“What are those unopened cans of primer doing up there? I specifically told you and Mike to not put those up on the high shelf. These shelves are old. They can’t hold the weight of full paint cans,” she said, eyes blazing as she turned to Tommy.
Tommy backed down instantly. “It wasn’t me. I think Mike put those there,” he stumbled.
“I don’t care who did it. Someone could have been killed. Just make sure both of you clean this up, and don’t do it again,” she said, finishing with a frustrated sigh.
Excusing himself, Tommy just ducked out of the room with a harried, “Yes, okay.”
Once he was out of the room, Lindy put her hands on her hips and appraised the mess, shaking her head.
“It’s really my fault. This place needed renovation years ago. We just don’t have the time or the money to make it happen right now. We’re just fortunate it wasn’t one of them under the shelf. The last thing I need is an injured worker when we’re already behind.”
“That could have been you under all those cans, you know,” Magnus said, dreading the possibility that something could have happened to her had he not been there.
“Yeah. Thank you for doing that. I’m already glad to have you around,” she said, looking up to him with a grateful grin. Seeing her smile made it all worth it.
Even if his new shirt was ruined.
Lindy gingerly stepped around the pile of metal and made her way past him toward another door on the opposite side. As he followed, he spotted a large object under a fabric tarp.
“What’s that?” Magnus asked, his curiosity piqued.
Lindy stopped for a second, deliberating, then scratched the back of her neck.
“Ah, what the hell? You haven’t been working for anyone I know. And since you just saved my life, I guess I owe you one.”
At that, she grabbed the tarp and pulled it off with a stiff yank as dust kicked up and permeated the already dank air around them.
Beneath it was a very old-fashioned-looking two-seater in a very faded light blue. Its design was both classy and powerful-looking, but he didn’t know the make or model off the top of his head.
“It’s a very rare, very hard to find car. Got it at an estate sale a year ago out in the middle of nowhere,” she said, beaming with pride as they both looked at the fancy old car desperately in need of a paint job and likely a dozen other major fixes before it would run.
“What’s so special about it?” Magnus asked, not catching on to its apparent significance.
“It’s worth a lot of money to the right collectors. In better shape, that is. I’d love to keep it, but that’s just not in the cards. My plan is to fix it up, top to bottom, complete restoration. Then I can sell it and hopefully get back on my feet with the money. I’ve already got some of the parts I need. I just have to retool the others, since they’re basically impossible to find. The only problem is it’s really time intensive. And free time isn’t a luxury I have right now,” she said, talking eagerly about her plans.
Magnus remembered the night he’d first seen her, how late it had been, how tired she’d looked. Did she always work that late?
“I’d say you’re doing all right, what with the work you have lined up already.”
“Yeah, but it’s a two steps forward, one step back kind of business. Or one step forward, three steps back at times. I guess it would just be nice to get ahead for once,” she said, the excitement in her voice dying down as she pulled the tarp up and began to lay it over the top of the car. Magnus helped, and she smiled at him for a moment, then diverted her eyes as she turned toward the door.
“Here, I’ll show you my office, and we can discuss what projects you’ll be working on today.”
But as he followed her, he looked over his shoulder once more at the taupe-colored tarp and the car it covered.
As a dragon, money would never be a problem for Magnus. But this project was important to Lindy. He could tell.
And if it was what Lindy wanted, then the iron dragon was going to make it happen.
4
Lindy sighed as she shut down the accounting software she was using and turned off the computer in her office, locking the door behind her as she went into the main garage. Between nearly being crushed by a broken shelf and having the thought of the wall of muscles that was her newest employee stuck in the back of her brain, it had been a pretty exciting day.
She went up to Mike and got an update on his work, asking about his wife and their new baby, before looking for Magnus. But the tire patching job and oil changes he’d been working on only a half hour ago were finished, according to Mike.
So where was the Rent-A-Dragon?
On a hunch, she went into the back garage. Maybe he was piddling around with something back there or reorganizing the shelves.
But as she came through the doorway, she saw the hood of the old, rare car open, with Magnus hunched under it, looking at something intently.
“What are you doing!” Lindy rushed over to the other side, heart racing at the possibility that Magnus had wrecked her one shot of not being poor forever.
Instantly, Magnus stood upright, bumping his head on the edge of the popped hood, then turning to face her, cool as a cucumber.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, oil stains on his hands. Under the hood, it appeared as though he’d just been replacing a few of the old rubber hoses, which had long ago worn out.
Nothing broken. Thank heavens.
“What’s wrong? You’re not supposed to be in here,” she said emphatically, though the longer she looked into his light-green eyes, the harder it became to hold on to her anger.
“I finished the other work you gave me, and Tommy didn’t want me helping him, so I figured I’d make myself useful,” he said, crossing his arms, making the muscles in his forearms and biceps bulge. Just a wall of muscle.
If it had been anyone else, she would have flown off the handle, just like her dad. But Magnus was a lethal combination of capable and hot. And that cocky grin he had as he looked down at her, that powerful jaw peppered with five-o’clock shadow that she wanted to run a hand over just to experience what it felt like.
Magnus’s grin widened a little, and she turned away to hide her embarrassment.
The fact of the matter was she was paying Magnus a lot less than her full-time employees, and he was already doing twice the work they did in a day. So hot or not, Magnus was pretty amazing.
“At any rate, don’t do that again,” she muttered. “It’s my project. It needs to be worked on by someone who knows the car and can do it justice.”
Magnus closed the hood gingerly, then pulled the tarp over it, and Lindy tried not to imagine his muscles as she heard shuffling.
“It is just a car, you know. All cars work pretty much the same once you look closely enough,” Magnus said, sidling up beside her. She could practically feel the warmth emanating from him.
“It’s more than a car. It’s my future.”
It’s my hope.
She’d started to walk for the door when Magnus came in front of her, surprisingly quick for a man of his size.