Blog Post 3/12

Grant isn’t happy with his baby sister! When he meets a wild woman at the auto shop he works at, love is the last thing on his mind.

The drive was silent, and they were all grateful it was short. Grant went to one of the only four-top tables in the restaurant and staked his claim on one side. He knew his sister would sit opposite him, and he’d be forced to watch Hudson sit next to her.

He was right. At least the old man kept his hands to himself.

“We have to order at the counter once you know what you want,” Reagan said to Hudson. He looked over the laminated menu and then stood up. Reagan went with him since she knew what Grant liked. It was only a minute later that Hudson was back at the table without her.

“You’re a mechanic?” he said as he sat down.

“You’re her professor?” Grant bit out.

“Uh, was. We couldn’t date while she was in my class.”

“I bet.”

Grant glared at Hudson until the other man looked down at the chipped Formica table. Reagan returned with their sandwiches and set them on the table.

“Okay, I know this is weird, but can we relax a little?” Reagan finally said, completely exasperated with both men.

“Sure thing, Ray.”

Reagan frowned at Grant’s sarcastic response. “I’m serious.”

He very slowly set his sandwich down in the red basket it came in and leaned toward his sister. “I’m doing the best I can, but, fuck me running, baby girl, he’s older than both of us and he was in a position of authority over you. What do you want from me, a parade in his honor?”

“No, of course not, but some civility wouldn’t be too much to ask!”

Reagan sat back against the plastic booth and glared at Grant. Hudson looked like he would rather be anywhere but there.

Grant looked like someone had pissed in his cornflakes. “This is as civil as I can get right this minute, but keep pushing and you’ll hear exactly what I think!”

In the shop several days later, Grant sat back on his heels as he tried not to think about that first meeting. He’d spent the next three days with Reagan, trying his damnedest to be nice and not asking what the fuck she’d been thinking. He truly wanted her to be happy, so he struggled to let her be and not judge her decision. It wasn’t easy. Hudson appeared to be polite and even well brought up, but Grant couldn’t get past the fact that he’d been her professor.

He heard the sound of an engine and looked out of the bay to the driveway of the shop. There was a fairly new car idling there, and a long leg ending in a stiletto emerged first, followed by its companion. They were nice legs, Grant had to admit. When he followed the legs up, he was met with a short skirt and a blouse that fit nicely over a good-sized rack. Long brown hair was curled over the woman’s shoulders and halfway down her back. She had on huge sunglasses that covered too much of her face for him to decide how hot she was. But her body was one to fantasize over.

She stopped just outside the doors and Grant stood to greet her. “What can I help you with?”

“I need an oil change, please.”

“Sure thing.” He snagged the clipboard off the nail on the wall and handed it to her. “Just pick your poison.”

She looked down at the form in front of her. “I haven’t got a clue. Whatever you think is best.”

“Got it. You can go inside there, and pay at the counter.” He lifted his chin in the direction of the office.

She turned around and he couldn’t help watching her ass as she walked off. She knew how to move in those heels, that was for sure. Grant went about getting the paper mat for the floorboard and slid in the seat of her running car. He’d been working there for years and could probably perform an oil change with his eyes closed.

He tried to focus on his job, but he kept looking through the windows at the woman in the office. She’d taken off her sunglasses, but he couldn’t tell the color of her eyes from that distance. He was intrigued by her, he couldn’t deny it, he just didn’t know why. She was dressed well, expensive looking shoes and a tight skirt that looked like it cost some money. His first hunch was that she was a rich snob, but he wasn’t sure what gave him that impression. When he was finished about fifteen minutes later, he walked into the waiting area to let her know.

“Your car is ready, Miss.”

“Thanks.” She dropped her sunglasses back over her face before walking through the bay to get in her car. Grant liked her vivid red lips and what he thought were dark brown eyes before she disappeared.

He put her out of his mind the same way he would any customer. It wasn’t hard, considering how busy they were. After hours was a different story. He went home and showered, then stood in front of the fridge and tried to decide what to do about dinner. He didn’t cook for himself when Reagan wasn’t around, but there were some leftovers. He stuck the container in the microwave and his mind’s eye brought up a picture of the brunette from earlier in the day. She was hot, he couldn’t deny that. Her hair was the feature that he kept going back to; okay, and that ass. It was showcased perfectly in that tight red skirt. There was just something about her that rubbed him the wrong way, and he couldn’t put his finger on it.

Grant sat on the couch in the living room to eat, as he flipped on the TV and tried not to notice how pathetic he was. He worked, he went home, he slept. Got up and did it all again the next day. He was boring. His life was boring. Fuck, even his little sister had a love life, and there he was on a Friday night eating leftover takeout on the couch. He’d never been into one night stands, and it was a line he wasn’t interested in crossing just because he was alone, now. Of course, he wasn’t going to meet anyone if he stayed in all the time, either.

Grant worked on Saturday, but he had Sunday off. He cleaned the apartment, called Reagan, balanced his budget, and snorted at how middle-aged he acted. He watched a little pre-season football and called it a night. He had to be up early Monday morning for work. The one thing that never quite meshed with a potential girlfriend was his schedule. Being at work at seven, eating at five, going to bed at nine. None of it was enticing to a woman. None that he’d met, at any rate.

