My Casey

“You do?”

“Yeah, I really think I do.” She put her head against his shoulder. “We need to talk.”

“Ugh, the dreaded talk. This is about the kiss. Not the one I just gave you but the one back at the garage. The one that you’ve been avoiding me over?”

“I haven’t been avoiding you.”

“You haven’t come to write, or even hang out. This is the first time I’ve seen you all week.”

“It wasn’t intentional. I had stuff I needed to do.”

“Is this where you procrastinate to stop yourself from doing anything?”

“You don’t know me.”

“I think I do. You’re afraid.”

“Okay, let me get this right, you think I’m afraid?”

“You’ve admitted you are. I think I should order you around.”

She started to laugh, but he was more than serious. “You’re crazy.”

“You need to write, and so I’m telling you now, that kiss, it meant something. You and me, we’ve been doing this dance a long time. I told you that, and I’m not backing down. You think you want to go back to the city, but since you’ve been here, I bet you’ve been happier than ever. I will help you, but you’ve got to learn to let me help you. You want to write, and I’m here for you. Always.”

Casey sighed and stepped right up to him. “I have been writing, Rusty. Every single day, I’ve been writing. I’m not putting it off. I haven’t been by your shop because I have been busy. I wake up, and I start writing. I don’t want to stop the flow, to walk to the garage, because I may lose it. I’m not trying to avoid you. I have been busy, and I wanted to show you just how much I’ve written in the past week, all thanks to you.”

“Oh,” he said.

“I don’t run away from my problems. I think you’re right. We’ve got something here, even if we’re only two kisses in, but I want to explore it as well.” She put a hand to his chest. “If you’re willing to?”

“I am.”

“Good.” She pressed her lips to his. “I fancy something sweet and a teddy. Will you win me one?”

His cock didn’t want to go back to the fair. He wanted to take her home and make up for lost time.

He dumped his bag into the back of his truck, locked it, not that he needed to, but there were a bunch of tourists. Taking hold of her hand, he led her back to the fair, which in the short time they’d been away, was already in full swing. The tents were busy, laughter, and music filled the air, and it was like any other fair, only this time, his date was the woman he truly wanted.

Chapter Six

A couple of days later, Casey held a wrench in her hands, or at least it looked like a wrench, as Rusty worked on her car. It was late, and she was tired. She’d been writing all day, but to prove to him she was working, she set up her laptop in his office. There hadn’t been a lunch break, as she ate as she worked.

“Do you know what’s wrong with my baby?” she asked.

“You need a new engine. When was the last time you had this serviced?”

“Serviced?” She climbed off the counter and took a step toward the car as Rusty came out from underneath the car. “You have to do that?”

“A car that is regularly serviced can find problems that stop your car from conking out on you. I take it from that look you’ve not had it serviced. Last time it had anything done to it was by my dad a couple of years ago.”

She winced. Thinking about it, her father had told her to either get it booked into a shop, or to bring it back home.

Now, she winced because she had done neither. It was always on one of her to-do lists, but not something she actually did.

“It’s okay, well, it’s going to cost to fix it. I’ve got to order the engine. You’re looking at a couple of weeks, maybe longer, depending, as this is an old beauty.”

“I don’t mind waiting.”

“I didn’t think you would.” He wrote something down on his chart before closing the car. “I’ll move it to my storage at the back to keep it safe. When the parts arrive, it will take time.”

“I’m sorry for all of this.”

“You don’t need to be sorry.” He closed the door, shoving the keys into his pocket. “I like working on cars and what are supposed to be cars, even if they’re not serviced.”

She groaned. “Don’t take that out on me.”

It had been a couple of days since the fair, where he had won her a giant teddy bear, food, and a necklace. She wore the plastic pendant around her neck. It was tied together with rope, and she loved it. Yes, it was cheap, but he’d given it to her the moment he’d picked it out with some ducks.