Worth Waiting For (4 page)

 
“What’s wrong with your truck?”

 
He shook his head in frustration.
“Nothing that can’t be fixed.
I’ll be out of your way in no time.”

 
“You’re not in my way.” Julia eased toward him, the heels of her pumps sinking into the soft ground with each step.

 
He frowned at her, using a black flashlight to guide her steps in the grass. “Be careful. You’ll get dirty.”

Julia waved away his concern with the hand holding the soda. “Are you going to tell me what’s wrong? Do you need a lift somewhere?”

“She’s old and every now and again she acts up.”

Julia peered at the dusty interior filled with tubes, machinery, and wires. “Have you thought about investing in a new truck?”

His lips narrowed into a thin line, and she wished right away she
hadn’t
said the words. Only after the question left her mouth did she realize how it sounded. She could go out and buy a new car when she got tired of the old one, but not everyone had the same means. Her only excuse was that after a long day, she
wasn’t
thinking as clearly as she should.

He shined the light on the battery. “I’m pretty sure this is the culprit this time.” She was glad he chose to ignore her faux pas.

Gray matter clung to the battery.
“Looks disgusting.”
She wrinkled her nose.

“Yeah, I haven’t been very attentive. Never let your battery corrode like this, or eventually you’ll have to do what I’m about to do so you can get it going again.”

“What are you about to do?”

“Clean off this ‘disgusting’ stuff.” He pulled a wrench from the open toolbox next to him.

With the light in one hand, he reached toward the battery with the other that held the wrench.

“If it’ll make things easier, I can hold the light for you.” Even though she was tired, she
couldn’t
imagine leaving him out here, struggling to do a two-handed job with one hand. She placed her briefcase and bottle in the grass. When his gaze swung toward her, his frowning face prompted her to ask, “What’s wrong?”

“You don’t have to do that.”

“You’re not used to people being nice?” One of her brows hitched upward.

“It’s not…” She continued to stare, forcing him to finish the thought. “I want you to be careful. I
wouldn’t
want you to chip a nail. I’m sure you spent a lot of money to have them done.”

His words sounded more like an accusation than a statement. Maybe she deserved it after her thoughtless comment, but manicured nails
didn’t
make her a prima donna.

“I did, but I’m sure it’ll be fine.” She held out her hand.

He
didn’t
budge. “My truck’s dirty and I don’t want you to get your expensive suit messed up.”

When he mentioned her suit, his eyes trailed down her body, and warmth suffused every inch of skin. “Why don’t you let me worry about that? All I’m doing is holding the flashlight.”

Good. Her voice sounded normal, but her pulse had started racing. What was it about him? She had never even dated outside of her racial dating pool before.

With a shrug, he handed her the flashlight and turned his attention to loosening the first clamp holding the cable to the terminal.

“You’re here later than usual. Dad said you normally come by during the day to check on your workers.”

Freddie nodded. “I got a job way down east on Highway 20, and I worked down there all day. It
wasn’t
convenient for me to check in during the day like I have been doing. Your house is on the way home, so I thought
I’d
stop in tonight to see the progress. My guys are good, but I like to keep a close eye on things in the beginning.” He pulled off the cable and found the dull-looking terminal
was also covered
in the ashy-looking deposit.

“I appreciate you being so attentive. It’s hard to find good contractors who stick to their word and take such pride in their work.”

“I hear that a lot.” He shook his head. “The best way to grow a business is through word of mouth. I aim to please every time.”

I
bet you do
. “How long have you been in business?”

He looked up from working on the second terminal. “I’ve been in business for myself about ten years.” He refocused on the task. “Technically, though, I have over twenty years of experience. If you count the work I did with my father from the time I was a kid.”

When the cables on both batteries
were removed
, he pulled a flathead screwdriver from his tool belt and began to scrape off the acid build up.
A tool belt.
Who knew it could be so sexy? She conjured an image of him in a plaid shirt with the top buttons undone. She imagined the tanned skin of his solid chest as he walked toward her in slow motion with his
tool belt
slung low on his narrow hips and a hammer in his hand.

Julia lost her grip on the flashlight and it slipped from her clammy fingers. The beam of light went haywire as she tried to catch it but instead bumped it into the air and made it crash land with a thud onto the bumper of the truck. Freddie’s startled gaze was the last thing she saw before the flashlight hit the ground and extinguished.

“Oh, I’m so sorry!”

“It’s okay, I—” His voice broke off when their heads collided as they both reached down to fumble for the flashlight in the darkness. Freddie groaned and straightened, clutching his forehead.

“Ow!”

Julia brought her hand up to her temple, but the sudden movement and the blow caused her to teeter backwards. Her arms flailed wildly right before she lost her balance and landed on her butt in the grass. Stunned, she sat there for a moment, staring up at him.

