Page 145 of Debts and Desires
“Thought you might.”
We had been talking for the most part, usually in between my singing lines of songs. Carter was working under a car, listening sometimes and helping me others. We were making plans for Christmas, too. Usually, Carter stayed home for holidays, but after Thanksgiving he seemed to have changed his mind.
“So, you never answered. Do you want to host this time?” I asked. It took him a moment before he responded. I could hear him working on the underside of the car, cursing to himself about, “why won’t you fuckin’ come off?!”
“Yeah, we can,” he finally answered me.
“I think it’d be fun.”
“It’d be a lot of work,” he grumbled.
“I know that! We’d have to move some stuff around. You okay with that?”
“Gonna have to be, ain’t I?” I rolled my eyes, not that he could see.
“Maybe we could make a deal?” I offered. He stilled. We hadn’t made a deal since calling off the hours, but I knew he couldn’t resist. Especially knowing that he was the one mydealsusually favored. “I give you another free-use weekend and then we figure out where to move stuff.”
“And lemme guess,” he started, the sounds of tools under the car resuming. “When you saywe,you meanI’mgonna be the one movin’ it all, ain’t I?” I bit my lip.
“Nope. I was planning on doing it all myself.” He slid out from the car super quick, holding on to it with one hand as he pointed a finger at me with the other.
“You do it all yourself and I’m gonna spank that ass of yours raw,” he threatened, making my smile grow.
“Maybe,” I smiled, dragging the word out in a sing-songy tone. His eyes were wildfire, burning me over and over again as he tilted his head in warning. “Okay, fine. I won’t do it all, I promise.” He started to move back under again. “Just most of it.” He stopped, sliding back out once more.
“Emogen,” he growled. I laughed.
“Fine, fine. We’ll call Tyler and make him do it.”
“I like the sound of that,” he chuckled, getting back to work.
He had been working for about another hour while we continued talking and coming up with lyrics. He sat up and began wiping off his grimy hands with a rag, turning it brown, black, and silver.
He meticulously cleaned his tools, placing each one back in its designated spot on the tray beside him. I watched as his fingers worked, the muscles of his exposed arms rippling ever so slightly with every movement. Then he rose from his makeshift seat on the creeper, returning the tools to their rightful place at the workstation.
Carter was very particular when it came to his tools in the shop, though the same couldn’t be said of the hidden clutter spots in the office I’d organized my first few times here.
After washing his hands at the sink, I found myself unabashedly admiring his perfectly sculpted ass. Of course, he turned, catching me staring. He gave me a look as if he knew exactly what I was thinking. I couldn’t help it, my eyes trailing over him again. I liked looking at him. He sauntered over to me.
Leaning down to kiss me, his lips met mine in a deep, consuming kiss, sending shivers down my spine. My fingers tangled in his sweat-slicked hair as I savored the feeling of his touch. As he pulled away, I felt his hand trail along the curve of my jaw, leaving me breathless as he slowly nipped at my bottom lip, then kissed his way across my cheek to my ear. His eyes danced over mine.
“What?” I whispered, my voice barely above a whisper, my heart pounding in my chest.
“I want you…” he trailed off, his voice husky with desire, before stepping back with a crooked grin. “To go order some more anti-seize. I’m almost out.” Then he walked over to Dr. Nelson’s pickup truck and opened the hood. “I’m gonna start on this one. Just to get an idea of what I’m up against.” I stared at him, my mouth open in both shock and desire. He looked over his shoulder, smug grin still on his face. “C’mon now, Miss Secretary. I want that stuff ordered as soon as possible.”
“Dickhead,” I muttered under my breath as I begrudgingly made my way to the office, sticking my tongue out playfully as I passed him.
Once inside the office, I sat at the computer, ordering the anti-seize per Carter. I went ahead and did a few things while I waited, ordered some other things I knew he’d need soon, paid the electric bill so he wouldn’t have to worry about it, and started working on the want ad for the paper.
In our other conversations the last few days, I had surprisingly convinced him to start looking into hired help. All I had said was, “You’d be able to come fuck me sooner if you had help.”
I double checked earlier if he was still serious about it, and he was. In the next few days, he wanted to go over his budget andthen start sprucing up the garage and building as a whole for interviews.
That’s also when I learned Carter didn’t have a social media presence. Like at all. It was one thing for him not to, but not for his business. Even Ty had stuff for Pete’s. I set up a few accounts for L.C. Black’s Garage and Towing after finding his logo buried on the computer. I had only made it all a few days ago, but the accounts were gaining some traction, enough that I didn’t think Carter would have any problem finding help.
“There,” I said to myself. “All done.” I turned the screen some to the wall. “What do you think?”
It was nice to have the pets to talk to, but they were at home.
