“This is Fuse and Brick.” Kane nodded toward the two men. “Meet Priscilla, the new bookkeeper.”
They each lifted a hand to wave and shot me a smile. My heels clicked on the concrete floor as I tried to keep up with Kane.
“And over here is my brother, Bison.” Kane pointed to a man bent over a workbench. The guy lifted his head, and my stomach torpedoed straight to the floor.
I squinted, wishing I hadn’t been so focused on making a good impression and had worn my glasses this morning. From where I was standing, the guy called Bison looked a heck of a lot like the man who’d broken into my house last night.
“Aw, shit.” He shook his head and set down whatever he’d been working on.
“What’s going on?” Kane asked. “Do you two know each other or something?”
“It’s a long story.” Bison held my gaze as he came closer.
I had to tilt my head back to look at him. When he’d had his head stuck in my dog door, I guess I hadn’t realized just how big of a man he was. Dark eyes, more black than blue, stared down at me. My toes curled inside my impractical heels. He didn’t look like a man who took kindly to people telling him what to do.
Kane crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the counter. “We’ve got time.”
“We met last night when he got his head stuck in my dog door.” I cocked a hip and tried to summon some bravado from somewhere deep down inside.
Bison rolled his eyes and turned toward Kane. “She’s renting my grandmother’s house, and DJ got scared during the storm. He made a beeline for the dog door, and I was trying to get him to come out.”
Kane shook his head and didn’t bother to hide a chuckle. “Why don’t you finish giving Priscilla the tour? And make sure you fill her in on the charity ride we’ve got coming up in a couple of weeks. I’ve got to go make a few calls, so I’ll catch up with you later.”
He shot me a grin as he passed by. I almost reached out to stop him from leaving me alone with the brute of a man who clearly didn’t want anything to do with me. Before I had the chance, Kane disappeared through a door to what I assumed was the office.
“Maybe we should start over.” Bison held out his hand. A smear of grease covered his thumb. He grabbed a rag from his pocket and wiped the smudge away. “Never mind. Shaking hands with a mechanic probably isn’t a good idea. Come on, I’ll show you around.”
With no other option, I teetered along behind him as he gave me a high-level tour of the space. We finished outside a small office. Someone had scrawled my name on a lined piece of paper and taped it next to the door.
“This is you.” Bison turned the doorknob and pushed the door open. “You need anything else, be sure to let Kane know.”
“What do you do around here?” Making small talk didn’t seem like a good idea, but I couldn’t reconcile the guy in front of me with the man who’d been stuck in my dog door last night.
“I’m just another mechanic.”
“Don’t sell yourself short, man.” Kane came out of nowhere and clapped his brother on the back. “He’s the best mechanic I’ve ever worked with and is opening up his own shop soon, isn’t that right?”
“If everything works out.” Bison’s big shoulders shrugged, but I got the sense Kane had hit on something important to him.
“What’s holding you back?” I tilted my head and stared at him.
“Money. Doesn’t everything always seem to come down to money?” He gave me a defeated smile and turned to go.
“We’ll figure it out, bro,” Kane called after him. Then he turned back to me. “Thanks for pitching in on such short notice. You don’t know how relieved I was when Mama Mae told me she’d found us a bookkeeper.”
“It’s my pleasure. I’ve been trying to figure out a way to move closer to family, so it all worked out.” That wasn’t exactly true, but I planned on holding my cards close to my chest and doling out personal information on a need-to-know basis.
“Let’s get you settled in and see how long it takes for you to sort out the mess our last bookkeeper left. You’re going to love it here in Broken Bend. Once you have a chance to get settled, I hope you’ll come over for dinner. My fiancée Abilene is dying to meet you.”
I slid into the office chair and tucked my purse under my new desk. All of that sounded really good, but I knew better than to get comfortable. It was only a matter of time before my past would catch up with me. I only hoped I could do what needed to be done before it did.
5
BISON
It had been two weeks since Priscilla had joined us at the garage. Fourteen days of avoiding the curvy brunette with the bright smile and killer rack. I’d gone home almost every night with a pair of blue balls from watching her sashay around the office in the ruffly short dresses she favored. Thank fuck the club was taking off on the charity ride this afternoon. A few days away from her might give my right hand a chance to rest.
“Got a sec?” Kane caught me on my way into the garage.