“Me?” I leaned forward then. “Since when? You’ve never called my cell.”
“Since always. Just ’cause I don’t call you doesn’t mean I don’t have it.”
I couldn’t help raising my hands up to my heart and settling them there, this huge smile coming over my face. “Does this mean… Boss, are we friends? Outside of work, of course.”
His face went totally serious for a moment before he tossed his head back andlaughed. “Get the fuck outta here, Luna. Christ.”
We were. We were so totally friends. He was my boss too, but that didn’t mean we couldn’t be friends when we weren’t at the shop. Or during lunch. Or when my life tried to fall apart on me a little.
Me and Rip.
Friends.
I’d take it. I’d take it every day of the year, forever.
Chapter 19
“You’re dead,”I laughed at Miguel as we walked toward the booth.
“Why do you think I brought the car with me?” he asked.
“She’s going to kill you either way. I’m still surprised she didn’t do it on her birthday,” I confirmed, referring to his wife’s car at first. We had just spent the last ten minutes looking it over and setting up a plan for fixing it. Apparently, he’d backed his car into hers that morning, and he hadn’t had the guts to tell her, so he made up a lie and drove hers to work today so that we could repair it without her finding out.
The thing was, we both knew she was going to find out anyway. Now or later.
“I know, but if I buy her some flowers and someconchasfrom the bakery by our house, I think I can get her to take it easy on me,” he stated with a laugh.
I shook my head just as we stopped in front of the door to the booth, and he reached forward to open it for me. “I’ll call my guy right now since I have the code for the color, and he should have it. It’s a standard stock color. I might be able to go pick it up for you on my lunch break.”
I had been expecting to see Jason in the room when I walked in, but I wasn’t expecting to see the new guy too. Between the two of them, they were carrying a panel into the booth. Jason, to no surprise, pretended like he didn’t see us walk in.
Little jerk.
He’d been surprisingly tame lately—at least with his words, eye rolls, and griping—but he couldn’t hide the fact that I could sense he still wanted to do those things. I knew I had Rip to thank for that.
“You’re an angel, Luna,” Miguel said, giving my head a pat, since that was the way all the guys showed me affection. Like I was a puppy. A very loved puppy. I’d take it.
I smiled at him. “I know.”
“Tell me if you can get the paint pen. I was going to skip my lunch and buff out the scratches.” The older man did something that made me feel like he was fluttering his eyelashes. “Can you do the paint?”
I grinned at him. “You know I will.”
He patted my head again. “An angel.”
“I’m just your friend, and I don’t want you to die.”
Miguel laughed. “Thanks, Luna. I owe you one.”
I shrugged him off. “You’re welcome. Let me call and find the pen first, and I’ll come bother you when I get an answer. If he doesn’t have it, the dealership should. I’ll find it somewhere.”
Miguel started to back out of the room with a grin on his face, like he thought he was getting away with his accident. “I love you more than my own sister,” he called out.
I laughed. “I’m gonna tell her you said that next time I see her.”
“I’ll tell her you’re drunk,” he called back before opening the door and sliding back out of my room.
I snorted as I turned around and headed toward the booth to see what exactly was happening. Inside, Jason and Ashton were setting the panel they had been moving onto some old tubs we used to prop things up. “Need help?” I asked.
