Mace: Conner Brothers Construction, Book 3 (CBC)

by Cee Bowerman

  “We’re going to have to repaint and probably retexture your ceiling.” Jace told me from his perch on the top of the ladder. “It would be different if there were a few layers of paint on here, but your house is pretty new isn’t it?”

  “Yeah,” I nodded. “I’m renting it from the builder. Brenda, Sonny’s wife, got me a great deal on it. I guess it used to be a model home.”

  “Yeah, well, it’s gonna be modeling Dr. Pepper until we cover this shit up. I think it absorbed the liquid right up into the damn drywall.”

  “Crap.” I leaned against the counter and looked up at Jace’s work. I could see where he’d tried to wipe off the soda because the paint was damp, but the stain was still there. “I think there’s some paint in the cabinets in the garage that would work. I’ll go look.”

  “Okay.”

  I moved around the ladder and went out into the garage. Of course, the paint was on the top shelf behind some of my overflow Christmas decorations, so I had to get the other ladder out and move things around. I got sidetracked organizing stuff and didn’t even think of how long I’d been out in the garage until I felt someone’s eyes on me.

  “Hi,” Mace smiled from his spot in the doorway. He was leaning against the door frame with his feet crossed at the ankles as he watched me move things around and mumble to myself.

  “Hey,” I smiled at him and pulled the paint can that I needed to the edge of the shelf. Mace walked over and put his hand up to take it from me and I hurried down the ladder. “Thank you for the plant.”

  “You’re welcome. Did you get it all over? You might have some spots on your shoulders you couldn’t reach.” Mace looked at my skin in the dim light of the garage and then he finally looked up into my eyes. “I thought you had a man living here and hadn’t told me.”

  “You got mad?”

  “Yeah, for a little bit, but the Ros came over and explained how much of a dumbass I was. I came over here to grovel.”

  “You could have just told me you were bothered that some strange man opened my door.”

  “Shirtless and still wet from the shower.”

  “Yeah, I can see how that might look bad.” Reba laughed. “And I guess we don’t really know each other well enough for you to know I would never …”

  “I know you wouldn’t. I just react before I think sometimes.” Mace put his hand on my cheek and leaned down to kiss me softly on the mouth. “So I admit, I was pissed. I’m sorry I doubted you.”

  “He’s one of my cousin’s friends who’s staying here to make sure my ex husband and his mother don’t cause any problems for me.”

  “Because she was here the other day, right?”

  “Yeah and we found out that Trav is out of jail. He showed up here the other night while I was with you, but took off running and Jace couldn’t catch him.”

  “So he is going to be a problem for you.”

  I shrugged.

  “Your cousin thinks he’s going to be.”

  “Yeah,” I sighed. “I guess I do too.”

  “Does Jace own a shirt?” Mace whispered.

  “Yeah.” I laughed and took Mace’s hand. “It’s in the dryer. Come in and let me show you what I did today. I got artistic with a new and unexplored medium. Dr. Pepper. By the way, how are you with a paint brush?”

  ◆◆◆

  “I’ll bring the stuff over tomorrow to get this fixed.” Mace laughed at the progress Jace and I had made so far. There were spots missing in the acoustic all over my kitchen ceiling and even after the damp spots dried, we could see where Dr. Pepper had sprayed.

  “I’ll put that paint back out in the garage.” Jace chuckled as he folded the ladder he’d been using. “Check my progress and make sure I didn’t miss any spots on the top cabinets.”

  “I think we got everything.” I laughed as I got down on my hands and knees and inspected the cabinet doors. “But then again, I bet I will still find sticky spots for months.”

  When I glanced up at Mace, I caught him staring at my ass. I held back a grin and pushed up so I was on my knees with my ass resting on my heels. I knew Mace was looking at me, but I didn’t look up at his face. Instead, I stared at the front of his jeans. I watched his jeans get tighter and tighter and in just a few seconds, I could see his erection. I licked my lips and then glanced up at his face.

