She looked like she was halfway through making a lasagna for our dinner, so I shook my head. "No, thanks. I was just looking for Steele. Have you seen him?"
She smiled. "Yes, he came through here about half an hour ago. He should be in the workshop."
"Thanks," I replied. I continued through the house to the garage, then past all the expensive cars to the far side where Steele's workshop was set up. I found him standing beside Archer's Raptor with a deep scowl on his face and his black hoodie pulled up to cover his head. He looked all kinds of dark and dangerous and... delicious.
"What are you doing down here?" I asked him, coming around the truck to where he stood. Then I saw what he was frowning at and gasped. "Uh... wow."
Steele sighed and nodded. "Yep."
I took a step closer to the truck and reached out to touch one of the many bullet holes riddled down the body of the vehicle. It looked like a giant cheese grater and totally unfixable.
"I hate writing off cars," Steele told me, his whole demeanor annoyed and disappointed. "But this would cost more to fix than to buy a new one."
"Wait," I frowned. "I thought Archer had bulletproof cars. Wasn't that his whole thing about why his cars were safer?"
Steele arched his pierced brow at me, his lips curving in a half smile. "Bulletproof glass, Hellcat." He untucked a hand from the pocket of his jeans and knocked on one of the perfectly intact windows. "Dumbass didn't consider bulletproof bodywork too—something we will rectify on the next one."
He winced as he moved his arm, and I frowned at him in concern. I couldn't see any bandages, but he was fully covered up in a hoodie. They were probably still there. "Steele, why are you down here and not resting?" I moved closer to him, tugging the zipper of his hoodie down and confirming my suspicions. Thick, white bandages covered his left shoulder and upper chest, and I scowled at him in reprimand.
He gently removed my hand and tugged the zipper back up again. "It's not as bad as it looks, gorgeous. Just a few scrapes, thanks to Archer's shitty driving while I was hanging out the door to shoot at your attacker." I gave him a small frown of confusion, and his smile grew wider, self-deprecating. "Arch turned sharply to avoid hitting something, and I sort of, uh, tumbled out of the car. At high speed. On gravel."
I winced just imagining that, and he laughed.
"Seriously, it's far from the worst I've ever suffered. The bandages are way overkill. But Arch got all fucking alpha about it, so I'm humoring him." He slipped a hand around my waist and tugged me closer to him, peering down at me from the shadows of his hood. "And as for why I'm down here and not still in my room? Because if I had to listen to Kody making you come one more time, I was going to break down the damn door and either punch him or demand to join in. Neither of which I'm in any state to do right now."
I wrinkled my nose but couldn't fight the grin on my face. "Can I be honest with you, Max Steele?"
He let out a small groan. "I swear, you're the only person who can ever make my full name sound sexy. Go on, then."
I stepped in closer, tentatively looping my arms around his neck and hoping I wasn't hurting him. He didn't flinch, though, so I relaxed a little. "Honestly? I'm not totally sure which of those options turns me on more."
Steele's grin was pure smug satisfaction, and his gray eyes flashed with desire. "I knew fighting got you hot, Hellcat, but I had no idea you were down for a three-way."
I snorted and rolled my eyes. "Yes, you did, you liar. You've seen my vibrator collection, and you deliberately dropped that into casual conversation specifically to see what my reaction would be."
His grin just spread wider, but he didn't deny it.
"Where is Kody, anyway? When I realized it was a snow day, I didn't think he'd let you out of his bed for hours yet." Steele's brow creased with a small frown. "Lucky prick."
I shook my head in a small amount of disbelief, biting the edge of my lip. "I think he knew I wanted to check on you," I admitted, "and... you know... talk about recent developments."