Page 15 of Seasons of Love
"What do you mean?"
"You help me with the Harley restoration, and I tell you everything you need to know while we do it."
I laughed. "For a moment there I thought you said you wanted me to—" But his face was serious. "No…no. No! Are you insane? I'll break your bike."
He took his pastry out of the paper bag and gave it a big bite. My brain immediately forgot what we were talking about and decided to focus on the small drop of icing on his bottom lip, just where the soft-looking skin met his beard.
"Those are my terms. Come back tomorrow after five and we'll start with lesson one."
He licked his lip, catching the icing with his tongue, and then finishing the cinnamon roll in three bites.
And now I have a boner. Fan-fucking-tastic.
"What's it gonna be?"
"Do you promise I won't hurt your bike?"
Slade laughed again. His deep rumble doing nothing to make my dick get back to a disinterested state. Unlikely to happen any time I was around him. My dick was very, very interested.
"Don't laugh, it's a genuine concern. Do you know how many tools I own?"
His brow quirked, and a wave of heat rose up my neck. With my paler-than-vampire skin, he'd no doubt noticed the blush. Damn my parents and their genetic makeup. Couldn't I have been one of those sun-kissed kids? It wasn't for lack of holidays in the sun while growing up. But I'd never been able to tan. I was destined to look like a lobster the moment the sun so much as touched my skin.
"Why don't you tell me?"
"Huh?"
"How many…tools you own."
Go big or go home, right? "Maybe I'll show them to you one day, but I can tell you none will help fix your bike."
This time it was Slade's turn to blush. His slightly tan skin and his beard made it harder to detect any embarrassment, but there was an unmistakable twitch of his lips and shine in his eyes.
"Maybe you should go now before I decide we need lesson number one right this moment."
A shiver went up my back, and not a totally unpleasant one. His words felt like a promise, one I was absolutely certain I didn't want to accept, regardless of how much certain parts of my body wanted to.
On the other hand, my track record with men wasn't the best. Case in point, my ex who left me for another man when he figured out I had no intention of marrying him or using my family money to pay my way in life. And when I say my way, I mean his way.
No. Reading any meaning or intent into Slade's words was not the smart thing to do. I needed to just pretend I didn't see the way he looked at me, or how he seemed almost as confused about my presence as I was with his.
I stood up. "Okay. I guess I'll see you tomorrow."
His smile made the wrinkles in the corner of his eyes appear again.
Fuck my life. This was such a bad idea.
7
SLADE
"Hey, boss, I'm all done here, and I've rang Mr. Stevenson to collect his car in the morning. If you have nothing else for me, I'll head home," Liam said as I came out of the staff room.
"Thanks, Liam, that's all for today. Good job with Reed's truck."
"It's a good thing I'm not allergic to bees. I guess this one beats the sex toy catalogue I found last month."
We had a notice board in the staff room where we hung photos of all the weird stuff we found inside cars. The stranger the items were, the higher up they went on the board.
