by Marla Monroe
Besides, she sure as hell didn’t deserve someone like him. He was an asshole most times and a downright bastard at others. She wouldn’t want anything to do with him anyway. So why was he delaying calling her and giving her the car back?
He blew out a breath and punched in her number. The one he had memorized, even though he had it written down. She answered on the second ring.
“Hello?”
“Got your car ready. Do you need a ride to get it?” he asked.
“I’ll get a cab. I should be there in…”
“I’ll come get you. No reason to pay someone. Be there in five.” He punched End before she could protest and shoved the cell into his back pocket.
Ben grabbed his keys and stormed out of the office toward his truck.
“Hey, Ben. Wait up. Why don’t I drive her vehicle over there and you can give me a ride back?”
“Shut the fuck up, Landon. I’ve got this.” Ben shut the door on whatever else the man was saying and peeled out of the lot, slinging gravel just for the hell of it.
No way I’m gonna let Landon drive her car. It would smell like him when she drove it next. I want it to smell like me when she gets inside.
And wasn’t that sick as fuck. What did he care what the car smelled like as long as it didn’t smell like grease or oil?
He made it to her place with a minute to spare, glad that he hadn’t taken it slower when she was waiting outside for him. He would have gotten out and helped her into the truck, but she walked right up to the passenger door and climbed inside the moment he stopped.
“You didn’t have to come get me, Ben. I could have gotten a ride so you didn’t have to waste time.”
“Not wasting time. Didn’t take lunch today.” He waited until she’d fastened her seat belt then waited a little longer.
“Is something wrong?” Alice’s face pulled downward into a frown.
“No.”
He shoved the gearshift into reverse and backed out then drove toward the garage at a much more sedate pace. They didn’t talk on the way, but Ben raged inside at himself for wanting to say something to fill the emptiness surrounding them.
When he’d parked in the lot once more, he turned to her before she could unfasten her belt.
“Wait and let me help you down. You’re going to hurt yourself trying to get in and out of this truck. Just wait.”
She nodded and waited. He walked around to her side and opened the door then helped her to the ground. He couldn’t help himself when he held her close to him as she slid down from the cab. Her firm breasts and womanly curves pressed against his chest and cock at full mast. Ben knew she had to have felt it but didn’t care. That one intimate moment would have to do him. She wasn’t for him.
And she wasn’t for Landon either.
The other man sauntered over, wiping his hands on a grease rag as he did. His wide, lazy smile made Ben snarl. The asshole was going to ask her out. Over his miserable dead body.
“Well, hey there, Alice. How’re you doing?” He stopped just shy of them.
“Hey, Landon. I’m fine. Ben picked me up so I could get my SUV.” She smiled up at him so that her green eyes sparkled.
That sparkle was for him, not Landon. She should be smiling at him like that. Ben took her elbow and steered her toward the office.
“We can go in here and talk,” Ben said.
“Okay.”
He opened the door to the office for her then had her sit in the only decent chair they had. He pulled the clipboard with her ticket off one of the nails over the desk and handed it to her.
“It was the alternator. Got you a factory rebuilt one, so it’s not as much as it could have been.” He pointed out the line for parts then the one for labor.
“Thanks. Do you take credit cards?” she asked.
“Yeah, but they charge a shit-load of interest. You can make payments here without the interest charges,” he told her.
She shook her head. “I’d rather pay it all now. I’ll pay the credit card off before I get all those interest charges on my card.”
“Suit yourself.” It disappointed him that he wouldn’t get to see her a few more times.
She handed over her card, and he ran it through the machine then had her sign the receipt. He tore off her copy of the paperwork and folded it then stapled an additional copy of the receipt to it and handed it over with her key.
“Thanks for everything, Ben. Maybe I’ll see you at the diner one day. I go there a couple times a week to eat lunch.” She smiled up at him then stood.
“Yeah, could happen. We eat there most days,” he said.
“Guess I better go. Bye, Ben.” She walked over to the door then out to where her car was parked.
Ben saw her wave at Landon but didn’t stop to chat. He watched as she climbed in then drove out of the lot and out of his life. He kicked the desk leg then slammed both hands on the door leading back into the garage. Ignoring Landon’s knowing stare, Ben stormed to the trashed pickup he’d been working on all morning and grabbed a wrench then sat on the creeper to slide under the truck.
“I take it you didn’t ask her out.” Landon’s annoying voice sounded much too close.
“Why would I do that?”
“Because you like her.”
“Fuck difference does that make? She’s not my type.”
“If you like her, she’s your type, moron,” Landon said.
The other man’s head appeared on the opposite side of the truck on the other side of the tire where he’d crouched down. Out of reach should Ben decide to knock him over the head with his wrench. Ben liked the idea of throwing the thing at him instead.
“What the hell do I have to offer her, Landon? I’m a fucking mechanic. All I know how to do is fuck according to the last woman I hooked up with. She’s not going to want someone who fucks. She’s the type who needs to be loved on.”
“You’d be surprised how many women like a good fucking from time to time.” Landon reached over and handed Ben a different size wrench. “Guess you won’t know if she’s one of them since you didn’t ask her out.”
