Sold As Is

by Holley Trent

  Aaron started pulling out before she even had her seatbelt fastened.

  “Aaron, I think Archie may suspect something. Mike isn’t his favorite son, but still he’s usually pleasant to him. Last night at dinner he was downright surly to the guy. When Mike asked him to pass the creamed corn, Archie nearly flung it across the table.”

  “Think Mike said something to him?”

  “Doubt it. Mike keeps a secret really well, so I don’t think he would have told Archie you’re trying to recruit his best guy. He did seem like his interest was piqued. Mike, I mean. We talked about it a bit before I went out.”

  The clench of his jaw tightened, but Mandy didn’t know what part of what she’d said had prompted his annoyance. Not that she understood men all that well, anyway. Maybe she was reading things into the situation that weren’t there.

  “That’s good to hear, I guess,” he said as he focused his attention on the highway. “He said it’d take a lot to get him to back out on the job offer he’s already accepted, but if I could sweeten the pot a bit he’d reconsider. Speaking of sweet pots, tell me about how you felt about what you discussed with Tina last night? Sorry for interrupting your evening, by the way.”

  She shifted in her seat and smoothed the hem of her dress over her knees. “Don’t worry about that. I ended up taking my friend home early. She was trashed.”

  “Hmm.” His jaw relaxed when he turned down onto that bumpy dirt road once more.

  They were quiet until they the car was far enough down the path to be out of sight from the highway. He cracked the windows and turned off the ignition.

  “Tell me what you thought?” He pulled his silver-plated pen out of his dress shirt’s pocket and spun it between those long, sun-kissed fingers.

  She fixated on that strong hand, imagining all the places she would have him put it.

  He’s not for you, don’t touch him.

  She cleared her throat and crossed her legs in the other direction. “I was intrigued. It sounds like an interesting opportunity.”

  He unbuckled his seatbelt and put his back against the door. “That’s the lame-ass politically correct brush-off line. Tell me what you really thought, Miranda.”

  God, did she love the sound of her name from his lips. If he were to whisper it in her ear, she’d likely combust. She pushed her bangs back from her eyes and risked a glance at him. He grinned, so she turned toward her window again.

  “I don’t have a problem with the job. It sounds great, actually. Perfect for me. I’d get to flex some of my managerial muscles and maybe develop some new ones. And it’s not like I’m going to find another store to hire me.” She added that last bit in a mumble.

  “But?”

  “But I have some concerns about whether or not I’d be able to get along with my boss.”

  “Concerns” was putting it mildly, considering the tawdry dreams she’d had the night before. They’d made her wake up with a soaked shirt and a sudden compulsion to drop to her knees and beg God not to smite her where she lay, because really? She thought they’d probably get along just fine … with her bent over his desk, or maybe in a locked supply closet, or …

  He nodded and straightened up to push his door open without a word. When he appeared at the passenger door, she held her breath waiting for him to drop the first shoe.

  “We get along perfectly well.” He reached into the car, wrapped his fingers around her waist, and gave her a gentle but firm pull out of the seat to press her body against his.

  She let out an embarrassing little squeak at his hardness pressed between them.

  “Don’t you agree?” He dragged his fingers down her hips to crumple the fabric of her dress up higher and higher. Once her thighs were exposed, he eased his knee between them, widening her stance, and stimulating her lace-covered crotch.

  “I’m undecided. I think we have the wrong wires crossed here. I want the job, but we can’t be having sex on the side. What would people think?”

  He brought his mouth down to hers and teased his tongue in between her parted lips. Obviously she wasn’t putting up a very effective blockade. Hell, she’d let the enemy in close without even so much a warning shot off his bow.

  He threaded his fingers through her hair, holding her face firm against his, giving her no leeway, although she didn’t really want any. What girl in her right mind would slip away from Aaron Owen? She’d thought she’d be the one to resist him because she had to, but fuck if it wasn’t impossible.

  His lips bore a hint of flavor from the black coffee he’d politely sipped at Archie’s behest. Combined with the musky notes of his cologne and the slight undercurrent of motor oil he’d had the previous day, too, the effect was all masculine — Aaron’s special brand of it.

  When his fingers breached her panty elastic and rough palms abraded the delicate skin of her abdomen, she put her head back even more and breathed out a shaky breath.

  “People aren’t going to think anything, sweetheart.” He slid his hands up her back and around her ribcage to the base of her breasts. “They’re not going to know”

  What?

  It took every ounce of willpower she had, but that admonition was the spur she needed to swim out of her haze. She placed her hands against his chest and gave him an ineffectual little shove backward. He was just too damned big for her to get much leverage.

  “I don’t want to play secret lovers with you, Aaron. I’m one of those girls who gets easily attached, and this — ” She indicated their disheveled states. “This is a recipe for disaster.”

  “You’re thinking too hard, Miranda.” He drew her close once more, this time slipping the neckline of her dress down with the edge of her bra to expose one nipple. His hot tongue danced over it as her worked his free hand up the back of her dress and into her panties.

  She whimpered when his finger breeched her aroused sex. “Stop it! That’s not fair.”

