Page 40 of Turn Up The Heat

“Tell you what. Let’s call it a draw, since I was a jerk the other night. What do you say? Truce?”

She nodded and sniffled. “Truce.”

“You won’t be offended if I wait until after you’ve washed your hands to shake on it, will you?” The corners of his mouth kicked up into the barest hint of a smile.

“You’re funny.” Bellamy tried her best to glower, but she was chuckling too hard.

Shane’s laughter eased into a smile. “Take your time, okay?”

After doing a decent enough salvage job on her appearance, she splashed some water on her face, washed her hands twice for good measure, and walked back out into the garage.

“I made a fresh pot of coffee, if you want some.” Shane jutted his five o’clock shadow at the coffeepot sitting on the workbench. The aroma wafting from it was pure heaven.

“That sounds great.” She leaned against the bench with one hip while he poured. “So, are you really not going to let me drive Jenna’s car back to the resort?”

He sent out a look that suggested she was nuts. “Have you seen the drop off over the guard rails on the main road?”

Bellamy swallowed hard at the memory of the steep slopes. Okay, so it might be a teensy bit dangerous now that the snow was really coming down. But still, it wasn’t as if she could walk back to the resort. “How am I supposed to get back, then?”

“I can take you in the truck. I’m going to head out of here pretty soon anyway. I can’t do any work without those car parts, and it looks like the weather is only getting worse.” As if on cue, the wind battered the side of the garage, gusting snow against the wall in an angry scatter.

Bellamy shivered and threaded her fingers around the coffee mug Shane had offered her. “Does it snow like this a lot up here?”

“Yeah, but it’s not usually the national crisis that everyone in the city makes it out to be.”

“Considering that snowplows in Philly are a dime a dozen, you’d think getting dumped on there wouldn’t be such a big deal,” she agreed. “Although this storm looks kind of nasty.”

“Yeah, we had one just before Christmas that was about this bad.” He paused, his dark eyes resting on her. “You’ll probably be stuck here for another day or so, regardless of the transmission thing. That BMW won’t make it anywhere until the roads are cleared.”

She sighed. At this point, the only thing she had to look forward to was filing for unemployment. And telling her parents she’d impulsively quit her job. Ugh. On second thought, let it snow.

“Jenna and Holly will need to get home, and now they’re my only way back to the city. I’ll have to find a way to come back and get my car when you’re done, I guess.” Her eyes swept the space around them, settling on the car he’d been working on both times she’d arrived at the garage. “It won’t be taking up space you need, will it?”

Shane shrugged and gave up a smile, only it seemed forced. “I think you’ll be fine.” He looked at the car again, his eyes lingering, and hers followed.

The metal was the uneven dark gray of primer, and although it was clearly a sports car, it was nothing like her zippy little Miata. No, this car had a rough, powerful edge to it, more leather-jacket tough than two-seater flashy.

“So, the quitting your job thing is recent, then?” Shane asked, pulling her back to earth. He hooked his thumb through a belt loop, leaning against the rough wooden workbench.

Her lips popped open in surprise, but she didn’t shy away from the question. Better to start facing the music. “Well, that depends. Is this morning recent enough for you?”

His dark eyes went wide. “I’d say so.” He waited another beat before asking the dreaded question. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Bellamy meant to open her mouth to offer a heartfelt thanks but no thanks. It was really nice of him to offer, but there were probably forty-two things he’d rather be doing than listening to her have a career crisis.

But then she caught Shane’s eyes, open and unpretentious and smolderingly sexy, and the words that crossed her lips were definitely not “thanks but no thanks.”

* * *

“Wait,wait. Let me get this straight. Your boss called you in the middle of a dentist’s appointment and was pissed you didn’t answer while you were getting your teeth cleaned?” Shane’s forehead creased as disbelief took over his features.

Bellamy nodded and leaned back in the lone chair Shane had dragged out of the office for her to sit on. She flipped her hand up to signal scout’s honor. “Her rationale was that my ears still worked just fine. I’m sure she thought it was a bonus that I couldn’t exactly protest, either.”

From where he sat, perched on the workbench with his boots dangling over the edge, Shane shook his head. “Okay, truth?”

“You haven’t learned the answer to this question yet?”

“Right, of course.” He nodded, sending his black hair over his eyes before he flipped it back with a nonchalant toss. “It sounds like you’re way better off without that job.”

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