Drive Me Wild

by Jeannette Winters

  “And?” he said waiting.

  “I already told your boss to send me the bill.”

  He turned shaking and walked away mumbling, “You’re welcome.”

  Cole wasn’t going to waste another minute. He needed to go and check in, get his number, and unload his car. The gates were going to be opening in twenty minutes and all hell was going to break out then. No way would he be allowed to drive on the premises after that. He bolted back to the truck and updated John. It was show time.

  Let the show begin.

  Chapter 2

  This was amazing. Cole had attended more car shows than he could count, but nothing had prepared him for what it was like on the other side. The droves of people coming by and asking questions was exhilarating. It was a constant test of what he knew about his vehicle. There was no bullshitting these people. They knew the answers and wanted to make sure he did too.

  “Damnit Cole, I thought we’d be sitting down drinking beer and checking out women. This is too much like…work. I’m out of here. Well, not out of the park, just not here with you. I actually see a blonde over there who might need my number.”

  Cole laughed. “Or the number to the police department. Thanks again for your help today.”

  “No problem. If anything exciting happens over here, give me a call. If not, I’ll see you on Monday.”

  For Cole, this was exciting. John couldn’t relate. He might have known the names of the hot rods but he’d never owned one, never mind worked on one. There were reasons why people joined car clubs like the Creeps. They respected each other’s hard work and dedication. Cole wasn’t the only person there who had been working on their restore for years. What they all shared was pride in their work.

  Although everyone here had their own reasons, for Cole, this was personal. This car had belonged to his grandfather. Before Cole had gotten his hands on it, the Chevy had been sitting in a barn for a minimum of ten years. His grandfather refused to part with it. He used to call it his baby because it was the first car he had owned.

  Cole wasn’t sure if it was all his pleading that finally wore his grandfather down, but a few years ago, he finally gave it to him. The only problem was, it was in some serious rough shape. He considered it a challenge, one that he may have come out on top of. This baby was all his.

  Each year Cole debated bringing it to the show with a sign saying ‘under construction’, but he wanted to wow them with the finished product. From some of the comments, he might have done enough. Time was going to tell when the judging came.

  The competition was stiff and Cole was getting worried. The photographers have been making their way around and even stopped at a few cars not far from his. Yet they hadn’t stopped at his. They were the attention he needed, because if they liked his car, they’d ask one, or more, of the pinup gals to be on it while they took the picture. Cole was crossing his fingers at least one of them would stop.

  He shouldn’t panic. This was his first event. Many of these guys enter a car every year. But he hadn’t worked this hard not to get noticed. There was a photographer about five cars up from him. The crowd had gathered as the girl sat up on the car. He waited. Eventually they’d make it to his. And that would be the tell all.

  God no. What does she want? Jody was heading directly for him. If she was about to tell him there was another issue with the power, he was going to flip. He knew everything was in order when he left her. The serious look on her face said she wasn’t pleased. Maybe she doesn’t know how to smile.

  “What are you doing here?” Jody asked.

  “I would like to think it’s obvious,” Cole said sarcastically. It really wasn’t wise to piss her off, but he seemed to have done that even before they had met. If she had any involvement in the judging, he could forget taking home a trophy now.

  “This is yours?”

  “You mean this mint condition ’56 Chevy? Then yes, it is mine. If you’re worried, I paid my entrance fee and submitted all my information.”

  “But you’re the electrician, right?” Jody asked.

  It was nice to know he wasn’t all that memorable. Unfortunately, she was. Her bright red hair and green eyes stood out. Of course, her temper went along with the stigma of red hair. She had a fiery personality and probably didn’t get walked on. Of course, he wasn’t one who was going to take her crap either.

  “I was, until the job was complete. Now I’m off duty and, if you don’t mind, trying to get her noticed.”

  She walked around it slowly as though taking notes. “Did you do all the work yourself?”

  “Yes.”

  Jody opened the door and looked inside. Cole knew if she sat on those white leather seats, she’d melt. They were perfect, or at least as close as he could get them to be.

  “Very nice.”

  “What will be nice is if they stop and take her picture.”

  She closed the door and said, “No one has?”

  “A lot of people have snapped it on their phones, but we both know that won’t get me in front of the judges now will it?” She might be one of the judges for all he knew. Or cared.

  She changed the subject and said, “The bands are playing. Sounds good.”

  “It does.” He hadn’t even thought about the music since he’d settled in.

  “When I was walking around to check on everything, I was surprised to see you here. I wanted to thank you for getting us back on track today. This event would’ve been a disaster without power.”

  That was the truth, but he still was surprised she was here thanking him. “Just doing my job.”

  “But I have a feeling you went above and beyond. Don’t worry, I know it had nothing to do with me, and everything to do with getting your car checked in.”

  Damn straight. “Customers always come first.” It just would’ve sucked if he had to miss this.

  “I’m grateful. I was concerned I’d need to let the Creeps know there wouldn’t be any music. That wouldn’t have reflected well on my performance.”

  “You have no control over lightning,” Cole stated. He wasn’t sure why he was talking to her instead of trying to make eye contact with people passing by.

