The next morning, Brett called Sidney to let her know her car was ready to be picked up. While he was still disappointed that she’d refused a ride to the shop, he understood that she wanted to keep her distance from him. They weren’t together anymore, and she clearly wanted to keep it that way.
Just because he’d thought about her every day for the past year didn’t mean she’d done the same. If the new hair and new car didn’t state the obvious, then the fact that she’d been avoiding him for so long should’ve told him what he needed to know. She had moved on.
Serves me right. She deserves better anyway.
Though Sidney had never acted like the spoiled brat she claimed to be, Brett didn’t exactly make a ton of money. That was usually what happened when you worked for someone else. But he was tired of killing himself by working twelve-hour shifts, only to collect a measly hourly wage while the owner of the business kicked his feet up on his desk and counted all the dough his employees brought in for him.
Maybe the other mechanics in the shop were okay with that, but Brett was no longer willing to work his ass off to make someone else rich. Screw that. It was just like his therapist told him. If he didn’t put value on his own worth, then who the hell was going to? She probably hadn’t been referring to his monetary worth, but as far as he was concerned, the same rule still applied.
So Brett picked up the phone and dialed the number Logan had given him once again, in hopes of leaving the guy from last night a message. Chances were good that he would already be on his flight, but Brett hoped that he would return his call once he landed back in Arizona…if he was even still willing to entertain an offer from Brett, of course. After Brett hadn’t showed up for their scheduled meeting and wasn’t able to call to let him know, he wouldn’t be surprised if the guy wasn’t interesting in calling him back. After all, no one wanted to do business with a flake.
But Brett had to take the chance of getting turned down. The place sounded too damn perfect to pass up.
The phone rang twice, and then the man answered. Brett hadn’t expected that, since this guy should’ve already been on his flight back to Arizona. But apparently, the airline had somehow overbooked the flight, and this fella happened to be the unlucky bastard who got bumped from it. Though that probably sucked a lot for him, it was great news for Brett, and he planned on taking full advantage of the situation.
The guy wasn’t at all happy with Brett for not showing up or calling last night, which was apparent in his attitude. But Brett managed to keep his cool. Once he explained what had happened and how he’d left his phone at the garage, the man said he completely understood that things sometimes happened out of anyone’s control. Maybe getting bumped from his flight had given him that perspective. Or maybe he was just a nice guy. Because then he offered to show Brett the lot later in the afternoon since his next flight wasn’t leaving until tomorrow.
Brett couldn’t believe his luck. Just as he opened his mouth to accept the man’s offer, Sidney strolled through the bay door wearing beige slacks, a cream-colored top, and a pearl necklace that dipped inside her shirt between her breasts. Momentarily distracted, all Brett could think was, “God, yes!” But when the man on the other end of the line chuckled, Brett had no doubt he’d said the words aloud.
Feeling like an idiot, he promised not to leave the guy waiting once again and then hurried to get off the phone before heading to the counter, where Sidney stood waiting for him. “Hey,” he said, staring into her rich brown eyes to keep his gaze from following the trail of shiny white beads leading inside her shirt. “Your car is out back next to my truck. I didn’t want to leave it up here, where someone could accidentally put a ding in it.”
She flashed him a bright smile. “Thanks. I always worry about that too. So how long did it take you to fix it?”
“Well, not counting the time it took to tow your car back to the garage, I’d say about four hours. An hour or so per tire. By the way, you have the most stubborn lug nuts I’ve ever seen on a vehicle.”
She cringed. “Oh no! That practically took you all night. Did you get any sleep?”
He shrugged. “Yeah, some. When I finished up with your car earlier this morning, I crawled into the backseat of my truck and slept for a few hours.”
“God, I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize it was going to be such a huge task to get those things off.”
“It happens. Sometimes a big job turns out to be a small one, and little jobs turn out to be a mechanic’s worst nightmare. You just never really know until you start working on something.”
She grinned. “So you’re saying this job was your worst nightmare?”
“Not really. But if you had heard the way I was cussing up a storm this morning while trying to get those damn nuts off, you probably wouldn’t believe a word I just said.”
Sidney laughed as she pulled out her debit card. “I’m just glad you managed to fix it. How much do I owe you?”
Brett pulled her keys from his pocket and slid them across the counter in front of her. “Nothing. You’re good to go.”
She shook her head and shoved her debit card toward him. “What? No way. I’m paying you for the work you did.”
He put the card back into her hand and closed her fingers around it. “I don’t want your money, Sid.”
“Then what the hell do you want?”
