Page 60 of The Millionaire's Mechanic

More importantly, his father had shown Rainer how to take care of himself. And he’d taken pride in his son’s accomplishments.

Yes, Rainer been fortunate in fate’s choice of fathers. He’d had been given a solid foundation. Now he had his friends, Garrett and Mason, and a few others Georgia hadn’t met yet.

Ephraim cleared his throat. “Err…Georgia, why don’t you say grace?”

Georgia shot Rainer an apologetic look before folding her hands together and closing her eyes. Rainer followed suit, but his eyes flew open when a string of completely unintelligible words came out of her mouth.

Oh, of course.

“I didn’t know you spoke Hebrew,” he said when she finished.

“Just some of the prayers,” she said, smiling sheepishly. “Diamond didn’t care what language we said grace in, so long as we did.”

“That’s sweet,” he said, his eyes lingering on the delicate lines of her face. Her hair was down today, the texture like dense silk. He made a mental note to run his hands through it the first chance he got—she very seldom left it down.

He caught Ephraim staring at him. The man inclined his head as if acknowledging his good taste. Rainer nodded back, digging into the fine meal his chef had made—a duck tajine with rice and raisins.

The rest of the meal passed quickly. Ephraim didn’t speak much, but when he did, he displayed a quick wit and a quiet, sly humor. The only hiccup arose when he shared that he wouldn’t be allowed to see clients in his apartment.

“Your Mr. Powell had reservations about letting in strangers when you’re in residence.”

“Oh.” Georgia’s face fell in understanding. “It’s too bad, because that apartment would certainly impress new clients.”

She turned to him with a pleading expression. “But what about the more established ones? Some of his clients have been with him for years and years.”

“I’m sure Powell wouldn’t have a problem with your repeat customers,” Rainer offered. “But it’s not a sustainable long-term plan—not much walk-in clientele up here. But there’s a ton of office space in the adjoining buildings…including the one across the street, which I also have a stake in. I’m sure we can find something there.”

“I don’t intend to take charity,” Ephraim said repressively. “I know what office space goes for downtown.”

“But it would be so convenient,” Georgia enthused.

Ephraim tsked. It was enough to shut her down. Disappointed, she took a sip of wine to cover her pout.

“Speaking of work,” Rainer began. “I was thinking that maybe George would also be interested in a little career upgrade.”

Her scowl was immediate. “Say what?”

He lifted a shoulder. “I do have a fair number of cars, enough to make hiring a full-time mechanic for maintenance a smart move. It would save time, too. I wouldn’t have to trek out to places like Elite. Plus, there’s enough room in the warehouse that you could continue projects like the Talbot.”

“You keep a warehouse of cars?” she asked, looking a little green around the gills.

“Yes, and if you started doing some restoration work there, I am pretty sure I can drum up enough clientele to keep you in business—provided I don’t buy all the cars off you myself.”

Georgia bit her lip. “I don’t know…”

Ephraim snickered. “Not so funny when the shoe is on the other foot, is it?”

Georgia glared at her father, but crumpled immediately when Rainer reached out to touch her arm.

“It would be nice to set your own hours, wouldn’t it? I can guarantee that none of the car guys I know would complain that you don’t see clients before ten AM…”

Ephraim’s eyes darted back and forth between him and Georgia as if he were a spectator at a tennis match, but he wisely kept his mouth shut.

“That would be nice,” she admitted. “But there’s more to running a business than the actual mechanical and restoration work.”

“Ephraim can do the books,” Rainer suggested with a wiggle of his brows.

The older man smiled, eating a forkful of his dish before replying.

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