Lily felt her panties moisten from the mere sight, and she snapped herself out of the moment just as quickly as she had gotten herself into it before she went too far and did something that she would truly regret.

 

“Why don’t you go check on the car and make sure that it won’t be ready tonight?” she suggested as she stood up and separated herself from him. “If it isn’t, I would love it if we could go on to your place and I could take a nice hot shower and get out of these clothes. I’ve literally been driving all day.”

 

“Absolutely,” Geech said, getting up and heading toward the door. “I’ll be right back.”

 

As Geech went back out onto the garage floor, Lily turned toward a dusty cracked mirror that was hanging on the wall. She fluffed up her hair and threw on a little lip gloss, then tucked her tank further into her shorts. When she saw through the mirror that Geech was heading back toward the waiting area, she turned around casually and waited to hear the verdict.

 

“So it’s official,” he said. “The car definitely won’t be ready until tomorrow. But Bear, my head mechanic, already put in a call to one of his guys at a nearby shop and he just so happens to have an engine that is compatible with your car.”

 

“That is wonderful news!” Lily clapped. But then she remembered how expensive an engine could be, and she suddenly became quiet. “But how much is this going to cost me?” she asked wearily. “I know that engine is going to cost a fortune, and then there’s the cost of labor…I don’t know if I can afford all of this, Geech.”

 

“Relax, sweetie, and let me handle it. The guy over at the other shop owes me a favor, so he’s giving us the engine at no cost. And as for the cost of labor, consider this a labor of love that’ll be on the house.”

 

“Geech, you are too good to me!” Lily insisted, running up to him and throwing her arms around him. “I have to do something to repay you. Why don’t you let me cook for you?”

 

“That sounds like a plan,” Geech smiled, hugging her back. “Come on. Let’s get out of here and go to my place so that we can get you showered and fed.”

 

And with that, the couple headed out, climbed onto Geech’s motorcycle and headed to his place.

 

***

Lily sighed contently as she lay on Geech’s chest and focused on the television. The pair was in his living room and spread out on the couch after eating a delicious dinner of chicken parmesan that Lily had prepared, as promised. They’d shared a bottle of red wine as well as great conversation throughout the meal. Geech had continued to give Lily her space and privacy and did not probe her in regards to her past in New York and question exactly what it was that she was running from. His consideration actually made her want to talk to him, so she shared with him how she had been dating a cop in Brooklyn named Reno who had been very controlling and abusive toward her.

 

Lily talked about how she had lived a hard life and experienced a rough upbringing, having been raised by two drug-addicted parents. She’d seen her fair share of heartache and pain and was anxious to make a better life for herself than the one that she had been provided with throughout her childhood. But once she got involved with the wrong crowd, she got all off track and her life took a sharp turn for the worst.

 

Gone were her plans to attend college and become a nurse. Instead she found herself acting as a drug mule for her high school sweetheart; an act which one day landed her in court. But thanks to a great court-appointed attorney as well as a lenient cop who did not book her on all of the charges that he could have, she ended up getting off on probation. But her freedom came at a price, and that lenient cop, who ended up being Reno, used the fact that he had helped her get off with no jail time as leverage for her to become romantically involved with him.

 

That wasn’t a problem with Lily at first, because eventually she actually did develop feelings for and grow to love him.