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"So?" she asked, sounding amused, and he had to aduts and probably worse every single day A little dirt wasn’t going to bother her Shaking his head at hiotten sweatshirt off the bench and handed it to her

"I’aze slid to her breasts Her niles were poking at the material of her halter top If she wasn’t cold, then she was turned on It would seem hard to believe since he hadn’t touched her, but every tiot a jolt to the dick, so as he to say? "It’s to keep your clothes fro dirty" He pulled the sweatshirt over her head, unable to stop hied it down her torso, only slightlyhitch

Yeah They were on the sahs She pushed back the hood "It sain, an ache that actually had nothing to do anting to get her nad "And now it’s going to smell like you," he said

"Is that okay?"

It was so far beyond okay he didn’t have words Fucking sap He kicked over the estured her onto it When they were both flat on their backs, she grinned at him "Nohat?"

"Under the car"

She slid herself beneath the car, and he joined her Side by side, they looked up at the bottom of the chassis

"What’s first?" she asked

He looked at her sweet profile What was first? Re himself that he’d been cleared to leave Lucky Harbor He handed her a roll of brake line "You bend it to fit the contours of the fraan to work the brake line

"It’s peaceful," she said "Under here"

He slid her a sideways look, and she laughed at hihed at him, he realized Well, except for Matt, and Matt didn’t look cute while doing it either

"I’ "You don’t think so?"

It was dirty, grimy, stuffy…and yeah Peaceful "I’m just surprised you think so"

"You don’t think I can enjoy getting dirty once in awhile?" She bit her lower lip and laughed "Okay, you knohat I hthe line so he put his hands over hers and guided her "Unravel another foot or so"

"’kay" She frowned, eyeing the space "How long is that?"

"Like nine inches I need twelve" He paused "Twelve inches would be great"

He felt her gaze, and he did his best to look innocent, but she didn’t buy it "What the hell would you do with twelve inches?" she wanted to know

He waggled a brow "Plenty"

She shook her head "Like you aren’t lethal enough hat you have," she said, h

They worked the brake line in companionable silence for a few moments, but Mallory didn’t do silence all that well "What do you think about under here?" she asked "Besides your…inches?"

He smiled, but the truth was, he usually tried like hell not to think at all "Sometiht? He taught you all this stuff?"

Ty’s dad had been atheher that he’d once been a SEAL et into It was far easier to deny that part of himself rather than revisit it "My dad didn’t want me to learn mechanics, actually He wanted more forlike that"

"And…?"

"And when I was fourteen, he bought a Pontiac GTO" He smiled at the memory "A ’67 God, she eet"

"She?" Mallory teased, turning her face to his She was so close he reached out and stroked a rogue strand of hair fro it behind her ear

"Yeah, she," he said "Cars are always a she And do you want to hear this story or not?"

"Very le detail"

"I took apart the engine"

"Oh h "Was he mad?"

"It was a classic, and it was in in to cover what he was"

She stared at hied "I couldn’t help s apart and then put theain Only I couldn’t I had no idea what I was doing" Ty could still remember the look on his father’s face: utter and coine compartment, horror that his baby had been breached and violated, and then sheer fury "I can still feel the sweat trickling down the back ofhis head "I hadn’t …"

"What happened?"

"I was pretty sure he’d kick asped "He beat you?"

"Nah, he never laid a hand on me" Ty felt a smile curve his mouth "Didn’t have to He was one scary son of a bitch He’d talk in this low, authoritative voice that dared you to defy him No one ever did that I know of"

"Not you?"

"Hell no"

She was grinning wide, and he shook his head at her "What’s so funny?"

"You," she said "You’re so big and bad It’s hard to i it in her pal her thu, and he could hear the rasp of his stubble against the pad of her thumb As she touched hiold

"I like being under a car with you," she said

Working on cars was his escape Beneath a hood or a chassis was faround, no matter what part of the world he was in or where he lay his head at night It was his constant A buffer frole-woht into his safety zone, and then into his damn heart while she was at it Because nohere with her, too

"You ever going to tell me what you are scared of?" she asked

He let out a short laugh "Plenty," he assured her

Her eyes softened, and she slid her hand into the hair at the back of his neck, fisting lightly, bringing him a full-body shiver of pure pleasure

"Such as?" she asked