Finding Forever (11 page)

“Yeah, I thought so,” he chuckled. “In that case… let the shopping begin.”

— & —

“Please tell me this is over,” Avery groaned as he stepped out of the dressing room, back in his normal clothes. Shopping was apparently not his idea of a good time, but
I
was having a blast sending him in and out of dressing rooms with arms full of clothes to try on and watch him model— if it could be called that. I could tell Avery was suffering through this trip, but it was a necessary part of the Matched process. He would thank me when he impressed his date without having to wear a tailored suit. However, seeing him this morning, looking like hot sex in
basketball
clothes, Avery looked impressive in anything.

I gave him my most sympathetic smile as we exited the store, heading back to the front of the mall. “Yeah, we can call it a day, since you’re gonna be a baby about it.”

“Whoa now. I’m being a baby?” he asked, scowling.

“Yeah, you kinda are,” I nodded. “You’ve been huffing and puffing for the last hour.” I shook my head, smirking as I dug in my purse for my phone.

“So you’re not gonna mention that I was a good sport for the first
three
hours of this trip? You’ve had me out here hopping from store to store since 9AM!”

I shrugged. “But you’re gonna look great for your dates. Don’t you feel good that we accomplished what we set out to do?”

He lifted an eyebrow at me before letting out a heavy sigh. “I guess. What are you doing?” He asked, peering at the screen of my phone, which I was tapping in frustration.

“I’m trying to pull up my contacts so I can call a car, but my screen is being stupid.”

“What are you calling a car for, you didn’t drive up here to meet me?”

I shook my head as I tossed the phone back into my purse. “No, something is wrong with my car, and I haven’t had a chance to get it looked at yet. Can I use your phone?”

He placed a protective hand over his pocket as if he thought I might force him to give up his phone as we walked out of the mall. “Tori… I can give you a ride home. That’s not a problem.”

The hell it isn’t.

This shopping trip, with plenty of people around was one thing. Being alone in a confined space with him was something else entirely. “I appreciate that, Avery, but no. I wouldn’t want you to go out of your way when I can get a cab or something.”

Shaking his head, he nodded in the direction of his car. “I already said it wasn’t a problem. Come on.” Without waiting for a response, he started walking away. After a few steps, he glanced back, presumably to make sure I was following him. “Tori, come on. It’s not a problem.”

Before I could think of a rebuttal, the weather made my decision for me. Out of nowhere, it began to rain. It was a light sprinkle, but more than I wanted to wait around in, so I quickly followed him to his car.

“Can you grab the keys for me?” He asked, squinting against the drizzle as he indicated the pocket of his shorts. His hands were full of shopping bags, and I knew he didn’t want to put them on the now wet ground, but
I
didn’t want to put my hands anywhere near— “Tori? Did you hear me? Can you grab the keys please?”

With a deep breath, I quickly got my hand in and out of his pocket to retrieve the keys, and pressed the button on the key fob to open the trunk and unlock the doors. I climbed into the passenger side and strapped myself in with my purse clutched close to my stomach, trying to take up as little space as possible.

Avery did a little double take when he got in on his side, lifting an eyebrow at what I’m sure was an awkward sight. “Uhh… are you okay? You look… uncomfortable.”

“I’m fine,” I assured him. “Just got a bit soaked, so I’m cold.”

“I can tell…”

Heat rushed to my cheeks as I realized his gaze was pointed right at my breasts, which were covered by my bra, but still pressed very clearly against the damp, thin fabric of my tee shirt. My nipples were already on high alert because of the sudden drop in temperature, and it seemed they were enjoying Avery’s attention, because they somehow got harder.

“Could you
not
?” I scolded him, crossing my arms over my chest.

He laughed as he put on his seatbelt, then shifted the car into reverse. “I’m sorry, that was inappropriate. I’m teasing you though… like when you called me a baby earlier, remember?”

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see him smiling in my direction as we exited the parking lot, and I couldn’t help returning it. “I guess you
might
have a point. We can call it even then.”

“I’m fine with calling it even if you don’t think you can hang.”

Eyebrow raised, I turned to face him. “Excuse me? I’ll have you— oh, shoot, that was my exit! I should probably give you my address or something if you’re giving me a ride home.”

