Charley rolled her eyes. “Mom never uses her phone.”
“I never use my phone to speak to your uncle,” Roxy corrected her.
“I know. I called you twenty times.”
“Thirty-three,” she replied. “My phone was on silent.”
“You’re such a banana-splitter,” he snapped.
Roxy grinned, clearly holding back a laugh. “How’s it feel to look in the mirror?”
“Get out of my garage.” He waved his hand at her. “And tell Aunt Greta to make sure she has a bra on when I get home. She scarred me for life this morning.”
I covered my mouth with my hand to hide my laughter.
Roxy caught my eye and smiled, her tongue caught between her teeth. She wiggled her fingers right before she ushered Charley out of the garage and across to her car.
“Women. You’re all out to get me.”
“Have you considered you’re the common denominator here?” I asked, leaning against the side of the car I’d been working on all morning. “Me, your sister, your niece…”
He sighed at me. “I’m too tired to fight you.”
“What’s with the banana-split thing?”
Another hand wave. “Apparently, Charley picked up on Roxy calling me on my bullshit one too many times, so Charley now calls bullshit, banana-split. And uses it to call me on it.”
I laughed. “That’s the most random thing I’ve ever heard.”
“Well, I discovered it when Charley told me she liked you after five minutes, because you don’t take my banana-split.”
“She’s gonna go so far in life,” I mused. “And she’s right. I don’t.”
“Much to my annoyance.”
“Really? It annoys you that I fight you on everything? Oh my God. It’s not obvious at all.”
He turned to look at me. “I can’t decide if sarcasm is your default setting, or you’re deliberately trying to wind me up to the point I fire you.”
“That would shorten this torturous three weeks into something a little less…long.”
His lips twitched to the side. “I’m not going to fire you, Jamie. No matter how much you get under my skin. It’d be much more enjoyable to see you break first.”
I raised an eyebrow. “I’m sorry to disappoint you. I don’t break. I might bend a little, but I don’t break. If you think the fact I can’t stand to be in your presence means I’m going to throw in the towel, you need to have a rethink. If anyone breaks here, it’ll be you.”
He took a step closer to me, amusement still shining in his eyes. “I love your arrogance. I can’t wait to see you realize you’re in over your head with me.”
I pushed off the car, annoyance pulsing through my veins. One step, two steps—I was right in front of him, almost nose-to-nose. And I was rapidly giving in to my anger.
“My arrogance?” I asked in a low voice. “Are you familiar with your own?”
“I prefer confidence.” He smirked, something sparking in his bright blue eyes. “For me, that is. Arrogance definitely fits you better.”
He went to move away, but I wasn’t done.
“I grew up in this garage.”
He froze.
I pinned him with my gaze. “Whoever owns this garage bought it from my father. So since you think I can’t hack it, you should know that I was a girl in a man’s world before I was ever a woman in a man’s world.”
He held my gaze. Unwaveringly. The harshness with which he stared at me sent a shiver down my spine, but I fought it.
I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of knowing he’d affected me.
Without breaking eye contact, he tilted his head to the side, just a tiny bit. Then, he lifted one grease-coated, roughened hand to the side of my face, and using two fingertips, pushed some of my thick, unruly hair behind my ear.
I swallowed when he lowered his mouth to the side of my face, lips almost ghosting over my skin until a breath of air separated his mouth and my ear.
“That might be right,” he said in a low, rough voice. “But you’ve never been in my world, Jamie. It’s not a man’s world I don’t think you can hack—it’s mine.”
He released my hair and pulled back from me.
Goosebumps prickled across my skin. The further away from me he walked, the more I was aware of the chill that wafted across my skin courtesy of the air-con.
I took a deep breath.
For a moment, it was as if he’d stolen the oxygen from around me and blocked out the cold breeze.
For a moment, I’d almost wanted his lips to brush my skin.
And on that note, I knew I had to leave for lunch.
***
I blinked at my clock. My heart was racing a thousand miles an hour, and even as I stared at the red, LED number on the screen, I couldn’t make it out.
I gave up, instead rolling over and running my hand through the matted mess that was my hair. I could feel the sweat sticking to my body, and my feet were so tangled in the sheets I knew I’d have to change them before I left this morning.