Chapter 3: Chapter Three

“He actually expects me to pay. For dinner. Me. Can you believe it?” Karla sat at their small kitchen table, a plate of half-eaten breakfast in front of her and a mug of lukewarm coffee held in her hands. “I mean, I know we’ve only been hanging out a short while, but you would think he would’ve learned something in that time. First, he just stops by yesterday morning, and now he wants me to buy him dinner? What the hell is he trying to prove?”

Aimee Harper stood by the coffee pot, freshening up her own cup as her sister continued her tirade. Karla just stared at her, watching her sister ignore her. “Did you hear what I said? He wants me to pay for dinner.” She watched, her face an incredulous expression, as Aimee slid into a chair across from her.

“Yes, I heard you,” Aimee said, before blowing a cooling breath over her coffee. “I’m pretty sure Miss Fowler from down the hall heard you, as well. So, he wants you to pay. What’s the big deal?”

“What’s the big deal? Are you serious?” She couldn’t believe her sister was being so naïve. Aimee knew better. She knew how life worked. Or at least how Karla worked. Men foot the bill. For everything. They bought the drinks at bars, paid for the movies, and even bought the dinner. They bought other things, as well. She glanced over at the kitchen and thought about Jake, who paid to have the cabinets refurbished. Hell, that was how she met Mitch in the first place. He was supposed to fix Aimee’s car for a piece of Karla’s ass. Yet, Aimee screwed up that brilliant plan. No wonder Aimee had a hard time understanding why Karla was so irate. She didn’t get the real purpose of the birds and the bees. “I am not paying for dinner.”

“So, don’t pay. Stay home. I mean, it’s just dinner.” Aimee lifted her mug to her lips and took a small sip of her coffee. Lowering the cup, she rubbed her lips together, savoring the liquid remnants as well as the warmth. “There’s dinner in the freezer. You can just stay home and eat.”

“I don’t want to stay home and eat. I want to go out with Mitch and eat. I’m just not paying.”

Aimee nodded. “Then how are you going to manage that? Because as you explain it, it doesn’t sound like it’s going to be Mitch paying for dinner.”

“Oh, it’ll be Mitch and he will pay. That’s how it works.” She picked up a piece of bacon and held it between her fingers but didn’t eat it. “That’s how it always works.”

Aimee still didn’t smile, which drove Karla crazy. “I think someone forgot to inform Mitch of that,” Aimee said, as she took another sip of her coffee. She gestured to Karla’s hand with an uplift of her chin. “Are you going to eat that?”

Karla shoved the bacon into her mouth and chomped down, sneering at Aimee in the process.

“You don’t have to be rude to me just because your boyfriend doesn’t know your rules.”

“He’s not my boyfriend. If he was my boyfriend, he’d know the rules by now.” She took another bite of her bacon. “Besides, I don’t do boyfriends. Boyfriends only bring aggravation. They get clingy and try to make rules of their own, like don’t talk to him and no sex with others unless it’s a woman and he can watch and take pictures. I make the rules in my relationships. Mitch knows that.”

Aimee gave Karla a dubious look. “I think Mitch likes making the rules.”

“I don’t care what he likes. That’s not how it works. That’s not how I work.”

“Sometimes you have to forget your rules in order to get what you want.”

“First off, my rules have always gotten me what I wanted. Second, who says Mitch is what I want?”

Aimee just stared at her.

Karla dropped the remnants of her bacon on her plate and shook her head. She didn’t believe what she said, either. She wanted Mitch, but she didn’t want him unless it was on her terms. Her relationships only worked when they were on her terms. Ah, hell, who was she kidding? Her relationships never worked no matter who made the rules. She learned that a long time ago. It was then that she decided men were only to be used for her purposes, not theirs. Men used a woman’s fantasies of Prince Charming to worm their way into the woman’s pants. Karla didn’t mind letting them into her pants, but it was going to cost them. It always cost them.

Aimee picked up her plate as she pushed her chair back from the table. “Well, I have to get to work. Enjoy your day off. I guess I’ll see you for dinner tonight.”

Karla nodded. “Unless I go to Mom’s. She always pays.”

Aimee shook her head. “You’re such a mooch.” She set her dishes in the sink, running water over them. “I cooked. You do the dishes.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Karla watched as her sister snatched up her purse and headed for the door. “I do the dishes every morning!” she called out as Aimee left. Her sister just waved at her as she closed the door. Karla sighed as she picked up her coffee cup. Her sister never understood the way of the world. She believed in white knights and happily-ever-after endings. Life didn’t work that way. Not for Karla, anyway.

