“Okay.” He straightened to his full height to put some space between them and clear his head. “Next, you want to loosen the lug nuts before lifting the wheel off the ground.”
“Just loosen them?” She crouched in front of the tire and squinted up at him. He wanted to tap the tip of her nose. “Don’t I have to take them off?”
“Eventually, but for now, you only need to loosen them.” He held out the lug wrench to her. “Here, use this.”
“Should I order that, too?” She reached for the wrench.
“No, that one’s yours.” He scratched the side of his jaw to hide his smile. “It came with your spare tire and jack.”
“I knew that.” She grinned, tongue in cheek.
He drawled, “Right.”
Anne applied pressure to the lug wrench, but the nut wouldn’t budge. She tried again, grunting softly from the effort. He held himself back from helping her. The whole point was for her to learn how to do this on her own. It wasn’t easy watching her struggle, though. With a determined frown between her brows, she gave another push and finally loosened the nut.
“Onedown,” he groused, even though he wanted to hoot with pride. “Fourto go.”
“I’m aware.” She glared at him, and his lips twitched despite himself.
Once she had loosened all the nuts, he showed her how to lift the wheel with the jack. “Nowyou take off the lug nuts.”
As she tugged the wheel off with a thin sheen of perspiration on her forehead, Frederick worried that he was ruining her Christmas night with forced manual labor. But she placed the wheel on the grass next to the spare and turned to him with a beaming smile, its warmth dissipating his doubts.
“I did it,” she said a little breathlessly as they looked at her handiwork.
“Good work.” He couldn’t keep the pride out of his voice.
Her eyes met his, and they stood smiling at each other. It felt so good to smile with her. To share something with her. God, he’d missed her. Without thinking, he reached out and wiped asmudge of grease off her cheek. She sucked in a sharp breath. He stilled as he realized what he’d done, every muscle in his body locking with panic.
But for the life of him, he couldn’t stop his thumb from tracing her cheekbone, the silk of her skin sending a frisson of pleasure down his spine. She didn’t flinch away from his touch. Instead, she held his gaze and raised her hand to cup his own. Her hand was warm despite the chill in the air, and he slowly pressed his palm against her cheek. His eyes dropped to her parted lips, and he took a step toward her, his frantic heartbeat drumming in his ears.
“There you are,” her father said testily from across the street. Anne and Frederick jumped apart. The older man gave her a cold once-over, obviously displeased he had to come find her. “We’re in the mood for some Christmas music. Come play the piano for us. Youdostill remember how to play, don’t you?”
“Yes, Appa,” she said quickly, her voice strained. “I’ll be right there.”
Her father spun on his heels and went back inside the house without so much as a thank-you. He behaved like Anne was someone at his beck and call, there to do his bidding. Frederick’s nostrils flared as heat rose to his face.
He’d never met Jonathan Lee before, but other than being a little fussy, the man had seemed harmless at first glance. Even so, something had felt off about him. This had to be it, his utter disregard for Anne. The imperious way he’d just spoken to her—and how he seemed to take her for granted—made Frederick’s back teeth clench. Howdarehe treat her that way.
“So.” Anne’s voice pulled him out of his spiraling thoughts. “I basically do everything we did in reverse to put the tire back on?”
He studied her closely, but there wasn’t even a hint of anger on her beautiful face. Her father must treat her this way often enough for it not to faze her. She might evenacceptit. Frederickwanted to shake her. Didn’t she know she deserved so much better?
If she were his, Frederick would never allow anyone to treat her that way, not even her pompous father. And the truth struck him like lightning. She wasn’t his. But he already knew that. What shook him was the realization that it felt all wrong. It feltwrongthat she wasn’t his.
He backed away from the thought and hurriedly lifted her tire off the grass. “Yeah, pretty much.”
“Wait,” she protested. “I should do that.”
“You already know how.” He jerked his head toward the house. “And don’t you need to get back?”
She bit her lip. “But—”
“It’ll go more quickly if you let me do the rest,” he said more brusquely than he’d intended. “Just watch so you remember the steps.”
Anne stood nearby and watched closely, but she seemed distracted. Maybe her father’s treatment bothered her more than she let on. Frederick hoped she pushed back.Hard.He couldn’t take care of her—that sense of wrongness burrowed down inside him—but he hoped she would stand up for herself.
After he finished remounting the tire, they walked back to the house in awkward silence. She closed the door behind them and turned to face him. The tight confines of the entryway forced them to stand close enough for Frederick to feel the warmth coming off her body, and her heady scent assailed his senses. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other, tamping down on the surge of lust.
