“It’s defective.”
“I tried to fix it. I even used the vise-grips, but no luck, so you want to try and bend it back?” With a hopeful glance, he extended the tool toward his boss.
“No, the metal has been compromised. It’ll break.” Knox headed back into the pit to finish Jesse’s car. He stole a glance at the boy who was still considering the wrench, turning it over to examine all angles. “You can keep it in your tool box if you want it.”
“Really?”
Sometimes, Knox forgot what it was like to be young and easily impressed by the little things. “Have at it.” Readjusting the work light, he went back to dealing with the heap of rusted metal above him. “While I’m under here, I need you to pull the new customer’s car into the empty bay so I can get an idea of what the hell is wrong with it. After that, check on the parts I ordered for the Ford truck. And go ahead and order our lunch from the diner.”
“Okay, boss.”
“Finally, I want you to study for that GED test.”
The boy grumbled about hating tests. “But when I am done, you will teach me how to change out the muffler on the Chevy?”
“I said I would. Turn on the radio on your way out.” The pounding bass of AC/DC grounded him and drew his thinking away from the sex on legs in the other room and back to hoses, oil, and the big piece of shit over his head.
Emerson Kingston breathed a sigh as the door closed, separating Knox from her. Her fingers tingled with need to touch him. Even after eight years, he hadn’t changed physically. And the overpowering desire she had for him, the same passion that scared her into running hadn’t ebbed, for her anyway. He appeared cool and distant. If only she could be so. She couldn’t deny it hurt to see him. Too many fears and memories washed over her. And the hurt she tried so hard to prevent all those years ago crashed over her like waves over the bow of a ship.
Knox, on the best of days, was intimidating, built like a rugby team member. Tall and broad, all muscle and hard as a rock. But she had seen a soft side, a side she’d learned he rarely showed anyone at all. If someone had come in on their conversation today, all they would have seen was indifference. Other than his knowing her name, they could have been strangers. She suffered a stab of heartbreak, subjected to the coldest of shoulders.
Years had passed since she had been interested in any man, let alone felt drawn to him, and yet every part of her wanted to be thrown over Knox’s counter, her skirt pulled up over her ass, and his cock buried deep within her. She dropped into the closest seat, squeezing her legs together, hoping the sexual desires causing the dampness to pool at the apex of her thighs would subside.
Pulling her water bottle out of her bag, she took a long gulp. Something had to ease the heat within, or her whole body might go up in flames. The phone in her bag chirped, alerting her a message waited. Please let it be the rental place saying they had discovered a way to make the thirty-mile trip in twenty minutes. But no, they were informing her of a delay. “Damn it.”
“Everything okay?” the teenage employee asked from a seat behind the counter, in front of a computer screen.
She jumped up, shocked she hadn’t heard him return, so consumed with suppressed emotions she hadn’t paid attention to her surroundings. “Yeah, um. You don’t happen to have Wi-Fi here?”
“Not a chance. Knox has freaking dial up. Man lives in the dark ages. The only reason he even has that is to order parts.” The teenager grumbled a few more things, rolling his eyes. “You can always go to the diner across the street. They have Wi-Fi. Probably slow as fuck— Sorry. It’s probably slow as….” He furrowed his brow cheeks flushed.
Figuring she would take him out of his misery, she said, “Slow works.”
A diner booth where she could set her laptop on a table would certainly be more comfortable than huddling in the hard plastic utilitarian chairs at the garage. Add in her overwhelming urgency to get out of Knox’s space, and she had no trouble deciding to go. Even through the door she could sense his anger and desire to see her gone. How the hell would he react to her presence here for the coming weeks, months, or possible years? It wouldn’t go over well. She didn’t want to be in the vicinity when he found out.
Gathering her things, she spotted a scrap of paper by the cash register and jotted her cell number on it. Pushing it across the counter to the young man, she said “My number should he have that estimate.”
