Page 11 of Driven By Desire
“I’m perfectly capable of carrying a few bags.” He’d barely finished getting the words out before a juicy, red tomato popped out of the bag, onto the floor and rolled to a stop at Max’s feet.
Struggling to hold in a snicker, Max didn’t dare raise her eyes from the rather ludicrous sight of the tomato that was now touching her toes.
“The contents of the bag, however, seem to be a bit of a problem.” The wry, self-deprecating statement had her gaze flying up to meet his. His eyes crinkled at the side with answering amusement.
Laughter bubbled up and escaped filling the previously tense space between them. Bending, Max retrieved the errant tomato and reached out to take a couple of bags from him. The light graze of her fingers against his had him freezing. Before his brain had mentally unscrambled itself from the miniscule touch, she’d grabbed half the bags and walked off in the direction of the kitchen. Lusting after his kid brother’s girlfriend was bound to earn him a special place in hell. Disgusted with himself, he followed at a safe distance. She was already busy unpacking the bags on to the kitchen counter and lining them up with all the precision of a drill sergeant.
“You don’t have to do that,” he said, uncomfortably.
“I don’t mind.” Suddenly realizing she was probably crossing a line polite guests wouldn’t, she stopped. “I’m just going to leave everything here for you guys to put away. Would you like to show me the car now?”
Snapping out of it at the sudden shift in topic, Krish moved forward. “Chirag will put them away. If you’ll follow me?”
Leading the way out of the kitchen door, he walked her through a small service area and to the three car garage at the back of the house. Lined up inside were an E class Mercedes Benz, a Honda City and what no doubt was the MG under a car cover. Hauling the cover away, Krish stepped back to let Max take a look.
“She’s a beauty.”
The quiet murmur had him nodding in acknowledgement. “My father’s pride and joy. The love of his life. Mom called her the other woman in their marriage.”
Smiling slightly, she moved forward. “She would have been a demanding other woman and a fairly expensive one. He hadn’t started restoring her before?” Catching herself before she said the accident, she saw the flash of pain that lit his eyes.
“The plan was to retire from work and spend his time restoring her to her former glory. He never got the chance.”
What an incredibly fascinating contradiction this man was. Arrogant, annoying and grouchy he may be but his love and devotion to his family shone through it all. From his sister’s fancy haircuts to the money hemorrhaging attempt at fulfilling his father’s dream. Giving his arm a compassionate squeeze, she turned towards the car. Silence fell between them as she workedher way expertly and conscientiously through the car. Leaning back against the City parked behind him, Krish slid his hands into his pockets and watched. Her touch was gentle and a little worshipful as she ran her hand over the frayed corners of the seat. In that small contact, she brought a little bit of his father back to him. He saw in her the same love for the car that his father had carried right to the end.
After a bit, she stepped back and said, “It’s going to require quite a bit of work. You’re going to require a full frame up, body off restoration of every component. The body tub will need to be totally disassembled and rebuilt. You know what I mean.”
“Actually, I don’t.”
“Excuse me?” Surprised, she looked up from her second perusal of the car.
“I have no idea what you mean.” Chagrin made his cheeks flush as he made the confession he’d been avoiding. “I’m mechanically challenged.”
Stifling her grin, she asked, “You can change a flat and that’s it?”
“Actually…” When he didn’t complete the sentence and only cleared his throat uncomfortably, her laughter filled the garage. “Not even that?”
Her unrestrained amusement had him grinning back at her companionably. “Bet you don’t know how to sew.”
“Guilty as charged.” Still smiling, she asked, “What’s your financial commitment on this?”
“Whatever it takes to finish it but I want it done right. I want all the replacement parts to be authentic and in tune with the vintage of the car.”
“That’s a lot of money if you don’t have a passion for and love vintage cars.”
“Dad did. That’s all that matters.”
Oh yes. Complicated and fascinating and so very compelling. Trying to settle the butterflies doing the polka in her stomach, Max dragged her mind back to work.
“Why now?”
Memories shadowed his eyes as he stared at the car that symbolized everything his father had meant to him. “I waited till I had the time and money to do it right. I didn’t want to make a half assed attempt at it.”
His quiet grief had Max turning away from him to give him the illusion of privacy. Stroking a gentle hand along the bonnet of the car, she murmured, “I can recommend someone for the upholstery and paint work. He does an excellent job and stays just about ten minutes from here. For the actual restoration, there is someone good in Bangalore. I can give you his contact details but you’ll have to check if he is able to come down and spend enough time in Hyderabad to complete the job. There are a couple of other people I could put you in touch with but with a job this size, I’d recommend you go with him.”
“What about you?”
“You don’t want me,” she felt compelled to point out.
