by Holley Trent
Her last partner, though, hadn’t fit the mold. Perhaps it was because of Rich that she’d been so unwilling to compromise on her “no distractions” policy. Rich had been erratic and too impulsive by half. He was a damned good lay but also the worst sort of egotist. He’d kept showing up even after she’d told him she was done—after that run-in with the cop.
“I should say no.” She blew out a ragged breath and set down her fork. “But I can’t, can I?”
Tim was occupying every free thought she had. She’d obsess about what could have been and berate herself for denying herself the pleasure. Maybe just once, she could be like Leah and do something because it was fun and felt good and not worry about what would happen next.
Tim padded back into the kitchen looking totally unbothered but didn’t sit. He grabbed his beer, swallowed what was left in one long draught, and dropped the can into the recycling bin. “Sorry. I would have let the call go to voicemail, but so few people call me on that number, and when they do it’s usually important.”
“It’s all right.” She kept her gaze on her food, the water outside, anything but him or her mind would go to those dirty places and she’d feel so greedy, so hungry. His mouth. His large, rough hands. The thick, long cock he seemed to have gotten under control during his phone call.
She would have gladly sucked him off. The fact he didn’t let her meant he had more in store for her, and she was convinced she should let him give it to her.
She needed some space to think. Grabbing the piece of Italian bread perched on the edge of her plate, she stood. “I’ll finish the lasagna later. I’m going to go measure the perimeter. The equipment is in my SUV.”
“Need help?”
“No. I’ve got it. It won’t take me long.” She rushed past him with the bread and out the front door. Clamping the chewy bread between her front teeth, she wrested her phone from her tight shorts pocket and dialed Carine’s number.
“Hey, girlie,” Carine said. “I was about to head out to look at a junky old car I stumbled onto on Craigslist. I figured for five hundred bucks, I’d take a look.”
“You know that saying—you get what you pay for?”
“Honey, of course I know that adage. It’s the story of my life.”
“Just checking. I won’t hold you up. I’ve just got one question.” Valerie popped her rear gate and hid behind her SUV, just in case Tim was watching from his living room window. “It’s simple, so give me a simple answer.”
“Uh-oh. What’s up?”
“Well, I just need confirmation. It’s pretty obvious, but I like to get reality checks when necessary. Is Tim a dom? Like, a capital-d dom and not just a guy who likes telling people what to do?”
No response from Carine’s end.
“Carine? Are you there?”
“Ohhhh, shit.”
“It’s a simple question.”
“And I suppose the fact you know the difference would make that a simple answer. You got something you want to tell me?”
“No.”
“I thought we were friends.”
“Oh, the best of friends, Carine,” Valerie said tartly, “but my knowledge of certain behaviors isn’t something I like to talk about.”
“Certain behaviors, huh? You were appalled when I took you to Clay’s!”
“Because I don’t want to get entangled in that stuff anymore. I’d hoped I’d grown out of it.”
“That may be the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard come out of your mouth, and let me tell you, you say some straight-up ridiculous shit sometimes, shug. Don’t try to act like you and Leah aren’t cut from the same cloth, because you so are.”
Valerie rolled her eyes. “Is he or isn’t he?”
“Why don’t you ask him?”
“Because I don’t want to have a discussion with him about it. Discussions tend to lead to negotiations and the making of plans, and I don’t want to make any plans.”
She groaned and Valerie could practically imagine her stomping her foot. “Ugh. Fine. Yes. He is.”
“Shit.”
“Hey, I think you two could hit it off, but if you’re not into him, you could always just refuse him. He’s the kind of guy who doesn’t really ask more than once, anyway.”
“It’s not that I’m not into him and what he could potentially offer. I’m just trying not to get too excited. I get the feeling he…knows what’s doing. I thought the last guy I was attached to was the consummate dom, but now I’m starting to wonder if he was doing a fake-it-until-you-make-it routine.”
Unlike Rich, Tim could command her attention just by looking at her. Rich had always had to ask for it.
“Are you over there at his house right now?” Carine asked.
“Yes. I’m checking the other architect’s measurements because they seemed off. The house actually seems smaller on the inside than what was in the plans.”
“Well, you’d know. If doing the work bothers you that much, though, you could just tell him you can’t do it. I’m sure he’d understand.”
“But I’m so curious now.”
Carine giggled. “Yeah, he does tend to have that effect on women. After he got divorced, everyone was waiting around to see who he’d rebound with, but to the best of my knowledge, no one ever figured out who it was. I mean, I’m sure he was getting some from somebody, but he wasn’t getting it here.”
“So he hasn’t had a submissive in all that time?”
“Honey, I guarantee you he has. He plays. He just doesn’t keep ’em.”
“Well, that’s a good thing.”
“For who?”
“For me and him. I don’t want to be kept.”
“So you want to play with him?”
Valerie pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed at herself. “I do.”
“Then enjoy.” Carine giggled again. “And tell me all about it. He’s not my type, but I do love to live vicariously through you brave ladies.”
“Brave?”
