Yeah, I know what Rae’s like.
Hell—even the man who calls himself my father is one of the wealthy elite. He’s not worthy of the word father, though. Another damn entitled millionaire who thinks money can fix everything. Even a broken relationship with his son—just ask the bank teller who accepted the million-dollar deposit in my name.
Not that I’ll touch his dirty blood money.
Yes, I’ve spent a lot of time with the mega-wealthy. I’ve gotten grease stains from their luxury cars and soaked up the contempt from their stares. The rich use and abuse people like me, and then they move on to the next victim. There are enough rich assholes in Woodvale to keep me occupied—and to keep business booming. I know how to deal with them. I’m used to the dismissive comments that come tossed with the car keys.
I take their money with a smile on my face and build myself a better life. Day by day. Dollar by dollar. Rich bitch by rich bitch.
Sawyer’s sister will be just the same. Privileged heiress to her parents’ empire, she’s here to fuck up Sawyer’s life. He didn’t play by the billionaire oil tycoon rules, and now he needs to pay. She’s judge, jury, and executioner. Nothing will stand in her way. She’ll gladly step on my neck if it’ll get her where she needs to go.
I’ve seen it time and again.
Well, I’m not going to let that happen to Sawyer. His sister isn’t welcome here. As I walk toward the garage floor, I feel the tension ratchet up in my body, gripping every muscle as I ball my hands into fists.
Sawyer’s a good guy. The best worker I’ve ever met. A happy-go-lucky kind of friend, who doesn’t deserve to be dragged back to the hellhole from whence his sister came.
He has values. Integrity. A backbone.
He’s not like them.
He escaped the elitist, money-hungry society his parents belong to. He left to create an honest life for himself. He doesn’t want to go back.
My boots smack on the concrete floor as I make my way to the main garage, ready to kick his sister to the curb. She’s not going to get to Sawyer unless he wants to see her. I’ve seen him come into his own since he’s been in this town. He’s found a home. A place he wants to settle down.
He’s found peace—and I know more than anyone how much peace is worth.
Now this Rae chick wants to come and snatch it away again?
Fuck no. Not if I have anything to say about it.
I come around the corner and see the edge of a wheel. When the bumper comes into view, I recognize it as an Aston Martin. Does this chick think she’s fucking James Bond? She shows up here with a two-hundred-and-fifty-thousand-dollar car, coming to see her brother who was so broke he had to crash on my couch for the first eight months he was in town.
Rich bitch, indeed.
I won’t let her walk all over me, and I sure as hell won’t let her get close to Sawyer.
Protective anger flares in my chest as I walk the rest of the way into the shop, expecting to square up against the Queen Bee and tell her to get the hell out of my garage.
When I walk out into the open garage space, though, I stop dead in my tracks.
In skin-hugging jeans and a plain white T-shirt, she looks like she could bring any man to his knees—including me. Her sleek brown hair is pulled into a tight ponytail that would make Ariana Grande jealous, and my eyes drift down to her ass. She glances around the garage with her nose turned up. She has that I own the ground you stand on aura all wealthy people possess. Hearing my boots scuff on the ground, she turns to face me.
I almost fall flat on my ass.
Full, kissable lips. Fluttery eyelashes rimming soft brown eyes. A delicate nose, and a Marilyn Monroe beauty mark above her upper lip. Sawyer didn’t mention that his sister’s a knockout.
I can smell the money from halfway across the room. Its stench is emanating from her haircut and her nails and her perfect, silky skin. She looks like she just walked out of a beauty magazine trying to sell me fucking moisturizer.
My gaze lands on her eyebrow, where an inch-long scar runs from the bridge of her nose through her eyebrow, and a sick part of me likes that she’s not, in fact, perfect.
Her pink, glossy lips stay pinched together. She looks me up and down, and I can almost sense the judgment pulsing off her, hitting me right in the gut.
Thump, thump, thump.
Her gaze hammers into me.
I’m better than you, it says. She sweeps her eyes up from my dirty work boots, up my navy coveralls, and finally landing on my face.
Yeah, I’m wearing a greasy uniform. I’m a mechanic. What does she expect? A fucking red carpet?
“I’m looking for Sawyer Montgomery.” Her voice is hard, yet musical. There’s a breathiness to it that makes my heart skip, and I curse myself for feeling its effects.
I clear my throat. “He’s not here.”
Her not-so-perfect eyebrows tug together ever so slightly. She takes a deep breath, letting her eyes sweep around the room. I don’t like the way she’s looking at it. Like she’s judging every inch of my domain with her privileged, uppity stare.
“You are…?” I cross my arms, staring her down. I keep my face impassive and puff myself up to my full height.
She may be hot, but my loyalties lie with Sawyer.
Rae Montgomery isn’t fazed. She barely spares me a glance, taking a step deeper into the garage.
“I’m his sister.” Pause. “And your new boss.”
I splutter, my tough-guy façade shattering in an instant. “You’re my what?”
She purses her lips, shaking her head and finally deigning to look at me again. “Believe me, Mr.”—her eyes flick down to my chest, where
