“That was kinda hot,” I tease.
A soft rumble of his chest is the only indication he heard me. “You can stop with the statue impersonation, Big Man. I know you can talk.” I poke him in the shoulder.
He grabs my waist to pull me off the counter. I lean back and grab the edge behind me. I’m not going to make it easy on him. His callused fingers slide around my wrists with a firm grip and I lose my hold. Pinning my arms behind my back, Devin slides me off and into him. My chest is pressed against his. His eyes are burning into me. My heart is doing its best to smash through my rib cage and my mouth is drier than the Gobi Desert.
“I’m not sure which one is sexier, Sweet Devin or Angry Devin.” I hum, my body charged under his electric touch. He tightens his grip on my wrists, pulling me harder against him as he leans down. My eyes flutter closed and my lips part to suck in a ragged breath.
The doorbell jingles and Devin’s body shoots away from mine. Frustration surges through me and I whip around to meet the unwelcome intruder.
“Am I interrupting something?” a cute girl asks from the doorway with a mischievous smirk. She can’t be much more than sixteen or seventeen, but the way Devin clears his throat and reorganizes a stack of invoices, you’d think we’d just been caught butt-naked and going at it. Holy shit, is he blushing? Too adorable for words.
I slap on my customer-service face. “Welcome to East Side Auto Service. How can we help you?”
The girl looks between Devin and me. Devin’s ignoring her. I’m grinning like an idiot. She takes a couple of tentative steps forward. “And you are?”
“Jessica Allen.” Feeling the tension rolling off Devin beside me, I can’t help but add, “Devin’s future girlfriend. And you are?”
Devin’s eyes snap to me and, without looking, I feel them searing the side of my face.
The girl looks back at Devin and cracks up. She closes the distance to the counter. “Rebecca Bennett. Devin’s sister.”
I shake her hand and we both send teasing glances over to Devin. He groans and the sound makes me want to push him further. I slide around the counter and wrap Rebecca in a hug. She goes with it, loving the irritation splashed across her brother’s face as much as me.
“Sister!” I exclaim. “I’ve always wanted a little sister.” Rebecca and I both laugh.
Devin snaps, “What do you need, Becs?”
“Me? I’m just here to get to know my future sister-in-law,” she deadpans.
Devin scoffs and skulks off to the back office.
Becs holds up her hand for a high-five. I think I love her.
Chapter Seven
Jessie
I am nervous. I know the business plan I’ve laid out for the shop is solid. I’ve spent almost every free waking minute on this thing. It’s not convincing Rob I’m worried about. It’s Devin. If his veiled antagonism is anything to go off, he’s going to resist my ideas like his life depends on it.
I take a sip of my salted caramel latte and try to calm the hornets’ nest in my stomach. I asked Rob and Devin to meet me at the coffee house down the street from the shop. The three of us weren’t going to fit in that tiny office without me sitting in Devin’s lap. On second thought, that might not have been so bad. I look down at the papers I have spread out on the table and push aside the rogue thought. This is business. As much as I want to steal more time with Devin, this plan is about more than that. I think it can make a difference.
The door to the coffee house opens and I look up. The sight of Rob striding towards me with a warm smile under that bushy mustache eases my nerves. We don’t know each other that well, but he wraps me in a warm hug regardless. Over the past few weeks, I’ve come to care about his little shop and everyone in it.
My gaze shifts to Devin and my breath catches. He reaches out his hand, trailing his fingers along the inside of my palm before encasing it in a firm shake. His soft touch shocks me. How can a handshake be erotic? Heat surges up my arm and across my body as I stare into his dark eyes. I’ve never wanted to put my lips on someone so bad in my life.
“I’m ready to hear all these brilliant ideas of yours.” Rob clears his throat next to us, reminding me we’re in public and I shouldn’t mount Devin like a wild animal in heat.
I drop his hand like it’s a live wire and take a deep breath. Here we go. I launch into my professional business proposal.