“Are you all right?”

The alarm in his voice coupled with the embarrassment of her fall made the whole situation seem unreal—and
absolutely hilarious
. He extended a hand to her but instead of taking
it,
Julia broke into a fit of giggles. They came from deep down inside of her, bubbles of hysterical laughter she
couldn’t
stop. She wrapped her arms around her abdomen to ease her pained stomach muscles.

She finally calmed down enough to notice Freddie on one knee in front of her. She swiped tears from her lashes.

“Are you all right?” The level of concern in his voice had gone up another notch.

She tried to catch her breath. “You have no…idea how much…I needed that. I’ve had a …rotten day.”

He plopped down beside her on the grass. Sitting so close, she had a decent view of his face. He looked at her oddly, studying her.

“Glad I could help.”

A thread of electricity stretched between them and Julia lowered her gaze. The same clamminess that caused her to drop the flashlight returned to her palms.

Her reaction was completely out of character.
She’d
never been attracted to blue collar types. She always preferred her men to wear suits and carry a briefcase. They needed to be
well-groomed
with neatly trimmed short hair, and immaculate at all times. Freddie Mendoza turned that theory on its head with his ponytail, jeans that looked dirt-stained from years of use, calloused hands, and work boots.

A gurgling sound caught her attention. It was Freddie’s turn to be embarrassed. He laid a hand over his stomach.

“I haven’t eaten since lunch.”

Julia nodded. “I get like that sometimes.” She pointed to where the bottle of soda rested next to her briefcase.
“Dinner.”

“Is that how you keep your girlish figure?” The teasing remark warmed her insides, and a smile of pleasure graced her lips.

“Not exactly.
I didn’t feel like stopping on my way home to get something to eat, and I’m going to work on some files before I go to bed.”

“You just
spent,
what…twelve or thirteen hours at work, and you brought work home?”

When he said it like that, it did sound ridiculous. “There’s nothing I can do about it. I need to stay up late and finish what I
couldn’t
at work. Not to mention I’m officially addicted to caffeine and should probably try to wean myself off of it.”

“A bottle of soda would not be enough for me,” Freddie said with a shake of his head. “I need to eat
food
.” As big as he was, that came as no surprise. He held his hands about twelve inches apart. “I need a nice heaping plate of chicken or fish, rice, beans, and
tostones
.”

“
Tostones
?”

Freddie nodded. He pressed the tips of his forefinger and thumb together. “They’re sliced circles of green plantains fried, then mashed, then fried again. We eat them as a side dish, but they can also be served as an appetizer.”

“I don’t eat anything fried, but I’d love to taste the rest of the items on your imaginary plate. Do you cook a lot?”

“
No
. I
don’t
cook at all. Whenever
I
want a home cooked meal, I go to my sister’s house. I can barely boil water.”

Interesting.
Either he
didn’t
have a woman in his life, or she was just as helpless in the kitchen as he was.

“You have two functioning hands. Why can’t you cook for yourself?”

“These hands are only good for manual labor.”

Julia took a good look at his large hands. She doubted that was the only thing they were good
for
. Before her thoughts went down the same path that had caused the mishap with the flashlight, she asked, “Ready to try again?”

 
“Sure.” He rose to his feet. “You don’t have a concussion, do you?”

His words pulled another laugh from her. “I’ll let you know after I see a doctor first thing in the morning. Then I’ll send you the bill.”

Taking his outstretched hand, she allowed him to draw her to her feet. Soon he located the flashlight, and they once again stood over the open hood of the truck. He worked in silence, using the screwdriver to scrape as much of the acid from the battery terminals as he could. This time she concentrated on the task instead of letting her imagination run wild.

Freddie stopped what he was doing and rested his palms on the edge of the vehicle. “That’s about as much as I can get off. Hopefully, that should do it.”

“You know, I heard once that using coke can clean the acid off a battery. Do you want to use mine to make sure you removed all of it?”

He straightened. “I thought that was dinner.”

“I have veggies in the fridge, or I could make a sandwich or something.” She lifted the bottle from the grass and handed it to him. “Here.”

“That’s really nice of you.”

“Don’t sound so surprised!”

“I didn’t mean to. You’re…not what I expected, that’s all.”

“And what did you expect?” All of sudden, his opinion mattered to her.

Freddie unscrewed the cap. “I’m not going there.”

“So it’s bad.”

“No, not really.”
He poured the dark liquid over the terminals, avoiding her gaze. They both watched as it interacted with the acid,
bubbling
and fizzing. “You’re a professional woman, and usually women like you don’t want to get their hands dirty. Any other woman would probably have been upset about her suit getting filthy after taking a fall. She wouldn’t want to get her shiny black pumps dirty, and she definitely wouldn’t have offered up her coke.”