Turn Up the Heat Read Online Free PDF Page B

thick, ominous stain.
    â€œNo, you really weren’t.” His frown intensified as he stood, looking again at the inner workings of the car. “How long have you had this thing?”
    â€œUm, four years. Five in June.” She leaned in to look over his shoulder.
    Yup. Still broad.
    â€œShould’ve known better than to hope it was still under warranty. It looks like your transmission’s blown.”
    Her mouth fell open. “Are you sure?”
    Shane broadcast a look that all but screamed are-you-kidding-me. “Unless you have transmission fluid coming from somewhere else, yeah.”
    Bellamy quickly calculated her options, realizing that she had only the one. She had to get home in a couple of days, after all. “Can you fix it?”
    Shane didn’t flinch. “Absolutely.”
    Finally, some good news! “How much is it going to cost?”
    The slight wince he gave wasn’t lost on her, and he shifted where he stood. “I’d have to look up the cost for the parts, but assuming you need the whole thing replaced, trannies for these things aren’t cheap. We can work something out for labor since it’s going to be a longer job, but it’s still going to be expensive.”
    Bellamy exhaled. “Okay, can you elaborate on that a little more?” There was a difference between nice-dinner-expensive and diamond-earrings-expensive, after all. Maybe she could get away with nice-dinner car trouble, just this once.
    â€œParts and labor? You’re probably looking at close to three grand.”
    â€œAre you serious ?” she yelped.
    â€œâ€™Fraid so. I told you they were expensive.”
    â€œWait.” Bellamy felt like she was on a thirty-second delay, with Shane’s words taking their sugar-sweet time to sink in. “Define longer job . How long is this going to take, exactly?” She had the sinking feeling that the extended weekend she’d allotted for her relaxing mountain getaway wasn’t what Shane had in mind.
    He scrubbed a hand over the stubble on his chin. “Orders on parts have probably shipped for today since it’s already after noon, which puts the next ship date as Monday. My guess is that it’ll take everything three days to get here.”
    She squeezed her eyes shut, but stayed silent as Shane continued.
    â€œIt’s going to be another day and a half for me and Grady to put the new tranny in once we get it. Good news is I can start yanking the old one this afternoon if you want, but because of the lag time, it’ll be at least next Friday before we can finish.”
    â€œDo I have any other options here?” Bellamy managed in an unsteady voice, pinching the bridge of her nose with freezing fingers.
    â€œSure.”
    Her head sprang up, surprise popping through her veins. “I do?”
    Shane nodded, sending his black hair down over his eyes. “You can have it towed to the city, where they’ll quote you a price of about four grand instead of three. You’re welcome to call them to double check me, if you want. And before you ask, it’ll take them just as long to get the parts. Barely anybody stocks those, so I’d bet you’re still looking at about a week that way.”
    Bellamy felt like a day-old party balloon. “Any other suggestions?”
    â€œYou could get a new car.”
    Even better.
    â€œI need to make a few phone calls.” Out of habit, she tapped her cell phone to life. The no service available message still flashed across the display, and Bellamy resisted the urge to hurl it over the guardrail. “You said I could use the phone back at the garage, right?” Frustration bubbled within her chest, filling her veins with its thick heat.
    Shane nodded, and his piercing stare did nothing to make Bellamy feel less vulnerable.
    â€œYeah, sure.”
    â€œI guess we can head back, then.”
    As he dropped the hood back to the frame of the car