"You could at least pretend to be a gentleman. You're more likely to get what you want that way."
His gaze raked across her, taking in her dangling earrings and small nose stud, then coming to rest briefly on the small butterfly tattoo on her inner arm. The tattoo covered up another mistake-the initials of her high school boyfriend she'd gotten on her eighteenth birthday, the boyfriend who had already been cheating on her with her so-called friend. Even then, she'd known in her heart of hearts that guys always leave. She'd just been naïve enough to think that maybe if she pretended they didn't, it would make a difference.
"I doubt it," he said.
But he stepped forward, taking her place and loosening the last few lug nuts with quick, efficient motions. Harper planted her rear against the hood, quite deliberately in his peripheral vision.
Harper might have a habit of jumping in too quickly, but this was fast even for her. She wasn't often quite so interested so soon.
She gauged him again, taking in the rugged jaw and chiseled nose and cheekbones.
Okay, never ever.
All things considered, though, maybe the day wasn't going to turn out so bad, after all.
He looked up at her. She could break her heart on that hard jaw. "Jack."
"Harper," she said.
His smile was slow and lopsided. "Get me the jack."
Damn. She scrambled for the jack to hide her blush and handed it over to him.
"So, what's actually your name, then?" she said, raising her chin. "Unless you want me to call you Jack. 'Cause that works just fine for me."
He scratched his nose, regarding her with amusement still glittering in his eyes. "Levi," he said.
She raised her eyebrows at him. It fit in a kind of cowboy-country-boy sort of way. "Nice."
He slid the jack under the front of the car, and she pushed away as he raised it. He spun the lug nuts and slid the bolts out one at a time, handing them to Harper without a comment. The wind ruffled his short hair, medium brown with just a touch of auburn where the sunlight glinted off it. He pulled the wheel off, not appearing to notice the weight as it came free of the axle, then slid the new one on just as easily.
He held out a hand without even looking at her, and Harper put a bolt in it, then the nut.
"Where're you from?" Harper asked, handing him another.
Again, that wolfish look, the gaze that saw too much. "Around."
Wouldn't he like to eat me up.