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  “She?” I ask.

  He shrugs. “Most people say cars are girls because they can be a big pain in the…” He trails off, noticing my now glaring eyes daring him to finish that sentence. “Right. Bad idea to go there.”

  “I’ll see you around, Tucker,” I say on a small laugh.

  Shaking my head, I walk out the door and over to the edge of the parking lot. Knowing Haley, she’ll probably pick me up on a drive-by, so it’s pointless to wait around inside.

  I kick around the rocks lining the edge of the lot, trying to convince myself Tucker understood my invite. I don’t just want him. I want Hudson too.

  Because I am already dying to get a glimpse of those gorgeous green eyes again.

  Hudson

  Hudson Tamell, you’re a straight-up creeper.

  I’m standing inside the open garage, staring at this girl as she waits outside for her ride. Luckily, if she were to look over, she wouldn’t be able to see me. It shouldn’t matter, because I shouldn’t be watching her anyway, but I can’t seem to look away. I’ve already tried.

  She’s beautiful. Not the in-your-face, runway beautiful, but a subtle kind of beautiful—the best kind of beautiful.

  That’s not even the real reason I can’t pull my eyes off her. No. It’s her mouth. She sucked me in with that whole dinner before screwing her thing—not because I’m a perv and was thinking of screwing her, but because who says shit like that? People don’t usually spout off random stuff like that. It makes her different.

  I like different.

  And honestly, even if her weirdness didn’t draw me in, the rest of her would have. A girl in a Transit tee and Chucks with a mouth that damn kissable? Add in her voice—which is a strange, smooth sort of husky—and that stare of hers—which had me captivated for far too long—and you can count me in.

  That stare. I can’t get over it. Her forest green eyes were speaking, if eyes can do so, and they were saying, I’m wandering. She seemed lost…and undeniably familiar to me too.

  This odd urge to protect her washes over me. I have no idea where it comes from or what it means, but I want to do something about it right away.

  But I can’t. I have too much already on my plate—too many responsibilities, namely my daughter, Joey—that I’m not about to flake on for a spitfire girl with a wicked mouth and beautiful eyes.

  “Are you shitting me, man? You’re just standing there staring at this chick? Fucking creeper.”

  “Would you keep it down, asshole? The doors are open,” I whisper through gritted teeth.

  “If you would quit being weird I wouldn’t have to keep my voice down.”

  He comes to stand next to me, looking over at Rae. He was in here earlier asking me questions about her. I guess she said something to whomever is picking her up about the payments I offered, and he was worried about it because that’s not something we have offered at Jacked Up before.

  I couldn’t help it, though. She looked like she was going to blow a fuse. Plus, all her pacing and rambling was making me dizzy.

  Oddly enough, it was also cute. Why? I have no clue.

  Who in the fuck finds that shit attractive? Me. That’s fucking who.

  “I’m not creepin’, you dick.” He gives me a look, telling me he knows I’m full of shit. “Fine, I was, but only a little. I was worried she wouldn’t find a ride.” He knows I’m still lying. “I can see she did, though. Good.”

  Just then, a car pulls up and she hops in, so I walk away and start working on getting her car prepped before Tucker starts questioning me any further.

  Now I’m wondering who was in the car. Her boyfriend? Is it serious? Was it her fiancé? How long have they been engaged? Shit. Was it her husband? She looked a little too young to be married, but you never know these days.

  Dammit. I have no idea what’s going on with me. I don’t care either way. I shouldn’t care. I don’t have time for girls, for dating. I have Joey to worry about, and that’s enough. There’s no reason for me to get my brain all jumbled up over a gorgeous girl.

  Don’t care, don’t care, don’t care, don’t care. I repeat this in my head until I almost start believing it.

  But…I do care, and that’s evident since I’ve spent the last five minutes repeating my new mantra and it hasn’t done anything to help get rid of the image of Rae’s beautiful stare that seems to be burning holes in my head right now.

  Don’t care, don’t care, don’t care, don’t care.

  I’m a liar.

