Chapter 3
Chapter Three
MacKenzie awoke the next morning after sleeping harder than she had in years. Stretching, she looked around the room and smiled, remembering how incredibly kind Devin had been the night before.
When they had arrived at his home–which was a Craftsman bungalow on the outskirts of town–she had questioned her own sanity.
How smart was she to go home with a stranger?
And in a strange town? Not very, as far as she could tell, and yet everything about Devin screamed she could trust him–that he was one of the good guys.
Case in point–this room. She was safely cocooned in the middle of a queen-size bed in his guest room that was more comfortable and more welcoming than any hotel room she’d ever stayed in.
Devin had carried her bag in and made sure she knew where she could find anything she needed–toiletries, towels, extra pillows and blankets–and even went on to show her his fully stocked kitchen with a variety of gourmet coffee for the morning.
This was far better than any B&B would have been, but she knew not to get too comfortable because she was only going to be here for a day or two.
At least, that was the plan.
One of the things she remembered from being a kid and watching her father work on the Mustang was that some parts were hard to find.
And that was going back over ten years ago.
No doubt that would still be an issue now, right?
She was going to mention it to Devin yesterday, but she figured he knew more than she did where auto parts were concerned.
And if he didn’t bring it up, MacKenzie knew she wasn’t going to.
After all, what if she was misjudging him and he was a scammy mechanic who was going to overcharge her?
Did she want to plant that idea in his head if it wasn’t there already?
Paranoid much?
Okay, fine. From everything she’d witnessed, he wasn’t that type of guy.
It was just so hard for her to trust naturally.
A lifetime of being let down had taught her that.
Thanks to her mother packing up and leaving and promising to come back–which she never did–it set her up to stop taking people’s words.
Now she questioned everyone and most of the time, they let her down by not being truthful.
But Devin…
Mmm…Devin.
If he was as trustworthy as she thought he was, he just might be too good to be true.
Stretching, she turned her head and glanced at the clock. She gasped. Ten ! It was already after ten? No doubt Devin was already at his shop and MacKenzie had no idea how to reach him. Jumping up from the bed, she scurried across the room and out into the hall and called out to him–just in case.
No answer.
Walking to the kitchen, she found a note propped up on the granite island.
MacKenzie,
Left for the shop early to start on your car. Call me when you wake up.
Devin
At the bottom of the note was a phone number and she wasn’t sure if it was for the shop or his cell, but either way, she couldn’t call him because her phone was still dead. With a weary sigh, she pulled up one of the barstools next to the island and sat down.
“Note to self: get a damn phone charger today,” she murmured. Looking around the kitchen, she thought, “Now what?”
And that’s when she spotted it–a phone. Like an actual landline phone.
She didn’t think people really had them anymore.
MacKenzie walked over and approached it like she thought it would bite her.
Carefully, she lifted it up and was surprised to hear a dial tone.
With a sigh of relief, she reached for Devin’s note and dialed the number.
“Hey, MacKenzie.” Devin’s deep voice washed over her and her heart rate picked up and she could almost feel herself blushing.
“Hey,” she said softly and felt completely tongue-tied.
“Did you sleep okay?”
She had to get a grip. It wasn’t possible for just his voice to make her feel this…
good. And needy. God…all she could think of was hearing him ask her that as they were sharing a pillow and tangled up together.
Which was completely crazy. And so totally out of character for her.
MacKenzie was not someone to wax poetic or have any kind of romantic daydreams and yet…
“MacKenzie?” he asked, breaking into her…yup, romantic daydream.
“Um…yeah. I slept great. Thanks,” she said a little too quickly. “That was probably the most comfortable bed I’ve ever slept in, so…uh…yeah. It was awesome. I didn’t mean to oversleep, but…I guess everything caught up with me and I crashed hard.”
“Good,” he said. “I’m glad. That’s why I didn’t wake you up before I left.”
Images of ways she would have loved for him to wake her up came to mind, so she quickly pushed them aside. “So…um…have you had a chance to look at my car?”
“I did.”
She waited for him to say more and when he didn’t, she had a feeling the news wasn’t going to be good. “And?”
