Turn Up the Heat by Kimberly Kincaid Read Free Book Online

grade?” Shane laughed. How anyone could have a jones like that for someone else was beyond him. Dating, he got. Hell, even casual sex made sense as long as both parties were on the same page. But unrequited love? Not happening to Shane in a million years.
    â€œIf you want to get technical, since December of the fifth grade. But anyway. She’s bound to be out tonight, and I’m not going to impress her if I show up alone. I need a wingman, and you, my friend, have special charm. Even if you never use it. Whaddaya say?” Jackson arched a brow toward his blond crew cut and grinned, but something flickered in his stare.
    Shane tilted his head at Jackson. “Did Grady put you up to this?”
    Shane had called Grady right after Bellamy left the garage to let him know the job had come in, although he’d deliberately fudged the truth about when he planned to pull the tranny so the old man wouldn’t come back in to work. The lines on Grady’s face lately suggested that being in the garage was wearing on him, and Shane didn’t mind picking up the slack.
    Just so long as Grady didn’t know he was picking up the slack.
    Jackson stared at his scuffed work boots. “Not really.”
    â€œYou suck at bending the truth,” Shane offered, pressing his lips into a tight line. He raked a hand through his hair, exhaling slowly.
    â€œWell, the Samantha Kane thing is true,” Jackson started, and Shane saw the honesty in his expression. “But yeah. I saw Grady in town a little while ago and he said something about you bein’ here an awful lot. So I thought I’d see if you wanted to go grab a few. It’s not like it’ll hurt anything. This time tomorrow, you’ll have that tranny out, and for what? A three-day wait on parts? Come on.” Jackson tipped his crew cut toward the door. “This fancy bucket of bolts will be here tomorrow, no worse for the wear.”
    As much as Shane hated to admit it, Jackson had a point. Plus, the last thing Shane needed was Grady thinking he spent too much time in the garage. He worked his ass off because he loved it, period. It had been that way ever since the minute Grady hired him.
    Hell if that wasn’t a thread Shane didn’t feel like pulling.
    He grumbled, mostly to cover up his smile. “I’ll only go on one condition.”
    Jackson lifted his brows at Shane in question. “And that is?”
    â€œYour ass is coming back in here tomorrow to help me muscle this tranny out.”
    Jackson shook his head like he should’ve known better. “Let me guess. Damn thing seized? You know those things are a pain no pill can reach, right?”
    Thinking of how the car had come to be here in the first place, Shane had to laugh. “You think that’s bad, you should see its owner. Come to think of it, a couple of beers might not be the worst way to end this day after all.”
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    Bellamy eyed the faded sign over the side of the worn wooden building and giggled.
    â€œOkay, you guys. You’re seriously taking me to a bar called the Double Shot in an effort to make me feel better?” She was feeling the effects of the two gin and tonics she’d had with dinner, especially since they’d been strong enough to take the paint off her car.
    The very car that was currently sitting in some back roads garage, waiting for parts that cost more than a Mexican beach getaway.
    She wasn’t drunk enough.
    â€œYes. We plugged ‘hot men, local bar’ into the GPS and this is what popped up. Go figure,” Jenna said.
    â€œBellamy’s here to forget men,” Holly reminded her, slamming the car door.
    Huh. In the wake of all the crappy events raining down on her today, Bellamy hadn’t even thought twice about Derek. He seemed like small potatoes compared to her French-fried transmission and its sky-high price tag, not to mention the fact that she still had to deal with calling