“She’s not for me.”
“If you say so.”
Ben snarled when he hit his knuckles on the truck’s frame when the wrench slipped.
I could make love to her if that’s what she wants. I could be good to her.
“Think the next time I see her at the diner I’ll ask her out since you aren’t. I bet she’s got a sweet kiss,” Landon said.
“Stay away from her.” Ben turned his head to glare at his friend. “She isn’t one of your conquests to use and throw aside when you’re tired of her.”
“I’m not so sure I’d get tired of someone like her, Ben. She’s a keeper.”
Before Ben could say anything, a car pulled into the lot and Landon had scooted out from under the truck to greet the customer. Asshole wasn’t going to screw with Alice. She was too sweet for the likes of either of them. Damn him.
No way I’m letting him get his hands on her.
Hell, he’d ask her out before he let Landon do it. He could keep her safe from his friend’s womanizing ways and get to spend a little more time with her in the process. Landon would forget about her soon enough and move on. Besides, once Ben asked her out, she was off-limits. It was the best friend code. He’d use that if he had to. It would only be for a few dates. Just until Alice had enough of his asshole personality.
* * * *
Landon grinned as he took care of the customer who’d pulled in with a strange knock under his hood. He’d set the bait. Ben would take it and ask Alice out just to prevent him from doing it. A little pinch in his chest distracted him enough that he missed some of what the woman was talking about, and he had to ask her to repeat it.
Damn, he’d liked Alice. She was exactly like someone he thought he could settle down with. She was the real thing, soft, friendly, curvy, with just the right amount of spice he was sure was buried under all that soft skin. She could
If Ben didn’t ask her out, he was going to. He’d told the truth when he’d hit Ben with it earlier. But Ben was interested, and finding someone that held his interest for more than two seconds was a miracle. Landon was sure that once he’d spent some time with her the other man would cave and admit that he liked her more than a little.
Then Landon was sure he already did, too. After meeting her once, he was almost positive he’d go for her. Long-term go for her.
He finished up with the customer and promised to take a look at it by the end of the day and give her a call. She had someone pick her up from the garage as he finished writing up the ticket. When he returned to the bay to finish up the oil and filter change he was doing for the Twiner sisters, Ben rolled out from under the truck.
“I’m asking her out the next time I see her.”
“Asking who out?”
“Alice, damn you. Who the hell have we been talking about?” Ben slammed the wrench back into the tool chest and pulled out another one.
“Oh, okay. She’ll probably be at the diner one day next week.” Landon lay back on the creeper and pushed himself under the car. “’Course you’ll have to actually go to the diner instead of having me bring yours back.”
“I know. Don’t you think I know that?”
Landon heard the soft “fuck, I know that” as his friend returned to slide under the truck. He often wondered why he and Ben fit so well together. They were polar opposites but had trucks and sports in common. They’d been best friends since junior high when Ben had beat the hell out of a group of boys who’d picked on Landon about his worn out jeans and shoes. They’d all had new clothes and snotty sneakers from some famous ball player. Ben had wound their clocks and bloodied their noses.
Why Ben had stood up for him, Landon hadn’t had a clue, but from that moment forward, they’d been inseparable. They’d both come from the bad side of town, where walking alone day or night wasn’t safe and squealing tires were the first clue to hunker down and stay out of sight. They’d spent many afternoons shooting hoops or tinkering with cars in the backyard of Ben’s house where his dad was the local shade-tree mechanic.
Neither of them had gone to college though they’d each taken auto mechanic and diesel mechanic classes at the local community college before pooling their money and buying the garage. It had been a hard few years making ends meet with the loan they had to pay back, but once it got out that they were good and honest, the work poured in.
Now they were doing pretty damn good and could turn away business if they had a mind to. Ben couldn’t care less about making tons of money, but Landon wanted to have enough to one day have a home, a real home instead of living in the tiny apartment down the road. His friend lived above the garage and didn’t seem to mind. Not Landon. He wanted a house.
“Where you going to take her?” Landon called over to Ben.
“Huh?”
“Alice. If you’re going to ask her out, you need to know where you’re going to take her.”
“I don’t know. Haven’t thought about it. I’ll figure it out later.”
Landon smiled. “How about the pizza place?”
“That’s not very classy,” Ben muttered.
“Your only other option is to drive over to Centerville to the steakhouse.”
“I’ll think about it later. Why the hell do you care?”
“’Cause I want you to make a good impression so she’ll go out with you a second time.” Landon winced when he heard Ben crack his knuckles again.
“I’m trying to concentrate over here. Shut the fuck up.”
Landon couldn’t help but chuckle. His friend was thinking about Alice a lot more than he was letting on. The poor man was going to have a swollen hand by the time he finished cleaning out the underside of the truck that had gone creek diving. They still had to tackle the electronics after Ben finished the mechanics of the thing. He hoped most of them would work now that they’d had time to dry out. If not, they’d take stock of what wouldn’t and let the kid know what it would cost to replace them.
“What if she says no?” Ben asked out of the blue.
“Who?”
Landon couldn’t help but tease the man.
