CHAPTER ELEVEN

 

MYAH TURNED leery when Amy strolled in half an hour late the next morning. It had happened only once before, and Myah suffered a tough time sterilizing her mind from the details. Amy had been warned never to divulge her escapades again.

An exception could be made in this instance, after what she’d witnessed yesterday.

Feet shuffled past her desk. “How was your evening?”

Amy didn’t even put her bags down. She came back swirling her coffee and showed a flirty smile. “I can’t complain. Yours?”

She shrugged, alert to read behind the satisfaction. There had to be a subtle way to ask what had been done with Keir. Is this how they hooked up? Keir would come upstairs and then Amy would go down?

“There’s something to be said about a man who knows how to work with his hands. Ah, steamy brown eyes and pure muscle. Gorgeous lips, too. Warm and soft. I need a vacation just to dream about it.”

Warm and…he wouldn’t have…unless he saw her only as a doorway to Amy. Myah curled a fist. If he got what he wanted, the date was off. Well, he better do it sometime today because she wouldn’t stand for playing the naïve second fiddle.

Her conscience overrode her emotion and didn’t want to believe what her hurt feelings screamed. Keir seemed sincere when he asked her out. This couldn’t be Greg all over again.

Amy sipped her hot drink. “I tell you that boy is a sugar high. He behaved, for now. But I like him. And he makes the chase so much more…” She shivered. “I wonder what he’d say if he knew I lived ten minutes away.”

“Are you talking about Keir? I saw you two downstairs yesterday.”

Amy’s face flushed. “One and the same. At no point did you say you were interested, am I supposed to let him go to waste? He’s not who I spent last night with though, just who I wished it had been. It’s going to take a few more nudges to get him to come around.”

“No nudges, please. He’s a Christian.”

“Oh. One of you?” Amy ejected her tongue like she’d tasted something disgusting, then looked thoughtful before she stood and wandered toward her desk. “Something to consider. What’s a guy like that doing being a Christian? Although, he’s still a man. He’s got eyes and ears, taste, touch, and smell.”

…and Amy after him. Myah didn’t want to call out her response with all the staff present. They’d kissed? Amy didn’t exaggerate. If she said something happened, it happened. Getting to the bottom of the truth meant not flying off the deep end until Keir put in his two cents. That better not be all it was worth.

Eggshells, pins and needles, and all other delicate analogies pervaded her mind until she marched downstairs at quarter to four to end her misery.

The idea of going out seemed ridiculous. Why’d he even offer? Amy merely glanced in his direction and he probably wished he’d waited ten minutes more before asking her out yesterday. Myah would once again end up looking like the sappy contender.

She’d proven not all who claimed to be a Christian practiced abstinence. ‘Soft hands and pure muscle’, her eye. Even if Keir lived right, several hits of the A-bomb would change his tune. And if not? She knew some men saw single mothers as easy pickings. She’d be cut either way. Myah had hurt for far too long to put herself back there.

She drew in a calming breath. “Not everyone is out to use you.” There had to be a good explanation for Amy’s words.

Yesterday Keir mentioned something about friendship. Going out wasn’t a date, he wanted to be with someone who wasn’t family. Now Amy, Amy was a date.

Suddenly tired of her thoughts and predicament, Myah exhaled slowly. Friends wouldn’t be so bad. As long as she made it clear that’s all they were.

Despite her rampant mind, she cracked a smile at Ron’s song and dance. His swaying behind greeted her from halfway across the warehouse. The overhead speakers blared soft-rock radio since it wasn’t quite four o’clock, and people milled about or continued working until the buzzer told them to escape.

Setting out tools on his workbench in front of a motor scooter, Ron paused when he spotted her approach. “Myah, mi’lady. I knew you’d be back. Ready to practice our lift?” With a deadpan face, he raised both arms in the air as if ready to throw her to the rafters.

“Next time, Ron. I’m sure you can master the routine without me today.”

“Keir didn’t tell you that’s how I lost my last partner, did he?”

Giving up her attitude, she lost herself in chuckles.

Ron gestured to the chair by the desk on her left. “He’ll be here soon. There’s still time to change your mind.”

If only he knew of what he spoke, but the two of them easily fell into conversation about DRU-Med and their respective jobs before Keir came through one of the side doors minutes later. His smile broke out, which led her to think he had nothing to hide.

A warehouse full of conversations and equipment clattered in her ears, and she was thankful when he motioned his head to follow him to the quieter garage. She returned good-byes to Ron and shadowed Keir to the back. Unlike the day before, she moved around to the other side of the desk to create distance. Her arms felt secure across her chest as she studied him while he placed his mug down.

“Good to see you.”

She raised her eyebrows. After receiving what must have been a half throttle of Amy’s persuasive powers? Keir’s eyes zigzagged across her face like he tried to read her expression. Then it was his eyebrows which rose as he turned his head and scratched his neck.

