The ma’am thing? Yeah, he wasn’t so cute anymore.
“I have to be honest. This is your best bet.” Mechanic guy tapped the first number. “Or you scrap the car.”
Nope. Not cute at all.
“See. Sir,” she said, putting extra emphasis on the “sir”
part. “The thing is, I have to be honest, too. I like this number better.”
And she could only drive sometimes, and carefully. Besides, she worked from home. She didn’t really need to go anywhere. Much.
“We can do the work, but you’ll have to sign a waiver.” Mechanic dude looked like he was sorry.
He didn’t need to be sorry. This was a solution everyone could get on board with.
“I like waivers.” She grabbed her wallet from her purse to deal with the damage. “Waivers are my favorite.”
Mechanic dude went to go handle the paperwork. She was ready to go home.
“That wasn’t a negotiation.” Oh, look, Gavin was still there. Hooray.
“Then what was it?” She walked in to one price. Left with another. That was the definition of a negotiation.
Gavin put his hands at his waist. “A bloodbath.”
“Because I won?”
“Molly?” He glanced to the floor, then back up. “I know…” He cleared his throat. “I do consider you a friend.”
“I think that’s the second nicest thing you’ve ever said to me,” she said, squeezing his biceps through his button up dress shirt, and then immediately regretting it because, actually, he had nice biceps and she probably shouldn’t touch them.
“What was the first?” he asked.
Um…the only other time he’d said something nice to her? “When you said I looked pretty at the wedding.”
Why did she blush when she said that? It wasn’t like he told her he wanted to rip off her dress and ravage her in her cotton panties. But something about the way his eyes traced over her made her suddenly very aware of her cut-off shorts and ratty T-shirt.
Whatever was going on with her nerve endings today needed to knock it off.
“You did,” he said. She could’ve sworn he added, under his breath, “You do.”
But she was probably misunderstanding after all the money talk with the mechanic. Money talk had a tendency to make a girl light-headed.
“That’s why it was a nice thing to say.” She did not squeeze his biceps this time. Didn’t even touch him. Go me! “Right.” He didn’t look away. “Look. If a friend needs a loan or a?—”
She held up her hand. “I’m going to stop you right there.”
Before he put his foot in his mouth by offering her money when she had money. Just not enough money for a down payment, stunt camp, and a car overhaul.
“Why does this have to be difficult?” he asked. “Friends help friends.”
They weren’t quite that type of friends. Maybe they’d get there in the next two decades, especially since he’d saved her kid’s life with the whole diving in after him thing.
She gulped. Not thinking about that right now.
What mattered was that they were still getting into the tolerating each other stage of things.
He wanted to know why this was so difficult? Because she could do it her damn self. She didn’t need a bailout. Never had. Never would.