The door opened ringing a little bell and in walked an angel wearing a uniform, Detective Jesse Farrell. Jesse had taking Emerson under his wing from the time they were in elementary school together. His parents had offered her the only semblance of family she had ever known.
“Jesse.”
“Emerson? I was getting ready to call out an APB.” Closing the space between them, he engulfed her in his arms. “Geez, it’s been a hell of a long time.”
“It has.” She clung to him for a moment, reveling in the knowledge someone was happy to see her.
“What happened to your car? Are you okay?”
It didn’t take a rocket scientist to know if she was at a garage, she had car issues. “I think I hit something and—”
“She hit a god damned alligator.” Knox stood in the open door to the garage.
“What?” Jesse examined the piece of gator tail in Knox’s hand.
Shit. She winced as he placed the tail next to the cash register.
“How do you not know you hit a gator?” Jesse asked.
Leaning his hip against the counter, Knox folded his bulky arms across his chest. “That is what I want to know.”
“I thought I could straddle it,” she admitted in a low voice. Damn it, by the time she got close enough to see it, it had been too late to do anything but clutch the steering wheel and drive straight ahead, hoping not to hit any part of it.
“You what?” She would have laughed at the comical chin drop from both men, but embarrassment heated her skin head to toe.
“Do you really need me to repeat it?” Fidgeting from one foot to the other, she wished they would change the subject.
“Oh, I think we do.” Jesse nodded with a snicker.
“I thought I could just drive over the creature. But it felt like driving over a serious speed bump from hell.” She took a deep breath before continuing. “I pulled off the road as soon as I got past it and watched the alligator wander back into the swamp. It didn’t look injured.”
“Tell me you didn’t get out of your car to make sure?”
“Jesse, I know the swamps. I know these animals. I am not stupid enough to get out of the car when there could be an angry gator about.”
“No, just to straddle one.” Knox raised an eyebrow. “So you and Jesse know one another?”
“Yep.” Jesse ruffled her hair. “She is like a baby sister to me.”
“Knock it off, Jesse.” She fixed her hair the best she could without a mirror. “Can we focus on my car, please?”
“Fine with me. You have bent the drive shaft, punctured two maybe three hoses and, at a quick glance, done a couple of thousand dollars in body damage, but that isn’t something I have the time to fix.”
Jesse shook his head slowly. “You can’t hang out here until your car is repaired. Why don’t I take you to your mom’s old place? My wife went in and aired it out, put staples in the fridge. She can’t wait to meet you, by the way.”
It was hard to think of her bachelor friend married and tied down. But with the cold shoulder she was getting from Knox, getting as far away as possible was an excellent idea, even if it meant going to the place she had spent the last decade running from. She picked up the paper she had laid on the counter and offered it to Knox. “Call me when you have an estimate on charges and time. I’ll call the rental company and have them bring the car there.”
He stared at the paper as if it would bite him then tossed Jesse a set of keys. “I can only keep this rust bucket together with Bondo for so long. I’ll send your bill to the station.”
; “Thank, Knox. Hopefully, you won’t have her up on the lift again anytime soon.”
“You say that every time, and, within weeks, she’s back. At least this time there aren’t bullet holes in it.” He did a great job of ignoring her presence.
Finally, after a few more minutes of banter with Knox, Jesse turned to her. “Do you need to get bags out of your car?”
She nodded and took one step toward the door to the work area before Knox announced he would get them for her. Had he put up a sign saying keep out of my garage it couldn’t have been clearer. He didn’t want her in his place.
Jesse waited until the door shut before asking, “Well, what did you do to piss off Knox?”
“What do you mean?”
“He is never warm and fuzzy, but rude isn’t his number either.”
“We know each other from years ago. That is all I’m going to say about it, Jesse, so stop trying to interrogate me. It won’t work.”
He eyed her for second. “I’ve gotten better at the whole interrogation thing since we were kids, you know.”
“I should hope so.”
