“Well, I hope they suck this year for doing that to you.”
I was pretty sure I heard him snort a little, but that was all he gave me.
So for the rest of the ride, I kept my questions and jokes to myself and instead turned up the radio. The dealership wasn’t close enough for me to bother starting a podcast. It wasn’t until I parked and looked at him expectantly, thinking he was going to get out and I could go on with my day, that he said, “Will you come in with me in case it isn’t ready?”
Well… okay. I nodded.
We parked and headed in. Zac hadn’t even taken three steps inside the service building when a man beelined straight for him. “Hello, Mr. Travis, thank you for coming in. Like I told you over the phone, we would have been more than willing to bring the car to you.”
So then why…?
My old friend took the man’s outstretched hand. “That’s not necessary, but I sure do appreciate it. Is it ready?”
“Yes, sir, we just need you to sign off on the repairs. If you don’t mind, our general manager is going to sit in while I review the paperwork with you… for customer satisfaction purposes.”
For customer satisfaction purposes. Sureee. I’d bet that was normal.
The man introduced the general manager to Zac, and they started leading him to one of the closest offices before Zac stopped. “C’mon, Peewee.”
He wanted me to go in with him? “I need to pee, but I’ll wait for you out here.” I had emails to respond to.
“You’re sure?”
I nodded and returned his smile after he gave me one as he headed into the office, and I didn’t miss how the showroom floor was suddenly filled with employees when a minute ago there hadn’t been anyone. And they were all casually looking in the direction that the three men had disappeared into.
Problems of the rich and famous.
One bathroom break later, I spotted a snack station and crept over to it, grabbing one of the complimentary bottles of water just as I heard, “Hi.”
There was a man and a woman standing a few feet behind me. “Hi.”
It was the woman who smiled and went right for it. “Do you think Zac Travis would mind taking a picture with us?”
The fact they called him by his—mostly—full name made it really hard for me not to smile. It was weird. “I don’t think so.”
They nodded, and I smiled at them, waiting for them to say something else, but they didn’t. And it got awkward. So I pulled my phone out and opened my email app, totally aware that they were both watching me and whispering to each other.
They probably thought I was his assistant, considering the women he’d been seen with in the past.
Pretty blondes.
Pretty redheads.
Pretty brunettes.
Yeah, he didn’t have a type as long as they were pretty. I was still in my work clothes with makeup that had gotten rubbed off from how irritated Gunner made me, and I’d gotten about four hours of sleep last night.
I wasn’t exactly his type.
This tiny ache pulled through my heart, but I ignored it.
Short girls with black hair were some guys’ types though. I’d had five guys ask me to marry them over the years. Four of them I’d never met, and one of them I had actually considered marrying.
And it was right then that the tall Texan came out of the office, leaned to the side like he’d spotted me across the building, and called out, “Peewee!”
Yeah, Peewee. That was me. The girl of men’s dreams.
I frowned as I headed over to him, the two nosey employees following behind, whispering to each other.
“That was fast.”
His smile was knowing. “They made it really easy.”
I raised my eyebrows at him and got two light brown eyebrows raised back at me. “I bet they did, Mr. Special. Excuse me,” I joked, feeling pretty halfhearted about it.
“You’re excused.”
We smiled at each other, and it was nice. Familiar. Okay.
More than okay.
“Hi, Mr. Travis?” the woman I’d been speaking to earlier chirped up.
Zac turned to her, offering her a polite smile, the same one he’d given me before he’d figured out who I was weeks ago. “Yes, ma’am?”
The woman flushed red at the “m” word. “Would you mind taking a picture with us, please?”
“Sure will,” my friend replied. “Both y’all or just one?”
“By ourselves,” the man said as the woman replied with “Both.” They both made a face at each other before the man said, “Both.”
“I can take it,” I offered.
By the time I handed the two people their phones back, there were more employees around who wanted one too, so I took more for them. It was a nonstop photoshoot there for a second. I might have peeked at Zac’s butt a time or two while I was at it, wondering….
The instant he got done though, after saying bye to just about everyone he’d met with waves, handshakes, and a few winks thrown in, he walked over, smiling steadily.
I smiled back at him. “I like how nice you still are to people.”
He stopped right in front of me. “Why wouldn’t I be, darlin’? They’re all good folks. Least I can do is take a few pictures. It don’t cost me nothin’.”
“Well, I’m sure there are people out there who wouldn’t be so nice about it.” I tilted my head back to take in that extremely handsome face giving me a little lopsided smile as his eyes moved over mine for the second time that day—like he was trying to remember it or something. “Can I ask you something personal?”
“Sure can.”
“It’s pretty personal,” I warned him.
Zac tilted his head to the side. “I doubt you’d ask anything I haven’t already been asked a million times, kiddo.”
Okay then. “Did they have to tape your nuts up when you did the Anatomy issue?”
Zac’s mouth dropped open, and I’d swear even his
