Page 11 of Dirty Mechanic

“Drinking alone, or waiting for rescue from bad whiskey decisions?” he asks.

I bite my cheek, holding back a smile I have no business letting slip.

“I thought you’d be the last person to play knight in shining armor.”

“Wrong. I’m the grease-stained hero whose horses never break down.”

He slides into the booth as if time and heartbreak are just technical glitches he’s already fixed.

“Come on, Annabelle,” he murmurs. “I’ve had you in my bed. And you’re right, we’re past all that, so I think you can call me by my first name.”

I raise my glass instead of answering, but every sip burns away my resolve, because loving him again could destroy us both. Derek Fields isn’t just an ex.

He’s the man who’s tied to my biggest secret. The man I’ve been running from and toward at the same time. The man who, if I’m not careful, will rot for me in jail.

The old pull is instant. But so is the ache—the heavy reminder of why I’m really here. If we marry, Mike’s hold on me vanishes. And with it, any need for me to stand up in court.

If we marry, maybe… Maybe I can finally stop running.

And as I sit across from him, feeling the heat of his gaze, the rough softness in his voice, the quiet promise that he’s never stopped waiting, I realize something terrifying.

I’m not sure I’ll survive loving Derek Fields again. But I know I won’t survive not loving him.

“I heard you were back.” His arm is flung over the seat as casually as a date, and as loaded as my whole messy return.

“You heard? What, did the cows gossip?”

He snorts. “Word travels fast, especially when a woman hauls a floral suitcase down Main Street like she’s auditioning for a country music video.”

“It’s paisley, thank you. And it matches my trauma.”

He laughs, loud and real. It’s just enough to make my stupid heart do a flip it has no business doing. I hate how much I missed that laugh and how much I want to bottle it like perfume.

“Annabelle,” he says, voice dropping.

Dangerous. Soft. Almost tender.

“Don’t.” I set my glass down. “Not yet.”

A beat passes. His jaw ticks, but he nods.

“Okay. Just… Didn’t expect to find you here. Thought you’d be halfway to Alaska by now.”

“Alaska may be an option if I can’t bury the past. Reclaim my life. Maybe commit a light crime.”

He arches a brow. “Need backup again?”

I snicker. That’s Derek. Always offering help, despite consequences. “I think one murder between us is enough.”

God, if only baking pies were felonious enough to derail Mike’s case, I’d open up a bakery.

His smile falters, memory flickering in his eyes. For a second, this place isn’t the pub. It’s the riverbank. A wedding that never happened. A promise neither of us knew how to keep.

Silence stretches, and I want to fill it with something stupid, like a pie recipe or the weather. Instead, I come up with something even more absurd. “So…still single?”

He blinks. “Seriously?”

“Just checking if that backup offer includes benefits.”