“I hate you both so much,” I hissed out of the side of my mouth.
“Hey, Walk,” Joel called, flipping up the pass-through. “You just missed your grandfather.” He pushed me out into the bar, letting the pass-through slam down before I could sneak back under.
Jackass.
Walker’s brows wrinkled. “My grandfather came here?”
I discreetly shot Joel the bird, then spun to face the man who’d taken over my brain.
I nodded in response to his question. “Along with my grandfather.”
“Why?”
“They were concerned that my accepting free tire service would besmirch the Cavanaugh name. Again,” I said, gesturing to myself.
Walker let his head drop back, swearing silently at the ceiling. “Those two.It’s like they’re in a competition with each other to be as out of touch and irrelevant as possible.”
“Yeah, well.” I lifted and dropped my shoulders on a sigh. “Scolding me with an undertone of racism is the only time my grandfather will ever talk to me.”
Walker’s face scrunched up. With the narrow box still in his hand, he stepped forward and hugged me. “Sorry you had to deal with that,” he whispered into my chest. “I didn’t mean to make things harder for you.”
“You didn’t,” I answered, breathless at the feel of his tight body against mine.
Joel, Tristan, and I had been friends long enough for me to recognize Joel’s smothered laugh and Tristan’s nearly silent “Shut up.” I plotted revenge on mydearfriends while enjoying the smell of Walker’s hair.
Walker, unaware of the circus going on behind me, ended the hug—regrettably—and pushed the box into my hands. “It’s too bad those old assholes weren’t here to see this,” he said, his chuckle a rich country sound.
“What is it?”
“I noticed you didn’t have an air pressure gauge in your car, so I grabbed one from our stock.”
“Wow. That’s awfully thoughtful of you, Walk.”
He blushed, shoving his hands into his pockets in a familiar gesture. “It’s no big deal, really. Tire gauge is just a coupla bucks.”
With that, he ducked his chin and took off before I could even offer him a drink. As I considered his thoughtful gift, Joel came from behind the bar to nudge me.
“This just got interesting,” he said, popping his brows.
“Oh, shut up.”
He shook his head. “Nope. That man’s been eyeballing your ass for a year, and I’m done waiting for you two to figure it out.”
I stared at him like he was suddenly speaking French, which he might as well have been for all the sense his words were making. “What are you talking about? That’s ridiculous—I’ve never once caught him looking at my ass.”
“That’s because you’re usually walking away,” Tristan added helpfully.
“Yeah, well, you’ve got cum on your eyebrow.”
Tristan glared up at Joel while furiously rubbing at his brow with the sleeve of his shirt. “I told you to be more careful with your aim.”
“Baby, when are you going to get it through your head that I have zero concentration or control when it comes to you? I’m just glad I didn’t blind you.”
Seriously, I was in hell.
Ignoring Tristan and his spatter situation for the moment, I turned back to Joel. “Walker’s straight. The straightest. He’s never once given me a hint that he’s got even a tiny bit of sugar in the tank.”
Except for the blushing. And the banter. But that didn’t mean anything.
