Palm lifted, he shrugged. “I didn’t say mine was any better.”
“Who are you?”
“I’m just Dale. I own a mechanic shop in a small ass town in Utah.” He dropped his palms. “And I’m currently searching for a screwdriver, so we can get out of this bathroom, get dressed, and make it to the party before all of Melissa’s French silk pie is eaten.”
“What is French silk pie?” A beat. “And who’s Melissa?”
“Kelly’s sister,” he said, opening and closing the three drawers beneath the cabinet, not finding the screwdriver and moving to the toilet and sink area. “And French silk pie is the best dessert on the planet. Chocolate mousse, graham cracker crust, and topped with a silky whipped cream and tiny curls of dark chocolate.”
“You have a sweet tooth,” she said, following him and joining in the search by opening the cabinet on the far side of the room.
“Chocolate and whipped cream, what’s not to like?”
“That sounds like a come-on,” she muttered.
He snorted. “If I made a come-on, you’d know it, baby.”
“Not your baby.” She rose on tiptoe, checking the shelf and finding it disappointingly empty of any type of screwdriver.
“Noted. No kindness. No endearments. No—”
“How about no more being locked in this room?” she said.
“I’d take that.” With that, he carried on the search, methodically checking every cabinet and shelf and drawer without further comment.
Good. That was what she should want.
Nothing from this stranger, this man she didn’t want to know.
Except . . . he was fascinating.
Why? Was it the efficient way he carried himself or him brazening out the shower or how he’d changed her tire with competent hands? Maybe it was the glimpse of sad she’d seen in those dark brown eyes, a hint of secrets beneath the slightly cocky, totally self-assured man. Perhaps, it was those secrets that called to her—a woman who supposedly had it all—wealth, parents who loved each other, anything she could ever want.
Possessions.
Because she could have any possession she wanted.
Emotionally? That was where the gaps had first appeared.
And she sensed a similar hole in Dale, something missing, some common trauma that only came from people who’d experienced painful loneliness. Who still felt so lonely and isolated that she didn’t feel like she’d ever be able to trust someone enough to crawl out of the deep dark pit—
Whoa.
That was too far down the rabbit hole.
She still couldn’t stop herself from talking, from finding out about this man. Part of her was desperate to know what made him tick, why he was a mechanic and in this small town. How he’d come to know Kelly and Justin.
But when she opened her mouth to ask him a question, he beat her to the punch.
“What are you and Justin in business together for?”
Suspicion wove through her. “Why?”
“Last I heard, he wanted to do more doctoring and less Roosevelt business.”
“Hmm.” Was this some sort of corporate espionage? It certainly wouldn’t be the first time someone had tried to get company secrets from her.
“So, I’m surprised you’re here, talking business when his happy place was the hospital.”
That was why she was there. Because the family man was at home in Utah and couldn’t leave his patients or children. If she wanted to keep the business running smoothly, she needed to cement that relationship.
Hence, Christmas in Darlington, Utah.
Or Christmas Eve anyway, since she was planning on flying out after the party.
Or had been.
Now, she was nearly naked and no closer to cementing anything except for her permanent place in this room.
“Elizabeth?”
She paused, going through her cosmetics bag she’d left on the counter, holding out the tweezers she’d extracted. “What do you think?”
He took them. “We can try.”
They walked over to the door, that towel around his waist seeming so precarious, but to her relief—or maybe disappointment—it remained in place. He knelt and once again, she admired the lean strength of his back, the rich russet skin that made her fingers itch to touch. Then he began fiddling with the lock.
“You going to tell me what your company does?”
Probably, she shouldn’t answer this, but Elizabeth couldn’t find a reason to not tell him. She liked talking with him. From the moment she’d encountered him, she hadn’t felt the overwhelming urge to be so guarded and closed down.
This wasn’t schmoozing or forced small talk during business meetings.
This was just two people talking.
When was the last time she’d had that?
“Hjerte specializes in medical devices.”
“Ah. And Justin?”
“Roosevelt helps with distribution.”
“From what I understand, they’re good at that.”
A frown. “From what you understand?” she asked. “Aren’t you friends with them?”
“I’ve known Kelly since grade school, but Justin is just her side piece, as far as the rest of us Darlington kids are concerned.”
“What’s a side piece?”
A pause. “Google is your friend.” He glanced back, waggled his brows. “Also, Kel would kill me if you said that to her, so save us both and don’t.” A grin. “But seriously, Justin is just Justin in this town. He’s a dad and a husband and a doctor. We don’t see the business side of him.”
“Hmm.”
“Who sees the non-business side of you?”
Great question.
He set down the tweezers, shifted around to face her. “Who, Elizabeth?” he asked again. “Or maybe the reason you have all that sad in your eyes is because no one sees that side of you.”
Normally, she would have brushed him off, told him to mind his own bleeping business. But she was jet-lagged and feeling an odd connection to this man, and they were trapped in a room nearly naked and . . . fuck, but she was lonely.
Had been lonely for so freaking long.
And this man didn’t see her as a route to her business, didn’t want a favor or money.
He . . . was just talking to her, teasing her, asking questions about her.
A Christmas miracle?
Not quite.
But maybe a conversation with this man would fill the bottomless pit inside her?
Or maybe she was insane.
There was that, too.
“Would you prefer silence?”
No. She wouldn’t. “Why do you own a mechanic shop?”
A pause. “I never planned to. It was my father’s, but he died during my senior year and I worked there to keep it afloat for my mom. Luckily, I’d been an unpaid apprentice for most of my life, so I knew the ropes.”
“What did you want to do before then?”
His eyes flared with some emotion. “What do you mean?”
“I mean,” she said, “the way you speak, it sounds like you had other plans.”
“Everything worked out as it should,” he said, turning back to the door. “I enjoy working on cars. It provides me a living.”
“And your mom?”