It takes everything in my power not to push myself from under the car I’m working on and check my phone after it pings with a text notification. I’ve been waiting to hear back from Nolan all fucking day, and he left me hanging for hours.
I tell myself the message is from Stacey, if only to keep from breaking protocol and whipping my phone out while still under a customer’s vehicle. It’s the only way I can keep the anticipation at bay—for a while, anyway.
This is why I don’t date. I can’t handle the anxiety of not knowing what the hell is going on. At least with Nolan there’s some history between us. I can rely on the farce of wanting to get together with him to trade childhood stories. I can’t even imagine trying to start from scratch with someone I don’t know anything about.
Only once I’ve finally finished up the car and handed the paperwork off to Wade and washed my hands, do I pull out my phone. I hold my breath as I open the message.
It’s from Nolan. “What are you up to tonight? I’m free for reminiscing.”
Ugh! I don’t know what that means? I’d like to believe it’s more than friendly. At the risk of mortifying myself later, I reply back, “I was just going to hang out at home and watch a movie.” I leave off the part where I’ll be completely alone, I don’t want to sound too desperate.
“Want to get that beer?”
I clench my hand over the butterflies fluttering in my stomach. “Sure. I’ll have to go home and shower first.”
There’s no way I’m going out with Nolan looking like I literally crawled out from under a car. It’s not fair, his shop isn’t open on Saturdays, so I know he’s going to look fresh and clean. And gorgeous, like always.
“If you want. You don’t need to do anything special for me.”
I bite my lip as I read the message, wondering just how serious he is. Maybe he’s really interested in reminiscing—wouldn’t he want me dolled up if we were going out?
You know what? Fuck it.
I don’t even know why I’m debating this. He is well aware of the fact that I work underneath cars all day, and if he can’t handle me showing up a little disheveled, then that’s his problem. Not mine.
***
“You’re in a hurry,” Jaron comments beside me at the sink.
I scrub my hands clean and check for any residual junk on my face. Even with my hair tucked into my hat, it still looks like a rat nested in it. “Yeah, I’ve got plans tonight,” I explain, combing my fingers through my hair.
“A guy?” he asks, looking me up and down doubtfully.
“None of your fucking business,” I snap.
“Oh, so it is a guy,” my brother teases, bumping his shoulder with mine while he continues to soap up.
“Shut up,” I grumble, then turn to him. “How do I look?”
“Gorgeous, darling,” he tells me in an overdone and terrible English accent.
“Asshole.” I check myself in the mirror one last time before I rush around, checking the locks on the bay doors and turning off lights.
Jaron adopts the same sense of urgency as me while we lock up and set the alarm, Wade having abandoned us an hour ago to do some ‘important shit,’ as he put it. I don’t even care anymore. Just a couple more days and we’ll be sitting him down for a little chat.
“Have fun. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” Jaron tells me with a chuckle when we part ways outside the door.
“Go home and fuck your girlfriend,” I yell to him across the parking lot. I can’t let him think just because I’m worried about how I look for a guy tonight that I’ve gone soft, after all.
He barks out a laugh and climbs into his truck.
Taking deep breaths, I invoke calm while I wait for my car to warm up. Checking my messages again, I see Nolan’s responded with tonight’s preferred venue—The Desserted Island. Nervousness gnaws at me, because that bar is pretty close to Jaron’s place and I know sometimes, he and Angelica go there.
I hope they decide to stay in tonight.
My stomach roils the entire drive to The Island and follows me through the door. I glance around nonchalantly, but don’t see Nolan yet. I allow the hostess to lead me to a table for two near the bar, hoping this isn’t some prank for old time’s sake or something.
Not more than two minutes later, Nolan strolls through the door, glancing around the place like I did. A bright smile lights up his face when he spots me.
“Hey Ry,” he says with a grin as he slides into the chair opposite me. “How was work?”
“Hey. It was work,” I reply with a grin and a shrug. “How was your fancy day off? What’s that like? Having two days off?” I ask with faux dreaminess in my voice, propping my chin on my hand and batting my eyelashes at him for good measure.
A deep laugh rumbles from him, and I like the sound far too much. I take that moment, while he’s working to compose himself to look him over. I saw him the other day in the shop, and although I noticed, he is still as fucking hot as ever, I didn’t notice how different he looks from the last time I saw him eight years ago. Maybe it’s just the perspective of seeing him as a man through a woman’s eyes. His features are more rugged, his jawline more defined.
“What do you see?” he asks, cocking his head to the side when I’ve been staring too long.
I shake my head, feeling my cheeks heat up. “You just look so different from the last time I saw you.”
“Yesterday?” He chuckles.
“No, asshole,” I tell him with a laugh and roll of my eyes. “The last time I saw you before yesterday. It was like, eight years ago at Wade’s graduation party.”
“Yeah, wow. You were what, eighteen?” He shakes his head. “The most obnoxious teenager I ever fucking knew.”
“Hey!” I scoff at him. “You weren’t exactly the best company, either.”
“But I wasn’t a little teenage shit.”
“No, but you were a twenty-two-year-old jackass.”
“Fair enough,” he concedes with a laugh, holding his hands up in surrender. “Want a beer?”
“Sure,” I tell him with a smile. “I’ll have whatever you’re having.”
“Sounds good.” Nolan makes his way to the bar and orders us two beers, bringing them back to the table in record time.
“Wow. That was fast,” I comment as she sets the beer in front of me.
“It helps when you’re as charming as I am.” He gives me a wink.
