by Lauren Dane
“I like that.” She nodded. “Precise is a good thing. Hang on a second. I need hot sauce.”
Carmella turned to the group sitting next to them. A rowdy bunch of dudes making lots of noise, eating lots of food.
She cleared her throat and Duke watched, amazed as to a one, they all gave their attention to her.
Her smile—the one she gave the guys at the shop—said good, boys in that tough fifth grade teacher way. And they all wanted to help her.
“Can I borrow your hot sauce for a few shakes?”
Two bottles were thrust her way and they all waited, watching her as she chose one and shook it over her food before recapping it and handing them both back.
“Thank you.”
Christ. She’d made them so happy, like big goofy dogs she’d played ball with a few times. It wasn’t that she used her sexuality or even her gender to manipulate anyone. She had this authority that guys like him seemed to snap to attention at the sight of.
She was efficient. Orderly. And yet he knew she had a sensual side. He’d seen glimpses of it living next door to her over the last two years. That was the side he wanted more of.
Not that he had any complaints about this side of her either. Duke liked Carmella. Liked being around her. Wanted a hell of a lot more of her.
That pleased him, and as he liked pleasure a whole lot, he couldn’t figure out why he should deny himself.
They finished up and the table of dudes waved and called out their good nights.
“You’re magic,” Duke said as they got back to her truck.
“I am?”
“You’re really good with people.”
Carmella waved it away. “Do you want me to take you home or back to the shop?” she said, changing the subject once she got the car started.
“My bike’s at the shop so there is best.”
There was more small talk on the way over to Twisted Steel, but before too long he found himself having to get out of her truck and leave her.
“Thanks for dinner. I’m planning on sleeping the moment my head hits the pillow and dream sweet, carby dreams.”
It was one of the silliest things he’d ever heard her say. He really dug that.
“Right on. I’ll be doing the same. See you tomorrow.”
“You too. Drive safe.”
She pulled away as he watched, waiting until her lights had faded off until he turned to head inside.
CHAPTER
Six
Sitting on his back deck in the late evening light, Duke watched her. Like a weirdo, he knew, and yet, he didn’t move.
Carmella had her windows open as she cleaned her kitchen. Her hair was wrapped up in a bandana and she wore a tiny pair of cutoffs and a T-shirt as she scrubbed a counter.
It would be a lie for Duke to claim he hadn’t looked before. In fact, it was just last year when he’d been out watering the strawberries on his deck. He turned and caught sight of her through a gap in the curtains.
Her skirt had been tossed up over her ass as a guy fucked her from behind.
Her hands gripped the same counter she cleaned just then. That moment, the look on her face, the pale skin on her thighs where it had met stockings, had never left his brain.
He hadn’t been able to see her face when she came. Her hair had tumbled free, obscuring her features. But he hadn’t needed to see her face because her back had arched and she’d pounded the counter with her fist.
He hadn’t ever told anyone about it.
But Duke knew without a doubt that was when he’d begun to crave Carmella Rossi in earnest.
He wanted to be the man fucking her from behind. And it didn’t matter that there were fifty reasons not to.
Her music was turned up loud as she worked. She did not have a lovely singing voice, though her body made up for it as she danced while cleaning.
He wasn’t sure what made him hotter, the cleaning or the body. Which was so weird. It wasn’t like he’d gotten wood when he saw anyone else clean things. But whatever it was, when Carmella did it, it drove him out of his mind.
He found himself making sure to go to his office through hers just in case she was wiping something down or organizing something. Lottie had run the place like, well, like her personality. Fast and loose. Stuff got done on time mainly and all, but Carmella was different.
Carmella kept them all in line and everyone allowed it. The guys didn’t complain when she put something back into one of their in-boxes asking for it to be corrected. They did it.
Duke wasn’t entirely sure what her superpower truly was, but certainly, she kept the beasts he and Asa employed obedient. And then money arrived faster, also a plus. Bills were paid quickly, also a plus.
Everyone in their community knew her, which was also helpful, including twice when he’d been running all over for a part and she found it in three phone calls.
“I shouldn’t do this. I should get up and get on my bike and ride over to Asa’s. Maybe see if Mick wants to hang out. There are more suitable women out there.” He said this out loud as if his dick had any plans to obey.
Duke looked down at his phone. He could call Asa and ask his friend to talk him down. Except now that Asa was in love, he seemed to think Duke should do things like romance their office manager.
Really, it was all Asa’s fault.
He got up and headed next door.
* * *
Carmella answered her door to find Duke standing on her porch with a six-pack and some chips.
He held them aloft. “I was thinking we could hang out and have a beer and some snacks.”
She smiled, even as she looked down at herself. “Uh. I’m sort of messy. I was cleaning the kitchen.”
He walked in without saying anything else, but once he got to her kitchen, he turned back. “You look fantastic.”
Ginger had already abandoned her nap at the sound of Duke’s voice and deposited herself at his feet.
