Everyone starts giving Nick shit after that. It’s a good thing the restaurant is pretty empty right now. The benefit of going to lunch after two, I guess.
The soft sound of a throat clearing silences the laughter immediately, and a hard pang goes through my chest when I meet warm brown eyes in a pale, pink-cheeked face. She’s even better than advertised. I can see why my guys have been making bets on who will get her number first. The second I see her, I want to tell them all to back the fuck off, but I know I can’t.
“What can I get for you guys today?”
Boy, if that isn’t a loaded question. Directing a glare around the table, I tell them all silently to behave. There’s a chorus of, “Hey Hailey” or “Hi darlin’” from the guys sitting at the table as they all start telling her what they want, flirting all the while and making the red in her cheeks deepen.
Hailey. I’m not sure how I haven’t heard her name all week, but I don’t recall any of the guys ever mentioning it.
I’m the last person to order, and when our eyes meet once again my thoughts scatter. She’s staring down at me expectantly, and I can’t think straight. She waits patiently, but the longer it takes me to answer, the more unsure she looks. Her brows furrowing in confusion finally breaks me out of my reverie and I tell her to just, “Surprise me.”
This widens her eyes and I can see she’s starting to panic. “Sweetheart, I’m easy. Patsy’s food is the best around and I’ve never had anything here I didn’t like.” Her whole body sags in relief and she nods quickly, looking almost like a bobblehead doll. If she wasn’t so damn adorable, I’d laugh. Something tells me that would just fluster her further, so I swallow it down.
Once she’s gone, the comments and raucous laughter start right back up, but this time they’re directed at me.
“So,” Nick starts, “it’s like that, huh?” The glacial look I give him should shut him up, but it doesn’t. “Hey, look, I don’t blame you a bit. I’d tap that ass in a heartbeat--”
Hailey’s reappearance at our table with a tray full of drinks cuts off whatever he was going to say. She’s giving Nick an icy look of her own, but she doesn’t call him out for talking about her. His shoulders slump in embarrassment anyway, and I have to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from smirking smugly at his discomfort.
The second she places the last cup on the table, she spins around and walks away quickly, her spine rigid and I don’t know how, but I know she’s upset.
Nick curses under his breath, but I ignore him. I have no idea what I’m going to say to her, but it doesn’t stop me from getting up and going after her anyway.
Chapter Two
Hailey
My cheeks are burning as I walk away from their table. Those guys have come in every day this week so far, and yeah, they’re always rowdy, but this is the first time they’ve talked about me. Nick seemed like such a sweetheart with the way he’s been flirting with me all week, but the comments he was making to the new guy at the table...oh my God. I’m so embarrassed.
I drop my empty tray on the counter and tell Meg I’ll be right back. She gives me a sympathetic look and nods, thankfully not saying anything. She knows all about what I’ve been going through, and right now I’m going to use that sympathy to my advantage.
Pushing through the back door, I walk out into the alley and lean against the wall. I shut my eyes and try to calm my heart. It feels like it’s about to beat out of my chest.
“I’m sorry.” It’s him. His voice sends a shiver down my spine and goosebumps pop up on my arms. It’s deep and sexy, everything a man’s voice should be.
The heat of his body caresses my own and my eyes snap open. He’s standing right in front of me, way too close, but I don’t tell him to back up.
“I’m sorry,” he says again, remorse filling his eyes as he studies my face.
Clearing my throat, I tell him, “I heard you the first time.”
“Well, you didn’t say anything.”
I straighten, standing to my full height, which is still at least five inches shorter than him. I’m a tall girl, so five inches taller than my five-foot-eight makes him at least an inch or two over six feet. “I wasn’t aware it required a response.” I know I sound catty, but I can’t quite bring myself to care. He should be sorry. Actually, Nick should be the one out here apologizing for being an idiot, not him.
