Free More Than Friends (Kingsley #4) by Brandi Kennedy

“You look tired, Michael. Are you doing okay?”
     
    Michael nodded, pursing his lips. “I’m alright,” he said. “Business is good, with the end of summer coming. I took a contract a few weeks ago with a rental company, so I’ve got a lot full of maintenance and repairs right now – probably keep the bills paid through the winter, and there’s not a deadline since it’s a revolving job. As long as I keep fixing them so the rental fleet is drivable, they’ll keep sending their cars to me. It’s a big step for me, though; I might have to hire someone on to help carry the load.”
     
    She smiled, patting his hand. “I remember the first time you worked on a car. You remember, tuning up my old station wagon when you were little? I think you were five, and your daddy taught you to help hand him tools because he figured if he couldn’t keep you away from the car, at least he could teach you what to do under one. Remember that?”
     
    “I do,” Michael laughed, picking at the stains around his fingernails. Flattening his hands against his thighs, he showed them to his mother. “But now you can’t ever call me out about washing my hands. No one can tell anymore, if I have or if I haven’t.”
     
    Cringing, Eva glanced disdainfully at Michael’s hands before looking up into his face again. “I hope you have,” she said dryly.
     
    He shook his head. “Of course I have. I even use one of those scrubbers, like the ones doctors use when they scrub their hands before surgery – I clean all around my nails and my knuckles, too, but the stains never come off. I think even if I can retire young, I’ll still grow old and die with dirty hands.”
     
    “Well, let’s not be in a hurry for that now, shall we?” She cleared her throat, eyeing him shrewdly. “But I have noticed something. Your little miss is hanging around a bit, isn’t she? I’m not sure I can believe that’s all about me, you know – I mean, this is only a small fracture.” She raised her arm, showing the cast, and then lowered it to point at the cast on her leg. “And that one isn’t much worse. I’m fine, Michael. No need for all this fuss from any of you.”
     
    “Little miss –“ Michael pressed his lips together, still caught on what his mother had said. He felt his eyebrows draw together heavily, and with effort, forced his face to relax. But still, he had to ask. “Little miss what? I don’t have a ‘little miss’ .”
     
    Shaking her head, Eva arched her eyebrows in amusement. “I swear,” she muttered. “Men.”
     
    “Wait – Mom, what the hell? Are you talking –“
     
    “– About Renee?” Exasperated now, she rolled her eyes. “She’s a sweet girl with a kind heart, but do you really think she spent the night sleeping in a waiting room chair in the lobby because she likes me ?” Eva sighed, her unbroken leg fidgeting beneath the blankets restlessly. Eva was an active woman; Michael could see that being injured in such a disabling way was going to be hard. He could see, too, that she was terribly frustrated with him. “Really, Michael,” she said quietly, closing her eyes as she rested her head against her pillows. “I always thought you were smarter than that.”
     
    “Smarter than – What are you saying? Mom, it’s not like that with Renee and me, she’s … she’s just a friend. Hell, she’s got a date in a few days, some guy who came into one of her yoga sessions!”
     
     

Chapter Thirteen
    Ev a’ s eyes popped open in surprise; her mouth dropped open too, before she recovered enough to shut it .“ Hmph , ” she said .“ A date? Renee has a date ? ”
     
    “ Renee has a date , ” Michael answered.
     
    “ And how do you feel about that ? ”
     
    He shrugged, ignoring the brief wave of nausea that washed over him, ignoring the nagging sensation in the pit of his stomach .“I’ m fine with it. W e’ re just friends, Mom. She can dat e – or not date. Tha t’ s none of my