Mikey mumbles something under her breath as she makes her way around the desk. “Sorry about Rob. He’s… yeah.”
“No problem. What happened to Patrick?”
“His mom was diagnosed with cancer in December, so he had to move back to Idaho to take care of her. Rob is Merv’s step-grandson. We needed help, and he needed a job, so…”
“Ah. Got it. He uh… implied you two were…” I trail off, hoping she picks up what I’m trying to say.
Her face twists in confusion before it morphs into disgust. “Oh,fuckno.” She slaps a hand over her mouth. “Sorry. That wasn’t professional. No, Rob and I are coworkers at best. He thinks he’s some type of ladies’ man and assumes any woman with a pulse wants him, despite no oneeverflirting back. I’ve turned him down on multiple occasions, but he’s the kind of guy who takes it as a challenge.”
Thank goodness she’s not dating him, becausefuckRob. No one deserves to be subjected to unwanted advances, especially if they’ve set a boundary. “Have you told Merv?”
“Yeah. Merv told him he’d cut off his balls if he asked me out again. We have a new guy starting next week, thank goodness. I’ve been having to pick up all of his slack. Merv helps where he can, but he’s old, and his eyes aren’t what they used to be, so it’s been a long few months.”
I take a minute to really study Mikey’s face. She has dark circles under her eyes that weren’t there in November, and her shoulders slump like the weight of carrying everything is bogging her down.
She looks tired, and I don’t want to add to her burden.
“I can take my van somewhere else so you’re not overworking?—”
“No, don’t be silly, Saint. I swear I’m fine. Your van has always been easy to fix. Let me go see what I’m working with, and I’ll be back to let you know how long it’ll take.”
Hey, so I broke something big, and it probably won’t be easy.
Guilt smacks me in the face. I’ve made more work for her, and for what? Just to see her again? To give myself another chance to see her? I should have just put on my big boy underwear, asked her out, and saved us both the trouble.
“Sounds good. Thank you, Mikey.”
“Anytime.”
Then she’s walking away from me, and the guilt mixes with lust as I see the way her coveralls hug her ass.
Get it together, Valentine.
I take a seat and open the book app I was reading on my phone. I get lost in a story about a bodyguard slash driver who falls for his boss’s sugar baby. They’ve just confessed their feelings for each other, and now all bets are off. He wants her, she wants him, and he’s going to have her no matter what it costs him.
The male main character has his girl pinned up against the door to his apartment, his fingers deep in her pussy, whispering filthy words in her ear when I’m startled by the door to the shop opening.
My cheeks flush red from being caught reading explicit sex scenes in public, even if there’s no way Mikey would know what I was doing.
Besides, there’s nothing wrong with enjoying a bit of smut.
“All right, baker man, do you want the good news or bad news first?” she asks, twisting her rag around her finger.
“Good news, always.”
“What? Why?”
“Then the bad news doesn’t seem so bad.”
Mikey clicks her tongue and huffs out a laugh through her nose. “The good news is I replaced the fuel line, and it doesn’thave any other issues. I can have the other part here by Tuesday.”
“Okay, maybe I should have gone with the bad news first,” I chuckle.
“Maybe. Okay, so remember when you came for the fuel pump fuse in August, and I told you the spark plugs were a little dirty? When your fuel line disconnected, starting it without the fuel burned the spark plugs and damaged the fuel pump. Because of that, we need to replace both of those things. I have the spark plugs, but the fuel pump needs to be ordered. I’ve honestly never seen something like this happen, but like I said, the good news is we can order the part and have it here by Tuesday. Because of the weekend, it’ll take a bit longer, so I apologize for the wait. Once it gets here, it should only take a day to fix.”
I nod, starting to panic a little bit. “Okay, that… that wasn’t what I was expecting, but it’s okay. I need to be back in Cupid’s Cove tonight, but I can come back on Wednesday to pick it up.”
“That’s perfect, yeah.” After a brief pause she says, “Need to be back for anything exciting?”