“Oh, let’s not have this discussion right now. My momma is in the next room watching Top Gun and the television volume keeps goin’ lower and lower. Call me tomorrow. Maybe we can chat, and you can tell me all the salacious stuff about you that you’ve been holding in for the past six months.”
“Better get some popcorn, then. Bye.” Valerie disconnected the call and reached into the cargo bay of the SUV for her measuring wheel. She needed to get a good idea of how far from accurate her fellow “professional” architect’s work was. If the numbers were way off, Tim needed to try to get his money back, regardless of how long it had been since he’d had the plans made.
“That shark should try to get his money back anyway.”
She slammed the truck gate closed and the sight of Tim standing near her rear wheel made her yelp like a startled seagull.
“Didn’t mean to frighten you. Can I back you out? I need to run a quick errand and don’t have enough room to get my truck around you.”
“Oh.” Heart pounding, she patted her pockets and tried to catch her breath. She’d just called the man a shark and peppered Carine all about his sexual predilections, and Valerie had no way of knowing how much he’d heard. “I-I think the keys are in the kitchen. I didn’t need them because I’d left the doors unlocked.”
“I’ll get ’em,” he said mildly and walked to the house.
She might never know what he’d heard, and if he had heard anything incriminating, he might never confess that he had. Instead, he’d use the information as a weapon against her. He’d taunt her with her own words until she was flustered and fidgety, and he’d have her exactly where he wanted her.
Shit.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Gritting his teeth, Tim tried not to mangle his steering wheel beneath his vise-like grip as he burned up the road toward Edenton.
That kid of his had landed himself in trouble yet again, but because Tim was a Dowd and the Dowds went way back in the area, he had some connections. Most criminals would
have had to stay in jail until the magistrate could set their bail on Monday morning, but Kevin had a certain kind of privilege. The sheriff knew whom to call to make things happen on a Saturday night, and knew Tim would be ready with cash in hand to complete his end of the deal.
“He’d better know how lucky he is,” Tim said to no one through his clenched teeth.
He’d left Valerie walking around the outside of his house taking measurements. While he’d wanted a bit of a cooling-off period to get his head screwed on straight, Kevin had tossed the ultimate distraction grenade into the evening. Tim’s mood was fucked all to hell, and if he were lucky, Valerie would be gone by the time he got home. He simply didn’t know if he could pull off the “Suave Seducer” act while pondering if maybe it’d be for the best if he let the kid spend some time in the clink.
It’d be bad optics for Tim and the business, but he didn’t know what else he could do.
He got Kevin collected and into the truck and didn’t say a word.
Of course, Kevin was fine with not saying anything, either. He slumped low in the seat with his greasy, shaggy brown hair hanging into his eyes, and drummed his fingers along the sides of his arms.
No “thanks for getting me.” No “sorry for ruining your night.” Not even a “damn, I, hoped it’d be Mom this time.”
Kevin stared at his unlaced basketball shoes and sucked his teeth.
Tim slammed the door.
He’d let Heidi have her turn with him. She didn’t have many ideas, but she had patience. For the time being, she was coming out ahead.
Tim stabbed the key into the ignition and navigated out of the narrow downtown throughways toward the highway.
Heidi kept telling Tim to save his breath when it came to lecturing Kevin, but he couldn’t hold his tongue. He cut his gaze to the right and took in his son’s aloof expression and his relaxed posture.
Not even a little bit scared.
Had Tim been in his shoes, he would have been terrified of what his father had in store for him. But of course, he actually respected his father.
“You know, if you’d been anyone else’s kid,” he said, “you would have stayed in that cell until Monday morning or later if they couldn’t come up with the money to bail you out.”
“You shoulda left me there, then.”
“You know what? Next time, I will. No, actually—there’s not going to be a next time, because I’m cutting you off.”
Kevin sucked his teeth. “Whatever, man. You can’t cut me off.”
Never “Dad” anymore. Just “man” and “dude.” Tim swallowed down the acid spiking up his throat. “Oh, yeah, I can. You may think I don’t pay attention, but I know how much money you’ve blown through, and I know your car is in your mother’s name because she bought it, not you. A guy whose trust fund was still flush wouldn’t need his mother to make the lease payments on his Camaro. Obviously, you’re not responsible enough to have a car at this juncture, so I’ll make sure your mother takes it back. If you need to get around, you can beg a ride from your hooligan friends, and the next time you get in trouble, you can ask them to bail you out.”
“They can’t bail me out if they’re in jail, too.”
“So, what does that say about the company you keep? Huh?”
“Whatever, dude.”
“Call me dude again, and I’ll strap a bag to your back, slap a nametag to your chest so the stewardesses can keep track of you like an eight-year-old, and put you on the first flight to Florida for your grandfather to collect. I should have done that five years ago when he told me to. You don’t respect me, but maybe you’ll respect him. He’s not gonna take your shit.”
Tim couldn’t have missed Kevin’s flinch if he’d tried. Kevin had always been afraid of the man and his old-school brand of discipline. What Dad said, he meant, so his threats were promises. If he’d said that if he caught Kevin smoking pot in the high school parking lot again that he would make him move a one-ton pile of bricks two blocks at a time, Kevin would have believed him. If Tim or Heidi had said the same thing, Kevin would have laughed in their faces.