She took a long drink of her coffee. Her frustration rose as she realized that Aimee was actually getting her happily-ever-after. At least, it seemed like she was. She spent more and more time at Clint’s, sneaking back home just before Clint’s daughter, Abigail, woke up. They still had hoops to leap through with Clint’s runaway wife, Bonnie, reappearing after vanishing over a year ago, as if she hadn’t abandoned her family when Abigail was born. Yet, Bonnie’s appearance only seemed to draw Aimee and Clint closer together.

It’s not supposed to work that way. Karla stared at the wall; her coffee cup held in the air in front of her face with both hands. The only thing the twins had in common was their appearance, and Karla dyed her hair black in an attempt to end that commonality. Their viewpoints on life, relationships, and even sex were at opposite ends of the spectrum. Aimee believed in fairytale romances and expected her knight in shining armor to ride in on the proverbial white horse and whisk her away from the dangers of life. She wanted the picket fence, the dog, and two-point-five kids. She’d be happy staying at home, playing the dutiful housewife, wiping kids’ noses and scrubbing floors. It made Karla gag.

Men always had the upper hand in relationships and Karla was determined to not be any man’s obedient pet. She was not a commodity to be hoarded and, later, traded. She was the boss of her destiny and refused to change that for anyone, even Mitch. A long time ago, she learned that women truly held the power, because men would do anything to explore the passion between their legs. In school, girls were made to feel as if they should just lie down and put out, because men were superior. Bullshit. It only took once for Karla to learn that men would beg to get their dicks wet in her pussy, and she had no problem making them earn the privilege of bedding her. Relationships were for women who were ignorant of the power they wielded, women like her sister.

She stood and refilled her coffee, the tile floor cool on her feet. Once her cup was full, she carried it out to the balcony, leaning against the rail as the waves of the Atlantic rolled onto shore. There were a few morning beach walkers out, enjoying the quietness of the early morning. A lone seagull glided along the shore, the updraft making him appear to be hanging in space. The waves beat upon the shore, scattering the shells and tiny pieces of coquina rock, rearranging the face of the beach. It was what Mitch attempted to do with her, force her to surrender her views on life and abide by his wishes. It wasn’t going to work, however. Karla didn’t need him anymore, and she sure as hell didn’t need him trying to change her way of thinking. No. She held the power. He would just have to recognize that if he expected to see her again, which he obviously did, or he wouldn’t have asked her out last night.

And I’m not paying for dinner. I’m not. How dare he even suggest such a thing. He has some pretty big balls. That wasn’t the only thing big on Mitch Greenway. Karla felt the heat pool between her legs, as she thought back to the last time the two of them were in bed. Mitch knew how to bring sensations out of her body like no other. He was rough, yet gentle at just the perfect moments. He was an artist using her body as a canvas for his creation of sensations.

“God, I’m beginning to sound like Aimee. We fucked. That’s all it was.” Yet, she knew it was more. She was afraid it was more if she was being honest with herself. Extremely afraid.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“Mr. Meyers? Yes, this is Mitch Greenway from Greenway Auto Repair. We just finished the brakes on your car, and you can pick it up any time.” He held the phone to his ear with his shoulder as he used an old T-shirt to wipe the grease off his hands. Mr. Meyers said he would be there before closing, and then both men said goodbye and hung up. Well, that’s one job done. He shoved the greasy T-shirt into his back pocket and stepped back out into the garage to work on a Toyota pickup that needed a new transmission. This one wouldn’t be going home today.

He loved working on vehicles. He found it calming, almost meditative. While working a socket wrench, he could allow his mind to focus on other things. Staring up at the underside of the small pickup, his real paycheck, his thoughts turned to Karla and how complicated her stubbornness made things. He let out a sigh as he put his hands on his hips and continued to stare upward, not really seeing anything. So much for working and thinking at the same time.

He shook his head to clear his thoughts. Karla Harper got under his skin, and it had been quite a while since a woman was able to get under his skin the way she could. Of course, since the last time a woman made him work for her attentions, he had stuck with the easy scores, like Sandy Elantra. He went for the fun, no-thinking sex. He didn’t want complications or to worry about the other person’s feelings. He just wanted to enjoy himself. So, why was he concerned about Karla? What about her kept him coming back and wading through her neurotic bullshit? Because she’s worth it. I don’t know how I know, but I know she’s worth it. She just needs someone to show her, to make her see it for herself.

That, of course, would be the hard part. Karla Harper had a skewed view of relationships. He gave a snort of laughter. Hell, she has a skewed view of life.

He slid out from under the truck, giving up on what he was doing since he couldn’t concentrate. Karla definitely messed with his head. Once on his feet, he walked over to his work bench, tossing his wrench among the cluttered mess on top.