His lips tip up on one side, totally unaffected by my attitude. Maybe even amused by it. “I guess it didn’t, but that doesn’t stop me from wanting one anyway.”
He takes a step closer to me and I can smell a hint of his cologne, along with motor oil and grease. It shouldn’t be an attractive smell, but it is. Before I realize I’m doing it, I take a step back in reaction, putting my back up against the wall again with nowhere to go. If he gets any closer, we’ll be touching from chest to groin.
Thinking the word makes me blush harder, but I also look down at the crotch of his jeans for just a second before his chuckle has my eyes flying back up to his face. Humor fills his gaze, but it doesn’t stop my mortification, and for the second or third time, my cheeks turn bright red.
Why do I keep embarrassing the hell out of myself in front of this man? What is it about him that makes me turn into an idiot?
We stand here for longer than I’d like to admit staring into each other’s eyes. I feel my body start to drift towards his, his doing the same, but then he closes his eyes. Remorse fills his features for barely a second, and when he opens them again, he steps away quickly.
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be here.”
It’s his third apology in only a few minutes, but the rest of what he said confuses the hell out of me. He shouldn’t be here? Why not? And why do I care?
He spins around, and he’s gone before I can ask any of the questions filling my head. Even worse, when I go back in, his seat is empty.
“He asked me to box his order for one of the other guys to bring to him.” Meg’s voice makes me jump, and when I turn to face her, she shrugs. “Whatever happened out there, you freaked Mitchell the hell out.” Narrowing her eyes, she tilts her head and considers me. “Be careful with him, Hailey.”
Well, that’s not cryptic at all.
Chapter Three
Mitchell
Sitting in my office I watch through the large window as my crew works on different vehicles. I’ve spent so much of my life in this office, first as a boy when my grandpa and then my dad ran the garage, then as a teenager and young man learning how they ran the place so I could eventually take over.
Anderson Automotive Repair has become my home away from home, my escape from a reality I no longer want to live. If I thought I could set up a bed in here without getting weird looks, I’d probably do it. Actually, that’s not true. If I did that, I’d have to explain why I was doing it to my kids and that would just make life at home more intolerable.
It’s been two days and I’m still trying to get Hailey off my mind. I haven’t been successful, but I have managed to keep from going back to the restaurant to see her. Don’t get me wrong, I want to, I just know it would be wrong. Fucked up in more ways than one. Doesn’t mean I haven’t spent every spare moment wondering where she is and what she’s doing.
Rex, my second-in-command and best friend since we were five comes into the room, shutting the door quietly behind him. There’s a look on his face that can be best described as uncertain, and it makes my whole body tense in preparation. All I can do is hope Drew, our newest employee, didn’t hurt himself or someone else doing something stupid. It wouldn’t be the first time, though last time, it was the windshield of a car that took the most damage.
Please don’t make me have to explain to some little old lady why her oil change that should have only taken an hour is going to end up taking two or three days because I have to order replacement parts due to his idiocy.
“What’s up?” Rex grimaces, his eyes looking everywhere but at me. “Come on man, you’re starting to freak me
out.”
Shoulders slumping slightly, he sighs. “Okay, look, I don’t know why I’m telling you because it shouldn’t even matter.” Rex pauses like he’s trying to gather his thoughts. Either that, or he really doesn’t want to say whatever it is he’s about to.
“Just spit it out. Get it over with so we can decide how to move on, where to go from here.”
The laugh that comes out of him is humorless. “Yeah, okay. Sure. Why not?” He takes the seat in front of my desk and bends forward, propping his elbows on his knees and running his hands through his hair before looking back up at me. “Just...don’t kill the messenger, alright?”
“For fuck’s sake. Tell me, damn it.”
“Okay, okay. So, the girl from Patsy’s? Hailey?” He winces when he says her name, but that might be because I flinch.
“What about her?”
