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There was nothing Sabella could say. She could see Rick’s point of view. Although Sabella had understood that Nathan was a SEAL, Sienna had never been able to understand Rick’s dedication to being a sheriff.
“Rick didn’t even tell me about the trouble you had with your new mechanic,” Sienna pouted as they approached the door and Sabella tapped on it lightly. “I had to hear through gossip.”
Sabella rolled her eyes and tried to control her flush.
“They sure weren’t wrong about that beard burn though.” Sienna craned her head around to look, snickering back at Sabella. “The man knows how to do it right.”
“Good morning, ladies.” Kira chose that moment to open the door and invite them in. “Breakfast will be ready in a few. I just have to finish the tortillas and we’ll be good to go.” She paused and stared at Sabella, her eyes widening before a teasing smile curled her pert, pouting lips. “Wow, Sabella, gossip is right, that new mechanic of yours knows how to give beard burn the right way, doesn’t he?”
Sabella narrowed her eyes at her friend. “We’re not talking about the new mechanic.”
“The new mechanic?” Ian chose that moment to walk into the room. “Belle, could you let him know I have to bring the Jeep in.” He stopped, stared at her jaw and neck, lifted his brows and stared back at Kira.
Kira smirked. “The new mechanic.”
Great. “You guys act like you’ve never seen beard burn,” she muttered.
“Have you looked in the mirror?” Sienna laughed, though the sound was tense. “Or did you do what you normally do and just ignore what you don’t want to see?”
Sabella turned back to her, her lips tightening. “Meaning?”
“Meaning it’s not just beard burn.” Sienna laughed. “Sweetie, your mechanic left a hickey, and he did a damned good job with that one little bite while he was there.” She reached out, touched the area just under Sabella’s jaw, and shook her head. “We should all be so lucky.”
Sabella walked into the garage late that afternoon. There were more than half a dozen vehicles lined up in the garage waiting area. Toby was pumping gas and there were several college students in the convenience section of the station.
Rory was taking care of the register as Sabella moved into the office and closed the door behind her. She went to the coffeepot as the wide door into the garage bay opened and Noah stepped in.
She was caught by his eyes. She was always caught by his eyes.
“You’re late. Everything okay?” He entered the office and closed the door.
“I stayed longer than I should have at a friend’s for breakfast.” She shrugged as she poured her coffee and headed to her desk.
She pulled the overshirt she wore tighter around her. It had been one of Nathan’s shirts. Stained with oil, and she imagined she could smell him on it, though she knew the scent had long since faded. It was a comfort shirt. It was a warning to other men. Today, she needed something to hold Noah back, and she had prayed it would work.
She watched as his eyes moved to the pocket patch. Nathan’s name was emblazoned there. When his gaze came back to hers she caught a hint of anger.
“Still holding on to him?” he asked her softly, his rough voice darker than normal.
“Always.” Let him make of that what he wanted to. She had stopped holding on to the hope he would come home three years before, but hadn’t forgotten what they had shared. No matter how hard she tried.
“It’s been six years.” He poured his own coffee then sat on the corner of the spare desk. “Long time to be a frozen widow, don’t you think?”
“So Duncan informed me last night,” she snapped. “I don’t need you reiterating the message.”
Noah could see the pain that flashed in her eyes and it enraged him. The knowledge that he was fighting his own memory pissed him off even further.
He hadn’t expected her to do this to herself. To put her life in such a deep freeze that no one else could touch her, hold her. Like an animal, she had burrowed into a hole to lick her wounds, but the wounds were still ragged and pain filled.
But he couldn’t blame her for it. He’d done the same thing. Closed off everything, concentrated on the here and now, and the battles that came along. At least he had, until he returned home and learned nothing was as he had thought it should be.
“I think you need to live a little.” He had never wanted her to be alone if something happened to him. But, just as he had done, Sabella had continued to hold on to that bond that stretched between them. The one Nathan had tried to break between them, but never could.
“What I think is that it isn’t any of your business. You didn’t know him and you don’t know me.”
He grunted at that, sipped his coffee, and stared at her bent head as she went over the accounting book. He’d gone over it himself, several times. It was in perfect order. Once she had returned and knocked the garage back into shape, she had managed, miraculously, to hold on to it. Mostly because, according to Rory, she had refused to sleep and had practically lived at the garage.
“I don’t have to know him,” he told her, as he rested his wrist on his knee while holding his coffee and staring back at her. “I’ve had him shoved down my throat every day I’ve been here. Every one I’ve met loved ‘Irish.’ ” He nearly spat out the word. He was so sick of hearing about himself he could barely tolerate it.
