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Prologue
Kas
“You sound tired, Kas.” I wedged the phone between my shoulder and my cheek as I picked up a stack of receipts and started sorting through them and the orders that I had to place before heading home for the night.
“That’s because I am,” I said around a yawn. Waking up at five and going home at almost ten every night was taking its toll on me. “Thanks so much for reminding me, Kayson.” I shook my head, trying to clear out the cobwebs that were clouding my mind. “Anyway, I just called because I wanted to wish you luck in your race tomorrow.”
“Thanks, Sis. You coming down anytime soon? You need a break.”
“Yeah right.” I scoffed. “You just told me I sound tired. Like I have time to head down to Daytona right now. But you will be happy to know that I have put an ad out for another mechanic, and I just hired on a girl from the local college to run the front desk in the afternoons.”
“That’s great. When you’re ready for it, I got a project car you can work on in your spare time. It’s in bad shape, but I know you can make her beautiful again.”
I could hear the smile and satisfaction in my brother’s voice. “What kind of project?” I asked, dropping the receipts to sit back in my chair. My brother wouldn’t be telling me about a project unless he knew it would be one that I couldn’t say no to.
“Oh, just a ‘71 Monte Carlo.”
“Shut up!” My twin definitely knew how to get my attention. “Where did you find that?”
He laughed. “You’re so damn predictable.”
“You know I’ve wanted one of those for forever.”
“I know. I have one, but she needs some work.” He gave a dramatic sigh.
“Send it up. I’ll work on it when I can. Though, I will warn you, I might not want to give her back.”
“She’s already loaded up and ready to go. I’ll be sending her up next week sometime. I just have to find someone willing to make the drive. It’s our busy season right now, so everyone is all hands on deck.”
“Cool. Any special requests for her, or can I have my way with her?”
“I’ll trust your vision.” He paused as someone called my brother’s name in the background. “Hey, I gotta go. We’re having a team meeting tonight before the race tomorrow. Take care, Kas, and go get some sleep.”
“You too. Drive safe tomorrow—fast—but safe.”
“Always do.”
I hung up the phone and smiled. I loved my family, and I missed the hell out of them. When I decided to move to Georgia, they weren’t too happy about it. Mom and Dad both tried to talk me out of it, but in my gut, I knew this was what I needed to do. I could have stayed in Florida and used the family name to skyrocket my garage, but I wanted this to be mine. I wanted to make it on my own without the boost of having the last name Storm. KS Customs was mine—my legacy. Racing was my dad's and my brother’s world, and I didn’t want to use their status to push me forward in my career. I was living in a man’s world, and I was determined to leave my mark on it.
I started this garage as a one woman show for the first six months before I decided to take on another mechanic. Since then, I hired on a graphic artist to do the custom paint jobs. KS Customs was growing, and we were having trouble keeping up with the influx of cars coming into the garage.
We had a few projects going on right now and a few more lined up, so it was time to bring on another mechanic to try to take some of the workload off us and help us to get through the projects more efficiently for our clients.
There was a learning curve with the business side of running a garage. I was a gearhead and grease monkey. My biggest challenge in running this place so far was figuring out the business side of things. Kayson was right. I needed an office manager so I could just do what I do best—work on cars. First things first, though, I needed to hire another mechanic.
My back ached as I leaned back in my chair to stretch my sore muscles. My gaze caught on all the paperwork on my desk, and I groaned. “I’ll deal with this shit tomorrow,” I muttered to myself and looked over to the big fluffy dog bed to see Hemi, my blue pit bull, laying there. Her snores made me envious because I was freaking exhausted, and she was doing what I wanted to be doing—sleeping.
“Come on, Hemi, let’s go home, girl.” I flipped off the lights and set the alarm. KS Customs would be closed tomorrow, but I would come in any way to finish off the stuff I’d left on my desk and spend some time in my sanctuary—underneath the hood of a car.
My work in this place was never done. I loved it, but even I knew I couldn’t keep up this pace forever. I needed help, and a life outside of the garage. I just didn’t have time for it.
Chapter 1
Creed
“I want to see my kid, Amber,” I growled into the phone, tunneling my fingers through my hair, and aggravated that I was even having this conversation with my bitch of an ex-girlfriend. She was the reason I was here and why I packed up my life in San Diego to move to Sunset Falls, Georgia.
“I’ll stop by with him when I have a chance. I’m busy.”
