She thought about that. “Yes and no. I’m their only child, so both of my parents are very me-focused, but they aren’t confidants. I have some friends who are best friends with their parents, and I cannot imagine that kind of closeness. Our relationship is very formal.” She rubbed her hand over his hard belly. “You said you’re close to your brothers?”
“Yeah. We’re the opposite of formal. A lot of teasing. I haven’t been home in a few years because it’s expensive and I’m saving all my money, but we have a group text that is constantly popping, and we have regular video calls, too.”
The conversation spiralled from there, and the next thing she knew, the sky started to lighten.
“What time is it?”
Josh glanced at his watch. “It’s just after five.”
“We’ve stayed up here all night.” She peered up at the sky. “Hey, what’s that constellation? We didn’t see that before.”
Josh followed her pointing finger and thought about it for a second. “That’s…Lyra. The brightest star is Vega.”
“Nice.”
“You’re nice.”
She laughed. “You’re just saying that because of the wild monkey sex.”
“And the fascinating conversation and the excellent race company.” He nudged her to her feet. “Can I buy you breakfast? There’s a pop-up breakfast taco place I heard about last week. Want to go see how long the line is?”
Anything to keep this night going, she thought. Even as it spilled into the next day. Because at some point very soon, they would have to part ways. There was no way she’d get more than one night with this man. She knew it.
She didn’t like it, but she accepted it.
Josh Kincaid was too good for her. Too down-to-earth, too kind, too real. All things her father would twist and ruin if he ever found out about what they’d done tonight.
“One more stop on our epic night of racing lessons?”
Josh nodded and opened the passenger door for her. “One more stop, princess. Then this mechanic turns into a pumpkin.”
She hoped the breakfast taco line was three hours long.
8
One week later
Josh knewhe was too old to have an all-consuming, impossible crush. But awareness that heshouldbe more controlled around a secret affair didn’t make a difference to how his whole body reacted when Monica slid onto his stool at the back of the garage.
Her dark hair curled over her shoulders, glossy and thick. He’d never before been so intimately familiar with hair that looked that good. It had looked even better spread out on his pillow earlier that morning as dawn began to lighten the sky. It would look best of all with his hands tangled in it in three minutes, after the other mechanic who worked with him left for the day and they were finally alone.
The hours in between were agony.
He’d only known her for a week. It didn’t matter. She’d become his entire world. His hot little secret.
Off-limits.
He knew she was having a little adventure, screwing around with someone her father wouldn’t approve of. Since that was the only way he’d ever get any small slice of Monica, he’d take it and hold it tight for as long as he could.
That their affair had already lasted a week felt like some kind of miracle. He’d latched on to the excuse of teaching her about racing, when really he’d just wanted more of her bright smile and challenging gaze.
She had layers, and he wanted to discover every single one of them.
“Did you need anything, Ms. Fischer?” The other mechanic strolled over to Monica.
She beamed at him, and Josh’s belly tightened up, the spike of jealousy electric and dangerous. He couldn’t help the possessive instinct. She was his. Not forever, but for right now, and that was wild enough.
“No, I won’t keep you any longer,” she said smoothly. “I need to help Josh with his Instagram captions, though.”