  “It’s not meant to be. I want you, Miranda. I’ll take what I can get.”

  “I think you could do a lot better than feeling me up in an overgrown field.”

  “You’re right.” He licked across the valley of her cleavage and paused at the lacy boundary covering her other breast. “You deserve better, but I don’t know how to do this anymore. Especially not with all the constraints I’ve got against me.”

  “Do what? What is it you don’t know how to do?” Her voice was breathy, because he had dropped to his knees there on the grass and lifted the bottom of her dress.

  He gave perfect eye contact while hooking a finger into the wet crotch of her panties. “Date.”

  “Oh. I don’t think this counts as a date.” Not unless I’ve been doing it wrong all these years.

  “No, it doesn’t.” He nudged backward her a few inches so her rear was against the passenger-side front door. When he wrapped his strong fingers around her ankle and pulled her foot free of her panties she had to grip the car behind her to keep her legs from going to jelly beneath her. Next, he put her leg over his shoulder and looked up at her with a dare in his eyes. “This madness you’re currently experiencing is the result of you wearing that tight skirt yesterday and the way your thighs looked through the slit when you bent over.”

  He flicked a finger over her clit.

  She whimpered.

  “And that shirt you were wearing. Oh, sweetheart, that shirt. It’s amazing what a little water can do for the imagination.” He teased her with one slow, circular lick, touching nothing that mattered but causing her sex to clench with anticipation all the same.

  “Jesus.” She blew out a shuddering breath and strengthened her grip on the side mirror’s stem. “And what do I get tomorrow for wearing this dress today?”

  The more accurate question should have been “What am I going to do to you tomorrow for you wearing those sl
acks today.” Crouched in front of her as he was, she could see his impressive thigh muscles flexing and clenching as he asserted his control over her body. And control it was. She wouldn’t dare move.

  “I don’t know. Maybe you need a spanking. If it looks that good to me, it probably does to every other guy, too. That won’t do.” He flicked his tongue at her pert nub and smiled when she whimpered.

  “Why not?”

  “When you work for me, I’ll have you kitted out in the finest sackcloth and burlap money can buy. That should keep the jackals from ogling you.” He took it wholly into his mouth and sucked it as if it were a honeysuckle flower filled with sweet nectar.

  She managed to ease her death grip on the car and raked her fingers through his thick hair, clamping her fists in it and holding on for dear life when he slipped two fingers into her. He didn’t seem to mind the pulling, and she wondered if having his hair yanked was a common occurrence for him.

  “I haven’t agreed to work for you yet.” The job hardly seemed relevant at the moment.

  He obviously agreed, because he continued tormenting her clit with his tongue and didn’t ease up until her legs began to wobble. She hissed his name and pulled his head back by the hair to force his face up to meet hers.

  “Damn you.”

  “Damn me, huh?” He scissored his fingers inside, creating a delicious pressure that had her motor running once more. “Oh, it’s only a matter of paperwork, sweetheart. Just tell me why you got fired from your last job.”

  “What?” She dropped her leg from his shoulder, swatted his hand — with some reluctance, there — and planted the sole of her espadrille on his shoulder. He didn’t move a hair from her prod. “That’s really none of your business.”

  He raised one of those golden brown eyebrows and pushed his sunglasses back onto his nose. “Isn’t it? I’m trying to offer you a job, here.”

  “Seems like you’re trying to do a lot more than that.” She found her panties in the grass and shook them out while Aaron got to his feet and wiped the grass off his knees.

  “You’re right. I’m not denying that.”

  “And you don’t find this strange in the slightest bit?” she asked while pulling the passenger door open. She climbed into her seat without waiting for the answer.

  He lowered his head into the open doorway. “I’m not contesting that, sweetheart. I agree it’s an unusual circumstance. I want to hire you, and I want to make love to you. Why pick one over the other?”

  Make love, he said. Make love! She harrumphed.

  He was brazenly staring into her cleavage yet again, so she crossed her arms over her chest. “And how many other women have you hired that way? Hell of a signing bonus, right? Getting to screw the boss?”

  That beaming smile. He was laughing at her.

  She vowed to make him pay for it.

  “None. I learned in kindergarten to keep my hands to myself. I learned sometime after that to keep everything about my business aboveboard. Transparent. Given the circumstances with my father being who he is, I tend to have extra incentive to keep my nose clean.”

  “But not your tongue.”

  “Funny. I like you, Miranda. I think I’ll keep you.”

  She rolled her eyes and crossed her legs at the knees. Traitorous body! The idea of being kept by a man that sexy was a pretty damn heady thing, but experience had taught her that eventually, they all got bored. They all dumped her.

  She clamped her thighs a bit tighter. “Are you buying this car or not?”

  “Yes.”

  “Super.”

  When he was in the driver’s seat again and had his seatbelt pulled across his lap, he turned the air conditioner up high and started to carefully turn a U in the field. Once well on the way to AA1A, he put his right hand on her thigh and gave it a squeeze. When she didn’t object, he whispered, “I think you’ll say yes.”

  She looked over to find his expression an absolute blank. “To what?”

  “Anything I want, sweetheart.”

