Two bites into the donut, I had powder sugar coating my lips and sweet strawberry jam dripping down my chin. “So good,” I mumbled around a mouthful.
“Hey, I was going to eat that one.”
I whirled around and came face to face with Brooks fucking Cummings. “Wa health rr ya don her?” Powder sugar puffed from my mouth, and I wasn’t even quite sure what I had just said.
“You want to try that again without your mouthful?”
I watched Brooks wipe his hands on a maroon shop towel and shove it in his back pocket. His white shirt had a smear of grease across his chest, and the knees of his jeans were dusty with dirt. It looked like the man was actually working. I swallowed and wiped my mouth with the back of my hand. “What are you doing here?”
Brooks walked to the open box of donuts and pulled out the one I had been eyeing up for my next treat. “Hot damn,” he muttered around a mouthful. He swallowed and looked at the chocolate dipped long john. “You guys have amazing ice cream and donuts that taste like heaven. Not fucking fair.” He took another huge bite of the donut and moaned.
“What are you doing here?” I repeated.
He swallowed and grabbed a half-empty soda bottle off the counter. “You got a little something on your…well…face.” He circled his hand in front of his mouth then pointed at me.
Gah, son of a bitch. Of course, I had something on my face. I had been thoroughly enjoying the best donut of my life before I had been rudely interrupted. I swiped at my face and wiped my hand on my pants. “Do I really need to say it again?” I bitched. Could the man not answer my simple question?
“I’m here because I stayed above the shop last night.”
I looked up at the ceiling and growled. “Why?”
Brooks’ chuckle floated around me. “Your brother insisted I stay there. He said I shouldn’t have to stay in a hotel when he had a perfectly good apartment that was sitting empty above the shop.”
It was sitting empty. Nos used to live up there with his girlfriend, but they recently bought their own place, and Kurt had yet to rent the place out. He kept saying he was going to keep it empty for those nights Leelee kicked him out of the house.
“Of course, he did.” I dropped my chin to my chest and shook my head. My head snapped up, and I pointed to the dirt on his clothes. “Why are you dirty?”
He hitched his thumb over his chest. “I was working on an oil change when I heard the bell over the door. I didn’t know if it was you or a customer.”
“You…you know…” I tilted my head to the side and squinted. “You know how to change oil?” Brooks Cummings looked like his hands had never been dirty a day in his life. Last night at dinner when I watched his hands as he ate, there weren’t any calluses or scars like there were on mine. My knuckles were a myriad of scars from scraping them and skinning my fingers on jagged fiberglass.
“Yeah, doll. I know a thing or two about working on cars.” He polished off the rest of his donut and wiped his hands on his jeans. “I did the first two things on the note that Leelee left you. All that is left is an exhaust on an Eclipse, and then a turbo on a Honda.” He shook his head and laughed.
“What’s so funny?” I asked.
“You’ll see when you get to the turbo, doll. It’s hard to explain.” He walked back into the shop, and the swinging door swung shut behind him.
I couldn’t wrap my head around Brooks Cummings changing someone else’s oil, let alone figure out what could be so funny about a turbo on a Honda. I walked over to the door that led to the shop and pushed it open a bit to see Brooks.
He was working under a Mazda up on a lift. He had the expandable drip pan raised to the oil reservoir, and he was watching the last of the oil drain from the car. His hands were on his hips, and the white t-shirt he was wearing was stretched tight across his muscular shoulders. Even with his shirt on, I could tell the man was built like a Roman god.
His left arm was covered with black tattoos that led up under his shirt sleeve. I bit my lip and wondered where they stopped. Did they span across his chest and back, or did they end at his shoulder? I shook my head and told myself Brooks Cummings’ tattoos were nothing I should be thinking about. The man was a dick, and I needed him gone.
I turned away from the door and snatched the two notes Leelee had left by the computer. Brooks had crossed off three things, including the car that he was working on. He may think they were done, but I was going to go over them to make sure they were done right. He may think he knew what he was doing, but that didn’t mean he actually did.
I had noticed the Eclipse up on the hoist next to the car Brooks was working on and decided to get that done first. All they wanted was a tip put on the tailpipe, so it would only take me an hour, tops. Adding a tip to an exhaust was the cheap way to make your car sound like it had something under the hood when you really didn’t.
Brooks watched me as I walked out into the shop, but I tried to act like he wasn’t there. He may think he was helping me and earning brownie points, but he was just pissing me off even more. I didn’t need his help. I didn’t need anyone’s help.
I stared into the toolbox next to the Eclipse, but I could still feel him watching me.
“Sleep good?”
“Like a baby,” I mumbled. I wasn’t about to let him know that I had lain awake for an hour trying to figure out just what was so hard in Brooks’ life that made him be a dick. As far as he was concerned, he didn’t take up one millimeter of space in my mind.
I looked over my shoulder and watched him roll his shoulders. “That at least makes one of us. I swear to God, the bed Kurt has upstairs is filled with rocks.”
I watched his muscles bulge and twist under his shirt and didn’t even hear what he had said. “That’s good,” I muttered.
Brooks stopped moving his shoulders and turned to look at me. “It’s good my bed was made of rocks? Damn, Frankie. You really do have ice running through your veins.”
My eyelids fluttered, and I tore my eyes off his body. “Say what?”
“You even listening to me, doll? Or have you decided to just completely tune me out?”
I shook my head and turned back to the toolbox. “I didn’t sleep very well last night. I guess I zoned out.” The minute the words left my mouth, I shut my eyes and prayed to God Brooks wouldn’t call me on my bullshit of saying I slept like a baby before.
“Yeah, I know how that goes.” His tone was light, and I could tell he was trying not to laugh.
Nice one, Frankie. I needed to stop checking Brooks out and start trying to figure out how to get him to leave.
We worked side-by-side for a bit ‘til Brooks finished his oil change and lowered the car from the air. “You want me to pull the Honda in?”
“Uh, yeah,” I said absently. I tightened the fasteners on the exhaust and finished the Eclipse while Brooks pulled his oil change out of the bay.
I ducked into the office to grab another donut and was shocked as hell when I walked back into the shop. “What in the hell is that?” I took a huge bite of my donut and eyed up the car.
Brooks stepped out of the car and slammed the door. “This, is a 2018 Honda Fit.” Brooks held his arms out in true Vanna White style and tried not to laugh.