Page 22 of Give Me a Shot

Jess shook her head.

“It’s used,” she said. “I bought it a month ago from a dealership in Illinois. I’m not into cars, really. Just a means of transportation.”

He nodded, gaze roving over the engine.

“They check it out first? Certify it?”

“Yeah,” Jess said.

Mo nodded again. He crossed his arms as he stood back up and ran a hand down his beard. Jess stood straight as well.

“You buy it on your own? No one went with you?” he asked.

“Yeah.”

He ran a hand down his beard again, brows furrowed. Jess sighed.

“I should have taken a man with me, huh?” she asked.

Mo shrugged one shoulder.

“Or your crossbow,” he said.

Jess laughed and to her surprise, Mo smiled at her. A full smile. Probably the first display of happiness she’d ever seen from him. It even reached his eyes. She was so surprised that she stopped laughing. His smile disappeared and he looked down to kick at nothing with his toe.

“Got a couple of ideas,” he said, leaning over the engine again. “May take some time, though.”

Surprising her again, he looked bashful, almost sorry. If he was sensitive to other people’s emotions, she was worried about how his own were treating him. To go from deeply embarrassed to laughing to maybe sorry so quickly was quite the ride.

“I’m not…I’m not in a rush,” she said.

Rumpling his brow, he looked at the engine again.

“You need it for tomorrow,” he said.

Right. She’d forgotten about the committee meeting. She had class, too, but he couldn’t know her schedule.

“Please,” she said, waving a hand. “Don’t worry about my schedule. I’ll Uber around if necessary.”

Mo wasn’t looking at her. He was chewing his lip, his gaze intent on the engine block. His eyebrows tight together, fingers crimping on the frame of the car, he looked like he was trying to make a decision, and it was costing him. She began to feel really bad about bothering him, but she was also wary about just taking a guess and choosing a random shop.

“I can pick you up,” Mo mumbled with his eyes closed. Jess had barely heard him.

“I’m sorry?” she asked, leaning in. He let out a puff of air.

“I can pick you up,” he said. “Give you a ride to the meeting. If you want.” He slowly turned to look at her, and Jess’s heart started hammering in her chest.

Don’t you dare! Don’t you dare get all weak at the knees and googly-eyed at some adorably sexy—Stop it!

She cleared her throat and straightened her spine. Which was a bad idea because it made the woozy feeling she was getting from looking in his dark eyes lined with lush eyelashes even worse. She clutched the D-ring on the strap of her purse to ground herself.

“I—” She stopped to get her voice back to the correct pitch. “I would really appreciate that, Mo. Thank you,” she said.

She saw a little pink in the skin above his beard as he looked back at the engine.

“Okay, good, you’re welcome,” he said.

“You know,” she said, speaking before she could stop herself, “there’s nothing wrong with accepting credit for having a positive impact on someone’s life. Nothing to be embarrassed about.”

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