Vance clapped me on the shoulder. “Twenty bucks.”
I shook my head at that.
He tossed his gloves onto his station before grabbing his keys and taking off out the back door that led to our private lot behind the building. Stretching my arms above my head, I let out a soft sigh.
Having the shop to myself for a bit would give me the chance to clear my head. I needed to purge myself by doing something else outside of cooping myself up in that office while pretending that the best way to forget about last night was through paperwork.
I was much better with using my hands anyway. I found comfort in picking things apart and then putting them back together again.
Heading over to my own station, I grabbed a few of the tools out of my belt and laid them out on a rolling table, bringing it over to the Bel Air that was parked closest to me with the hood already propped open.
Peeking at the inside of it, I could see what Tony was already halfway through tuning up before he’d left, and picked up my own tools to finish what he’d started.
Out of the four of Avery’s cars, this one needed the least amount of work, which meant that by the end of the week, it’d be set to roll out of here and road ready for whatever buyer ended up taking it off of Avery's hands.
Which reminded me... I still needed to get him that list.
“Wow, you’ve really got them working on them all at once?”
Startled, I whipped around to where the door leading to the front of the shop was propped open and Avery was standing with one foot already past the threshold. He was wearing a businesssuit that hugged his fit frame nicely, making him look rather out of place next to the wall of tools right beside him.
His hair was swept back from his face and there was a plastic bag hooked over his arm that swayed when he let go of the door. “Bit of a slave driver, aren’t you?”
I ignored the way my body flushed with heat as he drew closer, busying myself with turning back to the Bel Air and leaning over the lip of it to tighten one of the valves. “Weren’t you the one bragging about how you’d pay my shop to work exclusively on these for you as long as it got done correctly?”
He chuckled, his footsteps growing quiet right behind me. “I’m kidding, Brandon.”
His playful teasing was throwing me off, not at all what I was expecting to be faced with after last night.
Anger?
Absolutely.
Disgust and maybe a little bit of embarrassment?
Definitely.
But this?
It only further confused me.
The sound of the plastic bag being set down caught my attention and then the feeling of something looming over me had me lifting back from where I was bent over the car. Avery’s hand came around on my right side to cup the edge of the car, leaning over my shoulder to get a better look at what I was doing.
“How’s it looking?” The question was said right into my ear, his voice smooth and slightly gravelly.
I fought the urge to shiver.
Fuck me.
I was pinned against the car. The subtle shift of his hips brushing up against my ass, along with the hand that was anchored to the car, left me little room to side step him. Having him this close to me was making me dizzy. Whatever cologne hewas wearing made the urge to turn around and bury my face in his chest nearly impossible.
“Uh...” I swallowed thickly. “Good. Just needed to replace a few valve caps and flush out the engine and replace it with new fluid. This one’s the cleanest out of the four.”
He hummed softly. “That sounds promising.”
I hoped it wasn’t obvious that my hand was shaking while I leaned back over to fit the wrench over the last valve cap. “Should be out of here soon. I’ll get you that list.”
“And I’ll have a check sent over to you for the work.”