Knox returned and handed her bags to the other man. “I’ll be in touch. See you soon, Jesse.”
“You bet.” Jesse led her out of the shop. “I’ll get the information I need, Emmy, one way or another.”
Chapter Two
Home was not always where the heart was. Long ago, Emerson had left the small home she shared with her parental unit and never once looked back. The old house held more ghosts than any haunted mansion around, ones only she could see and hear. The echoes of drunken slurs, yet another “uncle” yelling at her, and some who spoke with fists, echoed through the empty one-story, two bedroom house.
She had spent the day before closing out her mother’s estate. So many papers to sign for someone who had so little. She now held the deed to a house she didn’t want and three and a half acres of useless Florida swampland.
A few months ago, her mother had died of cirrhosis of the liver, the result of years of alcohol abuse. Neither women had talked or reached out to the other in a few years. By the time Jesse tracked Emerson down, the burial had already happened, and since Emerson had two more months remaining of her tour as a medic in Afghanistan and hadn’t seen her mother in ten years, rushing home to claim her inheritance seemed disingenuous.
But today was Saturday, she had no office to go to, the Internet company couldn’t get out until middle of next week to set up service, and her cell phone wasn’t picking up anything so far out. Even with the new subdivision of Moonlight near Knox’s garage, progress was ever slow to the areas surrounding Bradenton. Pacing the floors would make her crazy—so far she’d kept to the kitchen and her old bedroom that, to her surprise, remained exactly as she had left it over a decade before. She had to get out, so she jumped in her car and drove.
Stopping the rental car at the diner across the street from Knox’s garage, she tried to ignore the pull he still had on her. She squeezed her legs together as if that could contain the desire rushing through her for a man she believed she would never see again. When she believed her legs would carry her into the diner and not across the street with a mind of their own, she reached into the backseat, grabbed her laptop bag, and braced herself for the wave of wet heat that would overwhelm her when she opened the door.
Only a few customers populated the diner at this time of day, after the breakfast rush and before lunchtime. A beautiful blonde greeted her with, “Sit anywhere you want.”
Emerson took a table toward the back that allowed her a view of the street. Two tours in a warzone taught her it was best to see what was coming her way. Even in the middle of Nowhere, Florida, danger could pop up at a moment’s notice.
“What can I get you?” The petite brunette waitress, with a name tag of Tahlia, cast her a kind smile.
“Coffee, sweet and light.” She picked up the menu. “Still serving breakfast?”
“All day, and we are getting ready for lunch now.” She tapped her order pad with the tip of her pen.
“How about a bowl of grits with butter and a side of rye toast.” She hadn’t had grits since leaving the South and suddenly craved it.
The brunette shuffled back behind the food counter. Emerson pulled out her laptop and hotspot, now charged, and turned on the computer. She needed to check her email. Hopefully, someone had replied to her job inquiries. Out of the service, she wasn’t really sure what direction she wanted to go. She had quite a few options, hospitals and rescue squads around the county had her resume, but that didn’t help narrow her road.
Once she dealt with her inbox, her attention moved back across the street. Although one of the bay doors was open, she hadn’t seen Knox.
“Can I get you another coffee?”
“Um, yes, thank you.” As she topped up the mug, Tahlia whispered, “He’s pretty hot.”
“Who?”
“Knox, the mechanic. Every single—and some not so single—woman around here has tried getting their teeth into that one, to no effect.”
“Has he been here long?” She prayed the question was conversational in tone.
The waitress tapped her chin with her pen and pursed her lips. “We arrived in town about the same time. But he took over the rundown auto shop shortly after.” She picked up the empty grits bowl. “It’s nice knowing he is out here, especially when I am locking up alone late at night. Can I get you anything else?”
Was the waitress being purposefully vague or was she being neurotic? “Not at the—”
The waitress stared out the window, her eyes wide. “Oh no!”
