Page 7 of Driven By Desire

A loud crash from the other side of the door had Max’s hand hovering over the doorbell.

Wondering if it was safe to ring it, she took a cautious step back.

A string of curses followed by a howl of pain had her quickly making up her mind and pressing the bell.

If someone was in pain, she could help. She hoped.

When no one responded immediately, she rang again.

“Hold on. I’m coming.” The growled response from inside had her reconsidering her decision to help. Chewing on her lip apprehensively, she was about to turn away when the door was yanked open.

“What?” The snarl on his lips and the expression that said he looked like he wanted to bean her didn’t in any way take away from the man’s startling good looks.

Topping off at around six feet, he had the lean, rangy build of a runner, wavy dark hair that was just long enough to be scooped into a pony tail if he was in the mood and a chiseled face that would have made fairies sigh in their sleep. Scowl notwithstanding.

“You’re the missing brother?” she guessed.

“Am I?” The scowl faded to be replaced by interest. “And you would be?”

Grinning, she extended a hand, “Max. The mechanic.”

“I didn’t know mechanics looked like you.”

“Sorry to disappoint.” Pretending to consider her baggy cream cargo pants and mint green tank top in mock disillusionment, she said, “If I’d known I had expectations to meet, I would have grunged up some.”

“Sweetheart, all the grunge in the world won’t make you look like the mechanics I am used to. Most of them are big, burly men with moustaches that are their pride and joy.”

Tilting her head contemplatively to one side, she offered, “Give me a month. I can work on the moustache.”

Throwing his head back and laughing, he stepped back and gestured her forward. “I’m Chirag.” Grinning, he added, “The missing brother, apparently.”

“Is it safe to come in? I heard the most unholy commotion from this side of the door.”

“My sister.” Was all the explanation she got before he continued, “Why exactly do we need a mechanic? Who called for one?”

“Mr. Mehra. Your brother?” Catching herself, she added, “I mean, not Aditya, the other one.”

“You know Aditya as well?”

“We attend a guitar class together.”

Wincing at that, Chirag shut the front door and moved forward, “I’m so sorry for the loss of your hearing. Your ears couldn’t possibly work anymore, could they?”

“No.” Grinning, she said, “Probably because they never really did when it came to music. I’m even worse than your brother.”

“Then why the classes?”

“That’s exactly why the classes. Life would be very boring if we only played to our strengths.”

Smiling, she preceded him into the drawing room. An overturned coffee table rested on smashed bottles of paints, scrunched up and torn papers and what looked like a well-loved soft toy in the shape of a frog. A frog that was currently blue.

The scowl was back as Chirag surveyed the destruction. Gesturing to a sofa at the other end of the room, he said, “Please excuse the mess. Sit down. Bhai hasn’t come home as yet from the office. Let me just call him and see how long he will take to reach.”

Yanking his phone out of his back pocket, he stalked off in the direction of the kitchen. Finding herself alone in the room, Max surveyed the damage more carefully. Fingers itching to clean up the mess, she was just about to start picking up the papers when he marched back into the room.

“He’ll be here in a few minutes. Can I get you something to drink in the meantime?”

“No, thanks. I’m fine.” Unable to help herself, she blurted, “Can I help you clean this up?”

“This?” Raising an amused eyebrow, he slanted a quizzical look at her, “A vintage car expert mopping our drawing room floor? I don’t think that’s what my brother had in mind when he asked you to come over.”

“I’m sorry,” Smiling a little sheepishly, she spread her hands out, palms up, “I can’t help myself. I have a touch of OCD when it comes to cleanliness.”

Chuckling, Chirag threw himself into the armchair across from her, “How do you manage to stay clean when you’re working on a car?”

“I don’t,” she admitted, “But I clean like a demon the minute I’m done.”

Watching him laugh, she settled more comfortably into the couch. This was a much better reception than she’d expected. She was actually starting to enjoy herself.

“What the hell happened here?”

Ahh. There it was. The glower, the smoldering intensity and complicated vibes that she’d been missing until then.

Looking up, she took in the sight of Krish standing in the doorway and glaring at them.

In a beautifully tailored dark grey suit, with a crisp white shirt and deep red tie knotted to perfection, he looked the picture of a suave, successful businessman.

The heavily laden grocery bags balanced precariously with his laptop bag added an intriguing twist to the picture he presented as did the frustrated, harried look on his face.

As devastatingly handsome as his brother, Chirag, was, he didn’t make her breath catch or her heart jump the way the irritable, grumpy man in the doorway did.

“Chirag, I have some files in the backseat of the car. Could you grab them for me?”

“Sure.” Winking surreptitiously at her, Chirag skirted his brother and headed out.

Taking a deep breath to calm her suddenly jittery nerves, Max stood to face him.

“Need any help with that?”

“No.” The abrupt refusal had her stiffening. Eyeing the bag on top that was tilting precariously to one side, she asked, “Are you sure?”

“I’m perfectly capable of carrying a few bags.” He’d barely finished getting the words out before a juicy, red tomato popped out of the bag, onto the floor and rolled to a stop at Max’s feet.

Struggling to hold in a snicker, Max didn’t dare raise her eyes from the rather ludicrous sight of the tomato that was now touching her toes.

