Smiling at the receptionist, a pretty thing around seventeen, Roni took the clipboard and filled out the form with her info and the car’s info, too. Then the hair on her nape stood up and she stilled, the feeling of being hunted sliding over her.

Lifting her head, she blinked and frowned, there was nobody there. Until she turned and saw him. Taylor Granger. Her first and only love, not that she’d ever told him, was standing in a doorway between the office and the shop.

Wiping his hands on a rag, he had a pair of overalls on, the arms and top wrapped and tied off around his waist, leaving only a thin, tight t-shirt covering his massive chest. Holy mother of God, he’d filled out good.

And he was checking her out. She’d filled out a bit, too. Gone was the gangly teenager with more joints than grace. And her boobs had filled in, too, finally, just after high school, so she had those going for her. Unfortunately she’d also filled out in her hips and ass, making her curves very noticeable and rounded. Feminine, she liked to say, even as her scale yelled at her every morning that she was overweight.

Then his eyes lifted to finally meet her own, and it was as if all the oxygen had been sucked from the room. Roni had serious trouble pulling in a breath as his pale-blue eyes met hers. Finally, he blinked and she was able to draw air again, her starving lungs grateful for the reprieve.

“Fancy meeting you here, Roni,” he said. Holy hell, his voice! Deep, rumbly, and it went straight to her core, making her vibrate better than any of her battery operated boyfriends.

“Taylor,” she greeted him, eternally pleased she sounded like she had her shit together. Because she most definitely did not. She was that giddy teenager again inside, but at least externally she was pulling off the adult version of herself. “I didn’t know you were living and working here now.”

“I figured I might as well. I’ve got some family in the area that made the choice easy. I’m guessing that’s your car that just came in,” he said, not a question.

“Yeah, she decided she didn’t want me going for a massage today and keeled over to make me late.”

His lips curled, ever so slightly, and nodded. “Come on back while I take a look and we’ll see what she’s up to.”

Handing the clipboard to the receptionist, who was watching us avidly, Roni thanked her and then followed Taylor out to the garage. Thankfully, she’d worn jeans, a t-shirt and runners to go to her massage, because in heels she would have fallen on her ass, given how wobbly her legs were.

They only got worse when he bent over her engine compartment and the overalls cupped his damn fine ass. Fuck.