Flirting With Fire

Chapter Four: Tattoos and bare chests

Whitney woke up the next morning with a small smile on her lips. Coming home wasn't as bad as she thought it would be. Catching up with Robbie had been exciting and she felt a longing for her old life that had been ripped away so suddenly. She winced as the pink all around her sparkled and shone with the sun pouring in the window, seriously what the hell was I thinking with this room?

She got up and pulled her suitcase open dragging out some clothes for the day. She hadn't really brought that much with her not thinking the house would need too much time spent on it, but having a look around there was a few days hard work ahead. Some rooms needed to be painted and Robbie had informed her of a leak in the basement she would have to sort out too. But first of all, her baby needed to be fixed. She sent a quick text message to the number Riley had given her asking when he wanted to have a look at it, and jumped in the shower getting herself ready for the day. She was surprised when a new message awaited her when she stepped out of the shower wrapping a towel around her body quickly opening it.

Bring it around whenever you want, I'm at The Bedford Estate in the back garage working all day

She convinced herself she always took this much care in her appearance as she got ready that morning. Dumping her earlier outfit she put on her new dark blue silk shorts with a white lace top she had literally picked off a mannequin from her favourite store. Applying a bit of makeup and grabbing her keys she glanced in the mirror as she was leaving and wanted to slap herself for thinking that arrogant jerk was remotely good looking.

Whitney didn't need to look up the address, the town was so small she knew exactly where the Bedford Estate was. All she had to do was drive along the beach road a few minutes and came across the large house. She took the long driveway assuming it would go around the back and sure enough a large garage came into view. The double doors going the entire length of the garage were wide open and Whitney pulled up just outside it noting two cars parked inside still leaving room for two or three more comfortably. So he had some money.

'Hello?' Whitney called out hesitantly. She could hear some rustling at the back so there was definitely someone there.

'Blondie, didn't expect you so early,' Riley greeted her with a sly smile emerging from the back of the garage. He was wearing the same board shorts from yesterday and they were smudged with oil and dirt as though he'd been working in the garage all morning. He was bare chested today and Whitney could see a large tattoo across his upper chest, some sort of design like a chain along with more smaller tattoos across his arms and sides. She snapped out of her staring mode before he could call her on it and fixed a glare to her face.

'Don't call me Blondie!'

He simply smiled at her and leant against the nearest car. 'I dunno, it kind of suits you. You see you forget, you never actually gave me your name.'

She blushed and realized he was right. Two, four, six... eight pack? Was this guy for real? Who had an eight pack? She shook herself mentally and focused on the task at hand. Mind out of the gutter Whit.

'It's Whitney Huntingdale,' she offered up eventually.

'Of course it is.' He sounded amused.

'What's that supposed to mean?' She demanded placing her hands on her hips in what she was hoping was an 'I-mean-business' kind of pose.

He laughed ignoring her question and moved toward her car, 'So what's the damage here?' He circled the car slowly taking in the small dent in the side, the front headlight with the crack and the small bit of paint that had rubbed off. 'Not too bad, I can have it fixed up by tomorrow for you,' he was speaking so softly she had to lean in to hear him properly. 'I may as well give it a good look at while you're here, pop the hood for me?' He asked moving to the front of the car and looking at her expectantly.