Satellite of Love. Christa Maurice
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Название: Satellite of Love
Автор: Christa Maurice
Издательство: Ingram
Жанр: Короткие любовные романы
Серия: Drawn To The Rhythm
isbn: 9781616504892
isbn:
Bear stopped at the end of the hall. “One of your regulars came in with a brake problem. I want to get it taken care of so I can take her car back when I pick her up tomorrow.”
“Pick her up?” Tony put his fists on his hips. “You asked her out on a date?”
“Yeah.”
“Bear.” Pam stood too. “What are you doing?”
“Don’t screw with the locals, Bear. These are my customers,” Tony said.
“I’m not screwing with the locals. She doesn’t even know who I am. I just want to have a nice normal couple of dates before I have to go back to the circus. Trust me.”
Tony glanced at Pam and scowled at him. “Who is it?”
“Maureen Donnelly.”
“Miss Donnelly?” Tony folded his arms.
“Bear, that’s the teacher we’re hoping to get for Nicky next year.” Pam wrung her hands.
“So?” Bear looked from his brother to his sister-in-law. They were clearly peeved, but why? Other than a momentary loss of reason in the car tonight, he’d been on his best behavior. The whole night, he’d been a perfect gentleman and he planned to continue. “What’s the big deal?”
“This is not some groupie you can walk away from,” Tony said.
“I’m not treating her like a groupie. We went to dinner. Tomorrow we’re going to go to lunch and then we’re going to go do something in the afternoon. And I’m hoping to get up early enough to take care of her brakes before I pick her up. Is that okay?”
“No, it’s not.”
“Well, that must suck for you.” Bear dropped his keys into his pocket. “I’m gonna go out with Maureen a couple of times while I’m in town and then I’m gonna leave and you all can get back to your regularly scheduled programming. She never needs to be the wiser and we can just be those two ships who pass in the night. See ya in the morning.”
Inside the guest room, he sat on the foot of the sofa bed. If on that day, freshman year of high school, when Brian and Jason had walked up to him in the hall and one of them had said, “We heard you play drums” if he’d said no, he could have had this life. The mortgage, the business loan, the regular programming. He could have met Maureen when she brought her junker in for a repair and taken her out for dinner without Tony and Pam freaking out. Hell, by now he might have been sharing that mortgage with her. As shaky as the car was, she must have had it in a lot. The repairs could have served as a courtship.
Bear put his elbows on his knees and buried his hands in his hair. He’d promised Marc he would do a drop-in next week. He was going to have to be a rock star for one day in the middle of playing regular guy. Greatest job in the world.
* * * *
Maureen scrubbed the makeup off her face. It looked ridiculous and she didn’t know where they were going. Studying herself in the mirror, she discovered she’d splashed water all over her shirt. Super. Any second, he was going to be here and she’d gotten herself drenched.
She ran into the bedroom, yanking the yellow, long sleeved knit shirt over her head as she went. Her second choice was a turtleneck with tiny flowers all over it that screamed elementary school teacher. Most of her clothes screamed elementary school teacher. They might explain her dating track record. What man wanted to spend time with a woman who dressed like she might launch into a lesson on fractions at any moment? She pulled on the back up and ran her fingers though her hair, which promptly stuck up in all directions.
The phone rang in the kitchen. At least she hoped it was in the kitchen. She kept forgetting to put it back on the charger.
“Hello?” she answered it.
“Hey, how did the date go last night?” Linda asked.
“Oh my God, last night was fantastic.” Eyes closed, she recalled Michael sitting across the table from her, drumming his fingertips together and saying excellent just like Mr. Burns.
“Really?” Linda sounded dubious. Why?
“Oh wait. I didn’t actually meet the guy you fixed me up with. I had car trouble.”
“And car trouble was fantastic?”
“Yeah. I met my mechanic’s brother. He was at the garage working late.” On the Satellite of Love.
“Your mechanic’s brother?” Now Linda sounded more dubious.
“My brakes were making a horrible noise so I stopped in and he said they weren’t safe to drive on so he offered to take me out for pizza and drive me home.”
“Oh, please. You fell for that?”
“For what?” Maureen smoothed her shirt over her hips. The clock said straight up noon, but he had said around noon.
“Every mechanic in the world uses that it’s not safe to drive line. That’s how they get you for more money.”
Maureen twisted the ends of her hair around her finger. “He showed me the thingy and it looked really bad. Besides, if he just wanted to get more money out of me, why did he take me out to dinner?”
“Let’s see, you wore the blue dress. Do you think he might have been trying to get a look at your cleavage?”
Well, her turtleneck would be a test then. Cleavage didn’t exist in it. “I thought that was the point of the dress.”
“It is, but do you really want to waste it on a grease monkey?”
“I didn’t happen to be using it for anything else. That guy you fixed me up with wasn’t too upset when I called him to tell him I couldn’t make it.”
“Greg isn’t the type to show his emotions. I know he was looking forward to meeting you. You ought to give him a chance.”
A shape slowed on the street, but she couldn’t make it out through the sheers. It wasn’t dark enough to be the Satellite. Nobody else was supposed to drop by today. “Listen, I hafta go.”
“Another clandestine meeting with your mechanic?”
“I’ll call Greg and try to reschedule for next weekend.” If I remember his name long enough. “But I really have to go right now. I’ll see you Monday.” Before Linda could get in another zinger, she hung up the phone. Michael walked past the front window and her heartbeat stammered. He wasn’t just a grease monkey but funny, sweet and interesting. Sexy. Mustn’t forget sexy.
When she yanked open the door, he had his hand poised to knock.
“Hi.” He raised one eyebrow. “Waiting long?”
“No, I was on the phone and saw you through the window so I figured I’d just get it before you knocked and—” And babbling like an idiot. What was it about this СКАЧАТЬ