“Alice? Who the hell are we talking about?”
“She won’t. She likes you.”
“You don’t know that.” Ben’s voice sounded hopeful.
“She couldn’t keep her eyes off you when she was here. She likes you.”
“Maybe.”
Landon was pretty sure she’d been a little interested in him, as well. She’d sure watched him at the diner. Of course, when she’d seen him at the garage and realized that he and Ben were friends, she’d been a little shocked. He didn’t blame her. Finding out that you liked two men at one time, and they were best friends, would shock anyone.
Kind of like finding out that the woman you were already a little infatuated with was the same one your best friend was interested in. Yeah, that shit sucked.
“Where would you take her if you were taking her out?” Ben asked.
“Probably start at the pizza place. It’s less imposing and wouldn’t be quite so intimidating. Then, if everything worked out and there was a next time, I’d take her to Centerville to the steakhouse.”
“Pizza place, huh?”
Landon couldn’t stop his mouth from pulling into a huge grin. Ben was thinking about it a lot more than he’d admit to. Maybe, just maybe, he and Alice would hit it off and she’d turn out to be the one for his friend. He hoped so.
But it kind of hurt in his chest at the prospect.
Chapter Four
Alice enjoyed the brisk walk to the diner on Tuesday. The thin cardigan she wore in the cool autumn air kept the worst of the chill from her arms. She liked walking to the diner since it was good exercise and got her blood pumping after sitting on her ass for the last four hours while she worked.
She secretly hoped that Ben and Landon would be there today. She hadn’t been able to stop thinking about either of them all weekend. Since she doubted she’d ever go out with either man, she didn’t feel weird about thinking about them both. Yeah, she’d daydreamed about Ben as well as Landon, but the hottest ones involved them both. Dirty dreams where both men played in her fantasy, loving her at the same time.
She should have been ashamed of herself, but she wasn’t. They were only fantasies. They didn’t hurt anyone and would never happen. So what was the big deal? Right?
The diner was pretty busy, and she ended up with the last table. When she looked around, she didn’t see the guys and smothered a pang of disappointment that poked at her heart like a finger stating, “told you so.” Well, she’d come to eat, not gawk. They weren’t interested in her, even though she was having naughty thoughts about them. It was best if they didn’t show up or she’d never be able to eat.
After the waitress took her drink order, Alice concentrated on the menu to decide what she’d have to eat. She’d had just about everything on the menu already, so she knew what she did and didn’t like. Deciding was the issue. Club sandwich, meatloaf special, or classic cheeseburger? She’d just about settled on the meatloaf special when the door opened, and she looked up out of habit. She nearly moaned out loud at the sight of both Landon and Ben walking through the door.
Damn, they were hot in their tight T-shirts and scroungy jeans. As much as she’d have loved to see them in tight blue jeans, she guessed loose worked better for being a mechanic. Wouldn’t want their manly parts getting pinched when they crouched over a truck or car. They both had their hair pulled back out of their faces and looked good enough to eat. Alice jerked her eyes down to the menu and tried to ignore them.
So not happening. She could feel them as they walked across the floor in her direction.
“Hey, Alice. Looks like the place is full. Mind if we join you?” Landon asked.
She knew her face beamed a thousand-watt grin when she looked up into their amazing faces, so different but equally striking. She swallowed and swore her smile got even wider.
“Of course not. Have a seat.”
“How’s the car doing?” Landon asked.
“Great. Not a bit of trouble. I’ve only driven it to the grocery store though. I’ll let you know if it bonks out on me again.” She looked at Ben. “Hey, Ben. How are you doing?”
“Good.” He nodded, but no hint of a smile formed across his mouth.
“Have you ordered yet?” Landon asked.
“No, just my drink. Oh, here she comes now.” Alice glanced up to see the waitress hurrying over with her glass of iced tea.
“Hey, guys. What’ll it be?” the waitress asked.
They gave their orders, and after the waitress had delivered their drinks, they were left alone once again.
“So, are you busy at the garage?” she asked.
Alice really didn’t know what to talk about. She’d never been very good at small talk, and since she spent most of her time alone, she either couldn’t think of anything to say or blabbered about nothing at all.
“Busy enough,” Ben said.
Landon shot his friend a frown then turned back to her. “We pretty much stay busy since we’re the only full-service shop in town. Service station out on the highway takes care of small things like flat tires, oil changes, and things like that, but we still get a lot of those here in town.”
“I haven’t seen you in here before. Of course I only come a couple of times a week for lunch,” she said.
This is so lame. Why can’t I think of something interesting to say?
“Usually I come early and get our lunches to go. We only eat in every once in a while,” Landon said. “We were hoping to catch you here.”
That floored her. They had wanted to see her? Why? To make sure her car was running properly?
“Really?”
“Yeah. Thought maybe you’d like to grab a pizza sometime,” Ben said, his voice rusty as if he hadn’t used it in a while.
“Pizza? Um, that sounds great. When?” she asked.
Crap, she sounded too eager. Yeah, she was excited that Ben had asked her out, but she didn’t have to sound so needy. She probably came across as someone who never got asked out and was super excited.
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