“Don’t need it yet. I need to make a stop first. Tell me what’s going on with your car.”

“I’m not sure , but it sounds
bad
.”

“What do you mean it ‘sounds bad’? Elaborate.”

I held up a finger, indicating I needed a second, and reached toward the control panel of his car. When he didn’t react, I went ahead and turned on the heat, angling my body away from his before I dropped my arm and pointed the vent toward me to dry my shirt.

He grimaced against the hot hair blasting into the car. “Now that you’ve got us preheating, can you tell me what’s happening with your car?”

“Fine. I went out to my garage this morning to leave, and when I tried to turn it on, it kept making this weird sputtering noise.”

“Is this the first time?”

I shook my head. “I got it back from my mechanic yesterday evening, and it’s going right back on Monday. Umm… what are we doing
here
?

It wasn’t raining anymore, and I could clearly see we were in a part of the city I’d never been. As we pulled into a parking lot, a glowing neon sign caught my eyes. He’d taken me to one of Dallas’s two Ignition locations.

“When I take you home, I’m gonna look at your car for you, but I need to grab a couple of things from here.”

“Are you asking or telling?” I huffed.

Avery cocked his head to the side, giving me an amused half-smile. “I’m insisting.”

Damn him for that sexy smile!

It was hard to be annoyed by him forcing his will on me when he looked so damned good doing it. “Avery, I appreciate the offer, but I already have a mechanic. They’ll look at it on Monday.”

“And do another shitty job on it, so you can be sending it back to them next week? Come on,” he said, opening his door to climb out. “You’ll get a
real
mechanic to look at it this time.”

Cocky bastard.

I waited until he’d made it around to my side and opened the door, offering his hand to help me out. “Why can’t I wait in the car?”

“I’m gonna need some information about your car. I promise it won’t take very long.”

Reluctantly, I unbuckled my seatbelt and allowed him to help me out of the car. Even though I was expecting it, the contact of his skin against mine made me lose my breath a little. I tried to mask it by immediately looking away, pretending to be
very
interested in the bricks that made up Ignition’s facade while he closed the door. His hand against the small of my back caught me off guard, and instantly brought back memories of the night of Des’ wedding. Gently nudging me forward, he led me to the door, which he opened for me before leading me inside.

— Avery —

I knew Tori probably didn’t appreciate the possessive way I kept my hand pressed against her back, dangerously close to touching her ass, but if she knew what most of my employees were thinking about her — and probably would have propositioned if it weren’t for that hand — she would feel differently. Or… maybe I didn’t want them looking at her like that and wanted to give the impression she was mine. I spoke briefly to a few of the guys in the shop before leading her towards the office.

Just as I was pulling out my keys to unlock the office, I heard a loud, booming voice from behind us. “Ace! Where the hell you been, man?” Tori was caught off guard by the sound of my head mechanic, Nick, coming around the corner, and she reflexively pressed herself into me, looking alarmed. My natural response was to meet her anxiety with a soothing gesture, so I touched her arms.

Sweet Jesus
.

The bare skin of her arms felt like satin under my fingertips, and if I remember correctly — how could I forget? — the rest of her was just as silky. The memory of it sent blood rushing to my groin, so I stepped back to break the contact.

“Chill,” I said nonchalantly. “It’s just loud-ass Nick.”

“Sorry to scare you ma’am.” Nick said, pushing his sandy-blond hair out of his eyes before extending his hand, a gesture Tori hesitantly accepted. “Just haven’t seen Ace around here the last few months.”

“Ace?” Tori looked back and forth between us, waiting on someone to explain.

Nick clapped his hand on my shoulder. “That’s what we call the boss man around here.”

“Hey, I’m not the boss around here man, that’s you. I just write the checks,” I joked, pushing his hand off my shoulder so we could dap.

Nick joked about me being the boss man, but
he
was the one the guys looked up to. He was the reason I’d come to Dallas in the first place. We’d met randomly, back when Ignition was right on the brink of greatness. Nick and I were seatmates on the flight from Chicago to San Jose that would result in me securing the investor I needed to take my business to the next level. Nick’s trip wasn’t nearly as potentially life altering as mine, as he was going to visit his little brother, but he was interesting nonetheless. The arm facing me was covered in the most vivid, intricate tattoos I’d ever seen. I asked him if they had hurt.

