Chapter Seven – Jamie

 

“Three hours,” Dex said flatly, handing Roxy a pink backpack. “Three hours.”

“I’m sorry.” She pressed her hands to her chest. “The interview went on a little longer than I thought, then a friend invited me to lunch. I knew she wouldn’t be a problem.”

Dex dug in his pocket and pulled out his cellphone. “See this? It’s called a phone. It has this really neat feature where you can call people and talk to them to tell them things. Like if you’re going to be two hours late.”

Charley rolled her eyes. “Mom never uses her phone.”

“I never use my phone to speak to your uncle,” Roxy corrected her.

“I know. I called you twenty times.”

“Thirty-three,” she replied. “My phone was on silent.”

“You’re such a banana-splitter,” he snapped.

Roxy grinned, clearly holding back a laugh. “How’s it feel to look in the mirror?”

“Get out of my garage.” He waved his hand at her. “And tell Aunt Greta to make sure she has a bra on when I get home. She scarred me for life this morning.”

I covered my mouth with my hand to hide my laughter.

Roxy caught my eye and smiled, her tongue caught between her teeth. She wiggled her fingers right before she ushered Charley out of the garage and across to her car.

“Women. You’re all out to get me.”

“Have you considered you’re the common denominator here?” I asked, leaning against the side of the car I’d been working on all morning. “Me, your sister, your niece…”

He sighed at me. “I’m too tired to fight you.”

“What’s with the banana-split thing?”

Another hand wave. “Apparently, Charley picked up on Roxy calling me on my bullshit one too many times, so Charley now calls bullshit, banana-split. And uses it to call me on it.”

I laughed. “That’s the most random thing I’ve ever heard.”

“Well, I discovered it when Charley told me she liked you after five minutes, because you don’t take my banana-split.”

“She’s gonna go so far in life,” I mused. “And she’s right. I don’t.”

“Much to my annoyance.”

“Really? It annoys you that I fight you on everything? Oh my God. It’s not obvious at all.”

He turned to look at me. “I can’t decide if sarcasm is your default setting, or you’re deliberately trying to wind me up to the point I fire you.”

“That would shorten this torturous three weeks into something a little less…long.”

His lips twitched to the side. “I’m not going to fire you, Jamie. No matter how much you get under my skin. It’d be much more enjoyable to see you break first.”

I raised an eyebrow. “I’m sorry to disappoint you. I don’t break. I might bend a little, but I don’t break. If you think the fact I can’t stand to be in your presence means I’m going to throw in the towel, you need to have a rethink. If anyone breaks here, it’ll be you.”

He took a step closer to me, amusement still shining in his eyes. “I love your arrogance. I can’t wait to see you realize you’re in over your head with me.”

I pushed off the car, annoyance pulsing through my veins. One step, two steps—I was right in front of him, almost nose-to-nose. And I was rapidly giving in to my anger.

“My arrogance?” I asked in a low voice. “Are you familiar with your own?”

“I prefer confidence.” He smirked, something sparking in his bright blue eyes. “For me, that is. Arrogance definitely fits you better.”

He went to move away, but I wasn’t done.

“I grew up in this garage.”

He froze.

I pinned him with my gaze. “Whoever owns this garage bought it from my father. So since you think I can’t hack it, you should know that I was a girl in a man’s world before I was ever a woman in a man’s world.”

He held my gaze. Unwaveringly. The harshness with which he stared at me sent a shiver down my spine, but I fought it.

I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of knowing he’d affected me.

Without breaking eye contact, he tilted his head to the side, just a tiny bit. Then, he lifted one grease-coated, roughened hand to the side of my face, and using two fingertips, pushed some of my thick, unruly hair behind my ear.

I swallowed when he lowered his mouth to the side of my face, lips almost ghosting over my skin until a breath of air separated his mouth and my ear.

“That might be right,” he said in a low, rough voice. “But you’ve never been in my world, Jamie. It’s not a man’s world I don’t think you can hack—it’s mine.”

He released my hair and pulled back from me.

Goosebumps prickled across my skin. The further away from me he walked, the more I was aware of the chill that wafted across my skin courtesy of the air-con.

I took a deep breath.

For a moment, it was as if he’d stolen the oxygen from around me and blocked out the cold breeze.

For a moment, I’d almost wanted his lips to brush my skin.

And on that note, I knew I had to leave for lunch.

 

***

 

I blinked at my clock. My heart was racing a thousand miles an hour, and even as I stared at the red, LED number on the screen, I couldn’t make it out.

I gave up, instead rolling over and running my hand through the matted mess that was my hair. I could feel the sweat sticking to my body, and my feet were so tangled in the sheets I knew I’d have to change them before I left this morning.

I peered over my shoulder at the cloth once I’d gotten my breathing under control.

Five-fifteen a.m. Over an hour before my alarm, and I was awake for one simple reason.

The kiss in that dream had been all too real.

The faceless, nameless person that Sleep Jamie had been playing tonsil tennis with was identifiable by one fact only.

He smelt like coffee and motor oil.

Not a particularly desirable scent, but one that, to me, weirdly, was attractive.

I only knew one person who smelt like that, and his name was Dexter Ryne.

I wasn’t surprised. After our…moment…yesterday, neither of us had said a word to the other. God knows why he didn’t speak, but I was silent because I had a startling realization over lunch.

I was attracted to him.

Pin me down, flip me over, fuck me ‘til next week attracted to him.

I’d almost dropped my damn sandwich.

I wasn’t okay with this. He was handsome, sure, but he was also an asshole. I could say that with absolute confidence, because I, too, was an asshole.

Takes one to know one, after all.

