Okay, kicking it hadn’t helped. The tire was still flat and I was going to be so late. I looked at the vile thing in my hands knowing any minute it would ring. Celeste was not going to be happy and I should curse my phone. It wasn’t its fault.

The parking lot behind the building wasn’t empty, but it was filled with silent steel traps that in no way could help me until the air combusted with sound. An engine that meant to be heard roared into the area like a swarm of bees amplified.

Black paint so shiny the sun reflected off in burst of starlight had me lift my hand to stave up the brightness.

The boy that stepped out in the newly created silence when the engine died was a gift from heaven. I was pretty sure my jaw fell open as I stood holding a lug wrench that looked more like a cross as if I was warding him off.

Tall with a short crop of curls that crowned him the prince he was he walked never once looking in my direction. I wasn’t surprised. I wasn’t the prize my stepsister Celeste was.

The breath that I’d been holding escaped as my own stupefaction kept me from asking for help.

As if that air that left my lungs somehow created a breeze strong enough to reach him, he turned in my direction.

There was a gathering storm brewing in his blue eyes as they narrowed on me and down to the tool I held in a white knuckle grip.

His eyes rolled heavenwards as his direction course corrected towards me.

“I know how. The nuts are tights.”

I clamped my lips shut sounding like a complete idiot. He towered over me, reaching me in only a few powerful strides. I stared up at him like some zealous fangirl unable to speak.

He held out his hand and glanced down at his large palm before slowing handing over the tool.

His gaze zipped away as he bent down and easily loosened the nuts one by one with a powerful jerk. Biceps flexed and I was pretty sure I drooled a little.

When his focus landed on me again, I was paralyzed. His silent communication went on deaf ears as I was lost in just how beautiful he was in a tragic way. It was like how my specimens stared at me with object horror that their lives had ended to be pinned to a dish to be studied.

“Spare tire.”

I blinked. His voice was gruff and commanded my body to move. It took a second for my brain to process the language he’d been speaking, the only one I knew. I shuffled away feeling more like a complete loser than I ever had. I shoved back at my mass of sun beached hair muttering cursing in my head.

Had I been moving to slow, I asked myself as he moved by me so close I smelled the soap he’d used to shower with. But his skin never touched mine. I stopped in my tracks and watched as he lifted the tire from my truck like it weighted nothing.

Then he slid by me and had the spare on before I could fully turn to watch him like I had a bowl of popcorn in my hand.

“I’ve never seen anyone work as efficiently as a worker ant before.”

Did I really just say that? Not that it mattered. He didn’t so much turn and acknowledge that I’d spoken.

I pulled the hair band from my arm I used to tame my hair that begged for a flat iron. I managed to wrangle the beast into a half formed bun at the base of my neck before he stood hefting the damaged tire to my open trunk.

The metal clanged shut and he called over to me. “Don’t drive too long on that.”

“Thank you,” I said to his retreating from. He moved fast without running, his height giving him the advantage of lengthy strides. I muttered, “Thank you,” again more to myself.

My phone had vibrated a few times in the minutes he’d taken to sort me out.

“Celeste.”

“Where are you? I’ve called a dozen times and you haven’t answered—”

“I know. I’m sorry. I’m on my way.”

“On your way? Seriously. I’m standing out here like an loser. I should have driven myself…”

The shrillness of her voice had me flinching. I got in the car knowing it was better for me to be on my way than to listen to her give me hell for not being on time.

I sat the phone in the cradle and let her get her anger off her chest hoping she would be in a better mood once I picked her up.

When I arrived, she stood in front of the beauty spa place she frequented tapping her foot as she still berated me for being an awful sister and leaving her to wilt in the sun.

I pulled exactly in front of her so she didn’t have to move except to barely reach out to open the car door to get in.

“Where is your mind, Willow? I practically dripping with sweat.”

“I’m sorry.”

Finally she took a breath. “What happened? It’s not like you. Tell me it’s a boy. I could forgive that.”

My tongue loosened, but I stopped myself. If I told her about the nameless boy that had changed my tire, she would make it her mission to try to hook us up and only end up making the boy like her. She didn’t mean it. She hadn’t asked to be born with perfect hair, a picture perfect body that made guys weak. No, it wasn’t her fault. At the same time, I couldn’t lie.

“My tire went flat and I had a heck of a time changing it.”

She glared at me. “And you didn’t get some guy to help you.”

I wasn’t helpless and I couldn’t fault her for being so. Her father doted on her like she was a princess in fact.

“One did.”

Her frown morphed into a blazing smile. “And?”

I shrugged as I pulled out into traffic. “He helped and I told him thank you.”

Though it was possible he hadn’t heard me.

“Well, what’s his name? Is he cute? Did you get his number?” When I only shrugged, she frowned again. “You can’t not leave college a virgin. Seriously, Willow. This isn’t the 1950s. No guy is going to respect you more for saving yourself for marriage.”

It wasn’t like I was purposefully saving myself. I dated a few guys over the years, but either they’d used me to get to her or once they met her, they forgot about me.

“Guys aren’t interested in me,” I said half-heartedly.

She sighed. “Willow, you’re so pretty. There are so many guys out there. You just have to stop hiding in that lab studying bugs to meet them.”

Bugs didn’t hurt you like people did at least the dead ones, not that I killed them. I thought again about the nameless boy who hadn’t even given me a once over. My mom and Celeste could call me pretty all they wanted, but I never felt it. I was the ugly stepsister who didn’t catch the beautiful gene Mom and Celeste had.

I wondered again what it would have been like if my father hadn’t died. I envied Celeste and my stepdads relationship. He was nice to me, but his eyes didn’t light up when he saw me like they did when he looked at her.

“Willow.”

I blinked and came to a stop. My mind had wandered I almost ran a red light.

“Don’t kill us. We are going to a party tonight and I’m going to glam you up. Tonight’s your night”

She didn’t stop there. Though I tuned her out. There was no stopping her once her mind was made up. I would be going to the party whether I liked it or not.

Would I see that boy again? If Celeste dressed me like her a doll in clothing to short or tight, would he see me? And if he did, would I want him to like the version of me Celeste created?