  The look in his eyes was so hot that it scorched the air around us. I knew that if Jace wasn’t here I’d have Mace’s cock in my mouth while his hands fisted in my hair as he guided me up and down in the perfect rhythm.

  Mace shook his head slowly and then turned to face the cabinets when we heard Jace coming back up the hall. I scrambled to my feet with a giggle, but didn’t move fast enough. Mace turned and pulled me in front of him. I gasped when he put his hands on my hips as he jerked me closer.

  “Playing with fire, there, sweetheart,” Mace growled in my ear. I shivered and then did it again when he bit my earlobe gently with his teeth. “Can I stay for dinner? Then I’ll give you some time with your babies before I come crawl through your window tonight. What do you say?”

  “Yeah,” I whispered. My head fell back as Mace kissed his way from my ear down to my shoulder blade. “Let’s do that.”

  “Mhmm.” His throaty growl made me shiver again and I ached to have him inside me.

  The doorbell rang and then someone knocked hard. I jerked back from Mace and glanced at the front of the house.

  “Kids home early?”

  “No, Aunt Sandy doesn’t knock,” I told Mace as I moved toward the living room. I heard Jace open the front door and then I heard Ellen’s shrill voice ordering him to get out of her way. “Oh, shit.”

  “Mother-in-law?”

  “Ex mother-in-law.” I growled as I walked toward the front door.

  “Move! I know she’s in there,” Ellen ordered Jace.

  “Not happening,” Jace said conversationally. “She has nothing to say to you.”

  “I’ll call the police!” Ellen shrieked.

  “Go ahead and save me the trouble,” I snapped as I moved up beside Jace. “What do you want Ellen?”

  “I want to come in and talk to you!”

  “Still not happening,” Jace shook his head.

  “This… this… musclehead won’t let me in!”

  “You like my muscles?” Jace flexed and then made his pecs dance for a second, drawing Ellen’s eyes to his chest. It took all I had not to laugh at the look on her face and I felt Mace’s body shake beside me as he held his laughter in too. “Want to touch them?”

  “Ellen,” I glanced from her to the watch on my wrist and then back up again. “You have thirty seconds, starting now.”

  “Let me in!”

  “25 seconds.”

  “Move!” Ellen screeched at Jace.

  “22 seconds.”

  “Can she count?” Mace whispered.

  “Travis and I need your help. I’ve got some papers for you to sign and then we’ll leave you alone.”

  “What papers?” I asked her, glancing down at my watch again.

  “It’s for the children.”

  “Leave them in the mailbox and I’ll get back to you. Shut the door,” I backed up to give Jace some room, but Ellen kept screeching.

  “I’m not going to leave them here. I’m going to sit out here until you come outside and sign them!” Ellen stomped her foot. “Travis is on his way over now.”

  “Oh, by all means, let Travis come over.” Jace looked downright menacing now and Ellen took a few steps back. “I’d love to talk to him.”

  I saw a police car pull up at the curb and two officers got out of the car and started up the sidewalk.

  “Who called the cops?” Mace whispered. Jace looked back at him and nodded his head a fraction.

  “Is there a problem, Reba?” Nick Cardenas, a man I recognized from Uncle Tink and Jace’s club, asked me as he walked up the sidewalk toward the porch. “Neighbors complained of a disturbance.”

  “N
one of your business what’s going on here.” Ellen huffed and then turned around and growled at Jace, “Let me in!”

  “I’ve asked this woman repeatedly to get off my property, officer, but she won’t listen.”

  “Reba!” Ellen yelled. “I need to talk to you! Travis is in trouble and this is the only way to get him out of it! I need your help!”

  “Ma’am, I’m going to have to ask you to step back here with me,” the second officer ordered Ellen. She didn’t turn around and I saw him reach down for his radio to call in the problem and let his dispatcher know what was about to happen. His other hand was on his handcuffs and I watched him snap the little pouch open so he could pull them off his belt. “Shut the door for your own safety, ma’am. We’ll be with you in a moment for your statement.”

  “Reba!”

