“I just needed some things,” Vanessa whispered.
“This is the hardware aisle Van. Food is between isles four and seven.” Macie grinned, leaning against her cart, and then asked, “So how did you two know each other?”
“We don’t,” Vanessa said, looking at the array of batteries.
“Oh I wouldn’t say that. We did meet last Christmas when my partners and I stopped into Ms. Van’s little shop and ordered something fancy. Remember, Vanessa?” Brice replied, purring her name. God, just the way he said it had her pussy dripping with need again. She could only imagine what would happen if he got his hands on her flesh. Just the thought of his large hands roaming all over her needy body sent a shiver over her.
“Are you cold, Vanessa?” Brice asked, taking off his leather jacket. “Here, this should warm you.”
God, what would it take to get her groceries and get the hell out of this store!
Shrugging off the jacket, Vanessa politely said thank you and handed it back to him.
“So, Van, you never did say what you’re doing in aisle three?” Macie asked, grinning from ear to ear. Vanessa was going to kill her. Macie knew damn well what she needed on aisle three.
“I’ve got to get something for Johnny,” she replied, smirking as she grabbed a packaged of D-cell batteries.
“Oh, is Johnny your boyfriend, Ms. Vanessa?” Brice asked, being formal with her again, and Vanessa was perfectly content with that. That was until Macie piped up and clearly said for all to hear, “Oh Johnny isn’t real. He’s her nine-inch cock she fucks instead of a real man.”
At that moment, Vanessa wished she were anywhere but there.
* * * *
Brice didn’t say a damn thing all the way home. Oh, he wanted to, but he chose to keep his mouth shut, especially since Vanessa was sitting next to him stewing. He had invited her to dinner and wanted her to come because she wanted to, not under duress.
After Macie blurted out the embarrassing obvious of Johnny, Vanessa turned beet red and made her way to the checkout counter, silently. He followed her and helped her carry her bags to her car, and then she turned to him and accepted his dinner invitation. After following her back to her shop, he watched as she literally threw all of her frozen dinners into her freezer, then quickly changed her shoes and hopped into the cab of his truck, never saying another word.
He wished he could say something to ease her embarrassment, but nothing came to mind. He wasn’t good with the mushy stuff. That was where Carter came in. His best friend was one smooth guy and could make anyone forget about anything.
Regardless, it was going to be a long drive, and Brice couldn’t let her stew the whole way back to his home. Trying for civility, he opened with, “You look mighty pretty in that sweater, Ms. Van. The color purple suits you.”
“Thank you,” she murmured, looking out the window.
“Can I ask you a question, Van?”
“Sure,” she muttered, still looking out the window. Brice wanted desperately to get her mind of the embarrassing moment at Meyer’s General Store. He didn’t like seeing her upset. “Would you tell me why you bought all those TV dinners?”
Sighing, Vanessa turned to face him. “I bought them because I don’t cook, at all. I am good with following directions, and as long as my microwave doesn’t keel over, I can eat.”
“There’s nothing wrong with that. When I was in college, I was very fond of the microwave. If it makes you feel any better, I can’t cook either. Carter and Peter are pretty good, but Carter loves cooking.”
“Is he the one making the steaks?”
“Yes, ma’am.” Brice smiled as Vanessa grinned and visibly relaxed. “How long have you owned Treasures-A-Plenty? The building looks rather new, if you don’t mind me asking.”
“Not at all,” she began. “I’ve been in Treasure Cove going on three years now. I bought the building after I got out of the Marine Corps. Before that, I was bounced around from one military post to the next, doing whatever the Marines asked me to do.”
“You were in the military?” Brice asked, astonished. He couldn’t believe someone as beautiful as Vanessa was ever in the service. Her petite body and drop-dead good looks just didn’t fit with what he thought a female soldier looked like. Oh, he knew there were pretty girls in all kinds of fields, but for someone who dressed liked a runway model, he had a hard time picturing her in camouflage.
