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I said, pushing the door open. He stopped writing and looked up. “I caught a nail last night and need the flat fixed.”
    “How did that happen?”
    “Went through a construction zone.” At least, that’s where I suspected the nail came from. I hadn’t been too careful about where I’d parked at CARE, and with all the building going on, a flat tire was bound to happen at one point or another.
    He nodded. “We have some other cars in front of you, but if you want to wait, we’ll get to it in about thirty minutes.”
    “Sounds good.” I glanced through the office door window, out into the shop bay.
    “Looking for someone?” Red raised an eyebrow, his lips lifting in a knowing grin.
    I could feel my cheeks flaming. “What? No!” I said, trying to throw him off the scent. I didn’t need Red—or anyone else for that matter—knowing about my obsession with Jax. I was barely comfortable knowing about it myself. “I was just looking around.”
    Red chuckled. “Uh huh.”
    “Really!” I said, in my most affronted voice. “I was!”
    “Whatever you say, Syd.”
    I narrowed my eyes, annoyed that I’d been caught, and dropped my purse next to one of the lobby chairs. Red disappeared into his office and soon I heard the muffled sounds of his voice coming through the door. He must be returning phone calls. I stole more glances at the shop bay as I grabbed a bottled water and some chocolate from the vending machine. I wasn’t hungry, but I needed an excuse to get up and investigate the employees currently working. Plus, I needed to calm my nerves. Chocolate was very soothing. I saw two other guys in the bay, neither of them Jax. I frowned, letdown, and sunk into one of the chairs. I was surprised at my level of disappointment, actually. As I thought about my reaction, my analysis led me to the unnerving realization that I’d become absolutely infatuated with Jackson West. There was no other explanation for it. I checked my watch. It was only eleven in the morning. That must be the reason for Jax’s absence. He’d said he worked in the afternoons.
    Thirty minutes later, She-Ra was in the bay, getting her tire patched. I’d been disappointed all over again when Devon, one of Red’s other employees, had come to get my keys. No Jax today. I wondered when I’d see him again. I could always make up a car problem so I’d have an excuse to stop—stabbing various things under the hood with a screwdriver should do the trick. But there were only so many times I could use that method without Jax—and Red—seeing through it, and me looking like stalker.
    I glanced at my bag full of textbooks and assignments. I thought about starting them, but I knew the tire wouldn’t take long, and I didn’t want to get interrupted in the middle of my work. I pulled a paranormal romance novel from my bag instead. Romance novels were my guilty pleasure. I feared no real man would ever be able to live up to them. I’d left off at a particularly rapturous scene, and was eager to get back into the story. I started reading, going through pages, and chocolate, like the world was about to run out of words and sugar. Completely enthralled with the story, and oblivious to everything else, I jumped out of my skin when I heard, “You’re a fast reader. With all the thrusting going on there, I’d think you’d want to savor it a bit and not rush through.”
    I jumped, dropping the last of my chocolate on the ground. Luckily, my water had a cap, or there’d have been an even bigger mess to clean up. I glared up at Jax, annoyed about my lost chocolate, though it was hard to stay mad when he looked even more delicious than the candy. His jeans sat low on his waist, his red work shirt straining over his chest and arms. I wanted to lick him. I marked my place in the book and folded it shut. “I took a speed reading class.” I refused to be embarrassed by the fact he’d just seen me reading something much more than R-rated. “How long were