“You always were a charmer,” I say with a chuckle. “Remember that time Wade broke Mrs. Leymeyer’s window with a baseball? If it weren’t for you complimenting her new haircut, I think she would have called the cops on you guys.”
“Oh, I remember. You weren’t even supposed to be with us. You fucking tailed us like a goddamned ninja. We didn’t even know you were there until you were running home to tattle on us,” Nolan points out, narrowing his eyes at me.
I shrug. “I was twelve and I didn’t have any friends. I wanted to hang out with you guys so bad.”
“That wasn’t half as bad as when you were sixteen and begging rides to the movies from us.”
“That was one time!” I protest.
“I distinctly remember it being much more than once. You were always just kind of hanging around. Why was that? How come you never had any boyfriends or anything?”
“Are you kidding? Have you met my brothers? They wouldn’t let any guy within a hundred yards of me.” I chuckle when I recall how protective Jaron and Wade were of me in those blossoming teenage years. “Besides…” I take a pull off my beer.
“Besides?” Nolan pries.
“I kinda had a crush on someone, so I didn’t take notice of other guys,” I tell him, wondering how far down this path I want to wander with him.
“Yeah? I never heard you talk about any guys—it was just your girlfriends and clothes and makeup. Honestly, I’m kind of surprised you ended up working in the garage,” he says, a furrow between his brows.
“I was always into cars, but you know teenage girls—it’s all hormones and trying to impress the opposite sex. I was attempting to be what I thought my crush wanted, the kind of girls I saw him with.”
“I don’t know why the hell you girls do that. I don’t know why some grown-ass women do that shit—pretend to be something they’re not just to try to impress a guy. Please tell me you’ve grown past that bullshit?”
“I’ve grown past that, obviously. I’m doing what I love and not giving any fucks about what anyone else thinks of it,” I reassure him with a grin.
“Are you going to tell me who this guy was? Do I know him?” he asks, but I see a mischievous twinkle in his eye.
He knows it’s him. He has to know it’s him, but he’s playing coy because he wants me to come out and say it. But I’m okay playing this game of cat and mouse for a little while longer—mostly because I’m not sure which he thinks I am, the cat or the mouse. “Yeah, you know him.” I take another swig of my beer.
“You ever tell him you had a crush on him?”
“Naw. He never saw me like that.”
“What if he sees you like that now?” Nolan licks along his lower lip. “What if he liked you too, but doing anything about it just wasn’t a good idea at the time?”
“Does he think it’s a good idea now?”
“Do you?”
“I don’t know. He’s pretty close with my brother. That could cause problems.”
“Fuck Wade,” Nolan growls, his expression morphing into a scowl.
Well, I guess they’re still on the outs.
“I spent too much time worrying about what he would think. Rylie, will you go on a real date with me?” he continues. “I don’t give a shit what Wade thinks. We’re both adults.”
“Wait, this isn’t a real date?” I gasp in mock surprise.
Nolan shakes his head at me.
“I don’t give a shit what Wade thinks, either,” I say when he doesn’t answer me. “I’m more worried about how that’s going to work out between the two of you, being roommates and all.”
“You let me worry about your asshole brother.”
“He’s still in the doghouse, huh?”
“Rylie, is that a yes or a no? Or did you really just come here to swap stories from your teenage years and talk about your brother?”
“Yes,” I say after a moment of hesitation. I’m not about to let Wade get in the way of a real chance at something with Nolan, especially if he’s willing to take the bullet on this. “I’ll go on a ‘real’ date with you.” I make air quotations with my fingers, because I’m not entirely sure how much different a ‘real’ date would be than what we’re doing now—namely having a conversation and a drink.
“Monday night? After work?”
“Do I get to shower this time?” I ask, running my hand over my hair.
“Don’t do that. You look great, but if you want to get dolled up for me, I will never say no to that.”
“Okay,” I agree, giving him a grin.
“Okay. You want me to pick a place for dinner, or do you want to do the picking?”
“You can pick. Surprise me,” I tell him with a smile as I stifle a yawn.
A smirk lifts up one corner of Nolan’s mouth. “Time for you to get home, sleeping beauty.”
“I am fucking exhausted,” I admit with another yawn.
We both pull on our coats and make our way to the door.
Nolan follows me to my car, even though the parking lot is well-lit in the winter darkness. “Rylie,” he says.
My attention shifts from where I’m opening my door to where he leans against the rear door behind me. “Yeah?”
He doesn’t say anything, just runs his knuckles over my cheek and down to my chin. His warm fingers against my cool skin makes my eyes flutter for a moment, mimicking the motion of the butterflies in my stomach. With his fingers underneath my chin, he runs his thumb over my lip, making it tingle from the contact—his eyes tracing the movement.
Licking at his bottom lip, he leans closer. I think I forget to breathe, because I grow lightheaded and a little dizzy when his lips finally touch mine.
“I can’t wait to take you out on Monday,” he whispers as he pulls away from the chaste kiss.
God. Damn.
There wasn’t even any tongue involved, but that had to be the most romantic kiss I’ve ever had.
My brain isn’t even working enough to register a response to either the kiss or the unspoken promises of what is to come on Monday night.
“Good night, Rylie,” Nolan tells me as he pulls my car door open for me when I’m still standing frozen.
I slide into the driver’s seat, Nolan closing the door behind me. He gives a little wave, but I’m still too dumbstruck to wave back.
I’m pretty sure it takes another an entire minute before my brain comes back online. I slam the key into the ignition and start the engine. While I wait for the car to warm up, I run shaking fingers over my still-tingling lips.
If Nolan kisses me like that again, I’m going to be putty in his hands Monday night.