A 1970s era Camaro with neo-Nazi markings on the sides spun its tires as it zoomed into the diner’s parking lot. The hair on the back of her neck rose. She’d long ago learned not to question her sixth sense. For the first time in years, she allowed the small voice inside screaming for Knox every time she had been in trouble to emerge. “Have they been here before?”
“Yes, they did a little damage but mostly scared off a lot of customers.”
Placing a hand on her arm to get her attention, Emerson forced her voice to remain calm. “When the men get out of the car, I want you to slip quietly out the back door to get help.”
“Knox.” The other woman raised an eyebrow.
“He is the closest.” Despite his cold demeanor yesterday, he would never allow her to remain in danger. She quickly sent off a text alerting Jesse to the potential issue at the diner, closed her laptop, and put it in the bag, hiding it under her seat. Maybe they wouldn’t cause an issue, and perhaps she had become neurotic.
Keeping her eyes diverted from the men, she grabbed a morning paper from another table. While pretending to scan the articles, every one of her other senses was focused on the danger walking into this establishment.
As the group of white skinheads entered, she could see the waitress running across the street toward the open garage door. Emerson only hoped she would find Knox there and not his teenage assistant. She checked her phone one last time to see if Jesse had texted back before placing it under her thigh and out of sight of those entering.
“Is there something I can get you?” the blonde waitress who first greeted her asked the newcomers, a pleasant smile fixed on her lips.
One of the men reached over the counter and filled a cup. The leader caught her in his sights, or at least she thought he was. While the others destroyed things, he scanned the room. A sense of serious foreboding came over Emerson. This wasn’t going to end well.
***
“We need help over at the diner.” Tahlia, a she-wolf who waited tables across the street, strolled calmly into the open bay.
Knox rolled out from under the car he was working on. One of these days he would be able to afford to dig out another pit. It certainly would be nice when, like now, he had a ton of cars in the lot waiting to be fixed. “What kind of problem?”
“Those skinheads are back.”
He raised an eyebrow. “You can�
��t handle them?”
“Well, not in this form. As a wolf, hell yes. But there are humans over there. Well, one human.”
Knox got to his feet. “Gotcha.”
“One particular human female over there seems to have some interest in you.” Tahlia pretended to examine her nails, all the while goading him. “She was pretty adamant I come get you to save the day.”
His hackles rose. Stepping into the street, he caught her scent long before he saw her profile through the window, and the beast within him roared. “Dammit, in town one day and already she is in trouble. Call Derek and tell him all hell may be about to break loose in the diner.”
It was Tahlia’s turn to raise an eyebrow, and why wouldn’t she? Knox was known for two things, his desire to be left alone and his ability to show no emotion. “And what should I tell him exactly? Bring body bags? Cleanup team? Backup?”
“Tell him my fucking mate has shown her face again and—”
“I knew it!”
“Knew what?” He glared at her.
“Nothing.” She took a step back. “What do you want me to tell Derek?”
“Tell him I have no idea what I am going to do.” He noticed the bent wrench in his hand and cursed. He had done it again. After slamming the tool down in the bed of his tow truck, he stalked across to the restaurant, assessing the situation as he went. Two men in sleeveless black tees and dirty jeans lingered by the front door. Two more—these larger in stature—one in a trucker hat, the other with a shaved head, moved toward Emerson’s table. He saw red. He cut off the men, arrived at her side, and slid into the other chair at her table.
“Darling, you made it.” Her eyes locked with his, her voice laced with warning.
The largest of the four puffed out his chest. The man, though well over six feet, was still dwarfed by Knox’s six foot seven. “Perhaps what she needs is to see what two men at once are like. Somehow, I think all of us could give her more than anything you have to offer.”
The three other men stood behind him. Only years of learning to control his wolf kept him from shifting and shredding them. “You and your band of asshats have thirty seconds to get out of town.”
Second Chance Desire (Hot Moon Rising #8) Page 2