His fingers tightened around hers. Hell, that was a loaded question if he’d ever heard one. He grinned for a second as several sexy scenarios ran through his head, and then he forced himself to blow out a slow breath and behave himself. “Look, Sid. The way I see it, I owed you one after how I screwed up our relationship. So just let me do something nice for you, and we’ll call it even.”
“That’s not us being even. I broke up with you, remember? So this would put you one ahead of me.”
Brett rolled his eyes. “Humor me, okay?”
But she wasn’t having it. Sidney shook her head adamantly and tried to hand him her card once again. “No, I don’t feel right about you working for free after hours. And I’m certain your boss wouldn’t like it either. After you went out of your way to help me last night, the least I can do is pay you for your time. Besides, you don’t owe me any favors. What happened between us is in the past, and that’s where it’s going to stay. It has nothing to do with this business transaction.”
He cringed at her words but covered it by glancing at his watch. It was already eleven o’clock, and he had only a few hours before he had to be at the car lot. The last thing he wanted to do was spend them arguing with her. “Sid, I don’t have time to argue with you about this. I have somewhere I have to be in a few hours, and I still need to clean up and grab lunch. Call it a favor or a random act of kindness or whatever you want, but I’m not taking your money. Got it?”
Brett didn’t wait for her to respond, since chances were good that she would’ve just continued to argue with him. So instead, he turned and walked away. He didn’t want her to pay him for his help, damn it. He hadn’t done any of it for the money. Didn’t she get that? He had done it because he loved her with every fiber of his being.
And that wasn’t something you could put a price on.
Sidney watched in disbelief as Brett walked away.
He stopped to talk to another worker briefly before he moved toward the small sink across the room and began soaping up his grimy hands. She had a profile view of him, which meant all he had to do was turn his head slightly in order to see her. But as far as she could tell, he hadn’t so much as looked back once, and she had a feeling he was avoiding her on purpose.
As if ignoring me is going to work. He should know better than that.
She stood there watching him scrub the dirt away for so long that her gaze accidentally drifted to his left bicep, which was flexing and tightening against the sleeve of his dark blue T-shirt with every motion. She swallowed the hard knot forming in her throat. Damn, he’d really bulked up.
Sidney was so mesmerized by the movements of his muscles that she didn’t even notice when another worker approached the counter. “Can I help you, miss?”
Startled, she jumped and grasped her chest, turning to see the young worker whom Brett had stopped to talk to on his way to the sink. She had met some of the other mechanics in the past, but this one must’ve been hired sometime in the past year. “Oh goodness, you scared me.”
The young guy grinned. “Sorry about that.”
Yeah, he looked real sorry with that huge smile on his face. “It’s okay. I should’ve been paying closer attention to my surroundings.”
He motioned across the room to the sink where Brett was still standing. “I saw you staring. Were you waiting for Brett to help you with something? Because if so, I hate to tell you this, but he’s not on the clock today.”
“What do you mean? He’s right there.”
“Yep, but it’s his day off.”
Oh great. Now she felt like a real jerk for not paying him. “But what about the car he worked on early this morning?”
The young worker shook his head and waved his hand in the air. “That was just him helping out a buddy. Besides, I’m pretty sure he just wanted to get a look under the hood. It’s a sweet-ass ride.” She grinned with pride, but he must’ve thought it was the curse word that gave her that reaction because he followed up with, “Oh, sorry. Pardon my French.”
Sidney giggled. “I’ve heard the word ass before. Even used it a few times myself,” she said with a wink. “And you’re absolutely right. It is a sweet-ass ride.”
The worker laughed and nodded in agreement. “Are you sure there’s nothing I can do for you, miss?”
“No, I’ll just…wait around until I can have a word with Brett.” He couldn’t possibly ignore her—or wash his hands—forever.
“All right. But you better do it soon. He’s about to leave. Has some appointment later to look at a used car lot that went up for sale recently.”
Her head snapped up. “What in the world would Brett want with a used car lot?”
“He’s hoping to buy it and turn it into his new auto repair business.”
Her eyes widened. “Brett’s opening his own garage? Oh my God. That’s wonderful news!” He had told her about that particular dream of his a long time ago, but she hadn’t known he was actively trying to fulfill it. Good for him.
The worker nodded in confirmation. “Yeah, he’s working on it. But he’s still not sure he’ll qualify for the loan yet. I think he’s hesitating to fill out the forms.”
She gazed across the room and spotted Brett drying his hands off. “Really? Well, that’s…uh, interesting. I might be able to help him with that.”
When Brett finally glanced up, she motioned for him to come back over. But he shook his head. So Sidney did what she had to. She rounded the counter and headed into the garage, straight toward Brett.
