Carmela cackled. She had no sympathy for anyone, not to mention her big mouth. “You two whine too much. Are we going or aren’t we?”
“Don’t act like you’re rolling in it, Romano. You’re the school secretary.”
“Okay, but at least I don’t complain about my salary. I chose it and I make it work for me.”
Alex rolled her eyes. “Anyway. Spa or something else?”
“I say spa,” Hailey piped up.
“Sounds good to me,” Carmela said. “After all, I wouldn’t have suggested it if I didn’t want to go.”
“I guess we shouldn’t even bother to look at anything else, then.” Alex was busy worrying about what Grant would think of her going out of town. As though he would care. She refused to sit around and wait for him to get his act together, to jump as soon as he had time to fit in a booty call.
They discussed a few locations and threw out prices, but nothing struck them astheplace. They called it a day when the afternoon drew to a close and the sky outside began to darken. Though they didn’t have to be at work the next morning, each of them had learned it was best to keep close to their school schedule. Otherwise, they ended up feeling worse and worse as the summer progressed, and it was harder to get back into the routine when school started back up.
Alex was tired of being alone in the evenings. She’d realized recently that she was ready to settle down. The single life had been fun for a time, but she was never one to be overtly crazy or to enjoy going home with a stranger. She liked to take things slow and steady; at least, she thought she did. There had never been a man to rev her up quite the way Grant did. She couldn’t even put her finger on it. He was so fucking hot that she wanted to mount him every time she thought about him. When they were in the same room, her entire body felt like it was on fire.
And he still didn’t call.
Alex flipped on the TV and settled in for some football. It was reruns, but she didn’t care one way or the other. The preseason wasn’t that far away, and she was looking forward to it. She’d grown up watching football from her father’s lap, whether it was college or NFL. In passing, she wondered if Grant liked sports and what teams he liked. She reminded herself she was trying not to think about him and worked to put him out of her mind.
Grant had no idea that Alex was obsessing over whether or not he would call her. Work was busier than usual because Floyd and Larry had both come down with the stomach flu, unfortunately. Grant was working open to close seven days a week. He focused on how good that first overtime paycheck was going to look, but he was exhausted and growing more and more irritable as he lost sleep.
“You done with the Sentra?” Josh asked him.
“Do I look like an octopus to you?” Grant snapped at him.
“Uh, no?” Josh frowned at his friend’s bad temper.
“Then no.”
“What the fuck, man.” Josh walked off to let Grant cool down. He was used to even-tempered Grant, not the guy he’d encountered with the attitude.
Unfortunately, Josh had a customer call a few hours later wanting the estimate on their Chrysler. He had to go back down into the pit to ask Grant about the progress on that vehicle.
“Grant.” He waited for Grant to finish up what he was doing and look over at him. “The owner of the PT Cruiser wants an estimate. Do you have that yet?”
“Josh, I’m a one-man show down here right now until the guys stop throwing up their guts. Can you assume that I’m not done with anything until I tell you specifically that I am?”
Josh crossed his arms and stared Grant down. “You need to get laid.”
Grant snorted and responded without thinking about it. “That didn’t help.”
“What?” Josh’s brows went into his hairline, and he followed Grant as he went to the shelf to get a fuel filter. “Who was this and how come you didn’t tell me?”
“Because you’re like Mrs. Nesbitt when you want to gossip. Go call your customers.” Grant tried to ignore Josh as he did his job.
“Seriously, you have a girlfriend and I don’t get to know her name?”
“I said I got laid, not that I had a girlfriend.” He walked back to the car he was working on.
Josh gasped and clutched his fist to his chest dramatically. “My little boy is growing up. He hadsex.”
“God, shut the fuck up. I haven’t gotten any sleep since I started putting in so many hours.” He pointed at Josh. “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll stop harassing me. I’m overworked and sleepless.”
“I still say you need to get laid. Again, apparently.”
Josh was smart enough to scurry up the steps before Grant could deck him. If he’d had the time, he might have considered calling Alex for a romp. Since he spent what free time he had sleeping, he wasn’t inclined to call her up to waste any hours awake. What he really wanted was to get out of the city. As soon as things were back to normal at work, he was going to take a few days off and visit Reagan. He would even put up with the professor if it got him time away from the mundane. Yeah, Floyd and Larry were going to owe him big time by the time they got back.
He groaned as he heard another car pull in. Didn’t people know they were two men down and Josh didn’t know his ass from a carburetor? He groaned when he heard Josh talking to a guy about an oil change. On a day like that one, Grant had to stop what he was doing on long-term repairs to fit in the oil changes. They were promised to be fast or the customer got it for a discount. Needless to say, Grant was very quick with them.
Sure enough, Josh came back down with the paperwork for an oil change. One thing was for sure: Grant wasn’t going to have any time to himself for a while. It wouldn’t normally bother him, but an itch had settled between his shoulder blades that he couldn’t seem to scratch. Knowing the solution to the problem and wanting to call said solution were two different things. He was used to denying himself, and this time was no different.