“The contents of the bag, however, seem to be a bit of a problem.” The wry, self-deprecating statement had her gaze flying up to meet his. His eyes crinkled at the side with answering amusement.

Laughter bubbled up and escaped filling the previously tense space between them.

Bending, Max retrieved the errant tomato and reached out to take a couple of bags from him.

The light graze of her fingers against his had him freezing.

Before his brain had mentally unscrambled itself from the miniscule touch, she’d grabbed half the bags and walked off in the direction of the kitchen.

Lusting after his kid brother’s girlfriend was bound to earn him a special place in hell.

Disgusted with himself, he followed at a safe distance.

She was already busy unpacking the bags on to the kitchen counter and lining them up with all the precision of a drill sergeant.

“You don’t have to do that,” he said, uncomfortably.

“I don’t mind.” Suddenly realizing she was probably crossing a line polite guests wouldn’t, she stopped. “I’m just going to leave everything here for you guys to put away. Would you like to show me the car now?”

Snapping out of it at the sudden shift in topic, Krish moved forward. “Chirag will put them away. If you’ll follow me?”

Leading the way out of the kitchen door, he walked her through a small service area and to the three car garage at the back of the house.

Lined up inside were an E class Mercedes Benz, a Honda City and what no doubt was the MG under a car cover.

Hauling the cover away, Krish stepped back to let Max take a look.

“She’s a beauty.”

The quiet murmur had him nodding in acknowledgement. “My father’s pride and joy. The love of his life. Mom called her the other woman in their marriage.”

Smiling slightly, she moved forward. “She would have been a demanding other woman and a fairly expensive one. He hadn’t started restoring her before?” Catching herself before she said the accident, she saw the flash of pain that lit his eyes.

“The plan was to retire from work and spend his time restoring her to her former glory. He never got the chance.”

What an incredibly fascinating contradiction this man was.

Arrogant, annoying and grouchy he may be but his love and devotion to his family shone through it all.

From his sister’s fancy haircuts to the money hemorrhaging attempt at fulfilling his father’s dream.

Giving his arm a compassionate squeeze, she turned towards the car.

Silence fell between them as she worked her way expertly and conscientiously through the car.

Leaning back against the City parked behind him, Krish slid his hands into his pockets and watched.

Her touch was gentle and a little worshipful as she ran her hand over the frayed corners of the seat.

In that small contact, she brought a little bit of his father back to him.

He saw in her the same love for the car that his father had carried right to the end.

After a bit, she stepped back and said, “It’s going to require quite a bit of work. You’re going to require a full frame up, body off restoration of every component. The body tub will need to be totally disassembled and rebuilt. You know what I mean.”

“Actually, I don’t.”

“Excuse me?” Surprised, she looked up from her second perusal of the car.

“I have no idea what you mean.” Chagrin made his cheeks flush as he made the confession he’d been avoiding. “I’m mechanically challenged.”

Stifling her grin, she asked, “You can change a flat and that’s it?”

“Actually…” When he didn’t complete the sentence and only cleared his throat uncomfortably, her laughter filled the garage. “Not even that?”

Her unrestrained amusement had him grinning back at her companionably. “Bet you don’t know how to sew.”

“Guilty as charged.” Still smiling, she asked, “What’s your financial commitment on this?”

“Whatever it takes to finish it but I want it done right. I want all the replacement parts to be authentic and in tune with the vintage of the car.”

“That’s a lot of money if you don’t have a passion for and love vintage cars.”

“Dad did. That’s all that matters.”

Oh yes. Complicated and fascinating and so very compelling. Trying to settle the butterflies doing the polka in her stomach, Max dragged her mind back to work.

“Why now?”

Memories shadowed his eyes as he stared at the car that symbolized everything his father had meant to him. “I waited till I had the time and money to do it right. I didn’t want to make a half assed attempt at it.”

His quiet grief had Max turning away from him to give him the illusion of privacy.

Stroking a gentle hand along the bonnet of the car, she murmured, “I can recommend someone for the upholstery and paint work. He does an excellent job and stays just about ten minutes from here. For the actual restoration, there is someone good in Bangalore. I can give you his contact details but you’ll have to check if he is able to come down and spend enough time in Hyderabad to complete the job.

There are a couple of other people I could put you in touch with but with a job this size, I’d recommend you go with him. ”

“What about you?”

“You don’t want me,” she felt compelled to point out.

“What if I do?”

The quiet question had a trickle of awareness snake its way up her spine. Their eyes met and held for a long, charged moment. Wondering at her own sanity, she found herself whispering, “Why the change of heart?”

“Because you have the compassion to hold a perfect stranger’s hand in support, because you made my baby sister smile when she’d forgotten how to and most importantly, because you don’t just see the car, you see what my father saw in it.”

When she didn’t respond immediately, he straightened. “Shall we discuss it over dinner?”

“Dinner?” Startled, she said, “Mr. Mehra, that’s not necessary. We can talk about it without dinner.”

“Krish, please. After everything that’s happened over the last few days, I can’t still be Mr. Mehra to you.

It’s just food, Max, and I can assure you it’s nowhere as good as what your father dished out yesterday.

” When she continued to stare at him like a startled doe, he grinned. “We promise not to eat you for dinner.”

The rest might not but she wasn’t so sure about him. Following him, she wondered why she felt like she was slowly losing control of her previously carefully ordered life.