  Jace grinned at Ellen as he slowly shut the door in her face. She screeched like he was ripping her arm off and put her hand up to stop him just as both officers flanked her on the porch. I rushed over to the window so I could watch what was going on. I saw her turn around and slap one officer’s hand with her wad of papers as he reached for her arm and then she reached up with her free hand and slapped Nick across the face.

  “Oh, shit.” Jace laughed. “She's done fucked up now.”

  “Yeah, she did.” Mace laughed as we watched Nick yank Ellen’s arm up behind her back as he spoke to her to try and calm her down.

  Ellen leaned forward and bit the officer standing in front of her. He had to grab her hair to pull her mouth off of his arm. Just then, another patrol car stopped in front of my house and two other officers jumped out and rushed across my lawn.

  “It’s like they’re wrestling an alligator,” Mace laughed. Just then, Ellen bit another officer and all three of us gasped.

  “Do you think she has rabies?” Jace muttered. “She’s all about the teeth, isn’t she?”

  “They’re trying really hard not to hurt her.” Mace observed. “I want to see one of those…”

  All of a sudden, Ellen tried to kick one of the officers and Nick slammed Ellen face down in the grass.

  “That’s what I was looking for right there,” Mace chuckled. “It’s like we’ve got a live episode of COPS happening on your lawn.”

  “I’ve been dreaming of a moment like this for years and years,” I whispered. I was smiling so big that my face hurt, but I couldn’t stop myself. “This is a memory I will cherish forever.”

  “Oh, shit.” Jace grimaced as Ellen squirmed on the grass. “If she doesn’t stop they’re gonna…”

  “The taser!” I cheered as I watched Ellen flop around on the grass. “Hell yeah! Zap her again!”

  “You really don’t like this woman, do you?” Mace grinned.

  “Not even a little bit.”

  Ellen finally stilled on the lawn and in just a few minutes, an ambulance drove up and parked behind one of the police cars. The three of us stood in the picture window as Ellen was assessed by the paramedic and then roughly pushed into the back of a patrol car. The two officers who had been bitten walked over to the ambulance, but I had eyes only for Ellen who was glaring at me from the back of the police car.

  “I need to do something real quick.” I walked over and opened the front door and walked down the porch steps to the grass. The packet of papers Ellen had been holding was there in the grass, so I picked it up and walked back up the steps to sit on one of the rockers I had there. Mace came outside and sat down in the other rocker. I glanced over at the door and saw that Jace had stayed in the house. “Where’s Jace?”

  “He went to get his shirt. What are those papers she wanted you to sign?”

  “It’s something to do with my kids,” I mumbled as I waded through the legal jargon. “There’s a trust fund.”

  “What do you need to sign?”

  “If I’m reading this right, they have a shit ton of money and since I’m their legal guardian I can access it. Travis signed away his parental rights, so he can’t get to it.” I flipped through the pages, scanning over the words for now rather than getting mired down in every sentence until I got to the page at the very end. “This last sheet is a release from the bank giving Ellen access to the accounts. That’s what she wanted me to sign.”

  “She said he was in trouble,” Mace reminded me. “She wants that money for him, I guess.”

  “Oh, hell no.” I laughed darkly. “Not a dime.”

  “Where did this money come from anyway?”

  “Travis’s grandma, it looks like.” I flipped back to the front page. “I guess she passed away recently.”

  “Hey, Reba.” Nick walked up the sidewalk toward us and stopped at the bottom of the steps. “So, how’s your day going?”

  “I’m sorry she hit you.” I stood up and walked closer to Nick so I could see his face. “At least it was a slap and not a punch. Nick, this is Mace Conner. Nick belongs to my Uncle Tink and Jace’s motorcycle club.”

  Mace and Nick shook hands and exchanged pleasantries before Nick looked back to me.

  “I’ll need you three to come down to the station and give a videotaped statement about the incident, if you don’t mind,” Nick explained. “It would save a lot of hassle if she causes a stink about getting tazed.”

  “I’ll do it.” I smiled at him. “And I just want you to know that was the best show I’ve ever seen in my life and I’ll play it on repeat in my head anytime I’m feeling down.”