“First of all, Rob, let me commend you”—I slide my gaze to Devin—“both of you, on creating a phenomenal team. Spending time in your shop made it clear that it’s more than a business. It’s a family.” Rob nods. Devin grunts. I’ve spent enough time with him to know this one is his approval grunt. It’s shorter than his annoyed sigh and higher pitched than his pissed-off groan.
“I don’t want to change that. But there are a few ways we could improve. My plan focuses on two primary areas. First, transitioning to computerized booking and invoicing. Then, building a social media platform to increase your customer base.” This time Devin gives me both his sigh and his groan. Great. Rob puts on his glasses and examines the charts I’ve laid out.
Devin doesn’t bother looking over the numbers I’ve spent hours creating. “Business is good. Shop’s busy,” he declares.
“You have a solid customer base right now, but you’re not growing. And, to be honest, your current customers are getting to the age where they aren’t going to be driving much longer.” In the dozen or so hours I’ve spent in the shop over the past two weeks, I haven’t seen a single customer who doesn’t qualify for the early-bird special.
“Nothing wrong with new customers. Everyone is online now,” Rob says, playing peacemaker. He gives Devin a stern, disappointed look. I try—and fail—not to look smug. “I can’t get that sister of yours to put down her cell phone for more than five minutes. Damn thing is practically glued to her hand.” I look between Rob and Devin, confused. Rob makes it sound like he’s more than just Devin’s boss. Stepdad maybe? “Tell me about this new computer system.”
I perk up, excited about this system and how much easier it’s going to make Devin’s life. “I researched a wide variety of systems, all with a different array of functionality, to find the ideal one to address your shop’s specific needs while maintaining a low price point.”
I open my laptop, loading the software interface for a demonstration. I click through a few menus. “It is clean and simple, easy to use but has all the functions your staff will need to replace your current paper system.” I pull a box of brake pads out of my bag and open the app on my phone. “Any smart phone or device can be turned into an inventory scanner.” I hold my phone over the barcode and wait for the beep before pointing to the screen.
“Would you look at that?” Rob grins when the brake pads pop up on the new invoice.
I smile wide, ignoring Devin’s gaze. “Each part will be added to an invoice automatically when scanned by your mechanic and simultaneously removed from inventory. This system will manage inventory, payroll, billing and scheduling. It even has interoperability to facilitate online customer bookings.”
Rob nods in approval. Devin scowls at me.
“Best of all, no more hours wasted with redundant data entry or trying to read Mikey’s horrible chicken scratch.”
Rob chuckles.
“We can’t afford this,” Devin snaps.
I grit my teeth and resist the overpowering urge to snarl. “While there will be upfront costs, these technological improvements will grow your customer base while streamlining overhead and minimizing non-income-generating man hours. As far as training is concerned, I’ve selected a program that’s intuitive to minimize training time.”
“The guys are never going to figure out how to use it. Waste of money,” Devin argues.
I rest my elbows on the table, lean forward, and narrow my eyes on Devin. “You could at least pretend to keep an open mind. Not all change is bad.”
“Not everything needs to be fixed.”
“You don’t give
us old dogs enough credit, Dev. Some of us like learning new tricks,” Rob butts in.
“Thank you, Rob.” Devin and I both lean back and cross our arms. Rob studies the charts in front of him while we leer at each other. There is a challenge in Devin’s eyes. His glares at me like he wants me and hates me a little because of it.
“I’m going to have to talk it over with Mandy.” Rob re-stacks the charts in a neat pile. “How about you two come over for dinner tomorrow night?” he asks, standing. Devin and I don’t break eye contact as we both get up and push our chairs in.
“I’d love to.” Syrup coats my words and I glare at Devin.
He grunts in the affirmative.
Sounds like we’ve got a date.
* * * *
Okay, so not a date. More like I’m crashing a family dinner.
“Come in, darling. Come in. Come in!” Mandy, Rob’s wife, tells me as I stand awkwardly in their entryway. She waves me forward and pulls me into a full-contact hug once I’m in arm’s reach. She rocks me back and forth, reminding me of my grandmother. Grannie Allen hugs me like I’ve just returned from the edge of the world after years of toiling to save the human race. Grannie’s arms wrap me in love. And so do Mandy’s.
