Her head snapped up. “What in the world would Brett want with a used car lot?”

“He’s hoping to buy it and turn it into his new auto repair business.”

Her eyes widened. “Brett’s opening his own garage? Oh my God. That’s wonderful news!” He had told her about that particular dream of his a long time ago, but she hadn’t known he was actively trying to fulfill it. Good for him.

The worker nodded in confirmation. “Yeah, he’s working on it. But he’s still not sure he’ll qualify for the loan yet. I think he’s hesitating to fill out the forms.”

She gazed across the room and spotted Brett drying his hands off. “Really? Well, that’s…uh, interesting. I might be able to help him with that.”

When Brett finally glanced up, she motioned for him to come back over. But he shook his head. So Sidney did what she had to. She rounded the counter and headed into the garage, straight toward Brett.

One of his brows rose in question. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“I need to talk to you.”

“Not here, you’re not. You can’t be back here. Didn’t you read the signs?” He pointed to the closest one on the wall nearby. “It says no customers allowed in the work area.”

She grinned smugly. “Good thing I’m not a customer then.”

He tilted his head in confusion. “Huh? How do you figure?”

“Customers pay for your service, right? But you wouldn’t let me pay you. So that means I’m not one of your customers.” That was her story, and she was sticking to it.

He gave her a yeah, right look and pointed to a different sign. “Well, this one says ‘Employees Only,’ and the last I knew, you don’t work here.”

She shrugged. “Apparently, neither do you. At least not today. Why didn’t you tell me it was your day off?”

“Because it didn’t matter.” He glanced around the garage. “Who the hell told you it was my day off anyway?”

She ignored his question. “It does matter when you’re working on my car and not getting paid for it.”

Brett waved his hand dismissively. “It’s not a big deal. Let it go already,” he said, walking past her toward a rear exit.

Sidney followed him outside. “Fine. If you won’t let me pay you for your time, then let’s at least make a trade. You did something for me, now it’s my turn to do something for you.”

His feet stalled beneath him, and he turned around slowly to face her. His heated eyes resembled the blue flame on a welding torch, and they zeroed in directly on her. “Sidney, if you’re even close to insinuating that you’d sleep with me in exchange for fixing your car, you’re seriously going to piss me off.”