I jerked my head from under the dash of the car when a hand wrapped around the ankle of my work boot and tugged. My forehead met the plastic with a sharp crack.

“Dammit,” I muttered, rubbing at the sting. I slitted one eye and peered up at my boss.

“You going to get that software bug fixed today, Larson?” Mr. Harper scowled down at me, his grey hair standing on end.

I sighed and eased my way out from under the sleek, silver vehicle. It was brought in last week, its software update corrupted and the motherboard fried. I’d replaced that but was having problems getting the software to accept a new update so that the vehicle was compliant with Stelline City’s newest environmental regulations. This car wasn’t going anywhere but the junk lot if I couldn’t get it fixed. Stelline didn’t play when it came to their environmental protections.

I gave Mr. Harper a winning smile and hoped that my mechanics’ coveralls were tight enough to distract him. The scowling twist of his lips told me that it didn’t work.

“I’m going to give it my best,” I replied. “But listen, there’s only so much more I can do. Unless you’re willing to spring for a new system so I can download the updates directly from Stell’s Motor Vehicle Compliance Database, I’m stuck with using the public communication ports. And they’re slow and congested and take forever to download and more often than not, the files are broken.” I shrugged. “Not my fault.”

“I don’t want to hear any more excuses from your pretty little lips, Larson. Get it done. Today.” Mr. Harper aimed a gob of spit at the garage floor and stomped off, muttering to himself.

I crawled back into what would be the driver’s seat, if the car actually needed a driver, and pulled my computer equipment onto my lap. I really had to get this done today. I didn’t want to disappoint Mr. Harper or lose a customer. Despite his bluster and overall crabbiness, Mr. Harper was nice guy. He took a chance on me and gave me this job when I first came to Stelline City eight months ago.

I’d left my dead-end town, out on the very edges of the territory’s backlands, and come to Stelline City for a better life for myself. Out near the edges of civilization, life was very different than it was here in Stell. The city may have been huge and sprawling, but it was clean, for the most part, and mostly low in crime. And while I worked on cars, I didn’t need one to get around Stell. The transportation system was free, frequent, and fast. Most of the citizens, except for the most well-off, used it to get around. It was a far cry from the fume-belching vehicles that ran off corn-gas back in my part of the territory. And I wouldn’t be here if Mr. Harper hadn’t decided I looked honest enough for a backlander omega and given me a chance to show him what I could do. So if I wanted to keep my job, I guessed I’d better show him I was worth it.

I tapped at the computer a few more times and blew a frustrated puff of air as I watched the download bar tick, tick, tick by agonizing millimeter. I resisted the urge to toss the ancient laptop into the recycle bin. I balanced the machine on my knees and leaned my head back onto the soft leather headrest.

It was a really nice car. Electric, driverless, silvery-sleek and low to the ground. It had the latest video touchscreen and stereo system. The climate system kept the interior at optimum temperature and humidity and cleaned the air in the five-second cycles, making any ride comfortable. I’d have liked to be able to afford a car like this someday. For now, I had to content myself with working on them. I glanced up at the download screen and bit back a scream as it slowly chugged along.

“I’m closing up, Larson.” Mr. Harper stuck his buzzed head through the door separating the garage from the office.

“Go ahead. I’m going to stay until I finish this.” I gave him a wave and turned back to the screen.

The enormous garage doors rumbled down, closing me off the from rest of Stelline City, and the interior lights flickered off. I heard a slam as Mr. Harper shut and locked the exterior door and silence settled over the garage. Now it was just me, the car, and this damnable slow download.

It was too quiet.

I shifted the computer off my lap and headed toward the radio in the corner. I needed a little something to shake my ass to while I was waiting on this update to download. I poked at the buttons and found a station pumping out butt-wiggling pop. If Mr. Harper wasn’t so cheap, he’d upgrade to a voice activated system and I wouldn’t have to move to get some music going.

I glanced at the computer again to check the download status. Still plugging along. I gave up for a few minutes and lost myself in the beats pumping out of the tinny speakers. I swirled around the sexy silver car, running my fingertips along the smooth curves and sweeps of the shining metal. My hips shook in the reflection shining back at me from the hood. I imagined a big, studly alpha bending me over the front of the car and running his hands up the backs of my thighs. I rocked my hips to the thumping music and imagined the kind of man who would own a car like this.

Alpha, most definitely. Oh, yeah, tall and broad through the shoulders. Slim hipped, tight-assed, and tanned. I mean, I wasn’t exactly looking for an alpha, or any kind of relationship really, but that didn’t mean I didn’t think about it occasionally. A mate. Kids. Maybe someday. Far into the future. Right now, I needed to concentrate on me.