Rex looks down, unable to meet my eyes for whatever he’s about to say. “Nick was talking to her today at lunch. By talking, I mean flirting.” I can’t even attempt to hold back the growl in my throat. “I guess she mentioned having a problem with her car, so he told her to bring it here after her shift and we would look at it, see what’s wrong.”
My hands squeeze the edge of my desk so hard I wouldn’t be at all surprised to hear the metal squeak, but thankfully, it doesn’t. I have to play it cool. There’s no other choice. Yeah, Rex knows how crappy shit is at home, but he still wouldn’t approve of the instant attraction I have for this Hailey woman. No one would.
“If we have the time, and an empty bay, that should be fine. As long as it doesn’t take away from the Miller’s car. He’s supposed to finish that up by tomorrow. The insurance guy is going to be here at three to do his final inspection. I’m sure Sam and Amelia are ready to turn in that rental and get their car back. Plus, I’m sure Sam is ready not to have the reminder he was the one to hit the deer instead of his wife. She said when she came to meet the adjuster that he was always telling her to be careful.”
Looking at me with his mouth hanging slightly open, Rex seems speechless. It’s probably because that’s the most I’ve talked in one go in at least a year, maybe two. Ever since shit with Tabitha started going downhill, so did my talking.
We don’t get the chance to continue. Movement outside my window grabs my attention, and when I turn to face it, I see her walking beside Nick. She’s grinning up at him, her eyes riveted on him, and I almost lose my mind. Ignoring whatever Rex is surely about to say, I’m out of my chair and striding across the room to my door, the only thing I’m able to focus on getting to her before Nick makes more of an impression.
What the fuck is wrong with me?
Chapter Four
Hailey
Coming here shouldn’t make me nervous, but it does. Actually, after the weird episode with Mitchell the other day, it’s probably not such a shock that I’m nervous coming here. Obviously, I did something to cause his insane reaction. It’s not often that a man basically runs away from you, but here we are.
I practically sigh in relief when I see Nick standing at the edge of the building talking to one of the other guys wearing a pair of coveralls with “Anderson Automotive Repair” on the back. One thing that’s good about those things--they have their names on the front, just above their hearts. Makes remembering their names when they come in for lunch easy.
As soon as he sees me, Nick’s face lights up. It makes me feel guilty, like I’m taking advantage of him somehow. He’s a nice guy, and with the amount of flirting he’s done with every visit to Patsy’s, he seems to be into me. Unfortunately, I don’t think he’s a day over twenty-five, while I’m...not. At thirty-two, I’m much closer to thirty-five than I am twenty-five, and dating a younger guy doesn’t appeal to me at all. I already have one toddler, thanks.
He jogs up to greet me like a happy puppy. If he had a tail, the thing would be wagging so hard his butt would be moving with it. The thought has me pulling in my lips to stifle my laughter, but I return his exuberant, “Hey,” with a more subdued version of my own.
“So, what exactly is the car doing?”
I wish he hadn’t asked me that again. He asked me at the diner, but I didn’t know how to explain it there either. “I’m not sure,” I tell him with a shrug. “It kinda shakes when I go faster, and sometimes I swear I can hear a tick when the car is running but the radio isn’t on.” That’s something doesn’t happen very often because I love listening to music, and so does Connor.
Nick nods. “Okay. The shaking thing can be a fairly easy fix. It could just be an issue with your tires not being balanced. The ticking is a little trickier, but we’ll take a look.” He looks at me expectantly, but I don’t know what he wants. Finally, a smile tips up one side of his mouth and he holds out his hand. “I need your keys so I can pull it in.” I hand them over, and he uses looks pointedly across the room. “The waiting room is right over there. I’ll try not to take too long.”
“That would be great,” I assure him with a smile of my own. I need to go get Connor, not that I’m about to tell him about it if I have to.
I’m almost to the waiting area when I feel it. The small hairs on the back of my neck stand on end and it feels like a heavy gaze is locked on my back. It’s him. I don’t know how I know, but I do.
