I ran a hand over my face as I listened to the innane chatter of my coworker. I couldn’t tell you what she was talking about, and I honestly could care less. I didn’t really want to be here. I’d almost given in to the temptation to just skip out on work today. It wasn’t like I’d get in trouble over it, not when my family owned the pce.

  My attention snapped back to her when she put her hand on my arm. I narrowed my eyes and yanked it out of her grasp.

  “Don’t touch me,” I said.

  Her big blue eyes blinked up at me, wide and innocent. How would they look with blood smeared across her face, lifeless and dull? My fingers twitched and I could already feel that crimson liquid covering my skin and making me feel alive.

  I stepped away, my jaw tensing. I drew a deep breath through my nose and counted to ten.

  One.

  Two.

  Three.

  Seven.

  Ten.

  Look, I never said I counted correctly. It still worked, however. That urge died down to a dull roar instead of an incessant need.

  The blonde rolled her eyes and stepped away, popping the gum she was chewing. Disgusting habit, and extremely unprofessional. I’d have to talk to my dad about her…if I could remember her name.

  She didn’t wear a name tag, but none of us did. It wasn’t really needed at a mechanic shop. Not that this girl ever got dirty. She was one of the receptionists. I wasn’t even sure she’d ever gotten her precious fingers dirty a day in her damn life, not even as a kid.

  Was I being a little judgy? Absolutely. I didn’t care. I walked away before there was even a chance of her touching me again, heading back out to the bays where there were cars waiting to be worked on.

  I don’t think I’ll ever know what made me stop as the bell above the door chimed, but I did. I turned and my ability to breath vanished.

  She was the most beautiful thing I’d ever id my eyes on. Taller than most women I’d been around and glossy bck locks that begged for me to wrap my hands around it and yank her head back.

  Her verdant eyes scanned the dingy office and she chewed on her bottom lip. I narrowed my eyes. That was not a good habit to have, I’d have to fix that.

  She stepped up to the deck and the blonde coworker popped that infuriating gum again and looked the goddess come to life up and down; like she was nothing but a bug on her shoe.

  “Can I help you?” Blondie asked.

  My goddess gave the bitch frowned and brushed her hair over her shoulder. “I was wondering if you guys were hiring.”

  She needed a job? That was…perfect.

  “Nope,” Blondie said, popping the ‘p’.

  I turned and took the two steps back to the counter. “Do you have experience?” I asked.

  The blonde bitch cast me a dark gre, but I ignored her.

  “Nothing official, I used to help my nonno work on cars before he passed away.” Pain flickered behind those beautiful eyes.

  That was the accent I had barely picked up on. Italian. She was Italian.

  “What about reception work?” I tilted my head to the side, leaning against the counter. Blondie snapped her head towards me.

  “What? We don’t have a receptionist posi–” She stopped at my pointed look.

  The woman shook her head. “No, no experience there at all. I think I’d prefer to work on cars if you needed a mechanic.”

  I tapped a finger against the crackling pstic stretched across the counter. “Tell you what, I’ll give you a test. If you can tell me what’s wrong with the car outside, I’ll hire you.”

  Confusion marred her features. “You’re the owner?”

  I ughed and shook my head. “No, my father owns it and I’m the shop manager, so I can hire you if I think it’s a good fit.”

  I was going to hire her regardless. I didn’t care if she had any experience, I wanted her here and I always got what I wanted.

  Fuck what would she look like with blood dripping from her skin? With pain contorting those almost-too-perfect features? How would her cries of agony sound? It’d be a masterpiece, I could already tell that.

  I licked my lips as she slid her gaze back to me from wherever she’d been looking and she smiled. “I’d love to do that.”

  I lead her out to the bays, holding the door open as she passed by me and inhaled. She smelled like vanil and strawberries. I gestured at the dark grey Subaru. “That one.”

  She nodded and circled the car. It had a few issues, I knew what they all were, I just hadn’t been able to get around to actually fixing them yet. It’d take all of five minutes to do.

  She didn’t seem worried; there were no nervous gnces or hesitation. Just a silent confidence that just made me want to see her terrified expression even more.

  I watched as she bent over, running her fingers over the tires to inspect the treads. How would those hands feel like scraping along my back as she plead for her life?

  “Do you think I’d try to fool you with something so obvious and simple?” I asked. I pushed off the wall I’d been leaning against and stepped closer. She didn’t even jump; she just turned her head slightly to gnce at me.

  “No,” she said with a shrug. “Just covering all my bases.”

  She was smart. Good. It would make things so much more interesting as I forced her to submit to me.

  “So, what do you think?” I asked, circling her. I moved close enough that I could feel the heat from her body.

  “I’ll know once I check under the hood,” she said, straightening. She reached into her jeans pocket and pulled out a hair tie, fashioning her hair into a quick, messy bun. Well…that was a shame…but it did make a good handhold, so there’s that.

  “Go ahead then,” I mutter.

  She was already popping the hood before I even spoke. I don’t think she’d even had to look to release the tch. She wasn’t showing off, that much was obvious, but the way her hands moved…the way she inspected every inch of the engine told me that she actually knew what she was doing.

  The confidence she showed was beyond irritating, but it was also a challenge and I could never turn one of those down.

  Her fingers brushed over the hoses and moved to the spark plugs next. When she leaned into the engine bay, I loosened a hose just to make her job a little harder. A test. I wanted to see if she’d catch it, or if she’d finally lose her cool.

  “This plug is bad,” she said, holding it up.

  I shrugged. “Easy enough, what else?”

  That was all that had originally been wrong with it, a bad spark plug, but not anymore.

  She shot a gnce at me and then turned back to the car. I was trying to get under her skin, and she knew it and wasn’t pying my game. Yet. She would.

  It didn’t take her long to spot the loose hose. “And this,” she said as she tightened it with a swift, fluid motion. She turned towards me, her eyes narrowed. “I didn’t loosen that.”

  My knees nearly buckled with delight at the venom in her voice. My smile was slow and deliberate. “You sure about that?”

  Her eyes danced with amusement and her full lips twitched. “Positive. It was a good try, though. If this is your idea of a test, maybe I should be giving you one.”

  I ughed, the sound low and dangerous, but she didn’t even bat an eye. Not like the others who had heard it, who had taken a step back and paled. I moved closer to her, our skin mere breaths away. “You’re confident,” I whsipered.

  “Why shouldn’t I be?” She asked, meeting my gaze without flinching. “You said you wanted to see what I could do, and I’ve shown you. So, are we done?”

  She looked straight through me and it set my teeth on edge. I wasn’t used to someone talking back to me, of not feeling like I was the one in control. I didn’t like it. She gave me nothing—no fear or hesitation. It was going to be so much fun to break her.

  I stepped back and raked my gaze down her body and smiled. “You’re hired.”