  “No. And apparently I didn’t have any control over my mouth this morning either. Sorry about calling you a jerk. Maybe we can start fresh.” She extended her slender hand and said, “Hi, I’m Jody Flowers.”

  As she stepped closer, he thought she even smelled like flowers, and her fingers were as delicate as petals. “I’m Cole King.”

  “Thanks again for bailing my butt out this morning. This is a fun-filled family event and it’s my job to make sure everyone is happy.”

  “I’d be happy if I could get just one pinup gal on my car,” Cole said.

  She looked around, then back at him. “You never know. It’s still early.”

  “That’s what I’m counting on.”

  As Jody walked away, he hoped she was about to give a good word regarding his entry. Her demeanor definitely had improved since their initial meeting. Then again, he could understand her short fuse. If the Creeps hired her, then they had high expectations for results. Something like no power, although not her fault, would still be something no one forgot.

  Cole noticed the photographer had moved on and never stopped at his car. Granted, there was more than one there, but he was feeling greedy and wanted them all ogling his baby. Maybe next year.

  * * *

  Jody couldn’t believe she was doing this. It was the most ridiculous thing she’d ever done. Cole would be paid by his employer and probably very well too. It was, as Bobby so kindly reminded her, an expensive weekend for things to break down. Yet she still felt horrible about her treatment earlier. That wasn’t her, at least not on a day-to-day basis.

  She had taken on more than she could handle with this event. The Creeps Car Club members offered to help her, but her own damn pride got in the way. She declined time and time again. When it was too late, and she was behind the eight ball,
she picked up the slack herself. It seemed that in the last four days, she’d gotten a total of maybe twenty hours of sleep. She was running on fumes. And yet, here she was, and she looked foolish.

  As she made her way through the grounds, Jody could feel eyes were on her and she was drawing attention. Although she normally would consider it unwanted, that wasn’t the case at the moment. This was her way of saying thank you. Maybe I just should have sent him a card…

  It was a warm day, but with so much skin exposed, the breeze sent a chill running through her. Jody had no idea how these ladies did it all the time. They definitely had the confidence and swagger to pull it off. She worked behind the scenes, and that’s where she belonged. But she’d come this far, might as well go all the way.

  Vinny and his wife Janet were heading in her direction. She could tell by the look on Vinny’s face he had some questions. “Jody? That is you right?”

  She sighed. “Yes, it is.”

  “You never told us you were a pinup gal,” he said.

  Jody chuckled. “I’m not.”

  Janet looked her over and giggled, “Then I’d say you’re a bit…underdressed. Or maybe overdressed depending on who is looking.”

  “I borrowed this from one of the ladies. There is someone I need to apologize to and I thought this would be a good way.”

  Vinny laughed and turned to Janet, “Sweetheart, why don’t you say sorry like this?”

  Janet slapped Vinny on the arm and said playfully, “Keep it up and you’re going to be the one who is sorry.” Then she turned back to Jody and said, “Good luck. By the way, you look amazing. I might have to do some shopping myself for tonight.”

  “Now we’re talking,” Vinny said, pulling Janet into his arms and kissing her.

  That was Jody’s cue to keep moving. When she approached Cole the crowd had dissipated. That was good, because it would provide a nice view of her on his car. Walking right up to the front, she asked, “Could you give me a hand?”

  “Excuse me?” Cole said, mouth hung open.

  “I need to get up onto the car. Do you want it with the hood open or closed?”

  As though Cole just figured out what she was doing, he rushed over and said, “Open.”

  Instead of giving her a hand, he placed both of his on her waist, lifted her up, and sat her right above the headlight. With her thighs bare, she was glad his car was in the shade, or she might be hopping off in a hurry.

  It took her a minute to steady herself and adjust her feet so her heels didn’t scratch anything. Leaving marks on his paint job wasn’t the way to say thanks.

  Once she was set she said, “You might want to move. You’re standing in front of me.”

  He didn’t budge. “What are you doing here?”

  “Hopefully drawing some attention to your car. Unless you’re planning on stripping down, I suggest you move. Otherwise I just wasted my time.” Cole stepped out of the way. She didn’t want to sound snippy, but she’d never done this before.

  Once the onlookers had a clear view, the buzz started. People were standing and snapping photos on their phones. It was taking a lot more energy and concentration than she’d have thought. The ladies made it look easy. It wasn’t. She wasn’t sure how to pose without slipping off. At one point, she not so gracefully had to grab hold of the hood and Cole rushed over to catch her. She could only imagine what that picture looked like. But once she was sitting back on top, she took the time to make sure she wasn’t going to fall again.

  Cole was working the crowd and was hopefully going to get noticed by one of the photographers. She did see someone from the local newspaper stop and chat with him. He took her photo and then had Cole stand by the other side while he snapped a few more. That was a start, but she knew he needed bigger.

  And here it comes. The photographer was approaching and as usual he had a few of the ladies with him. But he stopped dead when he saw her on the car. Instantly he began taking pictures. Then he walked over and asked her to lean on the side, with the door open. Then inside on the seats. He was directing her as though she knew what she was doing. Either he was damn good or she was getting lucky, but he kept taking pictures. More than she’d seen him do at others.

