Tapping The Billionaire (Bad Boy Billionaires #1)(84)

Sometimes, I wondered if he loved this car more than he loved his own kids.

“Of course I did.”

“Thank God.” Kline skimmed his fingers across the paint, light enough that he wouldn’t leave a mark, and a giant smile consumed his face. “This, right here, was the game changer for Ford.”

Dick stared at my boyfriend like he was falling in love. “She redeemed the Ford name in the factory of horsepower.”

Kline nodded and glanced up at me, a boyish smile still etched on his handsome face. “Why didn’t you tell me your father had this in his garage?”

I shrugged. “I had no idea you’d get such a hard-on for a car.”

“Are you kidding me?” Kline laughed. “This is one of my favorite cars. Ever. My father’s a Ford man, through and through. He’d lose it if he got his hands on this car.”

“I think your dad and I would get along just fine,” Dick said with a smile.

Jesus. I’d never seen my dad smile so much in my life. The pulsating vein in the center of his forehead, yeah, I’d definitely seen my fair share of that, especially when I’d missed curfew in high school. But this giant smile that had taken up residence on my father’s face? It was so rare that it was almost creepy.

Dick Cummings was a pretty happy guy, but he didn’t usually pass out smiles and giddy looks on a daily basis. Honestly, I think the last time I’d seen him smile like this, my mother had brought home three bags from Victoria’s Secret.

“I’d let you take her for a spin, but I’ve gotta take her into the shop come tomorrow morning. She’s having issues when I try to crank her.”

“Mind if I take a look?” Kline asked.

By the sounds of their conversation, you’d think my dad’s car was an actual person, a female, at that. Men were so weird.

“By all means.” My dad gestured toward the car. He grabbed the keys from the hook and tossed them to him.

Kline hopped in the driver’s seat and attempted to turn the engine. It didn’t start, and I’d never claimed to know car sounds, but whatever abnormal sound was coming from the car couldn’t have been good.

“See what I mean, son?” Dick asked, elbows resting on the driver’s side window.

Son? One bonding moment over his car and my dad was calling him son. I was sure any minute he’d give Kline his blessing and tell my mother to start planning my bachelorette party. No doubt, Dr. Savannah Cummings would prefer picking out penis straws to floral arrangements.

If anyone bought me dicks for my bachelorette party, it would be my mother. Cassie would provide the liquor and gift bag filled with crotchless panties. Now that I thought about it, it was a wonder I’d stayed a virgin for as long as I did. I was surrounded by a bunch of horny floozies.

“Dick, I think it’s the starter motor relay.”

“Really?”

Kline nodded. “I can hear the high-load relay engaging. Mind if I pop the hood and take a look at the engine?”

“Of course.” My father stood back from the car as Kline hopped out and busied himself under the hood.

After a few minutes, my boyfriend was convinced he knew the issue and could fix it. And by the look on Dick’s face, I was starting to wonder if he would be the one to marry Kline.

“I’m grabbing something to drink. You guys want anything?” I offered.

“I’m good, babe,” Kline declined, while my father merely mumbled, “No,” too damn entranced by what was going on underneath the hood of his car.

I walked out of the garage and into the kitchen, leaving them to their man time. Popping the tab on a can of Coke, I leaned my hip against the counter and took a gulp from the sugary soda.

To say I was shocked by the open-armed, constant-back-patting greeting my father had been giving Kline, would be the understatement of the century. My dad was never this nice to any guy I brought home. Growing up, it had been a common occurrence for Dick to clean his guns in the living room if he knew a boy was picking me up.

Sheesh. No wonder I’d fallen so fast for Kline’s charms. He practically had my dad, the boyfriend ballbuster, eating out of the palm of his hand.

I walked past my mother’s office, finding her typing away on her laptop. She paused, sliding her glasses to the brim of her nose. “What are you up to?”

“Nothing much. Dad and Kline are in the garage talking car shit.” I shrugged, leaning against the doorframe.

“Seems like they’re hitting it off.”

“Pretty sure Dad’s going to propose to my boyfriend before we head home.”

“I hope he lets me plan his bachelor party,” she joked.

See what I mean?

She smiled a wistful smile. “It’s always been a dream of mine to jump out of a cake and do a sexy striptease for your father. The closest we ever got to that was when I—”

I held my hand up. “For the love of God, I do not want to hear about you and Dick doing the nasty.”

“Georgia, sex is a normal human urge. It doesn’t matter how old you are or how many kids you have, you’ll still want to do it.”

“Are you finished psychoanalyzing my views on human sexuality, Dr. Cummings?” I asked, raising a skeptical brow.

Her smile turned curious and I braced myself for the next question that would come out of her mouth.