Turning in a small circle, I try to find him, but I don’t see him anywhere in the small room. That’s explained when the waiting room door opens to reveal him standing in the doorway. His shoulders are so broad, they take up the whole space. I wouldn’t be surprised if he had to turn sideways just to enter.
The thought makes me snicker, and his eyes lock on my smiling lips.
Oh damn.
I like having his eyes on me. How stupid is that? After everything Seth put me through, I should be off men for the rest of my life. Instead, all it took was a few hot looks from this man and a couple of minutes smelling his aftershave to have my stomach in knots and my knees weak.
Down Hailey.
“Uh, hey.” I groan inwardly at how idiotic I sound. He’s staring at me like he’s not sure if he hates me or wants to drag my panties down with his teeth and all I can say is hey?
Whoa. Wait a minute. Where the hell did that thought come from? Clearly, I’ve been reading too many romance novels.
Mitchell steps aside so I can enter the room, and I hold my breath as I walk past. He’s not giving me much room, and I’m afraid if I breathe at all my body will brush against his and I’ll spontaneously combust.
Chapter Five
Mitchell
How is it possible she smells so fucking good after working at a diner that serves almost all fried food? If the world was fair, she’d smell like onion rings and fish sticks instead of flowery and fresh. Also, where the hell did “onion rings and fish sticks” come from? That’s probably the worst combination I could have come up with.
As soon as she’s through, I let go of the door and let it whisper shut, glad I sprang for that option when we redid the space. The door slamming constantly all day long about did my head in. It’s much better now that it slowly shuts, even when client’s kids are running back and forth in and out of it.
Hailey whirls around to face me when the door snicks in place. “What are you doing in here?”
I’m not sure how to answer her question. Do I go with the truth outright? Or some version of it? I don’t want to lie completely, but how do I say, “I can’t stay away from you?”
Her quiet gasp tells me I just did. Fuck me.
“Why not?”
Her voice quavers when she asks the question, and I can’t help but meet her fearful gaze. That pang in my chest goes through me again at the sight. I don’t want her to be scared of me. I know I haven’t been the most stable individual around her, but I’m not a psycho. Running a hand through my unruly hair, I try to think of a way to explain the thoughts bouncing around like pinballs in my head.
Her beauty is distracting though. The glossy deep brown hair she had in a ponytail
when I first saw her is down today, waves curling over her shoulders and covering breasts I have no business noticing, but I do. I can’t help it. Even under her Patsy’s t-shirt, I can tell they’re perfect handfuls. The deep purple shirt brings out the brown in her eyes and highlights the pink deepening on her cheeks the longer I stare at her.
It’s just fitted enough to show off her tiny waist and tucked into shorts that hit way too high on her toned thighs. She’s tall, and with those short little shorts, her legs look like they go on forever.
Hailey quickly grows uncomfortable with my scrutiny and crosses her arms over her chest in an attempt to shield herself. It breaks my concentration, and I’m glad my beard covers the heat I can feel rising in my own face.
“Mitchell?”
I have to clear my throat to answer. “Yeah?”
“Why did you leave the other day? One second you were there, but then you were just...gone. Did I do something wrong?”
Her voice sounds unsure, and I know she’s regretting the question as soon as it’s out of her mouth, so I rush to reassure her. “No sweetheart. You didn’t do anything.”
“They...why?”
Lifting my eyes to the ceiling, I wish for an answer to come to me that I can actually tell her. Of course, nothing comes, so I’m left to muddle through on my own. If I tell her the real reason, she’s going to hate me. Hell, I already hate myself for the thoughts I’m having about her. Maybe her hating me would be a good thing.
Fuck it. I’m just going to tell her.
“Because if I’d stayed there alone with you any longer, I would’ve kissed you.”
Her eyes are almost comically wide at my confession. “Would that really be such a bad thing?”
A Little Bit Cupid: A Collection of Short Stories Page 22