  2

  Rae

  Four days have passed, but I feel like I was just here, standing in the middle of Jacked Up, waiting for my car. I don’t know if it’s the lack of sleep I’ve been getting or my rumbling stomach, but I’m starting to get irritated standing around.

  “Miss Kamden?” All the irritation I’m feeling drains from my body with those two words. I turn toward the same gravelly voice I’ve been secretly craving to hear again since I walked out of this shop the last time.

  Standing before me is Hudson, the insanely hot mechanic that witnessed my lack of filter and crazy rambling. I realize then that I find uniforms to be very sexy, and it has everything to do with Hudson. Even in his navy jumpsuit, he’s hot, and the smudge of oil on his cheek does nothing to take that away from that fact. Hell, it adds to his overall appeal.

  “Just Rae,” I say, finding my voice.

  His lips tilt up at the corners. “Just Rae. Right.” Hudson rakes his eyes over me quickly. Something along the lines of interest flicks in his gaze, but he pushes it away. Clearing his throat, he shifts on his feet, taking on a more authoritative pose. “We have her all done for you. I can have one of my guys bring her around front while we go over any last-minute paperwork in the front office.”

  “Sounds good. Lead the way,” I tell him, my voice steady and calm, feeding off the professional vibe he’s now giving off.

  We walk through the same doors as before, though I notice this time that Tucker is nowhere in sight. Hudson walks around behind the counter and I follow his movements from the other side.

  “So, just looks like you need to sign off on a few things,” he says, handing me a clipboard. “Here.” He points to the bottom of the page, and I quickly scan it then sign it. We do this three more times before I swipe my debit card and he declares us done.

  As I’m handing the pen back to him, his rough, calloused finger grazes over mine, and I’ll be damned if those stupid romance books weren’t right—I feel it. A small zing shoots up my arm, the feeling so sharp, I almost wince.

  I peek up to find Hudson staring back at me intently. I feel it again—that weird pull I felt last time we gazed at each other like this—only this time it’s stronger than before.

  In this moment, something changes. Looking into Hudson’s eyes, I feel something, and it’s big. It’s something that could change…well, everything.

  I clear my throat and look away hastily. “Right. So, anything else?”

  He shakes his head once. “No, you’re all set. Let me go tell the guys to bring the car around for you.”

  I fold my arms over my chest and wait for him to come back. I don’t have to wait long at all.

  “All ready. It’s out front,” Hudson says, walking back in the through the doors. He hands me my keys. “She runs great, by the way.”

  “Yeah? I’ll believe it when I see it,” I say, failing in trying to keep the bite out of my voice. I just can’t help it. I’ve been burned by one too many mechanics that have said the exact same thing.

  “You want to go for a test drive then?” Hudson asks, a small smile playing on his lips.

  “Know what? I do. Let’s go,” I tell him, already moving toward the front door. I don’t hear him following me so I look back. He’s bent down behind the counter, reaching for something. “You coming?”

  Hudson stands, holding a piece of paper with footprints on it. “Wanted to grab a mat so I don’t get your car dirty. We did just clean it, you know.”
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br />   I look him up and down, making it obvious I’m eyeing his dirty jumpsuit. “What a gentleman,” I deadpan.

  He laughs at my blatant sarcasm and unzips the getup right there in front of me, stripping out of it in seconds. I won’t lie, there’s a huge part of me that was hoping he was naked under there, so I’m a little disappointed to discover he’s in a pair of black running shorts and an orange t-shirt.

  Hmm…guy doesn’t look too bad in my favorite color.

  I click the unlock button on the key fob as we approach my car. Hudson jogs ahead of me to the driver side door at the sound.

  I stop a few feet from him. “Um, shouldn’t I be the one driving?”

  He gives me a smirk—something I feel is his secret weapon—and opens my door for me. “Just living up to my gentlemanly duties.”

  My lips betray me and a smile breaks out across my face. “Right. Gentleman. I forgot,” I say, walking past him and climbing into my car.

