Page 14 of Drive Me Wild
“Hey.”
“Hey.”
“You look upset.” He nods to Avery as she passes by with a finger in the air, letting him know she’ll be back.
“Have you heard about the library?”
“Yeah. Crazy, huh? The town can’t stop talking about whether they’ll tear the place down or try to raise funds to fix it. Is that what upset you?”
“Well, yeah. That’s where I was going to work. My only source of income requires me to be online, and now my only access to the internet is in a freaking condemned building.”
“You could work at my place.”
I feel a jolt in my chest.
“I wouldn’t want to intrude on your man-lair.”
Avery walks up and plunks down a mug of coffee in front of Caleb. “You owe me the cost of the coffee and the three mugs you haven’t brought back yet.”
“Sorry. I’ll get those back here as soon as I drink this cup.”
“That’s what you said on Friday.”
His lip curls in a grin. “You’re right. But I swear this time I’m good for it.”
“You better be, or I’m withholding coffee tomorrow.” She grabs his cash and winks at me as she walks the money to the register.
“Hey, Avery!” he calls to her. “That’s for two cups.” He points toward my empty mug. “Keep the change.”
Then he slides off the stool and starts to walk away before turning back toward me. “You coming or what?”
I grab my backpack and follow him out the door, hoping Avery doesn’t notice. If he can help me, I don’t want to turn the offer down, even if being around him is a little tortuous.
He’s a few steps ahead of me, waiting at the curb, and again, I get to admire the view.
This time, he’s wearing blue machinist coveralls, with a dirty red shop rag hanging out of his back pocket. The coveralls are loose enough for him to work in but fitting enough that I don’t miss the bulge of his muscles as he moves.
This man is built like a brick house, and it’s panty-melting.
I join him on the curb and cross the street to Buzz’s Auto Body. The large garage door is open, and there’s a car up on a vehicle lift with a young guy standing under it, working.
We head to the back of the shop to a flight of stairs, and I follow him up the dark staircase. At the top, there’s a small landing and a plain wooden door. He opens it and gestures for me to step inside.
I’m met with another dim hallway and start questioning if this was the right decision.
Can I really work in his bachelor pad? What was I thinking?
“All the way to the end.”
I head down to where he is pointing. Some natural light is spilling onto the floor and I can see that the hall opens on one side to a room. When I turn the corner, I gasp.
It’s beautiful here.
Plants hang in the windows, which are tastefully dressed with light-colored but plain drapes. The walls are painted in a rusty orange color, which only accentuates the greenery that I now see in every nook and cranny. Fronting one of the nearly floor-to-ceiling windows is a small white wooden table and two chairs, and beyond that, on the wall, a monitor is mounted in a plain wooden case.
“You can use Bluetooth to connect to the monitor.”
I drop my backpack on the dark green couch, pull out my laptop, and set it on the table.
