Page 5 of Beneath the Hood

He taps his knuckles on the countertop. “See ya later, Karen. Don’t work too hard or I’ll be forced to come back up here and take you out for an extra-long lunch.”

She smiles, her blush deepening as she waves him off.

He turns, sparing me a single glance, and disappearing through the glass doors leading to the garage.

Smiling softly at Karen, I walk closer. “I’m at your service today, Karen. Put me to work.”

The grin she held for Jackson slips from her face, transforming into a grimace as she regards me. “Like usual, Miss Donahue, not much for you to do other than manning the front desk and answering calls. I can handle the rest.”

Irritation surges through my insides even as I keep a smile pasted on my face. “It’s just Blakely, Karen.”

Karen hums and grabs a stack of papers as she walks away. I plop in the reception desk chair, spinning around and sighing as I resign myself to my fate. I have to play nice, for my father’s sake, but being here makes me itch. Every minute that ticks away on the clock is another wasted second that I could be dedicating to my career. The one nobody takes seriously except me. They don’t understand the dedication, and I don’t think they ever will.

There was a moment when I thought my father saw the truth. When he sat me down, saying he wanted me to take up a position with Donahue Inc., my chest warmed, thinking that he saw how hard I worked at being an influencer. At the business I conduct behind the scenes. But, of course, he didn’t. He sees the pictures in the papers and falls for the act, just like everyone else.

So instead of giving me a real chance to prove my worth, he stowed me away at Donahue Motors, a branch of his conglomerate responsible for making prop cars used in the movies he produces.

Out of sight, out of mind.

I could have told him no, I suppose. But I know he’s doing it out of love, even if it’s misguided, and I don’t want to disappoint him. He’s the only family I’ve got.

Besides, he’s not abadfather, just an absent one.

A squeak from the hallway brings me out of my thoughts. Karen comes back around the corner, huffing and puffing, pushing a dolly with large boxes.

I jump out of my chair, rushing to her side. “Let me do that, Karen. Where are they going?”

“Oh no, Miss Donahue, don’t worry about me. I’ve got years left in these bones yet,” she protests.

I don’t listen, moving her to the side, my hands replacing hers on the handle.

She doesn’t put up a fight. “They’re going out to the garage. It’s the order Jax has been waiting on.”

“On it.” I smile, winking at her. I’m overcompensating, trying for the thousandth time to gain her approval, but it doesn’t work. She gives me nothing more than a small lift in the corner of her mouth and goes behind the front desk, already on to her next task.

Pushing through the glass doors that lead into the expansive garage, I roll the boxes over to the shelving of inventory and glance around, looking for broad shoulders and sun-kissed hair.

I find him hunched under the hood of a forest green convertible. I’m not sure what kind of car it is, only that it looks old and expensive.

“You know,” I say, my stomach tightening as his back straightens from my voice. “I sincerely hope you come with better lines than what you used on poor Karen when you’re trying to snag some vag.”

He sighs, straightening up and looking at me with a blank face. Turning, he sets his tool down and walks around the car, leaning against the driver’s side door.

“Should you be leaning against that?” I gesture toward the convertible.

“Should you be using words like ‘snag some vag?’” he bites back.

A pang of excitement slams into my stomach. Jackson’s feisty today.

“Well, I don’t know what lingo you old folk are into these days, but vag is short forvagina.” I smile big and wide.

His jaw twitches. “I’m familiar.”

Smirking, I eye him up and down, wiggling my eyebrows. “Oh, I have no doubt.” Walking over and peering inside the front of the car, I wrap my fingers around a rod that’s holding up the hood. “What ya working on?”

I feel the heat of his body as he comes to stand next to me. His hand wraps around mine, the weight of his touch as he peels my fingers off the metal making my breath stick in my throat.

“Be careful, please. You could hurt yourself,” he murmurs next to my ear.

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