Page 9 of Unbroken

We went silent and stared at each other.

“You made high school hell for me, Fiona Cafferty. You know that?”

The small smile he’d finally cracked said otherwise.

“Same,” I said, cocking my head at Eli and leaving out the part about how he was also a highlight. “Anyway, back to business. Are you in for this fake dating thing or what?”

Eli paced in a circle as he seemed to consider it, then stopped and met my gaze with a determined look.

“Sounds like I don’t really have a choice.”

“Perfect! Now, let’s get to planning. Walk me back to the garage while we figure some stuff out.”

Eli fell in step beside me. I realized that it was the first time that we were going to be on the same team. We’d spent so much of our youth going head-to-head, but now we were united for a shared goal. And we actually seemed to be working well together. By the time we got back to the garage, I felt reasonably confident that we could pull it off … provided Eli didn’t get a sudden bout of honesty.

I turned to him. “Thanks again for driving me to town. You can head back now.”

“I’m curious to hear the final verdict from the mechanic,” Eli replied. “I’ll wait.”

I felt a spot of warmth spread in my chest when he said it. The move felt … protective. Like he cared about my wellbeing.

“Okay, I’ll be right out.”

Three minutes later, Eli walked inside to join us, looking concerned. “I could hear the yelling from the street,” he said. “What’s going on here?”

“He changed my transmission fluid,” I said to Eli. “He didn’t tell me he was doing it, and it cost two hundred dollars!”

The guy had started out pompous and condescending, but now that he’d realized I wasn’t the easy mark he’d taken me for, he’d started looking angry. “Your carneededit. I did you a favor! And you signed the paperwork authorizing work.”

Eli walked over, took the invoice from my hands and scanned it. “Says here her mileage is at forty-five thousand. Transmission fluid change isn’t necessary until eighty. And at the bottom it says that you will call for approval onallwork prior to beginning it. You didn’t do that, which voids her signature.”

“Oh, come on. You think you’re a mechanic or something?” The guy puffed up his chest like he was ready for a fight.

“Nope, I’m just someone who reads contracts and follows instructions, unlike you,” Eli said evenly. “She’s not paying for that.”

“Well, I’m not releasing the car until she pays me what she owes me.”

Faster than I could respond to tell him that was theft, Eli pulled out his phone and scrolled through his contacts, putting his call on speaker as it began to ring. “Sheriff Thorne.”

The mechanic began waving his arms rapidly. The sudden look of panic on his face would have made me smile if I still wasn’t so angry with him.

“Hey, Brian. Looks like I hit the wrong contact. My apologies for disturbing you,” Eli said. I had to put my hand over my mouth to cover the grin that I could no longer hold back.

“Eli! Good to hear from you. We need to get together soon. I want a rematch at 9-ball.”

“That sounds great.”

When he got off the phone, the mechanic sighed in relief. “Fine. I’lltake that transmission fluid change charge off. But everything else stays!”

Eli scanned the invoice again before giving him a single nod. “Of course.” He glanced my way, giving me a quick wink. “You good now?”

It had been a long time since someone had stepped up for me like that. I was used to being independent, and I liked it, but I couldn’t deny the appeal of someone else looking out for me. It felt amazing.

It was also sexy as hell and so was Eli.

“Yeah, I’m good. Thank you, Eli.”

I took the opportunity to put our charade into practice. I strode over to Eli, took the invoice from his hand, and gave him a quick peck on the cheek.

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