Asking For It (45 page)

"The story's good -- for you."

So much for her control. His voice scattered her thinking. It was a nice voice, really nice: deep and somehow affable. It was a moment before Nadine could get past the sound of the voice to the meaning of its words. "Oh." She blinked. "You mean it wasn't the IAC that was the problem?"

"Not even close. You got a bad transmission converter lockup. My mistake. Your repair is free."

He sounded strangely cheerful about it. Nadine took a curl of the telephone cord around one finger. "Don't be ridiculous. I'll pay you, if it's really fixed."

"Nope. I told you I knew what was wrong with it. A deal's a deal."

Nadine frowned. Why was he sticking to the deal? Was it simply pride? Or was there something else going on here, something pretty unbelievable? Men didn't offer her free car repairs. That is, they didn't offer them unless she'd sufficiently intimidated them.

But Mitch wasn't sounding particularly frightened.

Nadine pulled the telephone cord tight around her finger. "Look, I don't want you to be out anything."

"A deal's a deal."

"But -- " Nadine uncurled the cord from her finger. This was ridiculous. She was actually arguing with a mechanic over how much she
wasn't
going to pay him. "Well," she said, "I want you to be motivated -- "

"It'll be ready by closing. That's six."

The telephone cord curled quick and tight around Nadine's finger again. "Oh."

"Will I see you then?"

Nadine opened her mouth. Nothing came out. That phrase, the way he said it -- It sounded like...a
date
. She cleared her throat. "Sure," she said, deliberately casual. "I'll pick up the car at six."

"See ya then," he said, and rang off.

Slowly, Nadine untwisted the telephone cord from around her finger. Her heart was racing as if she'd just bought a thousand shares of small cap right before the market closed high.

Oh, this was...so stupid. She didn't want to feel excited like this. She thought she'd learned not to feel such excitement. Indeed, she hadn't felt outright desire in years. It hurt too much to want, and know she couldn't have, or at least she couldn't have if she wanted to preserve her heart and her pride.

Nadine released a deep breath. She
would not
feel this way. Mitch was just a naturally friendly guy who happened to be very good-looking. Football hero, jungle explorer good-looking. The whole package of him had thrown her this morning. It had got her...fantasizing. But she was done fantasizing now. She was back to the hard facts of reality.

She was a businesswoman, first and last. She made money, that was her forte.

Romance was definitely not her forte.

That's...just the way she was made. And it wasn't the worst thing in the world, either. She had a lot to be thankful for. A lot.

Nadine smoothed back her hair. She made herself breathe deeply. Then she felt herself grin. This was all so silly. Mitch hadn't been coming on to her. It was all in her head. Of course it was.

As she'd find out later this evening when she went to pick up her car -- nothing else, just get her car -- at six.