  Nick smiled and shook his head, “Can you guys head over to the station? Do you have time?”

  I looked down at my watch and saw that I had at least two more hours before Sandy and Tink brought my kids home. “We can go now. How’s your little girl?”

  “Perfect in every way.” Nick smiled brightly and pulled his phone out to show me pictures. I loved to see the pride in his eyes and oohed and aahed over the beautiful little girl. “I’ll let my captain know you three are coming down.”

  “Okay,” I nodded. “It was good to see you.”

  “You stay safe, Reba.” Nick smiled at me. “I heard about what’s going on. I’ll make sure someone patrols around here as often as possible.”

  “Thank you.” I turned back to look at Mace as Nick made his way back to his patrol car. “Want to take me to the cop shop?”

  “Sure.” Mace laughed. “Does this qualify as a second date?”

  “Only if they give me a donut while I’m there.”

  11.

  “For an extortionist, you’ve got some pretty good manners.”

  Mace

  REBA

  “My kids will be home in less than an hour,” I told Mace as I put my phone back in my purse. He and I had stopped at Roosters after our interview with the police, and we were sitting at a little cafe table on their sunporch.

  “You want me to leave when I drop you at home?”

  “I don’t know,” I told him honestly. “I haven’t dated much since my divorce, but when I did, I always made sure that part of my life never flowed over into my family life.”

  “I can leave, Reba. It’s not a problem.”

  “Are we dating?” I blurted out. I shook my head and tried again, “What I mean is, are we dating exclusively?”

  “I would think so since I woke up next to your naked body this morning.”

  “Yeah,” I felt myself blushing. “I did, too, but I wanted to make sure, you know?”

  “I understand.” Mace reached across the table and squeezed my hand. “Reba, will you go steady with me and wear my jacket to the game this week?”

  “Smartass.”

  “No, really,” Mace laughed. “There’s a football game on Thursday and I thought it might be fun for all of us to go.”

  “Oh, really?”

  “Yeah, your kids too. Have they ever been to a game?”

  “No,” I shook my head. “I think they’d like it, though. Not so much the football, really, because I’d bet all the money in my change jar that Cyrus reads his book through the whole game,
but Vada will love the crowds and the action.”

  “Okay, then that can be date number three.”

  “Sounds fun.” I smiled at him. “Mace, will you please come to dinner at our house this evening?”

  “I would love to.”

  “Let’s go ahead and get to my house now.” I stood up, my hand still holding Mace’s. “I’ll try to wow you with some more of my cooking."

  ◆◆◆

  “Mama!” Vada yelled as she walked through the front door.

  “My babies.” I smiled as I walked toward my kids. “Who caught the biggest fish?”

  I knelt down in front of Vada and Cyrus and listened with one ear as they told me about their lake trip while Mace introduced himself to my aunt and uncle.

  “Uncle Tink taught me to start a fire without any matches,” Cyrus told me proudly. “He let me build the fire last night. I found all the sticks and started it all by myself.”

  “Good job.” I smiled at my little boy, so glad he’d gotten his nose out of a book long enough to enjoy at least a little piece of nature. “What else did you do?”

  “He caught the biggest fish,” Vada said sadly.

  “Her fish was really close to mine,” Cyrus assured me. “It was almost as big.”

  “You both caught fish then? That’s a plus! Did you eat them all?”

  “Every bite!” Sandy laughed. “They played and swam until they dropped both nights and ate everything that couldn’t get away quick enough.”

  “Were you nice to your cousins?”

  “Of course,” Vada scoffed.

  “You two go get your showers and I’m going to work on dinner, okay?” Vada and Cyrus both ran past me to their bedrooms and I stood up.

  “No problems like last time?” I asked Sandy.

  “Nothing I couldn’t handle,” Sandy laughed.

  “Last time, my little Vada was a holy terror,” I told Mace with an eye roll.

  “That little angel?” Mace asked with a straight face, but then smiled when my uncle snorted loudly and my aunt and I laughed. “What did she do?”