Wild Card by Lora Leigh Read Free Book Online

"Look,
    this dude is a major badass. He's going to crush my head and shove it in my pocket like a
    damned baseball if you don't talk to him."
    Her lips almost twitched. Toby, with his gangly, too tall body and intensity sometimes
    reminded her of Nathan's brother Rory when she had first met him. And he could be just as
    melodramatic as Rory had once been.
    Sabella pushed tiredly against the underside of the motor, sending the creeper rolling across the
    cement until her head was free, leaving her to stare up at Toby, the young man she had hired to
    take care of the office.
    His shoulder-length light brown hair was pulled back in a low ponytail, his brown eyes filled
    with anxiousness as his forehead creased into a frown.
    Dammit, she didn't have time for this.
    "I told Mike the motor would be ready tomorrow, not today." She heaved herself upright,
    sitting with her jean-clad legs spread over the narrow hard plastic device used to maneuver
    beneath the vehicles as she lay back to work beneath them. She propped her arms on her knees,
    staring up at him in exasperation.
    She wiped her grimy fingers negligently against the side of her jeans before brushing the loose
    strands of her dark brown and blond-streaked hair back from her face.
    "We're not hiring, and Rory will be here when he gets here. That's all I know. Now take care of
    it." She moved to lie back down, determined to finish the final tuneup of the sedan that the
    mechanics had neglected to inform her was sitting out back. Mike Conrad wasn't the only one
    waiting on his vehicle.
    "Oh, no you don't." He shook his head fiercely as she moved to push herself back under the car.
    "I can't handle this dude, Belle. He's like the Grim Reaper's cousin or something. He's not part
    of my job description, ya know? You deal with him."
    Sabella pushed back the anger, drawn more from her own impatience than Toby's attitude. The
    boy was normally pretty stable and dealt with aggravated customers with a flair she envied.
    "Just tell him to come back in the morning. Rory will be here…" She hung her head as he
    began shaking his head violently. "Fine."
    She struggled to her feet, picking up the creeper and propping it against the side of the garage
    wall as she grabbed a stained towel and began trying to rub the oil from her hands. After a few
    seconds, she tossed the rag back to the bench and stalked through the four-car holding bay to
    the office beyond.
    They couldn't afford a new mechanic, no matter how much she needed one to keep the garage
    profitable. She was going to lose her ass here, and she knew it. If she didn't manage to
    straighten up the mess she had allowed to develop in those first horrific three years after her
    husband's death, she was going to lose the garage, and her home. The benefits she had received
    just weren't enough to save it all.
    She couldn't lose the home she and Nathan had shared. She'd worked three years to rebuild it.
    She couldn't lose it.
    God, she couldn't lose that last connection to him. It was all she had left.
    "Tell Danny I want that car finished and out of here this afternoon." she ordered Toby as they
    neared the office. 'Tell him we can finish the Carltons' truck later this evening, but Jennie needs
    her car to get to work and it took too long to get those parts as it is. I have everything ready, it
    just needs going over and testing."
    "On my way." Toby nodded before turning and loping over to the far side of the garage.
    "And don't run," she muttered, knowing he wouldn't pay attention to that order if he did hear
    her. He was like a puppy. All gangly legs and nervous energy.
    And she hadn't even asked him the employee wannabe's name. She shook her head, pushing her
    fingers through her hair before jerking the office door open and coming to a hard, cold stop.
    Arrogance shimmered off him. Dark blue eyes seared into her brain, glowing from a face that
    was sun bronzed and savagely hard. Flat cheekbones, a nose that was just a little off