“I did eight years in the infantry altogether, with two deployments to Afghanistan. After my last tour, I got out,” she whispered, looking away as the something dark filtered through her eyes. Brice knew there was a story there, and she wasn’t ready to talk about it. Deciding to drop the subject, he asked about her family. Brice kept quiet as he listened to her talk about her family.
“My mom works for the Hicks. She’s their housekeeper. Jeff and Caleb asked her to move in with them last month, since Janie is so close to delivering. My mom is in her element. She has a big house and many people to feed and take care of. My brothers are still in the Navy, and last Mom and I heard they were doing fine.”
“What’s their names?” Brice asked to keep her talking.
“The oldest this Julio, then there’s Miguel, and the baby is Victor. He’s my twin.”
“And your dad?”
“My dad died five years ago, in Iraq.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Thank you.”
The rest of the trip was driven in complete silence. Brice didn’t know what to say after hearing that her father passed. He was still trying to come to terms with her being a soldier. Scratch that, her whole family were devoted, honorable men and women who defended their country by serving. With no words, Brice let it all sink in. Taking a long look at the woman next to him, he realized that Vanessa Sanchez was not what he thought she was…she was more.
Chapter Three
Carter James was setting up the grill when he heard Brice pull into the driveway. He had sent his best friend to town over three hours ago to pick up a few items, and he should have returned sooner. All Carter knew was that Brice better have a damn good reason for taking his time, because he was starving to death.
Continuing to clean up the grill, Carter watched as Colby played in the dirt next to him with his big yellow Tonka truck. Colby was a sweet kid, energetic and fun to be around. A pistol from the moment he woke and the most precious thing when he was finally asleep. Carter loved him very much, and wanted more like him. However, that was never going to happen if he, Peter, and Brice couldn’t agree on how to proceed with the pretty shop owner.
Carter remembered the first time he laid eyes on Ms. Vanessa Sanchez. She was sitting in Macie’s diner eating a slice of cherry pie. The moment she placed the red gooey cherries on her lips and moaned, Carter was a goner. For the next thirty minutes his eyes were fixed to her mouth as he watched her eat, and even when she left, he still couldn’t move, thanks to the raging hard-on he sported. God, he thought his dick would never go down. After that day, all he wanted was the stunningly beautiful Vanessa Sanchez, and nothing but death was going to change his mind.
For years, Carter dreamed of having one woman whom he could spend the rest of his life with have a family and grow old with. He wanted that more than anything, and he wanted to share all of that with his best friends, Peter and Brice. He thought he had that, or at least the beginnings of it, when Peter met Diana. Yet, when he met the pretty blonde, he just knew deep in his soul that she was the wrong person for them. He tried to explain his feelings to Brice and Peter, but it was too late. Diana had deceived them all. She had purposefully gotten herself pregnant, and then proceeded to make their lives a living hell.
After the birth of Colby, Diana skedaddled quicker than a parolee on release day, and Carter was fine with that. He felt nothing when they later heard that Diana had died in a horrible car accident. All he cared about was Colby.
Since then, all three of them worked hard to provide a stable life for their young son. Even t
hough Carter knew Colby wasn’t biologically his, he considered him his son, and that was all that mattered. However, now Carter wanted more. He wanted a woman he could love and hold onto during the cold winter nights. Someone he could laugh with and someone who would love Colby as much as he did. It wasn’t easy to find a woman who would accept a readymade family, he knew that, but he hoped that one day he would find a woman willing to take on all of them.
Scrubbing the grill, Carter heard Brice’s truck door slam. He looked up just in time to see Brice hustle it around the vehicle as the pretty shop owner slid out of the passenger side. He smiled. “Hot damn, we have company.”
“What company?” Colby’s voice piped up.
Grinning, Carter replied, “Very pretty company. Go tell Daddy Peter we have a guest for dinner.”
“Who’s pretty?” Colby asked, getting to his feet.