“The head gasket’s blown, which is what I suspected yesterday. You have a leak in your radiator and most of the hoses in the engine are in sorry shape.”
A nervous laugh came out before she could stop it. “Great. Okay…anything else?”
“Your exhaust system is holding on by a thread. There’s a lot of rust.”
She muttered a curse.
“And all four tires are almost bald.”
Her head hit the wall and all she could think of was how she was completely screwed.
There was no way for her to fix all of those things–not with her budget.
All the money she had was supposed to get her to Oregon and help her get settled into a new apartment–and that would have only worked if she found a job right away.
“MacKenzie,” he began, as if sensing she was starting to freak out, “I know it all sounds bad, but it’s also all fixable.”
“Yeah,” she replied wearily. “Sure.”
“Let me take care of some things here and I’ll come home and we’ll talk about it–I’ll need to make calls to get some of the parts we need. I don’t stock some of them, and some aren’t common, so I’m going to have to do a little research to find them.”
“Okay.”
“It’s not going to be so bad,” he went on, doing his best to sound upbeat and positive–like he hadn’t just pretty much killed all her plans for going any farther west than Sweetbriar Ridge.
“If you say so.”
Suddenly she was envisioning herself needing to find a place to stay for longer than a couple of days. And she was trying to do the math in her head for what she could afford and how to budget herself to take care of it all.
He repeated her name again.
“I…I just need to wrap my head around all of this, okay?” she said with a bit of snap.
Devin let out a low growl before saying, “I’ll be there in thirty minutes.”
Parked in front of his own house, Devin worried about what was waiting for him inside.
He knew MacKenzie was disappointed–hell, he was disappointed for her.
The car needed work–extensive work–and that was just to get it running again.
If he were to do all the work the car actually needed to be fully restored?
Well, it was just a dream because he knew there was no way MacKenzie could afford it–especially not right now–and he wasn’t so sure she would even want to.
Like a man facing the firing squad, he grabbed the bakery box from the passenger seat and climbed out of the car–dragging his feet as he made his way up to the front porch.
He called her name as he walked in, but she didn’t respond. Closing the door behind him, he walked further into the house and called her again. And froze.
MacKenzie walked into the living room wearing a pair of faded blue jeans, a clingy white cami–no bra–and was drying her hair with a towel.
Devin’s mouth went dry and for a moment, he completely forgot how to speak.
She looked just as surprised as he did, and they simply stood and stared before he finally found his voice.
Holding up the box, he gave her a lopsided grin.
“I, um…I picked up some pound cake and muffins and a few other things from Books & Beans. It’s a coffee shop with a bookstore in it,” he rambled on.
“I didn’t get coffee because I wasn’t sure if you wanted one of those fancy drinks and remembered that I had a decent variety here you could choose from. ”
“Um…”
“But if you want something fancier, we can stop there on the way to the shop and grab one. They make really great coffee there, and their baked goods are amazing. Billie Donovan does all their baking and…” He paused and shook his head.
“Sorry. Way too much information, right? Anyway, it’s not much, but I bought a variety that I thought you might like.
” He forced himself to move and head toward the kitchen. “Have you eaten breakfast yet?”
“No,” she said quietly, following him.
She sat on one of the barstools and watched as Devin opened the box and pulled out several varieties of muffins–blueberry, banana nut, and chocolate chip–and arranged them on a plate. Then he pulled out a slice of glazed lemon pound cake and one marble, and lastly, a large piece of crumb cake.
“Holy crap, Devin!” she said with a laugh. “How much did you think I was going to eat?”
“I wasn’t sure what you liked, so I just grabbed a variety.”
“Thanks.”
Without taking anything for himself, Devin turned and busied himself with making a cup of coffee. The one cup at a time deluxe machine seemed like a ridiculous purchase at the time, but it really came in handy. “Would you like a cup?”
“Please.”
Holding up two mug sizes to her, he asked, “Small or large?”
“Large.”
He hung his head. The one-word answers were really starting to get to him.
Figuring it would be easier just to make her a regular coffee rather than going through all the flavor varieties, he kept his back to her until both cups were ready.
When he turned, he noticed she’d already eaten the slice of marble pound cake and was halfway through the chocolate chip muffin.