Even the walls were painted black.
Probably easier to hide grease stains.
Letting out a sigh of her own, Leo set her hands on my shoulders. “Okay, while we’re here, I’ve got some work to get done. Think you can stay out of trouble for a little bit?”
I clutched a hand over my heart. “Ialwaysstay out of trouble. Trouble just doesn’t always stay out of me.”
She raised an eyebrow, prompting me to smack her in the arm. “Not like that, you pervert.”
“Uh-huh,” she laughed, heading over to a locker in the corner of the shop. “Whatever you say, hon.”
I leaned back against the Ducati, crossing my arms over my chest. The farther I was from Leo, the more that cold unease crept in over my shoulder. I thought about wandering across the shop to introduce myself to some of the other mechanics, but after the episode with Dom, I was probably at my threshold for ‘new experiences’ today.
Don’t want to risk breathing too hard on one of those fancy ass cars and having to pay for the repair.
There really were quite a lot of fancy cars. Bikes too, farther back in the garage. As I counted them up, my mind drifted back to the money Spencer had been handling in the back room of the Glass Cannon.
Those two things have to be connected somehow… right?
I was desperate to ask someone about it, and if anyone would tell me the truth, I had a feeling it was Leo. But showing my hand was a dangerous move. After all, I barely knew these women.
Everything I’d seen from them so far should’ve been setting off serious alarm bells for me. I shouldn’t want to learn more — I should be grabbing the keys to the most expensive car in the shop and peeling the fuck out of there.
But somehow, I couldn’t get myself to do it. Despite all of the cryptic secrets, Spencer and Leo made me feel safer in a few weeks than I’d felt in nearly my entire life. I couldn’t bring myself to walk away from that. Not without understanding why.
And if I wanted to get to the bottom of anything, I needed to proceed with caution.
Leo slammed her locker shut, pulling me out of my thoughts. She’d shed the helmet and her heavy leather jacket, striding toward me in navy Dickies and a tight white undershirt.
I swallowed hard as she ran a hand through her hair, revealing tattoos that traced the curves of her bulging biceps. But more shocking than the sheer volume of her muscle were the hard nipples peeking through the translucent fabric.
Is she… braless?
Heat rose to my cheeks in an instant. The outfit was more revealing than usual for Leo. And that would be jarring enough on its own without the memories it brought to mind — the way those muscles glowed and flexed for me under the blue TV light. The filthy thoughts that had been plaguing my mind ever since.
And that massive tattoo, whose hilt still tempted me to ask questions.
Leo cleared her throat as she wrapped an arm over my shoulders. “Ready to see how we keep the lights on?”
I nodded, letting her lead me across the shop to a red Ferrari that was hovering up on a big black lift. The other mechanics eyed me as we walked, more with curiosity than any ill intent, but Leo pivoted us to keep her body between us anyway.
Dragging over a tall tool cabinet, Leo placed her hands on my waist and lifted me gently to sit on top of it. “Comfy?”
I’d spent my entire life being told by men that I was too heavy to lift, that it was my fault they were weak. But Leo… Leo moved me around like I was a doll in her playhouse. As if one finger would be enough to carry me across the Atlantic.
“Mhm.” I nodded. Satisfied, she scooched my legs to the far side and started picking through the drawers.
“How does a doctor end up working as a mechanic?” I pulled my feet up, sitting criss-cross to keep out of her way.
“Dom set me up after I left the military. Whole place is hers.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Is there anything in this town she doesn’t own?”
“Plenty. But there’s nothing she couldn’t afford.”
I rolled my eyes. “Sounds about right.”
I couldn’t stand people like that — rich fucks who liked to hoard their wealth. It was one of my least favorite things about Gabe, if I was being honest: he had all the money in the world, but he was a god awful tipper.
