One Mistake with the Mechanic: A steamy small town second chance curvy girl snowed in cozy holiday romance. by Ellen Brooks

Author:Ellen Brooks [Brooks, Ellen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: anonymous
Published: 2023-12-04T18:30:00+00:00

Sloane

Fifteen minutes after the absurd conversation in the kitchen, I’m on my second glass of wine, wrestling with the mounting confusion that’s turned my insides out. How did I get here, settled on the rug in front of the roaring fire at Trevor’s cabin on the day before Christmas Eve? How in the world am I dressed in warm flannel pajamas that smell like him, while snow blankets the earth outside, burying us in this cozy cocoon?

It’s hard to think straight for a million different reasons, not the least of which is the way my stomach rumbles from the tantalizing smells wafting in from the kitchen. But I couldn’t keep Trevor company in those close quarters for another minute. Not when he was lying through his teeth.

Or was he? A sliver of something close to longing slices through the barricade erected around my heart. The one that’s protected me since the first time I felt self-conscious about my size when I was in fifth grade and was marked overweight during the health screening at school.

The barrier protecting my core seems to be crumbling at the corners, even though it was reinforced two years ago, after Trevor tried to breach it when I was the target of his pity. I need to fortify it again now, and fast.

It doesn’t matter that the mechanic in the other room has a well-known reputation for honesty. Maybe, that’s true where his business is concerned, but it’s clear, when it comes to me, things couldn’t be further from the truth.

Before I can plan my strategy for keeping this dangerous liar at arm’s length, Trevor clears his throat as if to announce his presence as he pads in from the kitchen. He sets two plates of spaghetti and meatballs on the rug, along with napkins and silverware he pulls from his back pocket. Then he drops next to me.

I meet his gaze, the emerald depths reflecting the flames dancing in the fireplace. “Thank you for dinner.”

His lips curl up into a lopsided grin that somehow sets me at ease more than anything he could have said, then shrugs. “It was nothing. Plus, you haven’t tried it yet. What if it’s awful?”

“You looked like you knew your way around a kitchen.”

“You sound surprised.”

I fiddle with a napkin. “I…I guess I just didn’t expect that.”

“We’re more alike than we’re different.”

I scoff. “I can’t fix a car to save my life.”

He twirls a bite of spaghetti on his fork. “I could teach you.”

Why is he offering? Why would he take the time? I don’t dare assume his intentions, and I don’t ask. It’s better if I don’t play into his hand and try to uncover his motivations. Not because I fear what I’ll find, but because of…something else. What, I’m not sure, but the less that I learn about Trevor’s feelings, the better because one way or another I’m bound to land in heartbreak city.

I lift my chin toward the deck of cards next to the TV remote on the coffee table at our side.

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