Free Davis, Liz - Slivers of Moonlight (Siren Publishing Classic) by Liz Davis

very much at all, and as the numbness set in, she willfully let it take over.

Chapter 6

    Nearly two weeks had passed since Maya’s run-in with Evan at the diner, and for the first few days after it happened, she found herself obsessively replaying the moment in her head. She knew it did no good to keep thinking about it, but she figured there must have been something inside of her that enjoyed the torture, because she just couldn’t seem to stop reliving it. But little by little, her feelings began to lessen, and her thoughts of him eventually became less frequent.
    She’d finally come to the conclusion that pining over a man she couldn’t have was a complete waste of time, so she quit daydreaming about what could have been and concentrated instead on improving her life. Whenever extra shifts were offered at the restaurant, she took them, and she also found a yoga class that was taught only a few blocks away from her apartment. She knew her heart wasn’t going to heal overnight, but it certainly made things a little easier when she kept herself busy.
    Earlier that morning, she’d received a phone call from the repair shop letting her know that her Honda was ready, so after securing a ride out there with Amhara, they’d taken a drive to go pick up her car.
    As they pulled into the parking lot of the car repair shop, Maya realized that she had a bad case of the stomach flutters and inwardly chastised herself for being so nervous. Weeks had gone by since they’d parted ways, so why did she still feel so helplessly lovesick?
    After thanking Amhara for the ride, Maya waved good-bye and headed for the office, preparing herself mentally along the way. She had to play it cool, and let him know that she was living life just fine without him.
    As she entered the office, she saw Gary direct his gaze toward her and offer her a smile.
    “Hello there.”
    She returned his smile with one of her own. “I received a call earlier this morning that my car was ready for pick up.”
    “Yeah, I remember you. Your name is Maya, and you own the blue hatchback, right?”
    “Yep.”
    “It’s all ready. Just follow me into the garage, and you can talk to Evan.”
    She hated the way her heart tightened just from the sound of his name, and she knew it would be a challenge to mask the emotions she was feeling. Once they were in the garage, Gary called out to his nephew and waved him over. As he headed their way, Maya noticed that her body was starting to heat up, and that was when she realized that any efforts she’d made to ease him out of her system had been completely futile. The feelings she had for him had set up a home inside of her, and they weren’t making a departure anytime soon.
    “Hello, Maya.”
    She didn’t like the way his voice sounded. It was so flat and businesslike.
    “Hi, Evan.” She kept her face stoic, struggling to keep her desire for him concealed.
    She didn’t know how great of a job she was doing, though, because inside she was thinking, why the hell does he have to look so damn good?
    “Sorry it took so long. It was supposed to only take a couple of days, but there was a delay on the shipment for one of the parts that I needed. Anyways, I replaced the rod bearings, and I also tightened those brakes up for you, so you shouldn’t have any more problems.”
    Her eyes drifted to his mouth, and she thought back to the first time they’d kissed. She could still remember the taste he’d left upon her lips.
    “Great, thanks a lot. So how much do I owe you?”
    He walked over to a counter where the shop computer was located, and typed in her info to bring up her account. “The brakes cost eighty, and the rod bearings usually cost five, but I was able to knock two hundred bucks off of that price, so what you’re looking at here is a total of three hundred eighty dollars and sixty-two cents.”
    Digging into her purse, she retrieved her credit card and gave it to him. After he ran it through, he hit the print