Page 21 of Shep
After that, Shep watched me as I explained to Mrs. Kittle why it was worth the money to replace her minivan’s fuel pump instead of letting the engine die and be forced to get a new car. Every time I flicked my gaze to him, afraid I was saying or doing something wrong, he wasn’t looking at me with disappointment. No, he looked like he wanted to takemefor a ride.
By eleven, I was wound up. If I messed up on any of my work, it would cost Shep money and time to not only fix the vehicle’s original problem, but my mistake on top of it. It was also important I gave him and his business good customer service.
I knew all of this, but my nipples couldn’t handle all the staring and touching. Thankfully, the coveralls made me pretty much shapeless and hid their interest in Shep sucking and biting them again.
How was I going to be able to work with him dayin and day out if all I could think about was jumping him and having him fuck me again?
At eleven-thirty, I was eating a muffin I’d grabbed from the hotel’s breakfast buffet when he joined me in the back of the shop by the coffeemaker. He had a little corner set up as a mini kitchenette. My heart started pounding. “Everything okay?” I wondered.
He eyed my food. “That your lunch?”
I swallowed, then nodded. For breakfast, I’d eaten a bagel, yogurt, and a box of orange juice in my car, and also grabbed a banana, but I was saving that for later. I had the six hundred dollars from Rocky Trout–or, Shep rather–but it would go quickly if I wasn’t careful.
He eyed the muffin as if it had offended him. “Let’s go.”
I stared at his retreating back–and ass–for a moment, then quickly followed.
As we left the shop, he pulled the door shut behind us and pointed to the keypad just above the knob. “Code’s six-two-seven-three in case you come in earlier than me or get locked out.”
I nodded and memorized the four digits.
I couldn’t help but smile. It was silly, really, but he had no idea what it meant that he’d shared the code with me. He intended for me to stay. He trusted me.
When we started walking down the street, me practically running to keep up with his long legged pace, I asked, “Where are we going?”
He must’ve heard how breathy I sounded and slowed down. When a car came down the street, he put his arm around me and herded me to the inside of the sidewalk. Protecting me.
“Sip N’ Serv.”
I slowed, then stopped. He turned to face me, frowned down at me. “What’s the matter?”
I swallowed hard and it was almost impossible to meet his gaze. “I’m fine with my muffin. I’m sorry, Shep, I don’t–”
My face heated in embarrassment. I wasn’t ashamed of my current shitty situation. I was trying my best to get by, but admitting I couldn’t afford a meal at the local diner felt like he was shaming me.
“It’s not a date,” he said, eyeing the way I was wringing my hands, so I stopped. The coveralls blocked the cold air where we didn’t need coats, but only for the distance to the diner. “New employee meeting.”
Oh.Oh.Right. Of course, it wasn’t a date. I worked for him. This was work.WORK.I should be grateful because I couldn’t pay for a meal, but I didn’t feel that way at all.
We were still in our coveralls. While he looked hot in a blue collar romance book hero kind of way, I was sure I looked like I was wearing a potato sack with a zipper up the front.
God, I was so stupid. STUPID! I’d been thinking all morning about how attracted I was to him, remembering what’d been like between us. That he might want to do it again, without the money this time.
But no. No date. I was an employee. Who he paid.
Get your mind out of the gutter and back on your paycheck!
I nodded and didn’t say anything until we were tucked in a back booth across from each other. His gaze slowly cataloged every inch of my face and made me wonder how he looked at his past employees, because it was heated. Interested.Toointerested.
It made no sense.
“Two days in a row,” the waitress said as she swung by. It seemed Shep came here a lot.
Shep grinned. “Mabel, this is Frankie. My new mechanic.”
The older woman’s eyes widened, then she grinned. “Nice to meet you. Good to know you’re keeping this one in line.”
“Hey, I’m nicer than Colt,” he told her, setting his hand over his heart as if she’d wounded him. A grintipped up the corner of his mouth and he looked like he’d talked himself out of all kinds of mischief with that. “And Trig. Probably Cam, too,” he told her, then glanced my way and added, “My brothers.”
