Page 14 of Saved By The Mechanic

Oh, he’s in his mid-thirties. There is more than a ten-year age difference between us, and while I haven’t actively thought about dating, never in my wildest dream would I have thought of being with someone like Ray. Older and clearly experienced.

God, he’s so hot.

Snap out of it, Penny.

“Is it something you always thought you would do?”

“No,” he says, taking out the steak. “My family is full of lawyers. Both my parents still practice and my older brother is a defense attorney. I’m what you consider the black sheep of the family.”

“Your mom must not care if she stops to leave flowers in your home.”

“Oh, they all care, but I’ve been doing this for a long time. They have no choice but to accept it.” Ray grabs a water bottle and uncaps it before passing it to me. “What about you? What are your interests?”

“Accounting,” I tell him, taking a sip. “My dad used to be an accountant, and he was great at it. Everyone loved him, and I want to be like him, so I was majoring in accounting when . . . I stopped.”

Ray looks up at my hesitation. “Why did you stop?”

I shake my head. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Well, I do.”

His voice is firm, leaving no room for argument, and when I don’t speak, he drops the shallots he’s holding and approaches me. A few minutes ago, I would have welcomed this advance, but now that I need the space, he won’t let me have it.

Ray grabs my thighs and squeezes them firmly but gently with his calloused hands, and for a second, I lose my trail of thought at the feel of his rough skin touching me. “Tell me, angel.”

“I . . . my father died, so I couldn’t go to school anymore.”

“You’re not telling me everything.”

I glare at him. “Who would lie about such a thing?”

“Not about his passing, and I am sorry that happened to you, angel,” he says, running his hands soothingly over my skin. “What I mean is you’re lying about that being the reason you stopped going to college.”

He’s right.Dammit.

How is it that this man sees me so clearly?

Ray squeezes my thighs, forcing my eyes back to his intense gaze, and I slowly find myself giving in. “My stepfather,” I tell him, and once the words are out, it’s almost as if a cork has been popped because I suddenly want to spill everything. “He was my father’s business partner and has been around my family since I was a little girl. He came into our lives when I was six or so.”

Jonah was with us when I lost my dad, and he helped my mom plan the funeral. Then, before I knew it, he married mymom and moved into our home. He was nice at first, and to me, he’d always been Uncle Jonah. That was until I caught him watching me in a way that made me feel uncomfortable, his eyes unable to hide the desire in them.

Over time, his behavior toward me changed. He once walked in one me in the shower, and thank goodness for my quick reaction, I was able to grab a towel when I heard the door knob turn. He played it off like he didn’t know I was in there, but I know that was not true.

“He wanted you?” Ray says, his eyes hardening and turning icy.

“Yeah,” I whisper. “He grew possessive, and it scared me. At times, he would get jealous when I had friends over, and he slowly banned them from visiting me.”

He convinced my mother that I was hanging out with the wrong crowd, and she believed him over her own daughter. Why wouldn’t she? This was my new dad, and she was convinced he only wanted the best for me just like my real one had.

“How did he stop you from going to college?”

“My mom was still so depressed, so she left the handling of finances to him, and he stopped paying my tuition. I was going to get a job, but he imposed a curfew on me. Before I knew it, I wasn’t allowed to leave home.”

The house that once held my favorite memories became my prison.

I couldn’t leave or meet anyone. My friends took him at his word when he told them I had no interest in leaving the house or meeting them, that I was still too distraught over my father’s death.

All that made me feel helpless, but I didn’t feel real fear until Jonah “accidentally” groped my ass one night before quickly apologizing, and I knew deep in my soul the man would one day take what I was unwilling to give him.

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