Carter loved Colby, he really did. There was something about the precocious six-year-old that warmed his heart every time he was around, but there were times when Carter wanted to run screaming, from the litany of questions that Colby could dish out. That and he wanted to bang Peter’s head against the wall for teaching the kid to play twenty questions.
“Oh wow, she’s smokin’. Bow chicka wow wow!” Colby stated clearly as Carter laughed.
“Boy, where did you hear that?”
“Papa Brice. He says it all the time. So does Daddy Peter. Did I say it wrong?”
“No, you said it just right,” Carter smiled. “Come on, let’s go get Peter, and then we can greet our dinner guest.”
“Sweet!” Colby smiled.
Entering the kitchen, Carter spotted Peter sitting at the small kitchen table talking on the phone. He looked aggravated, and Carter wondered whom he was talking to. Of course he didn’t have to wait long to find out, especially when Peter shouted, “Damn it, Patricia, I said no!” and slammed the phone down.
“Colby, why don’t you go get cleaned up for dinner,” Carter softly said to his son, not wanting him to hear what he knew Peter was about to say. His best friend looked ready to blow, and there was no way he was going to stay up all night and explain the colorful words that were sure to flow from Peter’s lips.
“Okie dokie!” Colby shouted, running from the room.
Patricia Wallace was Diana’s mother, and the biggest bitch on the planet. Ever since her daughter died, Patricia had been begging Peter to allow her to see Colby. Now, typically Peter would never deny a grandparent access to Colby, but when said grandparent only wanted the child to parade him around her socialite friends so she could move up in Denver’s social elite, well, Peter had major problems with that. Hell, they all did. To this date, Diana’s mother had never physically laid eyes on Colby, and if Peter had any say, she never would.
As it was right now, the only grandparents Colby ever knew were Peter’s parents, his, and Brice’s. Since Peter was the biological father, his parents arrived every summer to pick Colby up and together, they flew to Texas along with Carter’s parents to spend the summer out at Brice’s family’s ranch. Far, far away from Patricia Wallace and her meddling biddies.
Oh, the devious bitch had hired several lawyers to gain custody, and on more than one occasion, she had papers drawn up saying that she had a right to see Colby, but Matthew Jenkins took care of all of their legal troubles. The last time a lawyer stepped foot on their doorstep was over a year ago. Since then, all had been quiet.
“She’s still trying to get her hands on Colby?” Carter asked, already knowing the answer.
“Yeah, that bitch won’t quit. She’s threatening to haul us into court claiming that we’re unfit to raise a small boy. She is also claiming that were in a relationship, and she’s afraid that our lifestyle with interfere with the rearing of a normal boy.”
“Is she fucking high?”
“Apparently,” Peter replied. “Anyway, I told her to go screw herself. So, I am guessing that means we will have another attorney at our door within the month.”
“Want me to call Matthew?”
“No, I’ve got to run into town tomorrow. I’ll swing by and see him and let him know. That way he’s prepared.”
“Sounds good, oh, and Brice is home and he brought company.”
“Who?”
“Our little shop owner.”
“Really!”
Just then, Brice walked in the front door while carrying the luscious Vanessa Sanchez.
“What happened to her?” Carter asked, rushing to the woman he had been dreaming about all winter and then some. Okay, if he was going to be serious, he thought of her morning, noon, and night. He knew he was borderline obsessive for her, but he figured since he hadn’t gone loco, lost his marbles, and started shouting “Here’s Carter!” everything was all-good.
That was except for the oaf holding the most precious woman in the world!
* * * *
Vanessa couldn’t believe she was so fucking clumsy.
She had been walking in heels since she was twelve years old. She knew to pick up her feet, but did she do that…no! She was still brooding over what Macie said at Meyer’s General Store and did not see the pothole. Before she could stop herself, she stepped into the hole and twisted her leg.
That was when she heard a distinctive pop.
