She looked down at the form in front of her. “I haven’t got a clue. Whatever you think is best.”
“Got it. You can go inside there, and pay at the counter.” He lifted his chin in the direction of the office.
She turned around and he couldn’t help watching her ass as she walked off. She knew how to move in those heels, that was for sure. Grant went about getting the paper mat for the floorboard and slid in the seat of her running car. He’d been working there for years and could probably perform an oil change with his eyes closed.
He tried to focus on his job, but he kept looking through the windows at the woman in the office. She’d taken off her sunglasses, but he couldn’t tell the color of her eyes from that distance. He was intrigued by her, he couldn’t deny it, he just didn’t know why. She was dressed well, expensive looking shoes and a tight skirt that looked like it cost some money. His first hunch was that she was a rich snob, but he wasn’t sure what gave him that impression. When he was finished about fifteen minutes later, he walked into the waiting area to let her know.
“Your car is ready, Miss.”
“Thanks.” She dropped her sunglasses back over her face before walking through the bay to get in her car. Grant liked her vivid red lips and what he thought were dark brown eyes before she disappeared.
He put her out of his mind the same way he would any customer. It wasn’t hard, considering how busy they were. After hours was a different story. He went home and showered, then stood in front of the fridge and tried to decide what to do about dinner. He didn’t cook for himself when Reagan wasn’t around, but there were some leftovers. He stuck the container in the microwave and his mind’s eye brought up a picture of the brunette from earlier in the day. She was hot, he couldn’t deny that. Her hair was the feature that he kept going back to; okay, and that ass. It was showcased perfectly in that tight red skirt. There was just something about her that rubbed him the wrong way, and he couldn’t put his finger on it.
Grant sat on the couch in the living room to eat as he flipped on the TV and tried not to notice how pathetic he was. He worked, he went home, he slept. Got up and did it all again the next day. He was boring. His life was boring. Fuck, even his little sister had a love life, and there he was on a Friday night eating leftover takeout on the couch. He’d never been into one night stands, and it was a line he wasn’t interested in crossing just because he was alone, now. Of course, he wasn’t going to meet anyone if he stayed in all the time, either.
Grant worked on Saturday, but he had Sunday off. He cleaned the apartment, called Reagan, balanced his budget, and snorted at how middle-aged he acted. He watched a little pre-season football and called it a night. He had to be up early Monday morning for work. The one thing that never quite meshed with a potential girlfriend was his schedule. Being at work at seven, eating at five, going to bed at nine. None of it was enticing to a woman. None that he’d met, at any rate.
Work on Monday was the same old, same old. He was starting to worry that he was turning into an octogenarian at the ripe age of twenty-five. His friend Brent constantly called him an old man, and Grant saw it more with every passing day.
Tuesday brought the brunette back to the shop, and that was interesting. She parked the car in a spot and walked into the bay, despite the signs clearly stating to head into the office instead.
“Excuse me.”
Grant looked up from the engine he was tooling around with and raised his eyebrows at her. She was wearing skintight jeans and an off the shoulder black shirt that left little to the imagination. She had a healthy amount of cleavage on display.
“Can I help you?”
“Something’s knocking around under the hood.” She looked down at his steel-toed boots and then traveled up his body with her heated gaze.
He almost blushed. “Drop the keys with Josh behind the desk in there.” He nodded in the direction of the office. “I’ll get to it when I’m done here.”
She stood for another minute, staring at him before she walked off.
Grant had never flushed a transmission as quickly before.
He felt her watching him as he stepped into the office to retrieve the paperwork and the keys. He went out to her car and brought it into the bay, leaving it running so he could listen for any unusual sounds. He didn’t hear anything, so he turned it off. He checked the filters to ensure he’d secured them properly, both oil and air, and then went over a standard inspection of the engine.
He stepped back into the office forty-five minutes later. He glanced at the paperwork for her name. “Miss Banks.”
She dropped a magazine on the empty seat beside her, picked up a large black purse and walked over. “Yes.”
“I couldn’t find anything. There’s no charge for the work.”
He held out the keys, but she didn’t move. “What do you mean?”
He frowned. “About which?”
She propped a hand on her hip, and he caught sight of red fingernails. Figured; he’d pegged her correctly. He expected the haughty tirade to come. “I distinctly hear a knocking sound when the engine is running.”
Grant scratched the back of his neck and shot a glare at Josh, who was trying not to snicker. “Look, I had it running for damn near forty-five minutes. I checked over the work I did the other day as well as giving you a standard engine check. There’s nothing wrong with the car.”
Miss Banks dropped her sunglasses from the top of her head to her face and snatched the keys from Grant’s hand. He didn’t even feel bad about watching her ass as she retreated.
Josh laughed once she was out of the office and the door closed behind her. “Gotta love it.”
Grant glared at him again and stalked back to the bay. There was nothing he could do about her. He didn’t expect to see her again since she was clearly dissatisfied with his service.
He was stuck opening alone on Wednesday, which would usually suck. Instead, it was raining and he had no customers. He sat in the office with his chair aligned so he could see the parking lot and listened with half an ear to the early morning news playing on the small television in the corner. He was flipping through a Car and Driver magazine when he heard an engine idling. He looked up, shocked to find Miss Banks had pulled her car into the bay without permission and was climbing out of the car.
