Page 13 of Secretary Crush
9
ELLA
I’ve officially been working at the garage for one whole month, and to my surprise, I really like the job. It’s not hard work. All I do is answer phones, place some orders, submit things to insurance, and keep the place clean. The guys are a lot of fun, and on most days, it feels like I’m just hanging out with old friends instead of working. Hudson and I have even gotten a little closer, though he’s a bit more reserved than the guys. For the first couple of weeks, he almost didn’t talk to me at all, but I kept pushing, and slowly but surely, he’s beginning to let me in.
The day is a normal day. It’s hot as hell outside, so the guys are coming into the office every chance they get. I run out and get lunch for everyone, and we all eat together while we talk and laugh and mess around. When the food is gone, they all get back to work in the garage, and I’m left to clean the place up. Their big work boots tend to hold a lot of dirt, so I’m always sweeping the floor by the end of the day. And I’m often wiping down every surface in the office to remove their greasy fingerprints. I clean up more after the guys than anything else, but I’ve really grown to love them like a bunch of brothers.
The day winds down, and the guys filter out as they finish their work. By closing time, Hudson and I are the only ones left. I pull the garage doors closed and get them locked. Then I shut down the office. Not wanting to leave him all alone, I grab a couple of beers out of the mini fridge and go over to his section. He sees me approaching, so he stands just as I hold out a beer for him.
“You don’t have to stay. Go on and get out of here, enjoy life while you’re young,” he says, twisting off the top and tossing it into the pan of oil. He takes a long drink and leans against the wall of toolboxes.
I hop up to sit on the top of the counter. “I don’t really have anything planned for tonight,” I tell him, opening my beer and taking a drink.
“I’m sure you can figure something out. Go to the bar, have dinner, dance, have fun.”
I snort. “If I leave here, I’m going home, taking a shower, probably eating a bowl of cereal for dinner, then I’m falling asleep on the couch while watching some stupid reality show. My life isn’t that exciting.”
He chuckles. “That sounds a lot like my nights, actually.”
I nod. “Yeah, I mean, being single is good sometimes, but a lot of the time, it’s just lonely. It’s so boring. Like I’m alone all of the time. I have nobody to talk to. Sometimes, I talk to myself. It’s pretty bad when I ask myself a question out loud.”
He laughs. “Yeah, I know the feeling.”
“Is that why you work so late?”
He looks up at me, and I see his eyes darken as his jaw flexes. He shrugs. “What else am I going to do?”
I smile and shrug. “I don’t know. Maybe go to the bar, have dinner, dance, have fun,” I repeat his line back to him, and he laughs. He points at me as he lifts his beer to his lips.
After I take a long drink, I slide off the counter and walk around the bike he’s building. “So, what are you working on anyway?”
“Ugh…I finished work on the motor earlier, so now I’m just bolting it onto the frame and getting the wiring all lined out.”
“How’d you learn how to do this?”
“What? Build bikes?”
I nod.
“It was always a hobby. School, history and science, none of that stuff really ever made sense to me. But bikes, motors, that just clicked.” He snaps his fingers. “My dad brought home a 110 dirt bike for me when I was just a kid. He saved it from the junkyard. It didn’t run, and it looked like it had been pulled out of a creek, but it gave me something to do. It took me a few years of not knowing what I was doing to actually get it running, but I did it, and after that, everything else just fell into place. I’ve been doing this ever since.”
“That’s cool. Do you ride too?” I ask, climbing onto the bike.
He looks at me, and his eyes light up as a smirk forms on his face. “I have a bike. What about you? Have you ever been on a bike?”
I laugh. “What do you think?” I ask, looking at him from under my lashes.
“I’m going to go out on a limb and say no, but you’ve got the look.”
My brows lift. “I do?”
He nods. “It suits you, but I find it hard to believe that you wouldn’t look perfect doing anything.”
That compliment makes my body flush with heat. He’s never given me a compliment before, never flirted. I’ve only ever seen him checking me out when he thought I didn’t notice. I’ve wanted him since the day I first met him, and I could tell he wanted me too. However, we’ve both been trying to hold back due to our situation. Suddenly, I no longer care about holding back. All I want is to feel him against me, cost be damned.
I offer him a smile as I swing my leg back over the bike. “Need another drink?” I ask, walking back toward the kitchen. I don’t give him time to answer. I can’t. Right now, if I don’t put some space between us, I may just do something I regret.
Goose bumps are prickling my skin, and every muscle is tense as I hold myself back from what I really want. I remind myself that what I want is wrong and may cost me my job, but deep in my gut, I don’t feel like it’s a mistake. I’m picking up on all the hints he’s been dropping, all the hints he’s been trying not to drop. It’s easy to see that we’ve both been holding ourselves back. Who will be the first one to let go?
