Page 18 of Saved By The Mechanic

She shuffles her feet nervously, avoiding my eyes as she does so. “I mean, I just want to know if I’m allowed to come down.” My angry thoughts must show in my expression because she backs up a step. “I mean, it’s fine. I’ll just call—”

“No,” I hiss, unable to control the anger brewing in me. “I’m not angry at you, angel. I’m angry at the man who put this fear in your eyes. Made you believe that you can’t make your own decisions.” I brush my thumb over her cheek, fighting hard to calm myself. “You are not my prisoner, Penny. You can go wherever you want to, do whatever you want, make friends, and hang out with them. As long as you come back to me at the end of the day.”

“Really?”

“Fuck!” I drop my forehead down on hers, clenching my jaw and fighting to rein in my feelings. Everything in me wants to seek out the man who did this to her and flatten him, break his jaw, or injure a vital organ. I want to punish him, hurt him so badly, he’ll cringe with fear whenever he thinks of Penny. “Youcan go wherever you want. I’ll take you around town later, so you get familiar with the area.”

“I just want to hang out at the garage with you today and be helpful. I can help balance your books if you want. I’m good with math, and Dad taught me a lot about accounting when I was in high school.” She smiles brightly at me, but this time, even that doesn’t do much to calm the rage boiling inside of me. “I mean, if that’s okay with you.”

“It’s more than okay, angel.”

“Great,” she beams. “You go ahead, and I’ll join you later.”

I nod, brushing my lips over her forehead before leaving.

For the first time since meeting this girl, I find that I need to get away from her. My dangerous side is beginning to show, and I don’t want her to see it. I don’t want to scare her with my reaction, and I can only try to bury my anger in my work.

Hopefully, when she finally makes it down, I’ll have cooled down a bit.

***

“Someone’s in a good mood,” Ralph calls out when I walk into the shop, but I pay him no mind, heading straight to my workstation. “Hey, Boss, your brother called a few minutes ago and said he’s going to stop by to check on his truck.”

I pause at that. “And why would he do that? I’m not done working on it.”

“Something tells me it’s not the truck he’s coming to see. News about you and the stiletto girl have been making their rounds in town.”

I fold my arms in front of my chest and flash him a deadly glare. “And whose fault is that, do you think?”

Ralph raises both of his hands in surrender and chuckles. “I only told like a bunch of people. What they did with that information is out of my control.”

I shake my head and finish the walk to my workstation, quickly getting to work. I call two more mechanics to assist in removing an old transmission so we can install a new one. With soft music playing in the background—thanks to Ralph's love for soft rock—we settle into the tasks of the day.

Sometime during the late morning, I spot Penny walking into the garage, and everyone stops to watch her because why wouldn’t they? She is a vision of beauty.

Penny is in the same polka dress she showed up in yesterday, but she’s covered it with a shirt she must have grabbed from my closet. She flashes me a shy smile and waves at the rest of the men before disappearing into my office.

“I thought we were banned from flirting with customers.”

Leave it to Ralph to try and annoy me, but I don’t give him my attention, that would only encourage him. Instead, I get back to work, prompting the other men to do the same. That only works for about twenty minutes until we hear a loud crash coming from the office.

“Stay here,” I tell the others as I rush toward my office with my heart hammering in my chest. I burst in with my heart in my throat, expecting the worst, but I am relieved to see Penny is fine. I rush to her and run my hands over her body, checking for any injuries, “Are you okay? What happened?”

She stares up at me sheepishly. “Um, I was . . . Sorry, I leaned back in the chair too far and knocked it over and the files down by accident.”

I look around us and sure enough, there are sheets of paper scattered everywhere and my desk chair is tipped over on its side. “That’s fine,” I say, getting down to gather everything before placing the files back on the desk and righting the chair, then turning to her. Penny is watching me with her back pressed against the now closed door and there is that curious glint in her eyes. For the first time since walking in here, I question if the crash was indeed an accident or a ploy to get me in here.

Interesting.

Now this is not a side of Penny I thought I would ever see.

She wrings her hands in front of her and bites into her lip in a move that is so sensual it has my cock hardening to full mast. “It’s hot in here,” she whispers, grabbing the edge of her shirt and tugging it off her shoulders. “Is . . . is your AC broken or something?”

“It’s not.”

My voice comes out ragged when I speak, but I don’t stop her. With my employees right outside this door, I know I should stop her, but I don’t. Sure, the music is back on and the noise from our equipment is loud, but she’ll be louder if I touch her.

When I get my hands on her, she’ll drown out every noise in this garage, and I don’t want to risk that. Those noises are only for me to hear, so I simply shrug my hands into my pockets and watch the little minx. She tosses the shirt on top of the desk and slowly brushes her hair off her shoulders to reveal her neckline.

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