Tim didn’t understand what the difference was. Something wasn’t connecting.
“Do what you gotta do,” Kevin said.
Tim ground his teeth some more. By the end of the night, he’d probably need either a brand-new mouth guard or an appointment to have his crowns repaired.
He pulled into the lot of Heidi’s condo and parked in one of the visitor spaces. He didn’t even know if she was home. Being that it was Saturday night, there was a good chance she was out prowling. Most of the time, he didn’t envy her for having a life.
Fortunately, she answered her phone.
“Hello, dearest,” she said dryly.
He got out of the truck quickly and shut the door. “Save it for your girlfriend, Heidi. Are you at home?”
“Yep. In case you forgot, I left work early yesterday to go to Clay’s, so I’m making up the time now. I’ve got numbers to crunch for that contract you aren’t sure you want to sign.”
“Fuck.” Tim pinched the bridge of his nose and leaned against the bumper. He needed her to run those figures so he’d know if he’d be throwing bad money at a deal that might not be as lucrative as the dealer made out.
Heidi had been working with Tim since the very beginning. Romantically, they were a comical disaster. As business associates, they were a force to be reckoned with.
“Uh oh,” she said. “What happened?”
“I bailed Kevin out again. I brought him over for you to mind because I’m tied up tonight. I left a…guest…at my house.”
“Jesus Christ. Bring him in. I’ll keep one eye on him and the other on my calculator. When’s the hearing?”
“I think Garrett said it was Wednesday. I was so pissed that I was probably only catching every other word.”
Tim pulled the passenger door open and gestured for Kevin to get out.
Kevin rolled his eyes but got down.
“I guess I’ll have to bring him into to office on Monday,” Heidi said.
“I can’t really see leaving him unsupervised.”
“Fuck that,” Kevin muttered as he walked away.
Tim dug deep and tapped into his internal storage bin of self-restraint, and somehow mustered up enough to not respond to the rude quip.
As they approached Heidi’s garden-level unit, she was leaning in the doorway with her reading glasses pushed down her nose and her arms crossed over her chest.
Kevin squeezed past her without a word and disappeared into the back of the condo—probably to throw himself onto the guest bed and stare bleary-eyed at the wide-screen television.
“Well?” She tucked her glasses into her shirt pocket and raised an eyebrow at Tim.
“I don’t know. We could always take my parents up on their offer.”
“So we’d feel even more like failures?” She shook her head and that cheeky grin she was so known for wearing all the time fell away. “No thanks. We didn’t mess up. We did everything we could for him, didn’t we?”
“I don’t know the answer to that.”
But Tim did know. They’d given it their best shot. They’d even stayed married longer than they should have to give Kevin the security he needed, but it hadn’t made a difference. He was an entitled kid with a chip on his shoulder, and there was nothing they could do to change that.
___
Tim had been gone for so long and Valerie had all the measurements she needed, so she left. Being in his house without him there made her uncomfortable. He wasn’t technically her client, just someone she was doing a favor for…and someone she was pretty sure saw through her like a cheap, clear shower curtain.
She could have resisted a little at his request for her to go down on him, but she’d wanted to please him. It pleased her to please him, and she barely knew the guy. That should have frightened her more.
Crossing the fingers of her left hand, she backed her car out of his death-defy
ing driveway and drove to Shora. The entire drive, she pondered how she would tell him that his architect’s work hadn’t been worth the cost of the gas he’d used to get to Tim’s house. She also thought he deserved to have his credentials revoked. All the while, she tried to shove aside thoughts of how fixing Tim’s house plans meant that she would have to see him again.
CHAPTER NINE
The next morning, Valerie woke at her usual early hour—thanks in part to the east-facing window in the master bedroom, and also to the ringing of her cell phone.
The default ringtone for callers she didn’t have programmed into her contacts was strident and bleating. She couldn’t have slept through the noise even if she’d had her ears plugged.
She snatched it off the nightstand and snarled, “What?” into it.
“I could have been your boss calling you, pretty girl. Do you always answer your phone with such a snarly tone?”
Perplexed, she pushed up onto her forearms and pulled the phone away from her ear to study the number on the display. It was a 252 number, which meant the caller was somewhere in eastern North Carolina.
And that caller had a deep, seductive drawl.
The revelation had her bolting upright in horror. “Tim?”
His laugh conjured an immediate, pleasurable throbbing between her thighs. He should have registered that thing as a deadly weapon.
“Do you know what kind of trouble I had getting your number? I should have already had it. Why’d you leave without giving me your number?”
Because volunteering the digits would have obligated him to call her. She didn’t want to be anyone’s obligation.
“I…left because I didn’t think you were coming back soon,” she hedged. “I felt like I was intruding.”
“I understand that. All the same, paper isn’t so hard to come by in my house. There was some Dowd Wave Cruisers stationery right there on the kitchen counter. A pen, too.”