“Something have you frustrated with the truck?” Lloyd Rizer came out of the office, running a hand through his dark hair, moving it out of his eyes. “Need me to take a look at it? See if I can figure it out?”

Mitch chuckled, shaking his head as he turned, leaning back on the workbench. “No, the truck I can figure out. It’s Karla who’s driving me bonkers.”

“Ah, a woman. She not falling for the Mitch Greenway Controlling Charm? You slipping, old man?”

“Old man, my ass. Call me that when I’m in my fifties or sixties.” He took a deep breath, crossing his arms over his chest. “No. She has her own twisted view of relationships. I think this one’s going to require some overtime to figure out.”

Lloyd walked over to the truck, staring inside the engine cavity. “If only women were as easy to figure out as cars.”

Mitch gave a snort of laughter. “Amen, brother.”

Karla was proving to be quite a difficult puzzle to piece together. Something bad must have really happened to her to make her so bitter toward being in love. He wondered how long ago the relationship that scarred her so badly occurred. She was only a quarter of a century old, so it couldn’t have been that long ago. Perhaps a high school romance went awry. It had to have been brutal to make her as cold in the heart as she was hot in bed.

Grinning, he gave a soft shake of his head. She is definitely hot in bed. It was obvious why her lovers bent over backwards giving her whatever she wanted. Karla Harper threw herself into everything she did, especially sex. She had to, since her body was the commodity she used to barter with. His grin left his face. Whatever nightmare she lived through taught her never to part her legs without getting something in exchange. His heart ached for her and whatever it was he didn’t know about her past. He needed to discover what that tragedy was. It just might be the key to unlocking the cage she kept around her heart.

His cell phone rang from his back pocket, the one without the greasy shirt. Sandy. He gave a soft chuckle, not sure if her calling him was coincidence or persistence. “Good morning, Bright Eyes,” he said as he answered the phone. “Shouldn’t you be working?”

Lloyd shot him a look, surely curious as to whom Mitch was talking to.

“I should, but I’m not.” She giggled into the phone. Mitch wondered if Karla ever giggled. He knew she laughed, but giggling was different—and not necessarily in a good way. “Office is empty, so I thought I’d call and see if our girl’s showing up for dinner tonight.”

“Not yet, but she will. Of that, I have no doubt.”

“I have enough doubt for both of us. I’ve known Karla for a while and, unless she sees some benefit to paying for dinner tonight, she’s not going to do it. There’s no gain for her, and she’s all about the benefits.”

“I didn’t know you thought so poorly of her. I thought she was your friend.” He turned, facing the open bay doors, gazing at the bright morning. He would love to be anywhere else but there right then. Something about fickle friends annoyed him.

“Oh, I love her to pieces. That doesn’t mean I don’t know the type of woman she is. I can be her friend only by accepting who she is. Karla Harper doesn’t do relationships. She does men.”

He heard what she wasn’t saying. And she only does men who can give her something. He let out a sigh. “Yeah, she pretty much told me the same thing.” So why was he even trying?

“She’s great for having a good time. Just don’t get your hopes up for more than that. And when she doesn’t show up tonight, call me. I’ll be more than happy to pay for dinner.”

“I bet you would,” he said with a laugh. Afterward, he had no doubt they’d end up back at his place and in his bed—after an hour or two on the couch, that is. Sandy preferred the more unconventional places for having sex, like the night the two of them enjoyed Karla’s body on the beach behind Sand Dune. He didn’t mind, of course. Sex was sex wherever you had it, and Sandy was never a boring partner. “I’ll keep you posted.” Yet, he wanted to spend the night with Karla, not Sandy.

He snatched at his wrench again and made for the underside of the truck, Lloyd holding a light for him. Yet, his mind remained on Karla, especially her facial expression when she saw him yesterday morning sitting at her dining room table. He really didn’t know Brad was there; well, not until he saw Brad’s car in the parking lot of the Sea Breeze. He probably should have turned around right then and headed back out, but, well, there was too much fun to be had upstairs. After all, Karla did kind of deserve it for the little stunt she pulled at dinner the night he went out with Aimee. At least, that’s what Mitch told himself in order to justify what he did. In retrospect, he felt a little bad for Brad, but if you’re going out with someone like Miss Karla Harper, you have to be prepared for the crazy that pops up. If he was honest, that was a large part of what attracted him to Karla—the unexpected. Karla relished having fun, showing off, tempting, and teasing. It turned him on to watch her operate, but even more to be a part of it. He didn’t care who saw her body or that she was turned on by others wanting between her legs, because it had the same effect on him. Yet, would she ever believe he could be as excited as her with what she did?

He laid down on the dolly and pulled himself under the truck, Karla’s shocked look yesterday morning still making him chuckle. God, he hoped she showed up for dinner tonight.