Fender Bender Blues (29 page)

Craig shook his head, perturbed. Where the hell was the information coming from, and who the hell was giving it away?
It has to be someone at the dealership, there’s no other explanation.
But Craig trusted everyone near to the matter and Kathy kept close watch on everyone coming in and out of his office.

He’d just spoken with Phil, the lead attorney, and they were still going forward with the mediation proceedings the next week. The man suing American Dream Autos and his attorney would be sent to one room, Craig and his attorneys to another, and a mediator would go back and forth, listening to each side’s arguments. Either a settlement would be reached, or it wouldn’t, and if it didn’t they would end up going to trial. Hopefully it would end in settlement; Craig didn’t want the matter going to trial.

And he hadn’t wanted to think about it tonight, not when he’d planned to spend the entire evening thinking only of Rach.

He shook his head and unscrewed the cork from the bottle of red he’d purchased that day. The rest of the night was his and Rach’s and he would do his damndest to not think of work or the lawsuit or Maggie and her attempts to make his life a living hell. He planned to enjoy himself, and that meant enjoying Rach. He looked over at where she sat curled into the side of the couch, watching the flames dance in the fireplace.

Something had changed in her—in them—in the last few days. Whatever had happened, he was glad for it. After Maggie, he’d had no intention of getting serious any time soon, he wasn’t even sure if what he and Rach were doing together could be described as serious. There was a feeling of intoxication when she was near and emptiness when she wasn’t around.

Just the thought of touching her, holding her, brought a smile to his lips. They still managed to get under each other’s skin, but that was them, it was how they were together and he wouldn’t want to have it any other way. When they disagreed, he found himself anticipating the pinkening of her cheeks just before she pinched her lips together. He loved how the skin between her brows would crinkle when she bit her tongue on an expletive. Those were all things he loved, but God, when she turned those eyes on him, that smile—there was nothing else like it in the world.

He poured a generous amount of wine into their glasses and walked to hand Rach her glass over the back of the couch. A thick lock of her hair sat on her bare shoulder and he gently brushed it away so he could lean down and kiss the soft, creamy skin there. How easy it would be to fall into a relationship with this woman and have this comfortable companionship every night—
so easy.

Because his mouth was already there, he shifted a little to the right and kissed the spot just under her earlobe and enjoyed her sharp intake of breath. Right now he didn’t want to analyze his feelings. All he needed to worry about was getting her fed and getting her to bed as quickly as possible. He’d mull through the complicated stuff later.

He sat down beside her and pulled her close, shifting her body so that she faced him on the couch. She wasn’t tiny, but she was thin, and light as a feather in his arms.

“I like being here, just you and me. I like how I feel when I’m with you.” His words surprised him as much as they surprised her, but they’d been the truth.

Her lips quivered before forming a smile. “Me, too. Even though you’re an ass most of the time.”

Seizing a lock of her hair, he rolled it between his thumb and forefinger. She cared about him. The truth was in her eyes, in the way her voice had cracked. He leaned forward and kissed her, his lips moving over hers in a tender dance. As he laid her down on the soft, suede couch, the fire crackled and cast a glow over her face. Any life without her would be much too empty.

Chapter Thirty-Five

Rach had only been home one night after spending the last two playing house with Craig, so she hadn’t expected him to appear on her front porch, hair glistening wet and smiling irresistibly. But there he was and she wasn’t going to complain about it. The night before had been a restless one as she’d tossed and turned, missing his warmth.

“I missed you,” he said and Rach flung herself into his arms. Her nightgown rode up past her butt cheeks, but she didn’t care. If any of her neighbors were watching, the scene would give them something to gossip about during the resurrected Bridge nights. Most of the people on the block needed the entertainment, so she was really just providing a community service.

“I should drag you upstairs to your room.” He sighed, taking in the bronze nightgown clinging to her body. His eyes lingered on her chest before meeting her eyes. “But I have a surprise for you. Look.”

She peered around him to the street and almost fell over.

“Oh my God,
that’s my car!
” She gasped and stepped outside barefoot onto the wet cement. “And it’s so shiny, it looks brand new!”

“So you like it?” He grinned and squeezed her hand in his.

She sighed and smiled up at him. “It’s so pretty.”

He wrapped his arms around her, and the nightie climbed higher on her thighs. She was too enthralled at the miracle that was her car to worry about the show the Jacobs were getting across the street as they rocked on their front porch with their morning coffee.

“You want to take it for a spin?” he asked.

“Yes!” She didn’t stop to go back inside for shoes, but padded across the wet grass to her car. Fluffy patches of dark gray clouds littered the sky and the rain fell lightly on her face as she blinked back at Craig. “Hurry up or I’ll have to leave you behind. I’m so damn excited. I can’t believe this is my car!”

She smiled at the man who, in one fateful morning, had changed her life in ways she hadn’t been ready for and had tried so hard to fight. Her eyes were tearing up and she told herself to get a grip, except no man had ever done anything so nice for her before. It was hard not to get all sappy over such a huge gift.

“It’s like a brand new car.” She marveled at how shiny red the paint was in the rain. The door opened without protest. Smiling, she slipped behind the wheel. The interior had been detailed. When she turned the key in the ignition, the stereo hummed to life and Prince flooded through speakers that no longer sounded crackly. Bouncing up and down in her seat, she squealed. “You fixed the speakers!”

“You can thank my guys for that. They said the speakers sounded as bad as the CD in the player.”

Ignoring his comment and lack of taste when it came to Prince, she ran her fingers along the shiny steering wheel. The transformation was incredible, it was five times better than when she’d bought it. No more Toronado, she wouldn’t have to borrow her mom’s van when her dad needed his car back for car club meetings. Rach sighed and put her hand on the shifter between the front seats, gently nudging it back into reverse.

