She would have told him to make her, but he might have, and it would have been embarrassing to do in front of Mick because her vagina did not care at all that Asa was a bossy dude who’d made her very sore from all his attentions over the last twelve hours or so.

She narrowed her gaze at him and he hugged her tight. “I think we should go to lunch. Mick will pay, since he’s been an asshole.” Asa said all this smugly, like he’d neatly packaged all this silliness up and was ready to move on.

“I have a job.” PJ peered at the clock on the wall. “In three hours.”

“Perfect. We’ll go to lunch and I’ll drop you off and be back to get you later. Don’t forget we’re going out for a ride tonight.”

“We’ll go to lunch, but I’ll drive.”

He looked like he was going to argue, so she put a finger over his lips. “No. I said what I was going to do. You’re gorgeous and I adore you, but you need to hear that answer and not argue.”

He frowned at her extra hard and she kissed him quickly, getting up. “I’ll be back out in a few minutes.”

Chapter Fifteen

PJ parked her work truck and headed into the building. This was a newish contact for her. The client had actually looked her up and asked if she’d be willing to meet with him at the restoration shop where his Chevy was being worked on.

Working with new people was a hugely important thing. Sure, she had a lot of clients up in the Seattle area, but down in southwest Washington she didn’t know too many people outside the tire world.

This shop was newer, and though she’d called to ask Julie to look them up, they didn’t do any business with Colman, which could be a huge gift or a terrible problem. Either way, there was no knowing until she went inside.

The place wasn’t as magnificent as Twisted Steel, but really, she’d been in a lot of garages and shops and very few of them were. It was a good-sized operation, though, which was encouraging.

“Hi there. I’m PJ Colman. I’m supposed to meet with one of your rebuild clients today,” she said to one of the guys inside, giving him the client’s name. They didn’t seem to have a receptionist or an office manager, at least not there right then.

“The owner is right in that office there.” He pointed and she headed in that direction after thanking him.

She tapped on the door and the guy inside motioned for her to come in.

“Can I help you, sweetie?” he asked, and she shoved down her impulse to curl her lip. Sweetie? She sensed this flavor was misogynist with that tone. She bet he didn’t like icky girls in his sandbox.

But this was a job and she was a business owner now. Maybe he called everyone pet names. Maybe he’d grow on her. Maybe he was a total tool. She might as well try to make the best of this. It wasn’t the first time she’d been patronized, and it wouldn’t be the last.

Her smile went cooler as she stood taller. “I’m PJ Colman. I do custom paint. Joe asked me to come down to talk with you two about some options for his Chevy.”

He looked her up and down without speaking until she crossed her arms and glared.

“Is he here?”

He raked his gaze over her body again, lingering on her boobs. “He just called. He’s running a little late. You’re not what I expected. Or maybe exactly what I expected.”

She was still trying to remain professional and aloof, but the longer he acted this way the harder that got.

“I’ll wait until he arrives then.”

He stood, following her out into the open shop area. “Don’t you want to know what I expected?”

Sighing, PJ turned and looked him up and down slowly like he had done to her. Only she was dismissive. “Did you have something to say?” She peered at his work shirt. “Gary. I assume that’s your name, but these days, one never knows if it’s a work shirt or a fashion statement.” She gave him one last opportunity to prove he was actually a good guy, or at the very least that he wasn’t going to be a nightmare to deal with.

“Just that I expected you to be some big-titted blonde who couldn’t tie her own shoes. You appear to be basically competent and not overly whorish.”

“That’s a relief. I decided to wear my overly whorish shirt tomorrow.”

“You got this job because you’re riding Asa Barrons’s dick. Look at you.” Distaste ruled his features.

He looked upset. Him. Like he hadn’t just called her a whore. Yep, woman hater. She was done here. There was no way to deal with guys like him. You couldn’t explain anything to them or even expect that they’d remain civil and professional. He’d be a problem the whole time.

“I got this job because a customer paying you a great deal of money to restore his car saw some of my work and called to hire me. However, I won’t be working through this shop, so I’ll let him know that.”

She turned to leave and he got in front of her, his face very close. “You think you can threaten me? I don’t care who you are, little girl, you don’t have the stones to threaten me.”

That’s when the guy who had pointed her to Gary’s office when she first arrived rushed over and got between them. “Dude. Chill out.”

Gary snarled around the guy’s body, “Fucking bitch.”

“That’s Ms. Fucking Bitch to you.” PJ was surprised she didn’t stutter the words because she wanted to shake.

The mechanic who’d gotten between them opened the door for her. “I’m sorry about that. Are you all right? Let me walk you to your truck.”

She wasn’t. She needed to be away from there when it came so she could pull over out of their view.

“Please, just leave me alone. I need you to back up and let me do this.”

She didn’t even look his way as she found her keys and hit the alarm to unlock her truck.

“I’d say he didn’t mean it, but he’s an asshole. I’m sorry that happened to you.” He said it from a distance, giving her the space she’d asked for.

She opened her door and finally looked at him. “Thanks for getting in between us.”

“Listen. If you decide to press charges, my name is Pete. The cops can talk to me. I saw most of it.” He ducked his head and went back inside, and she managed to get three freeway off-ramps away before she had to pull into a strip mall parking lot and let the shaking take over.

Duke crouched next to the spot Asa measured the gap where the doorframe on the old Ford had been bent. “Got a second?”

Asa frowned but nodded. They headed to grab some coffee. “What’s going on?”

“You know how that guy called here asking for information about PJ?”

It happened from time to time. They got calls asking who did the upholstery, paint, whatever. Usually they shared the details. Their world ran on word of mouth, so if you referred someone one time, the next year someone referred your business.

“No. I mean, I know it happens, but not all the particulars. Is this about the place she was supposed to go this morning? She got up at five to be down there in time.” He wasn’t panicked. Yet. If it had been urgent Duke would have spit it out already.

“That same guy, the client. He called and told me what happened when she was there.”

Asa’s mind went very still. He knew he wasn’t going to like what Duke was about to say.

“She called him about three hours ago and told him she wasn’t going to be able to work with that shop anymore, but if he wanted her to do the paint work outside of that, or through another shop, to let her know. He said she was very calm but it was weird. Then he got to the shop and one of the mechanics told him what happened.”

Duke relayed what he’d heard Gary Weston, the owner of the shop, had said and done to PJ. In full view of his employees and customers. And that the mechanic had to get between Asa’s woman and a guy Asa remembered as nearly as big as he was. Someone was going to be very, very sorry.