He scratched his head, not looking up from his phone. “Maybe it’s the alternator?”
Several minutes went by as Oliver masked his cluelessness, looking over the engine as it cooled and not making any attempts to call anyone for help. I was half tempted to call a mechanic myself as I tightened my arms around my stomach, sharing an awkward smile with an elderly couple who walked past staring and muttering.
I looked down at the wrinkled dress and damp tendrils of hair hanging around my face.
What a terrific way to end a date—
“Need a hand?” The smooth, deep voice cut gently through the sound of the surrounding street activity. And sent my stomach into a fluttering mess.
On the sidewalk behind me, Dean had appeared, peering over the top of his sunglasses as he looked at the engine. There was a bag of takeaway in his hand from a nearby cafe. When neither of us responded, his eyes flicked to us and he raised a brow in question.
It wasn’t the most ideal scenario, but his timing couldn’t have been better. Seb had mentioned Dean worked in a garage by day and we desperately needed a mechanic.
“Yes, we do,” I said quickly, looking back at Oliver to find him eyeing Dean as if he was about to threaten us for cash. In Oliver’s defense, Dean was a lot taller, his expression was serious, and he dressed in mostly black with his T-shirt pulled tight around his muscular, tattooed biceps. It was easy to see why Oliver may have been a little intimidated.
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Oliver whispered, keeping an eye on Dean as he approached the car.
"He seems to know cars," I shrugged, pretending like I didn’t know the man who placed his bag of takeaway on the roof of Oliver’s car. Dean seemed to be playing along, passing me, without so much as a glance of recognition, as he rounded the front of the car to stand beside Oliver — who stepped aside to create a little more distance from Dean, eyeing the tattoos on his arms as he did.
Dean peered into the engine but didn’t touch a thing as he asked, “When was the last time you checked your coolant?”
“My mechanic usually does that for me.” Oliver chuckled as he quickly glanced my way.
I offered him a reassuring smile.
Dean kept his attention on the car as he straightened and removed his sunglasses, looping them through one of the belt loops on his jeans. “Do you have an old rag I can use?”
Oliver frowned a little. “What for?”
Dean dragged his eyes to him. “So I don’t burn myself touchin’ anythin’.”
“Right. Yeah, I’ll check.” Oliver couldn’t move away fast enough, stumbling over his foot a little as he walked around to the trunk of the car to look for a rag.
I tightened my arms around myself, looking down at my feet as silence fell once again.
“Are you guys on a date?” Dean was seated on the front edge of the car, his arms folded loosely across his chest as he straightened out his legs and stacked one boot-clad foot over the other.
“We just got back from Coney Island.”
He nodded to the damp hair. “What happened?”
I kept my voice quiet. “Oliver dropped me in the ocean...”
The corner of his mouth twitched, amusement sparking in his eyes, and he glanced back over his shoulder to where Oliver closed the trunk.
Oliver returned to the front of the car with a towel bundled in his hands. “Will this do?”
Dean’s deadpan expression said enough as he looked at the dry towel, then Oliver, and then at me before he took the towel and held it out in my direction. He raised a brow in the form of an offer as he waited.
I shook my head quickly. “I’m fine...”
Without a word, Dean shrugged and brought the towel closer to himself, gripped the hem as his muscles flexed, and tore a strip from the fabric with a loud rip.
Oliver blanched. “Hey—”
Dean tossed the rest of the towel to me and casually pushed himself off the car. Facing the engine, and ignoring the look Oliver was giving him, he used the strip he tore off to unscrew the cap of the radiator.
I hesitated to use the towel at first but eventually pulled it around my shoulders. Oliver came to my side as I did, folding his arms tightly across his chest as he watched Dean closely.