“You really are the best,” she told Craig and blinked back tears.

He smiled and buckled his seat belt. “You’re welcome, Babe.”

The endearment didn’t help stifle the tears. She wiped her cheeks with the back of her palm and slowly eased the car out of the parking lot and into the street. Overly cautious, but she wasn’t taking any chances. She didn’t want even the tiniest scratch on her baby, not after the makeover it had gone through.

Craig’s eyes were fixated on her as she drove at a snail’s paces down the street with both hands glued to the wheel at exactly two and ten, just as she’d been taught in Driver’s Ed in high school. She glanced over at him quickly before focusing again on the street. “Quit staring, it’s making me nervous.”

He chuckled. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you drive so good before.”

Rach took her eyes off the road to glare at him. “I’m a good driver.”

“Uh, huh.” His eyes traveled from her face to her bare legs, her nightie hiked up far enough to reveal the V between her legs and a hint of blush colored panties. “You are incredibly sexy driving in that thing.”

“Enjoy, I’m sure it won’t happen again. This is a special occasion.”

The rain fell in thicker drops against the windshield and she flipped on the wipers. She glanced at the coffee cup in his hand. “Put the lid back on, you’re making me nervous.”

“It tore and I don’t want to cut my lip on the plastic.”

“You better not spill that coffee in my car.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He saluted then put both hands around the cup. “See? Careful.”

“Mm.”

Even the steering was smoother. Was it possible to love someone more than Christmas? He’d obviously done more to the car than the insurance check had paid for. She gave the car a bit more gas and got it up to the speed limit, enjoying the smooth ride beneath her.

Then, like a horrible ending to a happy story, Tally appeared, running on the street beside the car. Startled, she jerked the wheel and swerved to miss Tally, who scampered sideways away from the car. The car jumped the curb and crashed into a tree next to the sidewalk. The familiar crunch of metal—the sound of the car once again being taken out of commission—brought frustrated tears to her eyes.

They sat in shocked silence, Rach holding the steering wheel in a death grip of pale knuckles, and Craig, wiping at his pants where the coffee had soaked his slacks. She stared wide-eyed at the tree that had crumpled the front bumper of her car. This time, the hood was bent back toward the windshield and the pretty new paint had spider-webbed to the middle of the hood. She squeezed her eyes shut and the tears that had been welling at the corners of her eyes fell down her cheeks.

Let this be a bad dream, please, please, please.
Except it wasn’t, because when she opened her eyes her car was still wrecked. Craig held his head in his hands, shaking it back and forth in disbelief.

“Tally.” Rach searched the yard, but didn’t see the puppy. She craned her neck to peer around Craig’s head and out the passenger side window and saw Tally prancing away down the sidewalk, back toward Rach’s townhome.

“I don’t believe this.” Craig lifted his head from his hands to stare at the hood. “How is this even possible?”

When he turned his head to look at her, his eyes mirrored the sick incredulity Rach felt. Rach sniffled and unbuckled her seatbelt. “My insurance company is going to drop me after this. Two accidents in just over a month—I’ve probably set a freakin’ record.”

He unbuckled his seatbelt and put his empty coffee cup into the cup holder. “Red, I don’t think your car can be fixed this time. Looks like there’s a lot of front-end damage, probably the engine, too.”

“And once again
I have no car
.” She shoved the door open and stepped out onto the wet grass. The sprinkle became a downpour and through the rain she spotted Tally who’d ventured back and now trotted in the yard across the street. She whistled and Tally paused to look back at Rach. “Tally, you get your butt over here
right now.
”

Tally tilted her head in contemplation. Placing her hand on her hip, Rach fumed. Trying not to lose her cool, she told herself to count to five. Luckily, Tally loped across the street and parked her butt on the grass next to Rach before she’d gotten to the count of four.

Mr. and Mrs. Petersen stepped out onto their front porch and gawked at the spectacle in their front yard. Mr. Petersen raised the coffee mug in his hand to his lips and took a slow sip while his wife clutched a wadded up newspaper to her chest.

Rach waved at them and mustered up a smile. “It’s okay, we’re fine.”

The older couple stared back, speechless. Rach whispered to Craig, “I look freakin’ ridiculous out here in the rain…in my underwear.”

Craig’s eyes twinkled down at her. “You look unbelievably sexy.”

Rach could feel the blush on her cheeks despite the chill the rain left on her skin, and tugged self-consciously at the nightie clinging to her like a second skin, leaving nothing to the imagination. Craig reached down and brushed a strand of rain-matted hair off of her forehead and out of her eyes.

“Sexy,” he insisted.

“I don’t see how… And my toes are cold.”
And I’m car-less again.

Craig draped his jacket around her shoulders and placed her hand in the crook of his arm. “Shall we?” She smiled at his ridiculous gallantry, but leaned into him, drained and depressed and wishing she could be teleported to anywhere but there. She refused to look back at her car.

“It’s a beautiful morning,” Craig called out to Mr. and Mrs. Jacobs, who gawked from the cover of their porch. Rach sniffled. Craig stopped her on the sidewalk leading up to Rach’s porch and smoothed her hair from her face. He gave her a soft kiss on the lips and she tasted rain. “It’s going to be okay. We’ll figure this out.”

There wasn’t much to figure out, as far as she was concerned. Hopefully her insurance would cover the cost of totaling the car the second time around, and if not, she was screwed. And she’d be driving her dad’s car for an indefinite amount of time while she looked around town for a beater that cost less than a thousand bucks, because that’s all she would be able to afford if her insurance dropped her and refused to pay the tab. She swallowed against the knot in her throat.

No more crying.
It didn’t do any good, anyway.

“You realize there’s never been a dull moment in my life since I met you?”

Despite the situation, she returned his smile with a weak one of her own. “I suppose.”