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Again.
She makes me feel smart and sexy and just good whenever I’m with her.
Why did it take me so long to see that?
“Zeke?”
“Yeah?”
“Would you like to take a turn pouring?”
“Oh, sure. Whatever you need. Where should we start?”
“First, we need to label the jars and set the wicks. Then we pour when the wax is up to temperature, and we’ve added the scent.”
“I feel like I should be paying you for this class.”
“Oh, this one’s free. The next one, though, that’ll cost you.”
Chapter Five
Cherry
I feel like I owe him.
I know that Zeke would roll his eyes at that and probably tell me not to think twice about it, but the man helped me for hours and hours over the weekend to get those candles finished and shipped out. He refused to leave until everything was done, boxed, labeled, and then cleaned up.
He worked his butt off, right beside me.
And I have to admit, I had a great time, which was a huge surprise because this is Zeke we’re talking about.
Except, he doesn’t drive me bonkers like he used to. In fact, he hardly makes me want to smother him with a pillow at all anymore.
Instead, I’d rather hold on tightly to that pillow while he does all kinds of delicious things to my body. And he doesn’t seem to want to stop doing that anytime soon.
Thank all the gods and goddesses.
Still, I wanted to do something nice to thank Zeke for all his hard work and help, so here I am at Wolfe’s Garage at closing time, showing up to surprise him.
When I walk into the garage, classic rock ‘n’ roll pounds out of the speakers, and a pair of legs sticks out of the underside of a truck, a toe tapping the air to the beat of the song.
There doesn’t seem to be anyone else here, so I walk over to the legs, squat down, and bend like a pretzel to look under the truck to see who I’m interrupting.
It’s Zeke.
The music is so loud, and he’s so absorbed in what he’s doing that he doesn’t see me.
“Boo!”
He jumps, hits his head on the underside of the truck, and then quickly rolls out from under it, rubbing his forehead and scowling at me.
I’ve fallen back on my ass, laughing like a damn loon.
“You can’t just sneak up on a guy like that.” He’s still rubbing the spot. “Siri, stop the music.”
We’re suddenly cast in complete silence, aside from my laughter.
“I’m sorry, but that music was so loud, you wouldn’t have heard me if I knocked or something.”
“Have you ever heard of a phone?”
“Here.” I scoot to him and move his hand out of the way so I can rub his forehead. “I’m sorry you hurt yourself. Do you have a concussion?”
“No, just a bump.”
I boost up onto my knees so I can kiss the small red spot. He wraps his arms around my waist and tugs me into his lap, still sitting on the rolly thing, and plants his lips on mine for a long, hard kiss.
“Feel better?” I ask when I come up for air.
“Somewhat. To what do I owe this visit? Or did you just stop by to try to decapitate me?”
“You’re so dramatic. It’s closing time, and I have a surprise for you.”
He lifts an eyebrow in interest. “Really? What is it?”
“Finish up what you’re doing here so I can show you.”
He kisses my cheek, moves me off his lap so he can stand, then pulls me onto my feet with him. It only takes him about ten minutes to get everything put away and closed down for the night, and then we walk out to my car.
“To thank you for all your hard work over the weekend, I’m taking you on a picnic.”
“I’m starving.”
“Good, because I have a ton of food. Get in.”
The drive to the beach access I want to take Zeke to isn’t far from the garage, and soon I’ve parked and have the back hatch open to retrieve the picnic basket I loaded down.
Zeke takes it from me and frowns. “This is fucking heavy.”
“I told you, I brought a lot of food.”
Rather than hit the button to close the hatch, I reach up to do it manually and carry the blanket I brought for us to sit on.
“I know we have beach access at the condos,” I begin as we descend the stairs to the sand below, “but it’s nice to shake things up sometimes.”
“Couldn’t agree more.”
When we’re settled with the blanket spread out and the basket open, we just sit for a minute to take in the view of the water and the amazingly calm breeze.
“You’d never know it was November today.” I pull some cheese out of the basket. “It feels like early fall, so I figured we’d take advantage of it. Although, there is a slight nip of chill on the air.”
