“You got fucking lucky, actually,” he continued. “The windows are all fucked, but you knew that already. There’s a little bit of body damage, but you’d never know it with all the old fucking dents the poor thing had before its fight with a tree yesterday. Who the fuck taught you how to drive? I swear to fucking Christ, some people should never have been given a fucking license.”
I blinked again in alarm. I watched Daniel wince even as he slid his palms up and down my thighs. “Well—”
“Anyway,” he went on before I could explain that the Jeep had actually been sold to me like that, and someone else—someone decidedlynot me—had been the reason for its poor condition. “The body damage is not going to fuck with your roadworthiness like the missing fucking windows are, so I’m only estimating a week’s fucking wait for you for them.”
“Okay—”
“If you want the body fixed, we can do it, but it’ll fucking take longer, especially considering how many fucking cars we’ve got in the garage now because of yesterday’s fucking twister. Our window guy is gonna be flat out getting all of them fucking replaced.” He paused for a second. “Well?”
Feeling myself blink again, this time in confusion, I answered the only way I knew how, with an eloquent, “Well, what?” before swatting at Daniel, who had started audibly chuckling at my predicament.
The mechanic, who I still couldn’t remember the name of no matter how hard I tried, sighed heavily in annoyance. “Fucking hell. I am surrounded by fucking imbeciles.” There was a slight scraping sound, which I assumed was him maybe scratching his chin at the injustice of having to talk to someone who couldn’t follow his train of thought. “What. Do. You. Want. To. Do?” he asked slowly, like he was talking to a three-year-old.
“Oh!” I smacked the back of my hand against Daniel’s chest again as his chuckles became laughter, which of course set me off giggling. “Just the windows, please. I don’t mind the dents, because—”
“Of course you don’t mind the fucking dents. Why would anyone fucking care about looking after their own fucking property for more than five fucking minutes these days? I swear to fucking God….” His voice drifted away before the dial tone sounded.
Frowning, I pulled the phone from my ear and stared at the screen. “I think he hung up on me.”
Daniel roared with laughter. “That’s Kajir for you.” Kajir! I was so close! “I’ve only known one person who’s been able to wrangle him with any success.”
Pocketing my phone, I raised an eyebrow in question. “Uh… his girlfriend? His boyfriend? His significant life-affirming partner?”
“None of the above, I’m afraid,” Daniel replied, still laughing. “You actually met him yesterday. Gabe? From the gas station?”
Even though I was utterly confused how a surfer dude could control a cursing pirate, I nodded ever so slightly to show I remembered.
“Somehow, Gabe figured it out but has never been able to pass on the skill to anyone else. So, now, if we need anything from Kajir, we try to go through Gabe.”
Grinning, I shook my head at the absurdity of it all. I guessed this was the type of thing that happened in small towns.
“Was there anything still in your Jeep that you needed to get?” Daniel asked, his face turning thoughtful as his cheeks flushed just slightly. His hands still drifted aimlessly up and down my thighs, like he couldn’t bear to stop touching me. I had no problem with this at all and hoped it continued. It was much better than the hands-off denial he’d been under until now. “Ifthere was, we could go into town and grab dinner after picking it up.”
My grin widened. “Are you asking me out on a date, Daniel?”
He dropped his gaze to the floor, his blush deepening. “Maybe?”
Oh my God, this man was utterly adorable. I hooked my fingers in his belt loops and dragged him forward so I could gently press my lips to his. “I’d love to go on a date with you.”
A look of shock that I’d agreed flitted over his face. “You would? Really?”
Tilting my head to the side, I cast my eyes over him approvingly before I let my tongue peek out and then bit my bottom lip. “Absolutely.” When his astonishment didn’t fade, I smirked and held his cheeks, patting one gently and saying, “We’re going to work on your self-confidence, honey.”
He held my eye contact, his gaze searching mine until the disbelief slowly fell away, replaced by a tentative smile. His pupils dilated, and just as he was tilting toward me to kiss me again, the sound of the glass sliding door opening broke the moment. He stepped back, but it was too late to prevent Rose from seeing how close we’d been before she and Bucky had come in from the deck.
“Don’t stop on my account,” she sang happily as she skipped past on her way through to her room, Bucky scrabbling along behind her. “Pretend like I’m not even here.”
Daniel groaned and dropped his forehead to my shoulder while I laughed; then I dragged him back into my loose embrace until he relaxed a little.
“She seems happy enough about this,” I said.
Was I fishing for confirmation?Maybe. It would help to know if I was reading the situation correctly so I could adjust things if I wasn’t.
He groaned again before his head swayed from side to side, his forehead still connected to my shoulder. “She’s going to be insufferable about this.”
I tipped my head back and laughed at the resignation in his voice. “It’s better than the alternative, though, right?”
“I guess,” he grouched, which just fed my amusement.
