Stumbling backward onto the small grassy verge, her heart continued to hammer in her chest as she looked desperately from left to right at the main road. She couldn’t leave the car here on the bend, she’d end up causing an accident.
Her clammy hands came together, and she rubbed them. She had no breakdown cover. It was one of the first direct debits she’d culled when she was in between jobs, and she hadn’t gotten around to reinstating yet. A lorry suddenly came around the corner and the driver shouted something incoherent out of the passenger window, his face screwed up with rage. Georgina wasglad whatever he was saying was drowned out by the noise of the wheels.
She reached in through the window of her car and grabbed her handbag. The only thing to do was to call her father for help. Rooting out her phone she grimaced when she remembered her phone battery had died just as she had left work. Georgina drew in a long deep breath, closed her eyes, threw her head back and sighed. Could the day get any worse?
Turning in the direction she was heading, she decided all she could do was walk it back and hope for the best until she returned.
Fifty feet into her walk back to Seagull Bay, after passing a large oak tree, Georgina gasped when she saw a garage. Why hadn’t she noticed it before? She must have passed it a hundred times. As she approached, she could see two feet poking out from underneath a car. Rock music was blaring out from the radio, and whoever was working on the car, was singing along, oblivious to her presence.
Another vehicle honked in the distance after obviously just encountering Georgina’s abandoned car. Georgina suddenly felt under pressure to get her car moved as soon as possible.
‘Hello,’ she said, but the man under the car either couldn’t hear her or was ignoring her. Georgina pursed her lips and tried again. ‘Hello.’ No response. Her voice rose, and she couldn’t stop the edge of irritation that laced it. ‘Erm, excuse me forbotheringyou, but this is very very important.’
The man stopped singing and his heels dropped onto the ground, one on either side of the trolley he was lying on. They dug into the cement and pulled him out from underneath the car. A very attractive face covered in oil emerged from underneath it with two deep ruts drawing his dark eyebrows together. He scrambled to his feet.
‘Can I help you?’
Despite being rendered momentarily dumb by his dark brown eyes that seemed to penetrate her soul, Georgina soon found her tongue when another horn sounding out in the distance, but she was surprised by her curtness which must have been fuelled by her eagerness to get her car moved.
‘Don’t just stand there. Come and help me move my car. It’s broken down right on the bend down the road, and it’s going to cause an accident.’ Georgina pointed in the direction of the bend.
The man strode over to a corner of the garage and grabbed what looked like a couple of aluminous triangles, then marched past here. Georgina followed, close at his heels.
Chapter three
Georgina watched stunned as the man with shoulders as wide as an American refrigerator, the dirty overalls covering them straining against their breadth, walk straight past her car and disappear around the corner. She threw her hands up in disbelief. ‘What the heck?!’ But then he reappeared moments later, minus the odd triangular shapes, and positioned himself at the tailgate, with his large hands resting upon it.
He looked over to her and his brow shot up. ‘Well, what are you waiting for?’ Georgina’s finger pointed to her chest and then to her car. The dark-eyed man nodded. ‘Yes. Jump in and I’ll push you to my garage.’ Georgina’s mouth dropped open, but she quickly walked over to the car and opened the driver’s door. ‘Don’t forget to put the gear stick in neutral.’
Georgina’s brow drew sharply together, and she gave him a sweeping glance as she got into her car. Did he think she were stupid or something? She put her key in the ignition to free the steering lock and made sure the gear lever was in a neutral position. Placing her hands ready on the steering wheel she looked through her rearview mirror at the man as he began to push, but the car didn’t budge. Georgina frowned. He looked very strong. How looks could be deceiving.
His face suddenly appeared at her window and his eyes bored into hers before dropping to look at the centre console. When his long black eyelashes flicked up and his eyes once again met hers,a shiver ran the length of her spine. ‘You know, it would help if you released the handbrake.’
Her jaw dropped.Was shestupid or something? She shook her head. No, she wasn’t. It must have been the stress of the moment. That, or it was his dashing good looks that had gotten her into a tizzy.
Her car lurched forward, and Georgina steered it as the man pushed it along the road towards the garage.
‘Nowyou can pull the handbrake on,’ said the man with a hint of sarcasm in his voice as they pulled up close to the garage.
Georgina pulled the handbrake on, her lips pursed. Normally she’d retaliate if someone tried to make her out to be a fool, but the man had been kind enough to help her. She bit her tongue as she got out of the car, her lips already parting ready to thank him. He held his finger up to stop her, and sprinted off in the direction from where they had just retrieved her car from. Georgina was once again left open mouthed as she watched his large back disappear.
A minute later he was already running back towards the garage, the two strange triangle shapes now in a hand each. Georgina openly admired him as he came to a halt in front of her.
‘Thank you. I really appreciate your help. Of all the places my car chose to break down, it had to choosethatcorner.’
The man shook his head. ‘No worries. I’m guessing you’ve already called your breakdown service.’ Georgina grimaced. The man’s brow shot up. ‘What...youdon’thave breakdown cover?’
Georgina didn’t like his judgemental frown and she had to fight to keep her cheeks from burning. She liked to be in control of life, but now to this stranger, it appeared she was anything but. ‘I-I forgot to renew my policy,’ she stammered. She didn’t want a total stranger knowing her personal finance difficulties, that she couldn’t entertain such privileges at the moment.
The man nodded and crossed his arms, making the triangles bulging outwards at an awkward angle. Georgina couldn’t take her eyes off the man’s full lips as he ran his tongue over them. ‘So how are you going to transport your car to the garage that will fix it?’
Georgina rubbed the back of her neck. She felt very silly all of a sudden. A feeling that didn’t fit well with her normally confident character. ‘Erm, I-I actually don’t have a regular garage I use... Hence the reason I’ve broken down. My car is well past a service. I was kind of in between jobs until recently. But I’ve just started working part-time at the petrol station down the road, and I intended to get my car looked at with my first pay check.’
The man nodded, and then his head dipped to one side. ‘Well as you can see, I have a garage. I can do the work for you if you like. That way, you wouldn’t have to arrange for the car to be towed elsewhere.’
Georgina’s eyes widened. She had been a little rude with him when she first approached him, and now he was offering to work on her car—she felt awful. ‘That’s very kind of you, but like I said, I was intending to get my car serviced when I get my first pay check, but that won’t be for another two weeks yet... If you don’t mind me using your phone, I’ll ring my father, and he’ll come and tow it off your property.’
The handsome man ran his tongue over his full lips again. The action mesmerised Georgina. ‘Two weeks, eh? How about I offer you a proposition?’
