Page 19 of Reckless Curves
Tom followed his voice to the far side of the workshop to Sully’s bay. At six-foot-four and weighing over two hundred pounds, Jake Sullivan towered over a lot of guys. Long, lean muscles, chiseled facial features, and ice-blue eyes gave him an air of danger.
He wore his long, silver hair in a ponytail and his square jaw was constantly shadowed with salt-and-pepper stubble. Sully was only in his early forties, but he’d gone prematurely gray when he’d been around thirty.
“Whatcha need?” he asked Tom.
“I have to go out. Don’t touch the Maserati till I get back, okay?”
As third in command, Sully knew the business backwards and kept close tabs on what their other seven mechanics were working on. He was also the resident classics expert and catered to clients who wanted to restore their auto treasures from the past.
“Yeah, sure.” Sully lowered the hood on a cream-and-black 1936 Ford F1 pickup truck. “Everything okay? You look kinda’ worried.”
“Kendra’s stuck out on Rt. 12 with a flat tire, so I’m going to get her. She tried Marcus’ cellphone, but he’s not picking up.”
Sully grunted. “Not surprised. He never remembers to charge the damn thing. I’ll ream his ass out about it again.”
Tom smiled. He and Marcus might be the bosses, but Sully didn’t hesitate to call them on stuff. “You do that. I’ll be back soon.”
“Right. Tell Kendra I said hi and that I’m mad at her because she hasn’t come to play pool lately,” Sully said.
Sully’s house was often a gathering spot for their crowd, and he had two pool tables set up in his huge finished basement. Tom thought it odd that he had never seen Kendra there. Had she not come if she knew he would be present? If so, what did that mean?
Sully stood looking at him strangely, so Tom nodded. “I will.”
He jogged out to his Mustang, settled behind the wheel, and cranked the engine to life. As he turned the air conditioning on, he thought about how hot Kendra and Connor must be in the 90-plus degree weather. He threw the car into gear and pealed out of the parking lot, racing down the road to get to them as fast as possible.
Nearing the place where Kendra should be, several inky, meandering ribbons crisscrossed the asphalt. Looking ahead, he saw Kendra’s blue van sitting at the end of the skid marks on the shoulder of the road. The tire must have blown. Relief flooded him because she’d been able to keep control of the van so it didn’t flip or go off the road into the ditch. Marcus had taught her how to drive.
He pulled up behind them and cut the engine. Hopping out, he jogged over to the van and saw that Kendra had both front windows and the side door open to allow air to circulate. She emerged from the vehicle just as he reached the rear wheel.
“Thank God you’re here,” she said.
“Why isn’t the van running, for the air-conditioning I mean?”
“Oh, that’s been broken for a while. So can you hurry, it’s hot as Hades out here!”
Her words didn’t register with Tom because her appearance transfixed him. Even with sweaty, wilted hair she was gorgeous. Her white jean shorts showed off her toned thighs and calves to perfection. She filled out the ruby red tank top she wore like a model in a music video. Tom had traveled all over the world, but he knew that he’d never find another woman as beautiful as Kendra.
She waved her hand in his face. “The flat is on the other side,” she said. “Rear tire.”
Tom mentally shook himself. He’d been gawking at her like a horny teenager. “Hi. You guys okay? How’s the little man?”
He was glad when Kendra didn’t seem to notice his preoccupation with her.
“Yeah. We’re all right. He’s just really hot and hungry.”
Tom looked inside the van at his son, who was almost asleep. “Take Connor to my car and sit in the air-con while I get this.” Connor’s black hair was as sweaty as Kendra’s and his face was flushed.
He helped Kendra pick up Connor and his things as he slept, placing him in the cool, air-conditioned mustang, which Tom had left running. Though instead of joining their son, she followed him back to her car. Changing a tire was easy, but not when legs that he longed to have wrapped around him were in his line of sight.
“We’ll get you out of here in just a few. I can’t believe that Marcus didn’t loosen the nuts for you,” he said as he walked to the back of the van and opened the hatch. “I tell everyone to get them loosened so that this situation doesn’t happen.”
Kendra followed him. “I asked him to, but he must have been busy.”
Tom stopped lifting the floor panel to stare at her. “You’re kidding. He always fusses over you.”
She lifted a shoulder. “True. He still thinks of me as a sick girl sometimes.”
“That’s bullshit. You’ve been healthy for a long time with no signs of relapse. Marcus told me that several times,” Tom said. “He’s an ass.”