“We’re huggers,” she explains when she lets me go. “I’m Mandy Reece. Rob’s better half.”
“And she doesn’t let me forget it either,” Rob teases behind her. Without looking, Mandy smacks him on the shoulder.
“Jessie!” Rebecca calls from the top of the stairs, jogging down to greet me.
“Rebecca!” I call.
“Urgh. I hate Rebecca. Everyone calls me Becs.” She slides in between me and Mandy, wrapping me in a hug. “We’re huggers.”
“So I’ve been warned.” I hug her in return, picking her up and shaking her like a ragdoll. When in Rome. I set her down again and look at her. She’s a beautiful young woman. She has Devin’s same olive skin and dark hair, but her eyes are a lighter hazel color. She’s just as striking, but softer and more feminine than her brother. She’ll be a little heartbreaker, no doubt. “Becs Bennett? How alliterative. Tell me, BeeBee”—I pause to let her take in her new nickname—“did your brother bring you so that I’d go easy on him?”
A growl from the end of the hall alerts me to Devin’s presence. My heart drops into my stomach so it has more room to do its compulsory happy dance. He’s leaning against the doorjamb, arms crossed and a small scowl on those beautiful lips. He’s cleaned up in a button-down shirt and dark jeans. His face is clean-shaven and his hair is freshly washed and slicked back. My fingers itch to mess it up.
Still tucked into my side, Becs giggles. “Nah. I live here. Rob and Mandy adopted me forever and a day ago. Dev didn’t tell you?”
That explains why Rob talked about her as though she was his daughter, because she is his daughter. The shop is one big family and they’ve welcomed me with open arms. The realization warms my chest. I resist the urge to ask what happened to her parents. Their parents.
“Dev isn’t much of a talker. He’s the strong silent type.”
Becs slides out from under my arm and prowls up to her brother. “I wish. Big brother lives to lecture me!” She pokes him in the side and he curls forward with an exaggerated howl.
“When you need it.” He gives her a gentle shove on her shoulder. She sticks her tongue out at him. They’re sweet together. I love the playful side of Devin Bennett. He catches me staring, my eyes no doubt wide with giddy delight, and nods. “We eatin’ or what?”
“Once you come greet our guest like the gentleman I know you are,” Mandy scolds.
Devin shoves off the wall and stalks over to me, his eyes full of an intimidating hunger. I swallow hard, my throat tight. He sets a strong hand on my waist and leans in. The familiar smell of citrus and man fills my senses. I bite back a moan. He places a chaste kiss on my cheek that curls my toes.
“Welcome,” he murmurs in my ear and my knees go weak. One word and I’m a puddle for this man. I’d be ashamed of myself if I was capable of any emotion other than desire. Devin pulls away and peers down at me with those coal-black eyes and a lopsided grin. Holy hell, it’s indecent for him to be so damn sexy in front of his family.
Rob clears his throat next to me. I shake my head and turn to see the three of them staring at me and Devin. I realize I have a handful of Devin’s shirt in my greedy fist and I’m biting my bottom lip. Rob looks amused, Mandy scandalized and Becs mischievous. I let go of Devin’s shirt and flatten out the wrinkles with both hands while I avoid eye contact with everyone.
“Let’s go,” Rob announces as he pulls Mandy and Becs into the dining room.
Devin and I are alone in the entryway. He slaps his hand over mine to still my fiddling with his shirt. I drop my head to his chest and let out a deep exhale.
“You’re killin’ me, Big Man,” I mumble to his chest pocket.
“Right back at you, JB.” I can’t tell if he’s amused or annoyed. Maybe both. I pull my head up and stare at him. He’s trying to look distant and angry, scowl locked in place. But those eyes give him away. They’re smoldering for me and I can’t help but smile at the sight. He nods behind us.
“Right. Let’s do this,” I chirp, extracting myself from Devin and strolling into the dining room as if I wasn’t seconds from mauling him in his family’s entryway. I can control myself. I hope.
