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“Are you kidding?” I muttered as I rounded my car.
Ian was right behind me and peered down at the tire in question on the front passenger side. “Definitely not driving this. It also looks like your oil pan got torn off.”
Joe chimed in, “There are boulders on the corners of this drive. Granite is very unforgiving. I'm guessing you couldn't see them in the snow and probably caught your oil pan on it when you bounced to the other side of the drive. You don't have to book with our shop, but you can.”
“What are we talking about money-wise?”
His eyes darted over to the stain in the snow, that I only noticed now, and then back to me. He lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “I'm not sure. I need to get a look under there, and I'm not going to get a good look in this snow. For now, do you want me to tow it to the shop, and you can decide what you want to do?”
I sighed, trudging around to the passenger side to fetch my purse. “That's fine,” I called. “And of course you can do it. What kind of timeframe are we looking at?”
“Probably a week or two. We're pretty busy. If you need it sooner, I'm sure I can try to squeeze it in, but it really depends on if I need to order parts.”
I bit back another sigh because I didn’t mean to sound ungrateful, and this wasn’t Joe’s fault. “That's fine. Should I give you a credit card now?”
He grinned and shook his head. “No, just call the shop. Give me your phone number, and I'll give you my card. I'm running the emergency service today, so I won't even be in the office much. Good to see you. What are you both doing here?” he asked us as he hooked my car up again and slowly pulled it onto the flatbed.
“I'm taking the month off before I start a new job in Boston. Turns out Ian's here too,” I explained.
“Oh, did you come up together?” he asked as he raised the flatbed to level and tightened the chains around my tires.
I shook my head quickly, and Ian chuckled. “Clearly, that's a no,” Ian offered. “If you were wondering, Jane’s not pleased that Thea forgot to tell me I wasn't supposed to be staying in our family's home right now.”
I rolled my eyes. “It's not a problem.” I glared at Ian when Joe turned away.
After Joe was ready to go, he assured me once his shop had time to look at my car, they would call with an update on how long the repairs would take.
I climbed into the passenger seat of Ian’s SUV, my eyes taking it in. It was nice, very nice. It was all black, which suited his personality. The seats were leather and heated. I couldn't even hold back the hum of appreciation at the feel of the warmth that immediately seeped through me.
Once I was buckled in and the door was closed, Ian’s eyes slid sideways, his mouth kicking up at one corner. My belly startled me with a somersault, and I felt tingles spreading all over. Jesus, this was so annoying. I was getting turned on just from him sort of smiling. Needing a distraction, any distraction, I commented, “These heated seats are nice.”
His grin widened. “I love them.” He adjusted the heat, asking, “You warm enough?”
“I will be soon. No need to turn it up.”
He waited while Joe backed the tow truck out, and I watched my car moving away. He put the SUV into reverse, commenting as he backed up, “Next time you get a new car, maybe look into heated seats. They're more standard than they used to be.”
“I'll keep that in mind.”
Once he was on the road, we rode in silence for a few minutes. I wrestled with the tension humming through my system—a combustible mix of annoyance with Ian’s high-handedness, the situation with my car feeding into it, and this persistent attraction to him.
“How’re you doing over there?” Ian’s question broke through the quiet.
“Fine. I'm a little frustrated about my car,” I admitted.
“It doesn't seem like a huge issue. In the meantime, obviously, I can drive you wherever you need to go.”
I bit my bottom lip, trying to keep a sigh from slipping out. Now, I was here without a car and dependent on Ian unless I decided to rent one. Considering that I didn't have tons of money saved up, I preferred not to incur that cost. I managed a light shrug. “Thanks for that. Hopefully, the shop can take care of it pretty quickly. At least I don't have many places to go. I don't want to impose on you.”
“You're not imposing. It's not like I have a ton of things to do. I can't imagine you're going to treat me like your own personal driving service,” he teased.
I laughed softly. “No, I won’t. When the weather's better, if you could take me over to check out my parents’ house, that would be great. Otherwise, I just need to take care of food and things.”
“What was your plan for your time here anyway?” he asked.
I looked out the window of the SUV, watching the snowy landscape roll by. “Aside from taking out any last boxes at my parents’ house, I didn't have any plans. I wanted a break and some peace and quiet.”
“How about you?”
