“In myoffhours,” I warmly retort.
“And in your on?”
“Gearhead with his own garage.”
“Here in Crystal Waters?”
“Death Canyon.”
“I was gonna say…” more light laughs escapes, “I was pretty sure I knew all the non-chain garage owners in the city.”
“What about you?”I casually shove my hands into my jean pockets.“What do you do?”
“Lead in house mechanic for Loreville Children’s Medical Hospital and their parent network Wilhelm Medical Foundation, which just means they ship my ass all over the country to work under whatever hood they want me to.”
An unexpected, impressed hum escapes.“That’s like Rolls Royce shit.”
“Prestigious?Pretentious?”
“Not exactly something you hear about as often as others.”
“Depends on where you do your laps.”
The racing reference receives an amused nod.“True.”
“Like you, I come here forpleasure.”Mark steals an undeniably slow lick of his lips.“No doubt.”
Oh.
Ohhhhhhh.
He’s into me.
Fuck, he’s into me?!
I mean I’m not intohimbuthiminto me is kinda surprising.
I’m used to car talk.
Not carflirt.
I don’t know anyone other than Nolan who has ever car flirted with me.
I actually don’t know any other gearheads that have been interested in working a wrench outside of the shop.
Not saying that they don’t exist.
Just saying I’ve never met one.
Until now.
“You preppin’ for a project to keep you busy during the winter storm that’s coming next week?”Mark nonchalantly investigates.“They’re saying it’ll be pretty impossible to get around town for at least a couple of days, especially between cities.”His eyes stay focused on mine.“I’ve got a buddy that works for the county and salts roads for this type of shit and even he says between the ice that’s supposed to hit and an understaffed department to deal with the problem that he thinks people won’t be able to travel safely for at least four or five days.Longer on the outskirts.”
“Not too worried.”My dark shirt covered shoulders bounce.“But thanks for the update.I appreciate it.”
“Yeah, no problem.”Mark steals another lick of his lips post drinking in my full frame.“Any chance you wanna go grab a beer?”Our eyes lock a second time.“Talk shop outside of this shop?”
My mouth moves to politely decline when a voice I’ll never get enough of grumps, “You’re not gettin’ a Fiat, Rabbit.”