“I won’t be much longer.”
I simply nod.
Kit doesn’t make it a secret that he’s examining me closely.It’s evident he is trying to place me and where he knows me from.
I clear my throat and fold my arms across my chest.
Kit remembers he’s ogling a “sister” and quickly goes back to work.
Without the music, the silence is deafening.
After about five minutes, Kit reemerges from under the hood.
He looks at me.
I swallow past the lump in my throat.
“Can you help me out for a second?”
“I-I’m not very good with cars.”Going anywhere near Kit is a verybadidea.
But he makes clear this isn’t up for negotiation when he tosses me the car keys.“I just need you to start it.”
“Why can’t you do that?”
“Because I need to be under here when it starts.”He pats the top of the hood with a smirk.
I look ridiculous, not to mention suspicious, standing here, so I walk over to the car, ensuring not to meet Kit’s eyes as I get into the car.The hood is up, which obscures my line of sight, but being this close to him has me on the verge of a panic attack.
I’ve never experienced this before.But to be honest, I have steered clear of men since I left the old me behind.
“Start her up,” Kit calls, pulling me from my thoughts.
I put the key into the ignition and gently give it some gas.It turns over like it wants to start but doesn’t.Kit takes a step back, peering into the engine bay as if trying to decode what’s wrong.
I can see him through the small visible sliver in the windshield.He runs his fingers through his hair, tousling it further.
He bends and retrieves something from the toolbox.He tinkers under the hood for a few minutes before he asks me to start the car again.
I do as he asks, and it has a little more momentum.
“Give it more gas.”
I tap my foot on the pedal, and it eventually splutters to life.I’m about to get out of the car, but shrink back into my seat when Kit stands in the door, his hand above the frame.He isn’t trying to be intimidating or box me in, but he knows that I was two seconds away from bolting back into the orphanage.
“I don’t mean to overstep, but what’s your name?”He has a silver ring in each nostril.If possible, it makes him even hotter.
I need to focus, however, and forget his prominent Adam’s apple.I wonder what it would feel like under my tongue.
Giving him a name other than my real one feels wrong.
But it’s just a name, right?
“I’m sorry to be so forward, but you look familiar.I can’t place where, though.Did you grow up around here?”
The urge to dig my fingernails into my palms is overbearing, but I keep my cool.“Not really, no.But here is my home now.If you’ll excuse me…”
I attempt to get out, but he doesn’t budge.“I’d like to offer my services.”
