A New Resolution by Ceri Grenelle Page A

to fix it on his own. “You’re the one who claims to know a thing or two about cars.”
    “I never said that.” Nolan grunted, his knees aching as he stood to lean against the car.
    “Really?” Kieran crossed his arms, his eyebrow arched in a look that usually meant trouble for the unfortunate soul it was directed at. “Because I could have sworn it was implied in the ’let me handle this’ you imparted before ordering me to stay in the vehicle.”
    Okay, maybe Nolan deserved the eyebrow and the attitude, but he had said that with good reason. “Do you know anything about changing a flat tire?”
    “No.” Kieran shrugged as if it didn’t matter.
    “Then why are you complaining?”
    “Just making a point.”
    Nolan tried, but Kieran’s smile was too enigmatic to stay mad at. He let himself laugh at the preposterous yet charming Kieran logic and inserted his body between his boyfriend’s legs, his hands framing Kieran’s thighs. “You’re lucky you look sexy as fuck sitting on top of my car, or I swear I would beat the shit out of you.” Nolan kissed Kieran quickly before turning back to the problematic tire with a grunt. “God made you hot for survival.”
    “Amen, my brother.” Kieran nodded sympathetically.
    “Shut up.”
    Nolan slumped on the ground again. His ass hit the hot-as-hell pavement; then he rested his elbows on his knees. It was just their luck they’d get a flat tire on the most barren road in town on the hottest day of summer…and the air-conditioning in the car wasn’t working. Of course. Nolan sighed, admitting defeat and pulling his cell phone out to call a tow. He pointedly avoided Kieran’s lack of an I-told-you-so look. The fact that Kieran was so understanding when all Nolan wanted was a fight was sort of irritating…and wonderful and shit. Man, did the guy have any flaws?
    Before he could find the number for the roadside assistance in his cell contacts, a small black car that had been approaching for the last few minutes pulled up behind them. The lights flashed in acknowledgment of their predicament for a second before the engine was killed and the driver’s side door opened.
    The first thing he saw was the long, black hair nearly free of its usual tight binding. All that held the silky mass together was a thin band at the base of her neck, but the rest of the long strands were flying free, unrestrained by their normal braid or bun. Her mouth was quirked in a small smile as she rested her arm atop the car door, and her blue eyes, once she’d removed the large sunglasses, were glinting in mirth as they took in Kieran on top of the car and Nolan slumped on the ground next to it. And it happened again. That tight signal in the center of his chest, the hard-to-breathe, rumbling-stomach, squinty-eyed feeling. As if the woman were too bright to look at. That was what Nolan felt as she walked toward them, hands on her hips and hair streaming around her face in the hot wind. He’d only ever felt it with one person before and still felt it every day when he looked at Kieran.
    Nolan looked at Kieran, needing to see if his ever-perceptive lover had noticed what had probably been a slack-jawed stare. To Nolan’s surprise and growing delight, what he saw was an equally doofy , slack-jawed smile. Seemed as though he wasn’t the only man stranded on the side of the road enduring more than just an innocent crush for their mysterious Lore.
    The woman didn’t say anything for the first moment. She took in their precarious position, her gaze moving from the blown tire to the spare laying on the pavement, waiting to be installed. Her lips pursed, and she walked back to her car. Nolan nearly cried out for her to come back when she opened her trunk and removed the one thing Nolan had been missing from his tools and desperately needed when changing a tire. He could have sobbed in relief.
    Lore held up the jack with a know-it-all smirk that Nolan could have fallen in love with on the spot.