I follow Jessie into the dining room, showing monk-like restraint in not staring at her perfect ass. That soft moan she let out in front of everyone just about killed me. My fingers itch to touch this woman, no matter who’s watching. I sit down at the table and cross my arms, locking down my wandering fingers. Mandy has Jessie sitting next to me and the last thing I need is to find my hand on her thigh halfway through Meatloaf Monday.
“So how did you two meet?” Mandy asks Jessie.
“Party—”
“At a campus party—” Jessie and I start talking at the same time. I’m done explaining, but she keeps going. “We have a mutual friend on the football team, so we were both at this afterparty. I saw him from across the room and that was that.” She side-eyes me with a smirk.
“Love at first sight? How sweet!” Mandy coos, clasping a hand over her heart.
I shake my head and say, “We’re not together.”
“Yet,” Jessie adds with a suggestive wiggle of her eyebrows.
Mandy shakes her head. “I thought you said Devin was bringing his girlfriend for dinner?” she asks Becs.
“No, I said he’s bringing his future girlfriend.” Becs winks at Jessie, who gives her a high-five across the table.
“Bet your ass, sister,” Jessie adds, and I have to choke back a laugh. The balls on this woman. “Oh, sorry, Mandy. My mom’d skin me alive if she heard me cuss at the dinner table.”
“Then I guess we shouldn’t tell her,” Mandy answers. “So, what does it mean to be Devin’s future girlfriend?”
Jessie steeples her fingers in front of her and squints. “Right now, it consists mostly of growls, grunts and frustration.”
“So just like being his actual girlfriend!” Becs titters.
“Enough,” I howl.
Rob takes pity on me and changes the subject. “She’s put a lot of effort into developing those plans for the shop I showed you.”
Mandy sets her hand on top of Jessie’s. “Thank you so much for that, dear. You don’t know how worried I am about him going back to work these days. All that stress and those long hours.” Mandy gets a bit choked up and I stare down at my meatloaf.
“This system should help with both of those.” Jessie squeezes Mandy’s hand and smiles.
“If it works,” I hear myself add before I can stop it.
Jessie turns to glare at me and Mandy’s lips slip into a pout.
“Why wouldn’t it work?” Mandy asks.
“Don’t listen to him,” Jessie reassures her. “Devin thinks all change is bound to lead to disaster. He’d still be chiseling invoices into cave w
alls if he had his way.”
Becs snorts and I shoot her a warning glare. She sticks her tongue out at me. I get no respect in this house.
“It’s complicated. We’re simple. Won’t work,” I answer.
“More complicated than rebuilding an engine?” Jessie quips. Touché.
“That’s different.”
“No. It’s not, Negative Nancy. It just takes dedication and persistence. Two things I happen to excel at.” I can’t help but think she’s talking about something else. “I can be just as stubborn as you.”
“It’s a risk. An expensive one.”
“And worth it. You’ve gotta risk it for the biscuit. Gotta spend money to make money.”
Rob hums at my side and I know I’m fighting a losing battle.
“I’ve thought about it quite a bit, and I think we’re worth the investment,” Rob declares. I grumble. Jessie squeals. “If the projections are even half as good as Jessie thinks they will be, it’ll be worth it. Plus, it might free up some of your evenings, Dev.”
I focus on eating my dinner as fast as possible. The last thing I need in my life right now is Jessica Allen. She’s perky and optimistic and idealistic. All the things I’m not.
If I’m not careful, she’ll convince me there’s a future here. But there isn’t. Not with her. She’ll have her fun and move on. I’m not volunteering to be her pet project, no matter how perfect her body is or how her smile makes me desperate to kiss her.
Chapter Eight
Devin
“No,” I bark at her, knowing I’ll be ignored. It’s been like this all week. She flies around changing shit. Moving shit. Improving shit. I like things the way they are. My way. The only thing that needs changing is her in my space, the smell of her sugary skin begging to be licked.
“Yes. Yes. Yes.”
Now my dick is hard.
Fuck.
I snatch the paint swatches out of her hands and toss them into the trash as I stalk off across the shop. Putting the counter between us, I growl, “I don’t need new paint.”
This is So Happening (So Far, So Good Book 2) Page 5