“You okay? Car’s okay?”

She watched his lips move. The lips Amy had had a chance to kiss already. How cheap. She knew her friend’s wiles, but what exactly had transpired for these two to have gotten close enough that Amy could feel pure muscle and plant her mouth on him?

“Why did you ask me out?”

Now he scratched his earlobe before studying her. “So we could have more of this.”

“Riveting conversation?”

“Yes. I like it. You must, too.”

She did, he seemed deeper than what he let on and she wanted to find out what else he had, how deep he went. He said he liked talking to her, but she’d nearly put him to sleep the other night. She had put him to sleep, judging by the drivel of conversation he’d doled out.

She searched his eyes. “I don’t mean to pry into your personal business. I mean, we don’t know each other. But Amy said…” what had she said? She liked a man who could do things with his hands, and that Keir had soft, warm lips. She glanced at the body parts in question.

“Oh, that.” Keir flexed his fingers around a thermos-like cylinder and strolled to the waiting car.

“Are you going out with her, too? Because I can’t go for that. Going out with the two of us.”

He cast a strange look in her direction. Her skin warmed. Why hadn’t she seen it? Keir watched Amy with such a distracted gaze, nothing like what she received. She got ‘friendly’ while Ames got ‘drool’. Now when questioned, he hid behind a hood.

Well fine, she didn’t need this or his attention. Myah walked around the desk, intent on stalking out while giving her shiny two cents on his double-adventure mind.

“I won’t be asking her anything.”

She stopped in front of the desk and glared. He’d spoken so low and casual, not where her arguing mind wanted to go. His palms hugged the grill while he leaned over the open engine. He didn’t look anxious or deceitful, although his lips displayed he’d been intelligently amused by her attitude.

“What does that mean?” Experience taught her not to whitewash her suspicions. She wouldn’t let this go without clear understanding of where they stood. “You didn’t happen to kiss her by any chance?”

He either masked surprise or didn’t care. “Nothing chance about it.”

She resumed her march. Outta’ here, rock star.

“Myah, I was on my back fixing her car when she deliberately got too close. I won’t put myself in that position again.” His mouth quirked. “Trust me on that. And I won’t relive the topic with either of you. Drop it.”

He’d laid down the law like she should go belly up and take it. She whirled on him. Her mind sputtered for a rude comeback until she measured his words. This had nothing to do with her. Keir was the one who’d been subjected to an offense. If he wanted to drop it, that was his prerogative.

She narrowed her eyes. “So..?”

“So, you still owe me an outing. Consider it payday.”

Payday. Keir chose a drive and a cup of tea rather than time with Amy. Myah hid a victory smile. Just a friend thing, remember. She folded her arms and strolled closer as he returned working on the car. For a second his eyes settled in her direction. She thought they said, “Pay up.”

 

 

“I CAN live with that,” Keir heard her say.

He didn’t want to use the car as a barrier, but it calmed him, so he kept his attention there. He liked Myah’s no nonsense confrontation, and figured calm and easy would be the way to show her he had no interest in whatshername.

As he picked up the ignition coil, his eyes slid to the background image of the crazy-patterned wraparound dress Myah wore. It hugged her figure, even the little bit of a belly.

The hem hung below her knees where the high boots took over, and the neckline wasn’t low, but she looked great, like he could find comfort in her. She must be a good mother if her nurturing side shone through while she still managed to look sexy.

He riveted his eyes to the coil; perplexed, stunned and ashamed at convoluted impressions of comfort, motherhood and sexy all in the same train of thought. Shaking his head, he reached for a tool—any tool—set out on the rag on the filter, and pretended to fiddle with the engine.

Myah had questioned him about asking out her friend. Either the other woman had never intended on keeping their ‘secret’ or Myah had seen them last night. He let the thought disintegrate as her voice sank in.

“…like working the evening shift?”

He tightened his fingers around the angled screwdriver. “It’s quiet.”

“Not one for a lot of company, I take it.”

“For noise. The constant rumbles for eight hours every day.” Something clicked, and he realized she may believe he thought she talked too much. He swayed his head so he could see her expression around the obstruction of the hood. “It’s quiet,” he said again, seeing her struggling face say what he’d thought. “I can’t take the warehouse noises most days. I get…” He returned to his work. “Headaches,” he mumbled.

He switched tools when her shoes on the gritty floor alerted him that she came even closer. Her presence buzzed at his side and he fought a nervous sweat like a shy first-grader.

“Chronic headaches?”

He didn’t want to talk about it, but he nodded.

“Sorry to hear. I had a best friend who suffered from migraines. They’re awful.”

Not migraines. Maybe one day he’d explain, but not while cranking out fluid and fitting in parts of a car’s intestines. Time to change the subject. “Well, Myah Blake.” He loosened the next nut, then flicked his eyes over her before turning back. “Will I see you on Saturday?”