if he ought to see Rena about getting it cut.

  Lara read his mind, stepping closer to run a hand through his long bangs. “I like it a little long up top.” She kissed him, and his worries melted as he returned her embrace.