Page 17 of Say Yes To The Fake Date

“Sure.” He gestures to the pink chair. I sit down, and he rolls me up to the desk. He pauses next to me for a minute and then walks across the room and sits down, resting his elbows on his knees. “Let’s do this.”

For the next few minutes, I ask him questions about his garage, and the more he talks, the more ideas I have. “Would you be interested in allowing customers to book appointments online?”

He scrubs his hand through the scruff of his chin. “Is that a good idea?”

I smile softly at him. “It would mean less time taking phone calls. You would have all the things you do on the site, how much it costs…”

He interrupts me. “But parts…”

“Your website would connect to where you order parts, and the price would include that. And every job will have a timeframe so all you’d have to do is make sure that all jobs are entered into the system. You could even have people pay online.”

He tilts his head to look at me. “So they can book online and pay online… so I wouldn’t really have to talk to anyone.”

I laugh out loud. Dominic has always been a loner. Well, except when it comes to his foster brothers and sister and sisters in law. He shows hisfriendly side to them, but to everyone else, he’s a grumpy, quiet man that keeps to himself. “You know you act like you’re an asshole, but I know you’re not. Not really, anyway.”

He just shrugs, but I’m not letting him get away with it. “Seriously, why do you do that? Why do you hide the real you from everyone?”

“I don’t.”

“You do.” I point my pen at him. “I mean, you’ve shown me and your family who you are, but why do you try to hide yourself from the rest of the world?”

He doesn’t even hesitate. “Because for most of my life, everyone I’ve cared about has let me down. The fewer people I let in my circle…”

He stops talking, but I can easily fill in what he wanted to say. “The less chance you have of getting hurt.”

He shrugs his shoulders. “Do you need anything else from me?”

I want to finish this conversation, but I can tell he’s shutting down on me. “No, I already have your logo and colors. I’ll get started on the website, but I’ll let you know if I have any questions.”

He stands up and stuffs his hands in his pockets. “You going to work here?”

I look around the space he cleared out for me. “Yeah, I would like to, if you’re sure I won’t be in the way.”

He smiles, and his whole body seems to relax. “No, honey, you’re never in the way.”

He walks out of the office into the bay of the garage, and I watch him go. I let out the breath I’m holding and force myself to get to work. I could sit here and watch Dom work, but that’s not good for me… or my heart.

10

DOMINIC

I thought this was a good idea, but after a week of Lucy working in the office, I feel like I’m going crazy. Every chance I get, I find a way to talk to her and spend time with her. She still has her guard up, and maybe she always will, but I can’t not try to make her trust me again.

I roll underneath the '57 Chevy I’m working on when I hear a woman call my name. I let my head fall back on the board I’m lying on. Fuck, I don’t want to deal with this now. There couldn’t be a worse time.

“Dom!” I hear again.

Shit. I roll out from under the car, and my eyes go to the door of the office. Even though I can’t see Lucy, I know she’s looking at me through the one-way mirror. I can imagine the look on her face, and I know without doing a thing that I’ve hurt her again. I wipe my hand on the towel at my belt loop. “Hey, Rita. What can I do for you?”

She’s twirling a piece of her hair around her finger, and I cross my arms over my chest at the way she’s staring at me. I thought this was over, but she’s obviously heard that Luciana is back in town, and she’s here to stir up trouble. “I was hoping you could look at my car… It’s making a funny noise.”

“Jake!” I holler across the garage.

Jake is smiling as he comes toward me, but his mouth drops when he sees the woman standing in front of me.

Rita takes a step toward me and puts her hand on my arm. “But, Dom, I was hoping you could help me… for old times’ sake.”

I take a step back, and her hand falls from my arm. “You know how it is, Rita. If you want your car looked at, one of the other guys are going to do it.”

---