Page 29

The lights flashed on the dash, and the fan started blowing air, but the engine didn’t turn over.
My eyebrows drew together. That was strange.
I pushed the button again, but the same thing happened.
A glance at the dash showed the check engine light.
“Great,” I muttered, heart sinking. I was supposed to meet with a client before going out with Bennett, but now it looked like I needed a rescue instead.
I picked up my phone and dialed Hayes’s personal number, hoping I didn’t get the Hyde version of him today.
After a few rings, his voice came over the phone. “Yes, Moonshine?”
I rolled my eyes at the nickname. “Why do you call me that?” He’d been calling me Moonshine for years now, and I’d always chalked it up to one of his quirks.
“To remind myself I should stay away,” he replied earnestly, making my stomach flip. “That I’d regret having too much of you come the morning.”
He thought he should stay away from me all this time? Why?
Did I really want to know the answer right before I was supposed to go out with another man? I shouldn’t be thinking of Hayes when I was with Bennett. Not his tattoos. Not his muscled arms. Not the ring curling around his lip. Definitely not the illogical way he made my heart beat faster.
“Hello?” he said.
I cleared my throat, trying to focus again. “Remember how you offered me a rescue?” I hedged, making my voice sweet.
“Jog my memory.”
Looked like I’d need to put this in terms he’d understand. “When your death trap motorcycle gave me a lady boner?”
“Ah, I remember now,” he said. I could hear the smirk in his tone.
“Good,” I said, shifting my cell to my other ear. “Well, my car won’t start, and I need to be in Roderdale at seven at the latest. I already had to cancel one client meeting. Can you help?”
“I was just about to head home, but... I am a man of my word.”
I shook my head at his bravado. “My hero.”
“Where are you? I’ll come get you in the tow truck.”
“Still at the office. Thank you so much.”
“And why don’t you get us a ‘snackie’?” he teased. “Since I’m missing dinner for this.”
“It’s the least I can do,” I said sincerely. I asked him what he liked from the diner and then crossed the street to Woody’s, hoping Hayes could find a solution to my car quickly. With any luck, the issue would be something simple, like needing a new battery, and not too terribly expensive.
I had his food in hand, along with a side of mozzarella sticks for me, and was paying the bill when I saw the tow truck coming down Main Street. Most women would have been impressed by an Aston Martin, but man, did my heart flutter at the sight of that rusty old truck.
Once I finished paying, I walked across the street and around the building where I worked to see Hayes leaning under the hood of my car. He had on a pair of faded jeans that hugged his lean frame, and his shirt hung loose, giving me a view of his muscled, tatted sides.
Tattoos had never been my thing—something about them usually screamed bad decision. But on Hayes? My eyes traced each one, wondering what they meant, if they had any meaning at all.
Something about Hayes carried a mystery I was dying to discover. Why did he have such a cynical view of relationships?
I tried to rack my mind to remember if a high school girlfriend had broken his heart but came up short.
As far as I knew, Hayes had always been this way.
I only realized I’d been staring, lost in thought, when he stood up from under the hood and looked my way.