Page 51 of The Charm of You

Even if it’s for his own good.

“I can get you in once I’m finished with Lisa’s,” I tell her. “About an hour and a half.”

“I’ll come back then.” Her eyes lock onto mine.

“We have coffee in the lobby, but Rose isn’t the best company, unless you’re her phone.”

“I heard that,” Rose calls over as she throws the door open. She must be getting back from lunch too—impeccable timing.

Caroline giggles, and the sound vibrates through me, sending blood straight south. “I’ll head over to Cream and Sugar.”

It takes great strength to turn and focus on the car again instead of checking her out as she walks away, but it’s for my own damn good.

“What’s wrong?” I ask her. I might have some control over my wandering eyes, but evidently, there’s no stopping my mouth. That much was proven when I fucking kissed her yesterday.

“I’m fine.” She purses her lips, but she’s not fooling me.

I didn’t pick up on it at first, but something’s off about her. For one, she’s quiet. She waltzed in here and didn’t launch into some rambling monologue, nor did she try to pry any deep secrets from me. That’s the first sign that she’s not fine at all, and it’s surprisingly off-putting.

“Something’s wrong,” I insist, because I’m just that far gone, aren’t I? I’m wrapped around her fucking finger. “Does this have anything to do with turning down the suit’s proposal? Regretting it yet?”

She furrows her brow like she doesn’t know who I’m talking about.

In truth, I don’t even know where my question came from, but I guess I have some experience with letting feelings and frustrations linger and build until there’s no other outlet but to explode. It’s what happened with my mom.

Gone are the days where she’d lock herself in her room, hiding away from the world instead of openly dealing with her grief. But it took an eruption of sorts to get to the place of peace she’s currently residing in.

“You haven’t mentioned him,” I add.

She shrinks a fraction, and I suppress a curse, unexpectedly more affected by the thought of her regretting her answer to the jackass. I only met him for a second, but it’s safe to say he was a jackass, and she made the right decision by refusing his proposal.

It has nothing to do with my aversion to commitment, either.

“I haven’t thought much about him, to be honest,” she finally says, and it’s embarrassing how damn happy I am to hear her say that. “It’s probably terrible of me to admit, but it’s true,” she adds.

“Nothing terrible about doing what’s best for yourself.”

I turn around with every intention of getting back to work, mostly in hopes she doesn’t notice how relieved I am. After a few seconds, the echoes of her heels clicking toward the door fill the silence, but she doesn’t get far.

“Hi, there,” Judd’s voice rings out as he introduces himself.

“I’m Caroline,” I hear from behind me.

“Have you been helped, ma’am?” he asks, his voice hoarse.

She politely confirms, but Judd doesn’t stop there.

“I hope Austin showed you his best manners. He’s not exactly pleasant. The last time I left him here alone, he was cursing an old Mustang and gave Mrs. Taggert’s four-year-old daughter an earful.”

Finally, I give up my lame attempts to ignore them—mainly her—and I join them by the garage opening. “In my defense, I didn’t know she was there, and I apologized,” I state evenly. “Caroline needs an oil change, and I will be getting to it shortly.”

This is a place of business, after all, and we’re professionals. I’m giving my boss a rundown as a professional.

Even if I sometimes make out with a pretty girl against a customer’s car.

“This one had a crush on a Caroline Summers as a teenager,” Judd says with a husky laugh, and he might as well have launched a fucking grenade at me.

I don’t dare fully face her, but I feel Caroline’s eyes on me. “You’re remembering wrong, old man,” I grind out. Screw professionalism. “Did you take your medication today?”

---