Grounded (Grounded #1) Read Free

tank top look as much as the look I usually rocked with jeans, t-shirts and workout clothes.
    I walked past the open garage doors a couple times, trying to determine if he was already working on a car. I didn’t see or feel him anywhere. I took a deep breath and went around front, through the main door, and found him standing behind the counter, in the middle of a conversation with an older man.
    That lovely warmth covered me again, maybe even more than before. The boy looked good. Standing six feet tall, if not slightly taller, with broad shoulders, a narrow waist and muscles, along with a prominent vein running down his arms from the manual labor in the shop made him much more imposing than the more rounded older man leaning on the counter.
    They were clearly debating something, yet both of their faces were relaxed, playful even. Apparently, I’d been really quiet, because it took a full two minutes for either of them to notice me. Maybe a bell on the front door would do them some good. I didn’t usually fade into the background, but I could have been a drink cooler in the corner for the way they ignored me.
    “Hey, young lady. What can we do for you?” The older one asked.
    “My car is steaming.” I pointed out the window at my pretty baby spewing white mist. “I was just driving around when it started.” The old guy gave me friendly smile. My eyes went to Heath, although I shouldn’t assume that’s still his name, then quickly back. “I was hoping someone could look at it for me.”
    He put his hand on the younger ones shoulder and said, “I think my son here can handle that.” Alice’s husband seemed quite nice. I quickly went through all the information in my head, trying to remember his name. I came up with a big fat nothing.
    “Sure,” Heath said, running his fingers through his hair. “Can I have your keys?”
    I handed them over and watched as he put his large frame in my tiny car to pull it into one of the bays. He came back within a few minutes. I expected that. Gremalians and our way with mechanics.
    “Your radiator’s bone dry,” he said.
    “Is that bad?” I asked, even though I knew it was. He smiled a beautiful smile as his light, cerulean eyes danced at my apparent cluelessness.
    “Yeah, that’s bad, but easy to fix. I don’t think you were driving with it steaming long enough to do any serious damage.” His dad came out of the office, so he added, “Tyler’s bringing back more antifreeze. It’ll be about twenty minutes. I’m going to check the radiator for a leak while we wait.”
    “How do you do that? Is there an instrument you use or something?”
    A curl of hair fell over my shoulder and I twirled it around my index finger absently. I knew it would be considered flirting and I was okay with that. Twirling my hair really was a habit.
    “Just water.”
    “You can go back and watch if you want,” his dad said after I’d sort of forgotten he was there.
    “Oh, I wouldn’t want to get in the way.”
    “You won’t. Go on back with Jensen.”
    His dad reacted as I’d hoped, but Jensen didn’t seem to care either way.
    Jensen Burkhardt waved me along, although it looked as though he did it begrudgingly. As we entered the garage, I glanced back and saw his dad’s face over my shoulder. Looked like he was trying to get his son to notice me too because there was definitely a silent conversation happening there.
    We passed two other cars and a few mechanics hard at work before getting to my Cooper. I stood back and watched him get started. It wasn’t going as smoothly as I’d planned since, for whatever reason, perhaps too much time around humans, he wasn’t picking up on anything.
    A prickle started up my spine and covered my entire body. The hair on my arms stood on end. I frantically searched the room with my eyes, trying not to look out of place. A man with a curly mop of dark hair and a matching tuft on his chin came out from under the hood next to us. He asked Jensen