Page 40 of Grease Monkey
I’m glad I’m lying on him so he can’t see my flushed cheeks. “Well, no, but I enjoyed listening to you talk. You really love this stuff, like you’re passionate about it.” I wave my hand in front of me as best I can without hitting anything on the truck. That would be my luck that I would break something by mistake.
“I really do. I’ve wanted to be a mechanic for as long as I can remember.” His hand on my belly tenses. “That’s why Phoenix was always the plan.”
…was?
Before I can ask what that means, he moves us slowly forward and into the open. “You want to grab some food?”
I nod, moving to stand, and then hold my hand to help him. “There’s an amazing food truck that should be parked up at Silver Sands beach now that the weather’s warmer if you don’t mind the drive. Skip used to take us, and believe me, nowhere makes better tacos than Something to Taco ’Bout.”
He laughs. “You eat food from a truck?”
I nudge my hip into his side as he wraps his arm around my shoulders. “Hey, I’m not a food snob. My brother’s a chef, remember? He’d take me to all kinds of places to try out new food. It’s my mom you wouldn’t catch dead standing in line waiting for something someone prepared in the back of a van.”
He kisses the top of my head before turning the lights out and locking up. “You keep surprising me every day, Ana.
Chapter Sixteen
Teddy
“Fucking hell, these are amazing.”
Ana nods her head, swallowing her bite of food. “Told you.”
“This might be my new favorite place.”
“It’s mine too. Especially in the summer; good food, great weather, the sound of the waves lapping at the sand...” She places her half-eaten taco back in the cardboard dish and sets it on her knee. “It’s peaceful.”
I look out over the beach, the pair of us sitting on the hood of my car, the smell of salt and sand filling my lungs as I watch the girl I’ve fallen pretty damn hard for play with her food. I mean, that’s what this is. She’s goddamn special—I wouldn’t let justanyonesit on my baby like we are now. Even though there is a blanket under us, it’s the principle.
Scrunching a napkin in my hand, I drop it in the empty dish. “You done?”
She passes me her leftover taco, and I pop it into my mouth in one bite, chewing as I take the trash to the can and toss it inside. Hopping back up, I wrap my arms around Ana’s waist and pull her closer. Her skirt flutters in the wind and she giggles, holding it down her with hand as my heart fucking patters in my chest at the sound.
So far gone for this chick, it’s embarrassing.
“What time do we need to get you home for studying?” I ask through a tight throat.
She nuzzles her head against my shoulder. “I’m not studying tonight. I’ve done enough, I think. I’ll never remember it all if I keep cramming.”
“When’s the exam?”
“Friday.”
“So you’ve got a couple more days,” I say, watching a couple walk hand in hand along the sand. Bowie would love this place. I’ll remember to tell him about it during our next Skype call for when he comes home. “You thought any more about what you want to do when you graduate? I know you’re unhappy about your parents wanting to send you to Harvard.”
Ana tenses in my arms, moving out of my hold and sitting ramrod straight. “I want to go to business school.”
My eyebrows shoot up my forehead. “Business school?”
She spins and looks at me with fierce determination. “Yes. I’m good at that sort of stuff, econ, calculus. Maybe after I graduate, I’ll look into finance or something, but I know I don’t want to be a lawyer.”
She’s breathing heavily like those words weighed a ton, and she’s finally managed to release some of the tension she’s kept inside by letting them be voiced. She slides from the hood of the car and paces.
“Have you told your parents that?” I ask, watching as she threads her hands into her hair and tugs a little.
“And be disowned for not wanting to follow their pre-destined path for me?” she scoffs, pausing to look at me like I’m insane, then resumes her pacing.
I recoil. “Baby? Why would they disown you?”
