Brandon, her former coworker turned friendly rival

Mackenzie was less than thrilled to see Brandon waiting at the counter for her. It wasn't exactly uncommon for him to drop by, but he usually had the courtesy to at least give her a heads up first. He would sometimes help Mackenzie with repairs on days when his own mechanic shop was closed. He never took any money for his work (not that he needed any), even when Mackenzie actually tried to pay him. He would always simply say, "Being able to stare at your rockin' bod is payment enough, gorgeous." At which point Mackenzie usually ushered him out of the building, having gotten more than a little fed up with his sex-obsessed nature after working alongside him for a few hours. Still, it was hard to say no to some free high-quality labor when Brandon offered it.

"Hey there, Mackenzie," he said with a wide grin. His medium length black hair perfectly framed his slightly tanned face and pearly white teeth. His gaze followed its quick customary trip down and back up Mackenzie's body, even though most of it was behind the counter. Brandon continued, "I shut down early today, so I figured I'd swing by and see if you needed an extra hand." He waggled his eyebrows as he said the last word.

"Brandon," she greeted him, not unkindly, but making it clear seeing him was far from the highlight of her day. "Not like you to drop by unannounced."

"Unannounced? I texted you twice. Been too busy to look at your phone?"

"I..." Mackenzie trailed off, realizing that she hadn't even glanced at her phone all day. In fact, she wasn't even certain she'd brought it to the shop with her in the first place. And given how stressful her morning had been, she hadn't even had a chance to notice. "Something like that."

"Perfect! If you're busy then that means there will be plenty to help out with! You know there's nothing I love more than getting busy with you, gorgeous."

Mackenzie was about to offer a retort when Brandon surprised her by hopping up and over the counter, landing right next to her!

"H-hey!" she exclaimed. "I didn't even say yes yet!"

"Eh, if you really wanted me gone you would've said so the second I opened my big mouth," Brandon said, more than happy to be standing less than a foot from the redhead. Mackenzie quickly stepped back, which only gave Brandon a chance to get a look at her battered jumpsuit up close.

"Oof, that thing's seen better days, huh?" Brandon chuckled. The tattered garment was nearly half covered in duct tape by that point, plus it was missing its sleeves entirely. Mackenzie couldn't help but blush slightly under his scrutiny.

"Some of us have to work with what we can afford," she said, with a bit of an edge. It came out harsher than she'd meant it to.

"Hmm," Brandon said as he finally dropped the shit eating grin he'd been maintaining since he walked in. After a moment of contemplation, he said, "Y'know... I could maybe... hook you up with a new set of jumpsuits. The same kind I use."

"Wait, really?" Mackenzie said after a pause. She was a bit stunned by his generosity.

"Sure!" Brandon replied. Then, after a few moments, added, "As long as I'm the one who gets to take your measurements for them..."

As Brandon began laughing, Mackenzie hit him with her best scowl. She gave his shoulder a small shove as she pushed past him. "You're a sleazeball, you know that?"

Mackenzie really didn't want to have to put up with Brandon for the rest of the afternoon. Plus, she was more than a little nervous about the state of her jumpsuit, given how embarrassing her morning had been. Her clothes just seemed to keep falling apart on her. But as much as she hated to admit it, the fastest way home for Mackenzie was indisputably letting Brandon help her repair one of the vehicles.

With a deep groan and a lengthy eye roll, Mackenzie begrudgingly waved for Brandon to follow her into the workshop. The man was only too happy to oblige, his eyes almost immediately honing in on the small patch of pink showing through the gap in the hip of Mackenzie's mangled jumpsuit. He said nothing about it as he followed along, not wanting his little sneak peek of Mackenzie's panties to end. She clearly hadn't noticed it, otherwise she would have taped it up like the rest of the jumpsuit. Besides, if the suit needed that much duct tape just to hold itself together, who knew how many more little surprises might be waiting to be revealed if he stuck around!