Screwed royally, she was too far from home. Embarrassed, angry, and a little bit helpless, she sure as shit didn’t need this crap, but with the day she was having, this just capped it all off. Waving Brice off, she tried to stand, praying she misheard the pop, but soon realized immediately that her hearing was still perfectly pristine. Wanting help or not was no longer an option. She wasn’t going to be able to walk without help.
“Brice, I think I will accept your help. Can you please show me to the nearest restroom?” she asked, extending her hand. Brice ignored her outstretched hand, and before she could say anything, he lifted her into his arms, and then proceeded to carry her up the front steps.
“Vanessa, maybe I should call doc. You could have twisted your ankle pretty bad or worse,” he said, slowly walking her into his house.
“What the hell happened to her?” a blond God said. That instantly stole her breath. Damn, she had forgotten about pretty boy. The last time she saw him, he was dressed in overalls and covered in grease. However, looking at him now, she had to admit the greasy mechanic sure did clean up good.
Too good.
Yummy! she thought, licking her lips.
“Vanessa fell into that damn pothole in the drive. You know the one Peter and I have been asking you to fix,” Brice said harshly.
“It’s all right, Brice. I should have been watching where I was walking.”
“No it’s not. You could have been seriously hurt. For all I know, you could have a broken ankle,” Brice replied, concerned, and Vanessa wanted to laugh.
Oh God, did she really need to laugh.
If a broken ankle was all she had to worry about, her life would be peachy keen.
“Um, Brice…the bathroom?” she said, redirecting the conversation.
“Yes, right this way,” he swiftly said, moving down the hallway like a freight train.
The bathroom was spacious, for a guest bath. Entering the bathroom, she kindly said thank you as he placed her on the plush chair next to the sink and quietly left the room, shutting the door behind him. Bending over, she silently cursed herself as she removed her shoes. Standing carefully, she unzipped her pants and slowly removed them. Sitting back down, she bent over to check out the damage.
Sighing, she leaned her head back against the wall, closed her eyes, and wanted to scream. Just then, the door burst open as a small boy with curly blond hair rushed in and did exactly what she felt like doing…He screamed!
* * * *
Peter heard when Carter told Colby to get cleaned up. He figured while his son was washing up, he should do the same. Knowing that Carter and Brice would entertain the luscious Vanessa, he took a few extra minutes to hop in the shower. He ha
d been working on cars all morning, and he was filthy. Jumping into the shower, he quickly washed, trying to remove as much grease as he could, knowing that no matter how hard he scrubbed, he wasn’t going to get it all off. Peter still couldn’t believe that the shy, introverted Brice brought Vanessa home. How the large hulk did it, he would never know, but none of that mattered.
She was finally here.
Since settling in Treasure Cove, Peter, Carter, and Brice had worked hard to start up their little auto body shop. With the help of some of the residents, it didn’t take long for word to get around, and soon their shop was constantly busy. The Treasure Cove Auto Body shop kept them busy those first few months, but it wasn’t long before the cold winter nights started to take their toll. Before they knew it, all of them were hankering for the love and comfort of a woman. Oh, they each had their hook-ups, but none of the young women had the spark they were all looking for.
That was until they met Ms. Vanessa Sanchez, the local beauty and owner of Treasures-A-Plenty. The moment they laid eyes on the stunningly beautiful brunette, they all knew she was the woman for them. Tall, gracious, loving, funny, and smart as a whip, Vanessa Sanchez embodied almost all of the attributes they were looking for in their woman. However, when it came to claiming the vivacious beauty, they sputtered.
Oh, each of them knew why. It wasn’t easy learning to trust women, especially after what Diana had put them all through. That viper ruined most women in their eyes, and then there was Colby. After Diana, Peter swore off women for a long time. He wasn’t ready to give his trust to a woman, knowing how devious and cunning they could be. Nope, it was going to take a very special woman to catch the Auto Body boys, and Peter just hoped that Ms. Vanessa had the moxie to do just that.
Joyce, Rebecca - Her Dirty Mechanics [The Men of Treasure Cove 12] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 3