Page 13 of Hooked on a Demon
She must hear his approach as she turns slightly and spots him, giving him what he hopes is a smile meant just for him. And if his heart skipped a beat when he heard she was here, well, seeing her smile at him has his heart doing a full-on jig.
He’s so fucked, and he doesn’t even care. Not if it means he gets to see her look like this.
“Hi, Declan.”
He steps toward her. “Hi.”
A silence falls between them and it’s as if his brain has forgotten how to form words or what it is he needs to say. Her head tilts to the side, watching him curiously. It takes a moment before she finally says, “Is my car ready?” and gestures behind her with her thumb to the parking lot in front of the shop.
The question finally sparks the routine back into him, snapping him back into mechanic mode. “Yes. Sorry. Xavi should be bringing it out front any moment.” As he finishes his statement, her car pulls out and parks in the spot next to the door. “There it is.” He awkwardly points to it. “We can go and take a look first if you want.”
“Sure. That sounds good.”
Declan nods and steps to the side, allowing her space to move and reaches for the door. He pulls it open and gestures with his free hand for her to go through first. As she passes in front of him, his nose inhales the most wonderful scent—peppermint and a hint of something citrusy. He sniffs again lightly, not wanting to make what he’s doing obvious. Grapefruit. Peppermint and grapefruit. His new favorite smells.
He follows behind her, trying to burn the scent into his memory before settling beside her. “Alright, so we talked about the starter. We got that fixed, and the battery was nearing the end of its life anyway, so that was also replaced. Upon inspection, as you would have seen in the report, we noticed the tie-rods were toast, and it needed an oil change. So we took care of those, too. It was honestly a good thing it came in when it did. It should start with no problem now, and if there are any concerns over the next couple of days, please don’t hesitate to reach out or bring it back.”
Her face falls. “Wow. That was more than I was anticipating. I’m afraid to ask how much this will cost me.”
“Well, let’s head back inside, and we can go over the payment details.”
“Okay,” she says softly, the light she had when she first looked at him now gone.
Standing at the counter, he pulls up her receipt. Clicking a few keys, he watches as the number drops significantly before selecting print. He grabs the paper from the printer and places it in front of her.
Her eyes widened as they ran down the paper. She raises her eyes to look at him and back down, then back at him again. “Declan, I can’t. You can’t.”
He smiles. “I can. And I did. Benefits of being the boss.” He doesn’t often do things like this for people, but giving her such a massive discount helps her out, so it’s an easy decision.”
“Well, thank you. I appreciate it so much.”
“You’re welcome. I’m glad I was able to help.” He taps some buttons on the machine and passes the payment terminal over to her. Stapling the payment receipt to her printed one, he picks up a business card and writes his cell number on the back. “If anything goes wrong, or you have any questions, don’t hesitate to text or call me.”
He swears he sees a hint of a blush creep up her neck, but that can’t be right. “Again, thank you so much, Declan.”
His smile broadens, almost hurting his face it feels so big. “You’re welcome, Eliana. Have a great rest of your day.”
She smiles and picks up her papers with his card, then turns, walking out of his shop. His eyes follow the sway of her hips as she goes, and then he waves back as she pulls away. He’s not sure why, but it feels like he lost something important.
He stands at the desk for a little bit after she leaves, perhaps hoping she’ll return or that he’ll come to his senses and go after her. But neither of those happen. Instead, he lets loose a sigh of resignation, returns to the shop, and continues the oil change he was working on when she showed up, thinking about how she smiled at him the whole time.
* * *
“Lach!” Declan bellows, walking in the door of his brother’s place.
His older brother strides around a corner, entering the living room on the left. “What?” His face shows concern and a bit of annoyance as he adjusts his pants. Meaning he and his wife, Petra, were likely up to something and Declan interrupted.
“Nothing. Didn’t know where you were and didn’t want to walk around the house playing find the demon.”
“Well, I was trying to play that… but you have some inconvenient timing.”
“Gross.”
“Well, next time, call first so I can tell you not to come over.” Declan laughs. Despite the harsh tone, he knows his brother is only kidding. Or is mostly kidding. He’s honestly surprised he hasn’t walked in on Lachlan and Petra in a heated moment yet, especially given he rarely announces his visits. “You’ll learn your lesson one day,” Lachlan says as if reading Declan’s mind.
They walk through the house, stopping in the kitchen for a couple of drinks, and then head to the back patio, where they settle into the chairs by the fire pit, which comes to life as they sit.
“Thanks, Petra,” Declan yells in the general direction of the house. He didn’t see her scamper off as they walked through, so she was either well-hidden or managed to escape from wherever they were canoodling before he got there.