  I unabashedly admire the way he moves as he jogs around to the other side. He’s a big guy, tall and muscular, but he moves with ease. Hudson folds himself into the small car and immediately pushes the seat back, stretching his legs out. Hell, even his legs are sexy, and I’ve never paid any attention to someone’s legs before because there’s nothing sexy about hairy man-legs—except Hudson’s, apparently.

  He clears his throat, and I realize then I’m still staring at his legs. I force my eyes to meet his and find him still smirking. Stupid smirk.

  “You do know how test drives work, right?”

  It takes me a second to understand what he’s getting at—I haven’t started the car yet. I lower my eyes to slits and stare him down. “Yes, I do.”

  “Just checking,” he says, laughing lightly.

  Meeting someone you like right away, someone you click with instantly is an unusual event. To have that person just happen to be the hottest guy you’ve ever seen? Unheard of.

  But it’s happening. Right now, with Hudson, it’s happening. Our grins come easy and the teasing rolls off our tongues. You don’t get that often with a stranger, especially since I know I come off as snarky and sometimes rude to a lot of people. Hudson seems to understand what sarcasm is, a language I’m fluent in, and I so appreciate that. I’ll add that my list of winning attributes for the dude.

  “You sure?” he prods.

  Shit. I’m still just sitting here. Luckily, this time I was staring out the front window instead of at him. Granted, I was thinking of him, but that’s not the point…not entirely.

  I slide the key into the ignition and she fires up beautifully.

  “Good so far,” I mutter.

  Hudson chuckles from beside me. I ignore him and make my way out of the parking lot, turning right. I make it to the first stop sign, about a quarter mile down the road, before Hudson speaks again.

  “Where you taking her?”

  I shrug. “Probably just a drive around the block.”

  “That’s it? After insulting my ability to repair a car, you’re just going to ‘drive around the block’? That’s…a letdown. I figured we were going for a nice long drive—you know, to make sure I know how to trade out a transmission adequately.”

  I love the way he teases me with ease, love the way it feels…familiar. I make a split-second decision to continue straight instead of making the turn I had planned. “Well, I thought about going to visit my MawMaw in Boston, but I figured you had some work to do—unless you want to meet her, of course. It is the middle of the afternoon, so traffic may be heavy. We could be looking at an hour-long road trip, at least, and I’m telling you, if you plan on meeting her in that outfit… Ugh.” I roll my lips up in mock disgust. “It’s hideous and you could probably use a bath. MawMaw would never appreciate your grease-stained fingers the way I do.”

  “You appreciate my fingers, huh?”

  I nod, loving how he doesn’t miss a beat. “Very much so. They got this POS up and running again. I’ll be forever grateful for them. Magic fingers, I tell ya. Magic.”

  My seat starts vibrating from his silent laughter. I glance over to find his face red from trying to contain it. Damn. He’s even hot when he looks like a cooked lobster.

  “That’s…” he starts, still laughing too hard.

  It hits me then what I said and how that can be easily misconstrued.

  “I swear to God if you say ‘that’s what she said’ I will pull this car over and drop you off on the side of the road and never look back,” I tell him, only half kidding. “What are you anyway, fucking twelve?”

  He’s still laughing. My stupid, stupid lips betray me again, a small smile forming. I don’t know if it’s his immature reaction or his laugh that makes me smile, but either way, I like it.

  God, I don’t remember the last time I clicked with someone like this. Maybe with Maura? It’s been twelve years since we became best friends. That’s a long time ago, which is why it’s so surprising that everything has seemed so easy with Hudson.

  It sounds stupid and sudden, but hey, it’s true, and I like it. I really like it.

  “I am most certainly not twelve.” Don’t I know it. “I just don’t get a chance to goof around often so I make sure to take full advantage of it when the opportunity arises.”

  “Sounds fair, I guess.”

  “And don’t you know it’s rude to ask someone their age?”

  “Correction. It’s rude to ask a woman her age, not a man.”

  “Women are excused from this question because?” he challenges.

  “Because…well, because I said so. So there.”