Work on Monday was the same old, same old. He was starting to worry that he was turning into an octogenarian at the ripe age of twenty-five. His friend Brent constantly called him an old man, and Grant saw it more with every passing day.

Tuesday brought the brunette back to the shop, and that was interesting. She parked the car in a spot and walked into the bay, despite the signs clearly stating to head into the office instead.

“Excuse me.”

Grant looked up from the engine he was tooling around with and raised his eyebrows at her. She was wearing skintight jeans and an off the shoulder black shirt that left little to the imagination. She had a healthy amount of cleavage on display.

“Can I help you?”

“Something’s knocking around under the hood.” She looked down at his steel-toed boots and then traveled up his body with her heated gaze.

He almost blushed. “Drop the keys with Josh behind the desk in there.” He nodded in the direction of the office. “I’ll get to it when I’m done here.”

She stood for another minute, staring at him before she walked off.

Grant had never flushed a transmission as quickly before.

He felt her watching him as he stepped into the office to retrieve the paperwork and the keys. He went out to her car and brought it into the bay, leaving it running so he could listen for any unusual sounds. He didn’t hear anything, so he turned it off. He checked the filters to ensure he’d secured them properly, both oil and air, and then went over a standard inspection of the engine.

He stepped back into the office forty-five minutes later. He glanced at the paperwork for her name. “Miss Banks.”

She dropped a magazine on the empty seat beside her, picked up a large black purse and walked over. “Yes.”

“I couldn’t find anything. There’s no charge for the work.”

He held out the keys, but she didn’t move. “What do you mean?”

He frowned. “About which?”

She propped a hand on her hip, and he caught sight of red fingernails. Figured; he’d pegged her correctly. He expected the haughty tirade to come. “I distinctly hear a knocking sound when the engine is running.”

Grant scratched the back of his neck and shot a glare at Josh, who was trying not to snicker. “Look, I had it running for damn near forty-five minutes. I checked over the work I did the other day, as well as giving you a standard engine check. There’s nothing wrong with the car.”

Miss Banks dropped her sunglasses from the top of her head to her face and snatched the keys from Grant’s hand. He didn’t even feel bad about watching her ass as she retreated.

Josh laughed once she was out of the office and the door closed behind her. “Gotta love it.”

Grant glared at him again and stalked back to the bay. There was nothing he could do about her. He didn’t expect to see her again since she was clearly dissatisfied with his service.

He was stuck opening alone on Wednesday, which would usually suck. Instead, it was raining and he had no customers. He sat in the office with his chair aligned so he could see the parking lot and listened with half an ear to the early morning news playing on the small television in the corner. He was flipping through a Car and Driver magazine when he heard an engine idling. He looked up, shocked to find Miss Banks had pulled her car into the bay without permission and was climbing out of the car.

He stood abruptly, and the chair spun behind him as he pushed his way out the door. Rain was coming down in heavy sheets, pelting the roof and the pavement beyond the one open bay door. He’d left the rest closed that morning. It was only seven thirty, and he couldn’t believe she’d returned.

“You really can’t just come in here like that. There are safety regulations.” He glanced down at her spiked heels. “And they sure as hell don’t include footwear like that.”

Her eyes were on fire as she slammed the driver door. He was right about one thing; her hair was fantastic as it curled and swayed around her shoulders. “Look, mister, I tried to be nice yesterday, but I’m serious. There’s something wrong and I need you to fix it.”

She walked over to where Grant stood just outside the office. “Look, Miss—”

“It’s Alexandra.”

He put his palms up. “Excuse me, Alexandra. I already told you, there’s nothing wrong with your car.”

“No.” She stopped right in front of him. Her skirt swirled around her knees and he could just see through her white blouse.

“No, what?” Grant swallowed and folded his arms over his chest as he realized how attracted he was to her.

“No, it’s not my car I need fixed.”

Grant laughed. “Well, I’m a mechanic, so what the hell else could I fix for you?”

Alexandra leaned forward until he could smell her spicy perfume. His muscles coiled and bunched at the visceral reaction he was having to her proximity. “Me. I need to be fixed, and I need you to fix me.”

Grant backed up into the wall. “Uh . . .”

She reached out and grabbed his head with both hands. She was almost his height in her ridiculous heels, and when she mashed her mouth to his, he could only gasp.

And then he dug in.

Grant is about to be in deeper than he expected! If you missed the first two snippets, check out my previous posts. Keep an eye out for more content, and don’t forget to pre-order Grant’s book!

Link to Grant

Don’t forget!

You can sign up to receive a free Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of my books by signing up here:

Advanced Reader Copy

*You must be able to review on Amazon or Goodreads to qualify. If you successfully review the book you receive, you will be eligible to become a beta or ARC reader on future manuscripts.

Follow my author page on Amazon or find me on Facebook for up-to-date information about my published works.

Amazon

Facebook

Newsletter