But it was the way he’d come up to me. I’d relived it a hundred times, and I felt like a goddamn schoolgirl by the time I’d gone to bed last night.

Something which had apparently let my subconscious slut out to play.

Obviously, I’d deprived her of sexy dreams for a while.

No.

Dex.

Goddamn it.

The way he’d held his ground, kept eye contact, smoothed my hair with his rough hand. The gentle way he’d drawn me in until he’d whispered in my ear.

Whispered something that sounded a lot like both a threat and a promise.

A threat that I couldn’t hack it, and the promise that he’d prove it.

But what was his world?

Was he going to throw jobs at me he didn’t think I could do, or was he going to use another weapon—himself?

Because I could do all the first. There wasn’t a thing I couldn’t fix.

He was another matter.

I wasn’t weak. I had no doubt I’d be able to resist him, but I was also human. If I was attracted to him, I’d give in eventually. He wouldn’t win the battle of the mechanics, but he might just win the battle of seduction.

If he wanted to go that way.

Hell, maybe he wasn’t even attracted to me. Maybe he was just a touchy, flirty asshole who got off on making women feel like he wanted him. If that was true, then fine. That would make it easier if he wanted to pretend to want me.

I talked a good game.

That was my only thought as I scrambled out of the sweaty sheets. I tugged them all off and threw them into a ball beneath my window, then trudged into the shower.

If I was going to think deep thoughts, I might as well get clean at the same time.

I stripped off and threw my clothes in the laundry hamper, then started the shower. It was way too cold when I got in, but I was too tired to care. It heated up quickly enough, and once the chill had left my skin, my mind wandered back to my previous train of thought.

Dex.

What was I thinking? I didn’t like him, and just two days ago, I’d been disgusted that Haley obviously wanted to jump his bones.

Now, I kinda wanted to.

More to the point, I kinda wanted to know if Real Dex kissed better than Dream Dex. And that was a high bar to beat…

I smacked myself in the forehead. What was wrong with me? What the hell was I doing, standing in the shower lamenting a dream? There were thousands of mechanics in this country who probably smelt like coffee and motor oil.

Maybe I’d kissed one of them. They didn’t have faces as far as I was concerned, after all.

Yeah, I’d kissed one of those. Not Dex. Not the asshole boss who flicked my sarcasm switch before I’d even parked my car outside the garage. Not the dickhead guy who thought I couldn’t handle the job and underestimated me at every turn.

No, no, no. I’d most definitely not dreamed about kissing him and lifting up his shirt to run my fingers over his…

I needed therapy. Clearly, that was the only option presented to me at this time.

Or…alcohol and carbs would work. They were cheaper than therapy…

 

***

 

“Or quitting!” Haley snapped at me from the treadmill next to me once I was done weighing up therapy or carbs. “He doesn’t respect you, Jamie. He doesn’t believe you’re good enough. He thinks he can handle your temper, for the love of God. You can’t even handle your temper!”

“Your date went well last night, then,” I replied dryly, grabbing my water bottle.

“No. It was a hot freakin’ mess, because daddy’s boy was thirty minutes late and accused me of being rude when I wanted to leave.”

“You ordered the lobster, didn’t you?”

“Damn fucking right I ordered the lobster,” she continued. “But we’re not talking about me, we’re talking about you and your idiocy.”

“Can I remind you this job is still your fault?”

“No, you can’t. Because, if you do, I lose the moral high ground, and I look good sitting up here.”

“This job is still your fault.”

“Motherfuh.” She jabbed the button to slow it down since she was huffing in earnest now.

Anger? Exhaustion? Who could tell? Flip a coin and you’d still never know.

She sucked at the bottle with the vigor of a two-dollar hooker until she’d calmed down. Towel in hand, she wiped her face. “Look, I was all for it, until I met the guy.”

I was sensing a theme here…

“He’s an ass, James. And now you’re attracted to him?”

I refrained from pointing out she was like a panting puppy with a dog treat when she first laid eyes on him.

“And yes, I appreciate I was a little googly-eyed when I met him,” she added, one finger lifted in my direction. “But this is not good. You cannot be attracted to someone who undervalues you that much.”

“I know tha—”

“He’s a self-righteous little prick who needs to be taught a lesson.”

“That’s wha—”

“How do you work with him? Just thinking about him is making me angry.”

“Can I speak now?” I forced out, getting off the treadmill.

She blinked at me. “Sure. Sorry. I got carried away.”

No shit, Sherlock.

“I know he undervalues me. I know he’s a self-righteous little prick. But I’m not saying I’m going to bonk his brains out for the next six months.” I pushed the door to the hall open and let her pass. “I was actually asking your advice on how to deal with working with him and being attracted to him before you went off on your tirade.”

“Oh.”

“Yes, oh.”

“Well, this is awkward.” Haley pushed open the door to the dressing room and held it for me. I thanked her and passed. “I don’t know, if I’m honest. I would say just avoid any situations where it might get a little bit heated—”

“So, don’t speak to him at all.”

She paused. “Mm, yeah. That was a bit of a turn on the other night at dinner. Is that how you’d foreplay?”

“Haley. Not helping.”

“Sure, sure.” We grabbed our bags from the lockers and headed for the showers. “But still, watch out for that.”

“Thanks. Observant of you.”

She grinned. “Just remember that no matter how hot he is or how tingly he makes your lady bits, he’s a sexist asshole who doesn’t have the capacity to give you the respect a badass chick such as yourself deserves.”

I paused outside my shower room. “Wow. They should hire you to give motivational speeches to college students.”

She glared at me. “Go fuck yourself,” she said, then slammed the door.

“Not a bad idea!”