  I can see him staring at me from my peripheral. I glance over to see that he has his dark eyebrows raised, trying to hold his smile back. I mimic his expression and flick on my blinker, inching close to the side of the road as if I plan to pull over and give him a piece of my mind.

  “Are you going to argue with that, Hudson?”

  The smile breaks through. “No ma’am.”

  I laugh and ease back into the middle of the lane. “Smart guy.”

  HUDSON

  Rae is snarky as hell, and I fucking love it. It’s like she doesn’t care about—or just doesn’t catch—the words that come out of her mouth. It’s adorable. I’m sure it would be a turn-off for most, but not for me. I find it…refreshing. She’s like a little stick of dynamite or some shit—small, but feisty.

  I think my favorite thing about her by far is the confidence she exudes. I could tell right away she wasn’t someone who needed to be constantly reassured or coddled. She seems independent and to have a good hold on who she is, which isn’t typical for someone her age. It makes her seem older, more put-together, and if I’m being honest, with where I am in life—single father and all that—her confidence is like a beacon to me.

  Rae is driving me wild in the best way possible.

  We drive another mile away from Jacked Up and I’m starting to wonder if she’s truly going to keep driving to Boston or turn around at some point.

  Since I didn’t tell anyone about this impromptu test drive, I pull out my phone and shoot Tucker a quick text.

  Me: Went for a test drive. If I’m not back in 30, call the cops.

  Tucker: Dibs on your office furniture!

  Me: Thanks for having my back, Tuck. I knew I could count on you.

  Tucker: Always.

  I shake my head and slide my phone back into my pocket. I look over at Rae, who seems to be concentrating on the road.

  “Are you really taking me to your MawMaw’s? Or do you plan on finding some woods to dump my body in?”

  She jumps at my question, like she was lost in thought or something, but recovers quickly. “Honestly? The woods would probably be better. My MawMaw is kind of nuts.”

  “Yeah? How so?”

  “We’re talking collecting those creepy-ass porcelain dolls, and by collecting, I mean having two entire rooms dedicated to them. It’s weird.”

  “Yikes. Woods it is.”

  She look
s down at the dash and winces then flicks her blinker on again. She pulls off into a gas station and parks at a pump.

  “Do you mind?” Rae asks turning toward me. “I didn’t realize how low on gas I was and the little light just popped up. I don’t want to risk driving you back and then running out of gas. I’ve done enough hiking this week.”

  “No, no at all. Do you mind if I run inside? I’m thirsty.” I’m not, I just want to drag this out as long as possible because I’m enjoying being around her.

  “Nope, but you have three minutes or I’m out of here,” she teases.

  “You need anything?” I call out as I walk toward the building.

  “I’m fine!” Yes you are.

  And there I go being the perv I said I wasn’t. Even if it doesn’t feel like it, this is supposed to be a professional test drive we’re taking, not a check-out-the-hot-chick kind of thing. To be fair, I haven’t been ogling her too bad. The only thing I’ve looked at for a pervy amount of time is her ass, which is real nice, if I do say so.

  Perv.

  In my defense, she was walking ahead of me, so my eyes just sort of drifted on their own accord.

  There’s really no denying that Rae is attractive—no, wait, that’s too bland of a word. Rae is…gorgeous, sexy, beautiful, perfect. She’s everything I’d be looking for in a woman if I dated—but I don’t, and I’m not looking to.

  I grab a soda since that’s what I came in for and make it back out to the car in under two minutes. Rae’s just screwing the gas cap back on when I approach the car.

  “How’s that for timing?” I ask over the roof.

  She gives me a beautiful smile. “Perfect.” Yes you are.

  See? That wasn’t bad. You’re doing good, dude.

  We’re quiet as she drives us back to Jacked Up. It’s not an awkward silence, but a pleasant one. It feels normal for us to be this quiet, to drive without even the radio filling the stillness between us.

  I frown, knowing our time is coming to an end. The entire ride with Rae has been so…easy, something I’m missing in my life right now. Nothing’s been easy for the past seven years. So this? This short laugh-filled car ride with Rae? It feels damn good.