  CHAPTER 8

  “I slipped the paperwork to Mike when Archie was running photocopies. He said he’d put it in your car.” Aaron slammed the door of the wagon shut and used the clicker to lock it. He’d parked it next to the sedan he bought the day before. Archie, kind generous soul he was, offered to let Aaron store his purchased vehicles there for a fee of forty bucks per car per day until the Cars to Work team could collect and deliver them. There were two more cars he was interested in — a couple of small fuel-efficient hatchbacks great for young singles — that Archie couldn’t find the titles for. He told him to come back. Aaron was glad to if it meant another chance to see Mandy, even if had to endure being the victim of a shakedown.

  What a little firecracker she was. On one hand, she seemed to have a well-calibrated sense of self-worth. She knew she was better than what he was offering her: she deserved being wined and dined, not getting groped in the great outdoors. On the other hand, he’d managed to confuse the poor girl’s sensors enough he might be able to make her do something she’d regret.

  Every time he was near her, his thoughts went to a place far from gentlemanly. He wanted to consume her: for her to deliver herself to him mind, body, and soul, even if she had to remain his secret. How long was that going to work? If she’d been a guy, her answer would have been “five minutes.” Just long enough to get off and put his shorts back on.

  “I usually like an answer within twenty-four hours. Most folks give me a reply on the spot.”

  She pushed her bangs back with her sunglasses and turned her gray gaze to the office window Archie was standing behind. “Don’t call me, I’ll call you.”

  “Not necessary. I’ll be here tomorrow with Tina and some of the other staff. They’re going to deliver the cars before we head to a training event in Suffolk. We’ll be there a couple of days, and it’d be a great way for you to meet everyone if you can make it. Get your feet wet, you know?”

  She twirled a length of her hair around her index finger. “I’ll think about it.”

  “Right. Go ahead and pack that bag.” He winked and went to fetch Elly from the hospitality lounge where she’d retreated to watch soap operas at Archie’s bequest. Once in the trailer, he handed his charge back her phone. She sat up fast and snatched it, immediately scrolling through the missed calls and messages.

  “Ready to go?”

  Elly grunted, nodded, and stood — all without looking up from her phone display. Her thumbs were working frantically over the keypad and she walked toward the door with an unusual sense of spatial awareness while texting away. “Did you read any of my messages?”

  He held the storm door open for her and held his breath until she was safely down the stairs. “No. And by the way, Rick has access to your cell phone records. Whoever you’re texting? Stop.”

  She froze there in front of a yellow VW bug with her jaw hanging open. “What?”

  “Duh, Elly. If it’s just one of your girlfriends, it’s no big deal. Carry on.” He lowered his voice and leaned in close. “But if I were you, I’d consider that phone a secret weapon that’ll be deployed at any moment now. Do what I do. Get a phone that can’t be tracked back to you if you need to make personal calls.”

  She stared down at the slick silver thing that was her life in plastic and electrons and pulled her upper lip back with a scoff. “I hate this family.”

  “That’s nice, kiddo. Get in the damned truck.”

  “Where are we going now?”

  He scanned the lot and found Mandy watching them from the far end where she was stood with Mike. He gave them a little salute, which Mike returned.

  She pretended she didn’t see him.

  He ground his teeth.

  “I’m taking you to Tina’s for the night. She’ll get you down to CTW in the m
orning, then you’ll spend the next two days sitting in on a bunch of boring teambuilding exercises and administrative meetings. Might be good for you. Educational, even.”

  “Whoopie.”

  Whoopie, indeed. By the time he parked his SUV in front of the CTW office the next morning, Tina had texted or called no less than ten times encouraging him to “Speed it up!” for the sake of her fragile sanity. Apparently, Elly had spent the bulk of the night asking the poor woman hypothetical relationship questions and when Tina turned her back or blinked for longer than a microsecond, Elly was at the door trying to sneak out. Tina had resorted to corralling the petulant young woman into the master bedroom, which had no secondary exit, and sleeping on a pallet in the hallway.

  “You don’t pay me enough for this,” Tina said to him the moment he unlatched the locks. He shrugged and watched her help Elly, dressed ever so appropriately for the trip in terrycloth booty shorts with Hustla printed in big white bubble letters on the ass, up into the middle seat. Tina took the spot to her right, and Eleanor sandwiched her in from the left. When he looked up into the rearview mirror, he found his little sister wearing a death glare.

  He was unmoved.

  Chas, Aaron’s lifelong friend and one of his most savvy procurement guys, climbed up into the front passenger seat and slammed the door. “Holy Hell, man. Don’t send me out to the mountains again without Eleanor. Those people think I’m a grade A sucka.”

  Aaron laughed. It wasn’t the first time the folks out in the Appalachians had given him the runaround. “What happened this time?”

  “I got all the way out to Murphy, right? There was supposed to be this big used car lot where I could get a bunch of cars for a steal. A few folks at a diner I stopped at for breakfast told me about it when I asked if they knew where I could find some good cars for cheap. Well, got out there and it turned out to be one stop above chop shop. A lot of those cars didn’t even have VIN numbers on them, and trust me — I looked everywhere. I’m pretty sure they were trying to set me up.”