Carter

The inside of the garage was cool and dark after the bright sunshine outside. Mia had to blink several times to adjust to the dimmer lighting as she stepped through the doors. As soon as her eyes could focus, she gasped.

Three sports cars were tucked neatly off to the side. She didn't know exactly what they were, but she recognized them from posters she'd seen over boys' beds during her home checks. She knew enough to know that these were dream cars and probably worth more than six years of her salary.

The center of the room was set up just like her local mechanic's shop. There was a deep pit like what the oil change people used and a huge selection of tools. A bright red sports car was being worked on that she recognized from yet another boy's dream car poster.

“Wow,” she whispered, looking around at the expensive cars.

“Oh, not those.” Carter shrugged as if they were nothing. “This is what I want your opinion on.”

He put his hand on the small of her back and guided her to a far corner of the room. There was a drafting table and a pedestal with a small model of a car resting on it. She found herself missing his touch when he let go of her back.

“This is a prototype I'm working on,” he explained. He activated the drafting table, and Mia realized that it was actually a giant digital screen as big as a table. He pulled up some design specs.

“How do you have time to work on a prototype? Aren’t you busy managing the company?” Mia asked.

Carter shrugged. “I don’t really like managing, I like designing. I resigned as CEO years ago and hired one of the co-owners to manage the company. In reality, I’m not even the Chief Technical Officer, I’m more like an outside consultant.”

None of that really mattered to Mia, so she turned back to the car. “So what is this prototype?” Mia asked, feeling a little bit out of her league. It was obviously a car, but other than that she wasn't sure what she was looking at.

“The best way to describe it is a sporty minivan,” he explained. He moved his hand over the designs and pulled up some artist renditions of the car. It was sleek like a sports car but definitely made to hold more than the traditional five passengers.

“Is it electric like your newer models?” Mia asked, pointing to the engine.

Carter nodded. He pulled up a different screen on the drafting desk to a new set of schematics that Mia assumed were for some sort of engine. “We've increased the battery capability to extend range as well as increased torque for more power.”

Mia glanced up at him, watching the way excitement lit up his face as he spoke about his car. He looked different now that he was talking about cars. He wasn't the rancher anymore, he was the car man now. She wasn't sure which one she liked better, but both versions suited him.

“It looks beautiful,” she said, after a moment of looking at the model. “But, I'd never be able to afford one of your cars, so I'm not sure I'm a good person to ask about it.”

“If you could afford it, would you be interested?”

“A W Motors electric car that seats seven and looks like this?” She motioned to the model. “Hell yes. But it's never going to happen. I don't even make enough to even test drive one.”

Carter grinned. “The base price is going to be thirty thousand.”

Mia did a double take. She had expected the price to have another zero. “What?”

“That's what's so special about this design,” he explained. He looked over the designs the same way he had looked at Hopeful Dreamer- with love. “We figured out how to get the cost down. You interested?”

“Very.” Mia nodded. “It's still more than I should spend, but it's possible. When will it be available?”

He took a step closer to her and changed the design schematics on the drafting table again. “Soon. Now that the airbag lawsuit is almost finished, this car can go into production. I want to give us enough time to test and make sure it's the safest car on the market.”

“I heard about that lawsuit,” Mia said. “Something with the airbags not deploying properly?”

Carter nodded. His smile fell, and the shadows grew on his face. “Yes. There were injuries and several deaths due to the airbags in an older model of one of my cars.”

“I'm sorry.”

He shrugged, but she could still see the weight on his shoulders. It still bothered him. “We've fixed it, but I want to make sure it never happens again. I want my cars to be safe, even if it means delays.”

“You really care, don't you?” Mia asked, watching his face. His brows were drawn and eyes serious.

He turned sharply to look at her, his eyebrows rising in surprise.

“I mean, billionaires are always painted as uncaring, money-hungry tycoons. But you honestly do care,” she explained.

“Money-hungry?” he crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow.

Mia's cheeks heated. She hadn't thought that sentence through. She'd meant it as a compliment, but it obviously hadn't come out as one.

“Okay, not quite that bad,” she revised with a bashful smile.

“I better have my publicist work on my image,” he said. “I specifically requested to be seen as elitist and greedy. I'm going to have to fire all of them.” He winked at her, letting her know there were no hard feelings.

Mia let out a small laugh. “You take that really well.”

Carter shrugged. “I've been called many things. You get used to it after a while.”

Mia's heart ached for him. He didn't deserve to be called any of those things. From what she'd seen of the man, he was the exact antithesis of greedy or uncaring. She was glad she hadn't known who he was. She would have come in with a preconceived idea of what Carter would be like. He was rich, but he wasn't spoiled.

Carter cleared his throat and motioned to the designs. “What features would you want in a car like this?”

“Cup-holders,” Mia answered immediately. “More cup-holders than seem necessary. With kids, you need as many as possible.”

Carter chuckled and made a note on the drafting table, leaning over the table rather than using the chair. “Done. What else?”

Mia took a breath in as she thought. “A built-in vacuum. Smart doors that won't hit things when opened, easy to clean mats, door locks that are easy to take out of child mode... and did I mention cup-holders?”

Carter laughed. “No, I don't think you did mention those. This is why I need you.”

He leaned forward and added her ideas to his list on the table. He was so close that she could smell the soft scent of his soap. It was clean and masculine without being overpowering. It made her tremble with sudden desire.

The room was suddenly warm as her thoughts went from cars to how his muscles moved under his shirt. She wondered what he looked like with his shirt off and what his skin would feel like under her fingertips. Who cared about cup-holders anyway?

As if reading her thoughts, he stopped writing and looked up at her. Slowly, he came to his full height, and as she looked up at him, he reached for her. His fingers were cool and soft as they curled around the small tendrils of hair at the base of her neck. His touch on her bare skin sent desire snaking through her spine and down to her core.

The corner of his mouth turned up in a tiny, but confident, smile, and he leaned forward to kiss her. She forgot how to breathe, but it didn't matter. This felt so right, even with her heart pounding a million miles an hour.

The kiss never happened. Their lips never connected and everything went wrong. Just as their lips were about to touch, a sharp knock came on the garage door. They both paused. The door opened and the moment was ruined.

Mia turned. If it was one of her kids asking for the millionth time for pizza for dinner, she was going to murder them.

Only it wasn't her kids. It was the giant security guard from the first day on the ranch. Somehow, he was even bigger than she remembered. Scarier.

“Is the boy in here?” the man asked, his voice as deep as he was big.

“Which boy?” Carson asked, dropping his hand from Mia's neck.

“The youngest. Laura says he's not with the others. We can't find him.”