I turn and stare at him, lifting my shades. “Cocktails? You just ruined your reputation for me.”

He laughs loudly, wrapping an arm around me. “Don’t be such a fun spoiler. Come with me.”

I groan. “Isn’t there another poor girl you can torture?”

“None as pretty as you.”

I snort laugh and roll my eyes, pulling my shades back down and walking towards the garage again. “Now you’re using flattery, and while I’m sure it works every other time, this girl isn’t interested. I hate Tazen and I have absolutely no reason to go.”

“He is unveiling Chief, Quinn.”

My eyes widen. I’ve been watching the show, and watching Tazen and his crew building Chief. It’s an amazing, sleek, lime green race car that is seriously panty-melting good.

“No,” I breathe.

“Yes, and you could be there to see it.”

I swallow back the anticipation, because now I really want to go.

“He only gave you those tickets to try and sway me to sell.”

Jace shrugs. “And? Are they going to make you sell?”

I snort.

“Exactly. So really, I got free tickets and if that dude is giving away shit, I’m taking it. Come on, it’ll be epic! Jimmy Fordola is racing Chief for the first time!”

Jimmy Fordola is a NASCAR champion, and it would be amazing to see him racing one of Tazen’s cars.

Still, I really shouldn’t be taking time off.

“Can’t you find another girl to go? I’m sure there are plenty.”

“There are, but you’re the best because I don’t want to fuck you and therefore I can just chill and have fun.”

I put a hand over my chest. “I’m wounded.”

“Not that you’re not beautiful, ’coz you are. You just aren’t my type.”

I scrunch up my nose. “Is it my uneven breasts, because that’s a very real, very common problem!”

He bursts out laughing. “Dude, you have uneven breasts?”

I smirk at him. “Maybe, is that going to be a problem when we’re on our little two-day lovefest?”

His smile gets bigger. “I told you, you’re not my type. A lovefest between us could be…”

“Disastrous? Pitiful? Epically disappointing?”

“Hey,” he says. “Now I’m wounded.”

I shake my head. “Seriously, Jace, I’d love to go with you but I can’t.”

“You can.”

“No.”

He takes hold of me and spins me around so I’m facing him. “Quinn, honey, you can.”

I search his face and I know how much he wants me to go. I’d love to, on any other occasion, but I can’t right now. I have a garage to save. Two days is two days that could take away essential planning time.

“I can’t lose two days, Jace.”

“You can, because today we’re going to come up with a solid plan to save the garage. We’re going to do that, and then you’re going to lock those doors on Friday and come on a weekend adventure with me.”

“Why do you want me to come? Truly?”

He leans down so our foreheads are touching. “Because you’re my best friend and I want to see you smile.”

Damn, it’s no wonder he gets laid so much. The guy has charm.

“Fine,” I sigh. “If we get a solid plan in place, I’ll consider coming.”

He pulls back and fist pumps the air. “Yes!”

“But if I see Tazen, I can’t be held responsible for how I’ll react.”

“I promise to hold you back if you try and de-nut him.”

I laugh. “I knew you were an amazing friend.”

He chuckles.

“Now that that’s out of the way, let’s get to it. We have a lot to do.”

He hooks an arm through mine. “Yes, we do. Including picking a smokin’ hot bikini for you.”

I roll my eyes. Men. We are going to a car race and all he can think about is a smokin’ hot bikini for the few hours we might get to spend by the pool at the hotel.

“I thought you didn’t want to see my uneven breasts?”

“Hey,” he says casually. “Breasts are breasts.”

“You’re sad.”

He snorts. “Never denied it.”

“So tell me what poor girl is in your sights right now?” I ask as we walk.

“No one special.”

I nudge him with my shoulder. “Is there ever going to be anyone special?”

He huffs. “Doubt it.”

“Why?”

“Because relationships are too hard, I’d much rather just get laid.”

“Well, at least you’re honest.”

I smile. What would I do without Jace?

CHAPTER FOUR

The sound of someone banging on my office door causes my head to jerk up. I’m neck deep in paperwork and trying to cut costs anywhere I can until we’re back on our feet. I look up to see Matty leaning against the door frame, arms crossed over his chest. He gives me a warm smile, and I return it, though mine is probably flustered.

“Hey, Matty, what’s up?”

“Just letting you know the car wash is ready to go for Thursday.”

I give him the warmest smile I can muster up. I do this because I don’t want him to see just how scared I am. The car wash might make us a couple thousand dollars, which is super helpful, but it isn’t enough to even get us close to getting the big money by the time the end of the month rolls around. Right now, my prayers are going towards a business donating to help us out.

“That’s awesome, thank you,” I finally say.

He studies me. “Jace says you’re going away with him this weekend.”

I purse my lips. “Yes, that should be interesting.”

“It’ll be good, I think you’ll have a blast. I don’t even want to know how he managed to get those tickets out of Tazen, though.”

“That man has a special kind of charm.”

“He really should look at a profession as a gigolo.”

He bursts out laughing and I can’t help but join in. When we both stop, his face is warm. “Good to hear you laugh, Quinn.”

I swallow the lump that forms in my throat. “Well, let’s just hope things get better and we get a whole new world of chances for laughing.”

His eyes grow warm. “I hope so, for all of our sakes.”

“Me too, Matty,” I sigh. “Me too.”

*   *   *

“Cars?” I ask.

“Check!” Lenny calls out.

“Wash buckets?”

“Check.”

I run my finger down the paper. “Soap and washers?”

“Check.”

“Men in sexy bikinis?”

All of them frown and I burst out laughing. “I guess that’s a check.”

I came up with the idea to make the car wash a little more entertaining by having the guys dress in bikinis. They aren’t too thrilled about it, but it’s funny and it will bring in the girls. We’re doing it on the main drag, and any normal car wash won’t catch people’s attention. This one will. So, I went out and brought some cheap bikinis, including one for myself, and broke it to the guys.