Page 4 of Fast and Dirty
“Thanks,” she sighs. “It wasn’t catching my fiancé cheating on me so much as the car breaking down. And the whole where the hell to go from here thing.”
“About that,” I feel a lump form in my gut that I have to do this. “I’m sorry to dump even more on you, but I just think I should prepare you.”
“For what?” Her crystal blue eyes widen as she turns to me.
“Well, I’m sure I don’t need to point out that this car we’re towing is a rare, not to mention expensive, antique.” She nods, and I continue. “Which means the parts are going to be hard to come by at my humble little establishment here in the middle of nowhere, Indiana. Whatever I need to fix it is going to be expensive but also difficult.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning, if you wish to get it repaired and in driving condition again, you’re in for a bit of a wait. I’m not talking days, I’m talking weeks.”
“Hooo…” she blows out on a breath as she turns to face forward again. “Okay. I’ll just… have to figure something out.”
“Well, you certainly took that better than most people would.” I smirk warmly over at her.
“Well what can I say?” She holds her hands up. “That’s one good thing about being the black sheep of the family. I’ve learned to roll with the punches.”
Like any other time I hear that expression, I feel a pang in my chest. Only this time, it seems to quickly dispel into a warm tingly feeling as I pull into the driveway. I hit the remote to raise the garage door and look over at her. “I’m the black sheep of mine, too.”
I don’t know why I just shared that with her. As I pull in to the garage bay, I tell myself that she shared a hell of a lot more than I did, and I’ll never see her again, so it doesn’t matter. The thought of it being friendly, relatable customer service also flashes across my brain. I’ll entertain any possibility but the truth, which is that I felt a kinship with someone for the first time in years. I came to Coyote Creek to lay low, after all, and while I’ve made some friends in the last couple years, their knowledge of my past is very limited.
I put the truck in park on the other side of the garage bay, cut the engine, and I look over and am immediately glad I did. It seems another weight has been lifted off her at the revelation that she’s not the only misfit in the truck and my heart revs at the lightness I see in her.
Oof. Not a good combination when you pair it with my aching dick. I don’t have time to acknowledge that, however, as she pulls at the latch for her door and pushes it open. It makes me quickly exit my side and hurry around to meet her. When I picked her up earlier, I helped her up into the cab, only narrowly escaping involuntary ejaculation, but I’m damned sure still going to help her down.
“I thought someone of your status would wait for the man to come get you out of the vehicle,” I chuckle.
“Like I said, black sheep,” she softly reminds me as she busies herself with her dress, trying to pull all the layers to theside so she can step out while I play mental whack-a-mole with my dick. “And what makes you think I’m high society?” She gives a self-deprecating smirk as I hold my hands up to grip her waist. I feel like I’m getting a princess out of her carriage and it’s making my brain want to explode.
“I can do math,” I shrug, not trying to be too cocky. I’m just grateful for the conversational distraction. “Rolls Royce. I heard something about an arranged marriage on your phone call there,” I rattle off casually as I place her down. Our proximity gives me a whiff of her scent, and fuck if she doesn’t smell of jasmine and sophistication. I’m going to die today.
My blue balls are going to produce some kind of angry toxin and poison me, there’s all there is to it.
“Thank you,” she says as she tucks a strand of hair behind her ear and I give her a nod.
“I’m going to get to work and see what’s going on,” I nod towards the Rolls positioned in the middle of the garage bay and then wave a hand toward the east corner of the shop. “We’ve got a waiting room back that way, so you can make whatever calls you want to while I get it up on the lift.”
Someone please punch me in the face for what I just said. Thankfully, she doesn’t seem to notice my choice of words as she gives a polite smile and gathers her dress up, heading back in that direction. Looks like I’m the only one with my head in the gutter. Shame.
Kira
“So the shadeof your dad’s face has gone from eggplant to tomato, so that’s good,” Toby casually reports over the phone as I pace back and forth across the surprisingly nice waiting room. “He’s on his fourth scotch though and that could be either good or bad.”
“It’s the calm before the storm, trust me,” I grimace before my heart jumps up in my throat at the thought of something. “He can’t see you on the phone with me, can he?”
“Hell no doll, don’t even worry about it.” I can hear what sounds like ice in an empty glass.
“Then how can you see him?”
“I’m hiding out under one of the tables with a bottle of rum and a six pack of Dr. Pepper,” he replies like this should be common knowledge. “There’s just a small slit in the tablecloth and he’s too preoccupied.”
“Okay.” I sigh in relief before I go in for the big ask. “So, I’m in this little nowhere town in Indiana and I’m not sure where to go from here.”
“Oh my God, little nowhere towns are so charming, you should totally stay there for a few days.”
“What? I mean it is cute … and quiet. But Tobe, I’m all alone in an unfamiliar place.”
“It’s not like it’s the big bad city, baby doll. You know there’s probably lots of good looking cornfed country boys wandering around. And after what Preston just pulled on you, you should totally snag one and bang him out of your system.”
