She wasn’t unlovable.She had Maxie and Lexie.They were three parts of a whole, but there were others who were close to her.Like Skeeter and Charlie.And Billy.
Looking back, there’d been ones who’d tried.The Hamiltons had been nice.They’d fostered her for over a year, but she’d been so guarded and untrusting.And then there was Mrs.Fisher in tenth grade.She’d always been willing to lend an ear.
But she’d pushed them all away before they could push her.
Roxie looked around the apartment, dark but for the moonlight starting to come through the window.Look at what she’d done with her life.She had her own place and her own business.Friends.She’d pulled herself up by her bootstraps, broken as they might be.
She’d had to fight for it all tooth and nail, but that made it all the more precious to her.She’d told herself that she’d wanted answers about her childhood, but deep down she admitted she wanted more than that.She’d wanted acceptance.She’d wanted love.
She’d had it all along.
Oh, damn.
A ragged breath hit her, and she waved her hands in front of her face to fight the sting in her eyes.She’d been so busy trying to protect herself, she’d pushed away what she wanted most.Why did she always have to do things the hard way?
Well, why not?She was good at it.
She was a fighter.
And, this time, she was going to have to fight for him.
She flipped back her hair, blinked her eyes dry, and rubbed her hands against her thighs.Okay, she had to do something.She couldn’t leave things the way they were.
Billy did deserve better.
So did she.
She let out a puff of air and focused.She had to find him.They had to talk.
But where had he gone?
Would he even listen to her?
She picked up her boots from where they’d fallen so carelessly onto the floor.Standing them upright on the coffee table, she ran her fingers over what had once been a broken heel.She didn’t know if their relationship could even be saved, but she had to try.
It was her turn to play the fixer.
Chapter Thirteen
Nobody paid much attention when the smokin’ hot brunette stepped into the garage.It was nearing the end of a long workday, and most of the guys were thinking about the beer and burgers waiting for them at the diner down the road.The open work bay was huge, with cars lifted on hoists, engines hooked up to monitors, and tires stacked ten high.The place was a bastion of masculinity and not many women dared to enter.
This one not only dared, she struck a pose as she scanned the place.
The Corelli garage wasn’t some neighborhood grease monkey shop.It was a high-tech laboratory focused on speed and power.Tools were ordered on peg boards, floors were swept spotless, and computers outnumbered cars.This was home base for a sport built on testosterone, and the men who worked here were filled with it.
The brunette didn’t flinch.Her gaze swept over the mechanics and engineers.It connected with a guy who wore black-rimmed glasses and a red headband.He jerked when he saw her and conked his head on the hood raised above him.
A corner of the vixen’s lips curled upward in acknowledgment, but she didn’t stick around to preen.Instead, she started down the wide aisle that led to the double doors at the end of the massive building.The tall heels of her bootscloppedwith every step she took, drawing more attention in her direction.
One by one, workers in the building forgot what they were doing.A grizzled veteran with a Fu Manchu mustache slowly straightened from the engine he was tweaking.“Holy shit,” he muttered.
A kid sweeping up metal shavings tripped when he saw her, and the handle of the broom banged him in the head.Embarrassed, he rubbed the red spot, but he didn’t stop gaping.
The hottie was on the hunt.She walked purposefully, never breaking stride as she met each of their gazes.Those sexy boots were zipped over tight-fitting jeans that cupped a backside curvy enough to make a grown man cry.A whistle broke out from the end of the garage she’d already searched.Her hips only settled into a more determined sway.
Damn, she was something.
Activity stopped as she passed until one end of the garage was working, while the other end stared.Finally, someone with a company badge stepped out to meet her.