“Not as much as the scars they’re covering,” was his reply. He explained that he was a veteran, who’d come extremely close to losing his life while deployed. Over the course of the four-hour flight, he and I became friends. We exchanged contact information, but kept in touch sparingly until nearly three years later, when he called me about investing in an Ignition location in his hometown of Dallas. I’d gone through the hellish ordeal with Natalie in Chicago, so relocating to help set up Ignition in a new state was the perfect distraction. Nick and I have been homeboys ever since. I wasn’t an active mechanic anymore, but I got under the hood when the chance arose, and this was always my garage of choice. If I was going to look into whatever was wrong with Tori’s car, I needed tools, and I needed parts. It only made sense to patronize my own business to get them.

“Are you gonna introduce me to this beautiful lady you’ve got with you man?” Nick was giving Tori ‘the eye’, this squinty, smoldering shit he did with his blue-green eyes that usually had women lined up at his feet. I glanced back at her, and was relieved to see that rather than interested, she simply looked amused.

“Uh, yeah. Tori, this is Nick, part owner, head mechanic at this Ignition location. Nick, this is Tori, Des’ friend.”

Nick took her hand again, kissing it. “I have no idea what you’re doing with an ugly-assed dude like Ace, but it’s nice to meet you Tori…wait a minute… ” He turned to me, eyes wide. “Ohh,
this
is Tori, the one you were telling me about, that you— goddamn, man. No wonder your head was all messed up whe—”

“Alright then, Nick, it was good seeing you, man.” I stepped between him and Tori, lifting my eyebrows in an effort to convey ‘please shut the hell up’. Nick was the one and only person I’d told about Tori, and of course he couldn’t keep his mouth shut in front of her.

When I turned back to Tori, her jaw was tight and she had her arms crossed over her chest as if she was holding herself.

Shit, she’s embarrassed.

“Tori.” I stepped past her to unlock my office door and push her inside. “Can you wait for me in here? I need to talk to Nick for a second.”

When she lifted her eyes from the floor, the look she gave me hit me like a punch in the gut. “I bet you do. Make it quick, so you can take me home.”

With her tucked safely behind my office door, I turned to Nick, who looked amused.

“What are you grinning about man? Now she’s pissed off at me again.”

He shrugged. “My bad, man, but seriously, that girl is gorgeous.” He smiled harder, stuffing his hands in the pockets of his oil-stained jeans. “You think she likes white boys? I mean, you said you weren’t gon—”

I shook my head, cutting him off. “Don’t get your ass kicked, Nick. I know what I told you, but I’m telling you
now
she’s off limits.”

“So you changed your mind? Is that what she’s doing here?”

“Nah, man, I’m working with her.” Maybe if I made it sound as natural, and normal as possible, I wouldn’t get clow—

“Really? That’s… kinda cool. Weird that she’s helping you after you slept with her, but cool.”

Shrugging, I said one word. “Des.”

“Ah, I see,” Nick responded, nodding in understanding. He hadn’t been immune over the years to the unique charm of my sister. “But… why not date
her
?”

“Because… it’s complicated.”

He turned his ear toward me and leaned forward. “I’m listening. Explain. Cause you came back from the Maldives
sick
about this girl, screwing anything that moved to try to get her out of your head. I’ve never seen you like that over anybody.”

“If she was interested in something like that, I’m sure she would let me know, but as it stands right now… she’s my matchmaker. That’s it.”

“Cool, so that means you wouldn’t mind if I wanted to see if she—”

I shot him a sobering look. “I’m serious man. This one’s off limits.”

“I’m messing with you anyway, Ace. I’ll let you get back to your little date, don’t get your panties in a bunch.”

“It’s not a date.”

“Suuure,” he said, chuckling. “But hey, I’m glad I caught you. How are things coming along with that acquisition deal, man?”

“They’re…. coming. I’ve been talking back and forth with Brandon about it, but we can discuss it later. I should probably get in there before this girl combusts. I’ll catch you later, Nick.” He tossed up two fingers as he ambled down the hall away from me. I turned back toward the office, bracing myself for Tori’s anger before I opened the door. She was sitting on the edge of my desk, and she didn’t immediately look up from her shoes when I walked in. I closed the door behind me, waiting for her to speak.