The Seduction Vow (15 page)

Hugo sighed again. “I’ll send him. Where are
you exactly?”

Tara gave directions. “Thank you so much. I’m
sorry to ask for help.”

“
It’s all right. You’re
family. But if Luis can’t fix it, you may have to have a tow
anyway.”

“
Got it. And I’ll pay you
back somehow. I’m just a little strapped right now.”

Tara waited in the car, and within fifteen
minutes, Luis’s car pulled up and parked in front of hers. She got
out of the car, grinning at the familiar stocky figure with the
powerful shoulders stalking toward her. She trotted over to give
him a big hug. “Thanks so much for coming.”

“
No problem. Wanna pop the
hood for me?”

“
That sounds dirty,” she
teased.

“
Only to you. You always
did have a one-track mind.” He flashed white teeth, but the smile
didn’t really reach his eyes.

Tara released the hood latch. Luis bent over
the engine, tightening this and checking that while she stood by,
watching his expert hands move. Grease stained his fingertips, and
the gray T-shirt stretched over his chest. Luis was short yet
muscular. He’d done some wrestling in high school before he lost
interest in it, but he still looked capable of pinning a larger man
to a mat if he chose to.

“
How has it been being back
from Afghanistan?” Tara asked. “Do you like working with
Hugo?”

“
Like? That’s a strong
word. I appreciate him giving me a job, but you know we’re like oil
and water. Always have been.”

“
Yep.” She remembered the
fights, sometimes physical, that used to rage in the background
between the brothers, which she and Graci had ignored, being much
too busy discussing the soap opera of middle school.

Luis unscrewed a cap and checked the oil,
holding up the dipstick and examining the black sludge on the tip.
“When was the last time you had your oil changed?”

“
Um. A while
ago.”

“
Well, it needs it. Want to
try to start the engine?”

“
Sure.” Tara got in and
turned the key. Nothing. “So does this mean the battery’s dead?”
she said to show him she had some clue about how a car
worked.

“
Yeah. I’ll give it a
charge and see if it holds long enough for you to follow me back to
the garage. Either you need a new battery or the alternator’s
dead.”

He went to turn his car around to face hers.
Tara watched him walk away, the squared set of his shoulders and
erect gait very military now. She wondered what it had been like
for him overseas and if it would be too intrusive to ask him about
it. Obviously, something had happened. He wasn’t the same easily
smiling guy he used to be. But she didn’t know if a specific event
or just armed combat in general had changed him.

Luis attached jumper cables from his running
engine to her cold dead one. Seemed there should be a sex analogy
in there worth cracking a joke about, but Tara couldn’t find
it.

“
How’s the acting going?”
Luis asked as he worked.

“
Fantastic. I just spent
the last almost eight hours in Mattress Town, creaming my jeans
over how
firm
and
hard
their mattresses are.”

“
Cool. What happened with
that soup commercial? You said the company might go national and
use you in more of their advertising?”

“
Nature’s Goodness. Yeah,
well it turned out ‘the organic alternative’ isn’t going to land
the deal they’d hoped. So that didn’t pan out.”

“
Sorry. I get a real kick
out of seeing you in that ad every time. You make a cute mom, all
homemakery and shit.”

She laughed.

“
Okay. Give her a try,”
Luis ordered.

She got in the car, crossed her fingers, and
prayed to Jesus, then turned the key. After a brief hitch, the
engine turned over. She fed it some gas, and it roared.

“
Good. Dial it back.” Luis
came over to talk to her through the window. “We’ll let it run a
minute to charge before I take off the cables.”

“
Okay. I can’t thank you
enough for coming to save me.”

“
Well, you’re not saved
yet. Still need to go to the garage so I can check a few
things.”

Tara checked the time. “No way I’m going to
make my date, then.” Her thumbs flew over the keyboard as she
texted Dre.

Luis crossed his arms on the window frame and
tried to read her text over her shoulder. “Who’s the guy?”

“
None of your business.”
She held the phone away so he couldn’t see her message, then added,
“If you must know, Dre Rodgers.”

“
Dre Rodgers, the Bengals’
wide receiver? No kidding? Nice one, T.”

“
We’re just
friends.”
Who sometimes screw.

Her phone chimed as a message came in.

“
He’s awfully eager,” Luis
said. “Seems like he’s been waiting for your text.”

“
Shut up,
Goober.”

Tara read the message. Her
delay wasn’t a problem. He’d still like to see her later. They’d
skip dinner. She pictured the rumpled sheets on his big bed, so
white against his ebony skin. Visions of hard football-player
muscles dancing in her head, she typed back:
Sure
.

Luis gave a low, suggestive chuckle as he
reached out and touched the dimple in her cheek. “Look at that
smile. ‘Just a friend,’ my ass.”

Tara snapped her fingers at him. “Shut.
It.”

He continued to laugh as he walked back up
front to disconnect the two cars. It was good to hear. She’d
forgotten how warm and throaty his laughter was and how much his
sense of humor had always matched hers. The brother she’d never
had. Except, face it, she’d had a bit of a crush on Luis back in
the day and could never see him without a tiny flicker of that old
interest stirring. Nothing had ever come of it, though…except for
that one incident…

Luis slammed her hood closed, and Tara
jumped. He patted the hood in a good-to-go gesture, then got into
his car and pulled out into traffic. Tara followed.

THE PROMISE SERIES

Book 1 – The Seduction Vow

Book 2 – The Temporary Promise

Book 3 – The Matchmaking Pact

Book 4 – The New Leaf Pledge

Book 5 – The Wedding Affirmation