One of his brows rose in question. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“I need to talk to you.”
“Not here, you’re not. You can’t be back here. Didn’t you read the signs?” He pointed to the closest one on the wall nearby. “It says no customers allowed in the work area.”
She grinned smugly. “Good thing I’m not a customer then.”
He tilted his head in confusion. “Huh? How do you figure?”
“Customers pay for your service, right? But you wouldn’t let me pay you. So that means I’m not one of your customers.” That was her story, and she was sticking to it.
He gave her a yeah, right look and pointed to a different sign. “Well, this one says ‘Employees Only,’ and the last I knew, you don’t work here.”
She shrugged. “Apparently, neither do you. At least not today. Why didn’t you tell me it was your day off?”
“Because it didn’t matter.” He glanced around the garage. “Who the hell told you it was my day off anyway?”
She ignored his question. “It does matter when you’re working on my car and not getting paid for it.”
Brett waved his hand dismissively. “It’s not a big deal. Let it go already,” he said, walking past her toward a rear exit.
Sidney followed him outside. “Fine. If you won’t let me pay you for your time, then let’s at least make a trade. You did something for me, now it’s my turn to do something for you.”
His feet stalled beneath him, and he turned around slowly to face her. His heated eyes resembled the blue flame on a welding torch, and they zeroed in directly on her. “Sidney, if you’re even close to insinuating that you’d sleep with me in exchange for fixing your car, you’re seriously going to piss me off.”
Wait, what? She blinked at him in confusion, not understanding where the hell he’d gotten that cockamamie idea from. “Oh dear Lord, of course not. That’s not at all what I was getting at.” But she couldn’t help giggling. If he thought having sex with him would be doing him a favor, he was seriously underestimating his skills in the bedroom.
Her reaction only annoyed him more. “What’s so funny?”
“Uh, nothing.” She bit her lip to contain the laughter bubbling in her throat. “I just meant that I wanted to help you get that loan you’re going to apply for so you can buy that used car lot and open your garage.”
His eyes widened. “Jesus. How do you know all of that? Just who the hell have you been talking to? My sister? No, I bet it was that stupid husband of hers. He can’t keep a secret to save his own life.”
Sidney chuckled. “Actually, I heard it inside while I was talking to one of the workers at the counter. I didn’t know it was supposed to be a secret.”
“It had to be Kyle.”
She shrugged. “I don’t know his name. Young guy with a big smile. Super friendly. Piercings in both ears.”
“Yep, that’s him. He’s a good kid and all, but he spreads gossip faster than a teenager.”
“Well, I’m glad he told me. I think it’s great that you’re finally going after your dream of opening your own garage. You’ve wanted that for so long. I just wish you had told me the good news yourself last night.”
He shook his head. “There’s nothing to tell. I’m not even sure if I’ll get the loan, and I still have to check out the property to see if it’s worth the asking price.”
Did she dare ask? “Uh, so which bank are you planning to use?”
His eyes met hers. “Not yours, if that’s what you’re thinking. I didn’t want to put you in a weird position since we have a past.”
“I appreciate that, but it wouldn’t have been a problem. I take my job as a lending officer seriously, and the loan process would’ve been the same for you as any other client.”
He nodded in agreement. “I figured as much. But I think I’ll go ahead and stick with the other bank I chose. I wouldn’t want to get approved for a loan through you and anyone in town to question your integrity just because we used to be a couple. I think it’s better this way.”
“That’s fine. But at least let me help you out by giving you some tips on how best to get approved for a loan. If you want, I can even look over your finances and credit score to make sure everything is in order and walk you through the documents you’ll need to fill out. Being prepared could really help your chances of getting that approval.”
“You don’t mind?”
“Of course not. You did me a favor, and I’d like to repay it. Do you have mobile banking on your phone so that we can bring up your statements online?”
“Yeah.”
“Good. Well, if you have some time right now, maybe we could grab a bite to eat and go over your records.” She motioned to his favorite fast-food eatery—a little locally owned hot dog stand across the street from the shop. “I know how much you love that place. Why don’t we just go there?”
“You want me to go to lunch…with you?”
Heat crept up her neck. “Um, yeah. I mean…as friends only, of course.”
He seemed to hesitate with an answer, which only made her feel even more self-conscious about her curvier figure. Was he afraid people would see them and assume they’d gotten back together? And if so, why did she even care? It wasn’t like it was any of their business anyway.
Finally, he gave a nod of approval. “All right. Let’s do it then.”
Jeez. Took him long enough.