  When it was over, he asked her name, then went to talk to Cole. She accomplished what she’d set out to do. Now all she wanted was to get back to the trailer and get out of this outfit. The corset fit, but really should’ve been a size up. Jody couldn’t get it off fast enough.

  Once she was back in her own clothes, she felt more like her old self. The unsexy, bossy me. But at least she knew how to get shit done. And this event was far from over. Time to get back to work.

  Chapter 3

  Cole wasn’t disappointed. Hell, if he really thought about it, considering it was his first showing, he really got a lot of heads turning. It would’ve been nice to walk away with a trophy, but that’s what next year was for.

  When he opened the door to the shop, the guys were all inside drinking coffee as usual and from what he gathered, talking about what they did over the weekend. Since John’s voice was the loudest, Cole assumed he was updating them all about their adventure at the Hill.

  John said, “I thought I told you to call me if things got exciting.” He turned the newspaper he was holding and said, “What the hell is this?”

  Cole didn’t read the paper. He hardly watched the news. Both usually pissed him off in one way or another. But today he wished he’d stopped. Front page was one hell of a sexy and stunning redhead perched up on his Chevy. Holy shit. There really wasn’t any denying what he was doing while on-call. Larry might not be in the office today, but there was no doubt his wife was going to see the paper. Or maybe not, with the new baby.

  “I would’ve called you John, but it all happened so fast. It was over even before I knew it had started,” Cole said. That was true. He never expected Jody to show up, especially dressed the way she had. Hell, his head was spinning and he couldn’t take his eyes off her. If she didn’t tell him to move his dumb ass, he may have just stood there memorizing every inch.

  “You can’t tell me that you didn’t even get her name,” John teased. “Damnit Cole, are you telling me all you saw was that car? I mean look at her. She’s…”

  “Fucking hot,” another blurted. “I was there Saturday and definitely didn’t see her. Were you keeping her all to yourself there buddy?”

  Somehow Cole didn’t enjoy hearing them speak about her like that. It’s not that he hadn’t thought the same thing, but that was different. How exactly, he wasn’t sure, but it was. “It’s all business, nothing more.”

  “Business? Hell, I think I need to get me one of those hot rods if she comes with it.”

  Cole snarled, “First, she doesn’t, and second, I’m not sure your dumb ass would even know how to work on one, never mind enter it.”

  John intervened. “Okay you two. There is no need to argue. We all know she wouldn’t want anything to do with either one of you after she took a look at me.”

  In unison the entire room said, “Oh God.”

  “Hey, I’m a catch you know,” John said.

  “Ya. If you were desperate, maybe. Someone like this woman, she’s not going to give any of you a second look…or a first,” one of the guys said.

  Cole normally would agree, but for some reason she’d shown up at his spot. Only his, from what he’d learned. What he didn’t understand was why. From all indications, she didn’t even like him, but looking at the picture, maybe her disdain for him wasn’t as great as he’d imagined.

  With Larry out of the office, it was up to Cole to ensure they all got their asses to work. “If you guys are finished screwing off, I say we load the trucks and hit the road.”

  The room grumbled and John growled out, “When did you stop being any fun?”

  “The day Larry told me I have to play babysitter. Now before I go, anyone have any questions as to what their schedule is?” Everyone shook their head. “Good. I’ll b
e in the office and will let you know if anything changes during the day. Be safe,” Cole said as he walked to the office. It was one of the things Larry always told them. Fast didn’t mean anything if you weren’t safe.

  Once inside, he retrieved any new voicemails from last night. Nothing out of the ordinary. A few people wanted Larry to stop by and quote out a job. This time of year, people always thought about pulling out the old knob-and-tube wiring and upgrading. Cole hated working in those old houses and snaking wires through walls. It seemed like no matter how well you planned, the job always took a day or two longer than expected. He called the customers and scheduled for two weeks out. That would give Larry plenty of time to spend with the family and get back to work. If he knew Larry, he wouldn’t be able to stay away too long anyway. He liked to control everything. Good luck, buddy. You’re a dad now. The control is gone. It’s all about eating, sleeping, and diapers.

  Cole might not have any kids, but he was an uncle of six. It was a great role to have, sugar them up, and send them home. Uncle Cole always said yes, even though his sisters might not appreciate it. But that also meant he knew it was time he stepped up and helped Larry out more. The first few weeks both mom and baby needed him. Besides, he didn’t mind being in the office. It gave him time to think about what he needed to do to his Chevy for next year.

  The office phone rang and he answered, “Larry B’s, how can I help you?”

  “Hello. I’m calling to pay my bill.”

  It was a nice change that a customer was initiating the payment instead of being chased down for it. Larry pretended to be a hardass, but he cut people too much slack. Cole knew that for a fact, because he did the same thing with him.

  “Do you have your invoice number?” Cole asked.

  “No. I don’t have one.”

  “How about your billing address?”

  “I don’t think he asked for that either. Maybe he put it under the location I needed serviced?”

  “You don’t know your billing address?” Cole asked. That was odd.