The song ended and slid into something slow, with low, thumping beats. Nope, too slow. I needed to stay awake. I zipped over and punched the radio off before heading back to the car to check the computer again. Sweet Stell’s ghost! The update was done. The city must have opened up some bandwidth to help compensate for the traffic on the public wi-fi system. So maybe I wouldn’t be here as long as I thought I would.

I grabbed the computer and settled into updating the car. Lines of code scrolled by as I typed quickly. Now this, this was what I knew. Despite my quick boogie session, I was more comfortable with the computers and electronics that ran Stell’s vehicles than I was on any dance floor. The strings of nonsense running down the computer screen made sense to me. Binary math made me happy. It was so straightforward and predictable. There was something comforting about the staidness of math. It didn’t take but a few minutes and I was lost in the work of updating the car’s computer system. The light clicks of the keyboard were the only sounds echoing through the garage bay and the screen was the only light in the building, glowing blue on my face and fingers as the sun beyond the garage doors dropped below the horizon.

The harsh ringing of the garage phone ripped me away from the soft glow of the computer. I looked up, blinking against the grittiness in my eyes. It was well after closing time but the phone was insistent in its digital peals. I shoved the computer off my lap and stumbled toward the shrilling phone. I slapped at the buttons on the front until it finally connected.

“Harper’s Garage,” I mumbled, scrubbing at my eyes with the heel of my hand.

“Hello.” The low voice poured out of the speaker, smooth as cream. “This is Jason Marks, I’m calling about my car.”

Holy alpha. And I did mean alpha. I didn’t know a voice could sound like sex, honey, and home all at once. It was like someone was running warm velvet up my spine. A shiver started in my low back and ran down over my ass, prickling at my legs.

“Hello?” he said again.

“Oh, um. Yeah, hi. Sorry. We’re uh, we’re closed but maybe I can help you.” Yeah, I sounded real smooth.

“Thanks.” I thought I heard a laugh in his voice. “My car is the silver Triad X.”

“The silver sex machine, yeah, I’m working on it right now.”

This time he did laugh, and I felt it wash over me, leaving me warm and tingling. “Great. So, can you tell me when it will be finished?”

“Uh, tomorrow.” Why did I keep stumbling and stuttering over my words?

“And I can come by…” He let the words trail, leaving a blank space for me to fill.

“In the morning?”

“Are you asking me or…”

“No, no.” I cleared my throat. “Your car will be ready in the morning, Mr. Marks.”

“Thank you so much. What’s your name, anyhow?” His voice was like milk and honey pouring over my skin.

I basked in the richness of his alpha voice for a minute before answering. “Rudy.”

“Rudy.” I’d never heard my name said the way he said it. His lush city accent softened the edges of it, making it sound like a sigh. “Thank you so much, Rudy. I look forward to seeing my car in the morning.”

I stopped myself before I asked if he was looking forward to seeing me too. “Great!” I made my voice bright and what I hoped was professional. “See you in the morning.”

“Right. In the morning,” he replied.

“Okay, we’re open at 8. See you then.”

“Great.”

“Great.”

Suddenly we were that googley-eyed teenaged couple that didn’t want to hang up the phone. I hoped he did it first. Wait, what was I thinking?

“I’ll see you in the morning,” he chuckled softly, and then there was an empty hum that told me he’d disconnected the call.

I backed slowly away from the phone and settled back into his car. I took a deep breath, trying to let my sharp sense of smell pick up any trace of the alpha on the phone, but time—and other techs—had erased any scent he may have left behind. I turned my head, pressing my cheek into the soft leather of the seat, and pretended it was his hand caressing my face, moving down my neck, tugging the zipper of my work coveralls down, working past my belt toward my growing bulge. I imagined his teeth sinking in my neck, claiming me, owning me, marking me.

Whoa, now. What the hell? I jerked upward and tried to push the thoughts away. This was not me. I didn’t get caught up over some alpha like this. Or anyone, for that matter. I was here in Stelline City to work, improve myself, to leave behind the backlands and everything that happened there and make a new life for myself. I didn’t have time to get involved in some romance with an alpha. Even one who could have fucked me with just his voice. Nope, this wasn’t me. I was going to do what I came here to do and forget about the voice of Mr. Jason Marks. And tomorrow, I’d make myself scarce when he came in to pick up his car.

Mind clear and functional, I pulled the computer back into my lap and got to work. I’d be here most of the night getting it finished but when it was done I wouldn’t have to worry about Mr. Sexy Alpha again.

At least, that was what I told myself as I adjusted the computer so it didn’t knock into my still-swollen cock.