“So easy,” she murmured to the dog as she joined them in the kitchen.
“Glasses or the bottle okay?” He indicated the beer with a tip of his chin.
“Bottle is fine. There’s an opener in that drawer there.” She pointed. “If you’re hungrier than just chips and dip, there’s leftover baked ziti. I was just thinking about some dinner.”
“Leftover ziti? How is that even possible? Was everyone sick? I promise if you made me baked ziti, I’d eat every last bit.” He cocked his head and looked extra hot.
She put a hand on her hip. He was so totally full of it. “Actually, I made a smaller one for myself and took two to a big family dinner. It’s my uncle’s favorite. But I brought home coconut cake and some other stuff.”
Carmella bent to look in her fridge because he was standing so very close and she was getting giddy. Giddy was bad. Giddy ended up being the last time she slept with her ex. Though to be fair, it had been fantastic.
This man was a giddy nuclear reactor and it made her girl parts want to be so stupid.
And then he bent to peer into the fridge at her side. “Jesus Christ. Carmella. Baby, this is the most organized refrigerator I’ve seen in my entire life. I’m in awe.”
She was so surprised and weirdly flattered, Carmella turned to look at him and ended up whacking her forehead to his so hard she saw stars against her closed eyes.
Firm hands took her by the upper arms and helped her stand though she wobbled a little. “Honey, are you all right?”
“Ouch,” Carmella managed. “Sorry. I got you pretty hard.”
Duke laughed as he moved the hand she’d had over her forehead and replaced it with a bag of frozen berries. “My go-to is corn usually, but you don’t have any. That should help. I’m okay. I have a very hard head. That’s totally true so stop it with that look of yours.”
“You have a go-to remedy for head bumping?” Carmella sat at one of the stools at the island. “And what look do you mean?”
“Works for busted knuckles, black eyes, the usual sort of
lifestyle-related injuries.”
Carmella winced when she raised her brow at him. “Lifestyle-related?”
Duke shrugged. “What can I say? Ass kicking and fisticuffs seem to be a regular part of my life. And the look I meant is the one you’re wearing right now. The one you give that makes everyone feel like a wayward boy who craves your approval.”
“I have that look? Really?” How awesome! She clearly needed to use it more.
“You do. Why do you think we’re all so obedient to your paperwork rules?”
“Because it’s efficient and makes money move back into the shop more quickly?”
He laughed again and then moved the bag of fruit to kiss the sore spot.
They both went very still.
His muscles tightened, the tension radiating from him made her dizzy. And probably crazy, but needing to soothe. So she slid her hands up the wall of his chest, not to restrain or hold back, no matter how much she told herself that lie.
Once she touched him, she knew it to her toes that everything had changed.
“Damn it,” he snarled and then kissed her. Only, no. He took her mouth, owned it, and had his wicked way with it.
Who knew this laid-back dude with a Boston twang who also sounded like a surfer could kiss like this?
He nipped at her lips, licking and sucking as he kissed her. His tongue, holy shit, his tongue slid into her mouth and then, sinuous against hers, danced along until she jutted her hips forward in response.
Thank god she’d been sitting because there’d be no disguising that.
He stepped back, breathing a little heavily, his pupils huge. Carmella touched her lips, pressing a little to keep the sensation awhile longer.
“I should apologize but I can’t because I’m not sorry. I’ve wanted to kiss you for at least the last year. In case you’re curious, it was a billion times better in real life than my imaginings.”
A year?
Carmella swallowed hard, beyond flattered and flustered and definitely interested.
“Say something, baby, because I’m getting nervous.”
Carmella found that statement so startling and silly she snapped out of her kiss-induced haze. “You nervous? I doubt that very much.”
Duke’s expression was aw shucks and I want to bone you at the same time. “I don’t get nervous about too much. But you bring it out.”
“You don’t need to apologize. I’d probably be really annoyed if you did.” Or to be nervous. Hell, he made her jittery and nervous all the time so it was slightly hard to believe she made him that way.
“I’m also not going to say I think it shouldn’t happen again either. I’d like it to happen again. A lot. I’d like it to be happening right now, to tell the truth,” Duke said.
The giddy was back, but it was sweeter. He made her laugh. He didn’t take himself too seriously and he was one hell of a kisser.
But there was no denying the possible problems between them. “You’re my boss.”
“I am. That’s obviously problematic.”
He stayed close. Ginger looked up at them both, not making a sound.
“I’m going to go ahead and kiss you again. Because I don’t want to talk about work and I really want that mouth.”
Duke pressed against all her lush curves as she stood. But she was short. Really short and he didn’t want to stoop.
So he picked her up and put her on the island facing him before stepping between her knees.
“You’re very short.” He kissed her chin.
“You’re freakishly tall.” Carmella tipped her head back, allowing him access to her throat.
He nibbled across her jaw and then up to her ear. The bandana she’d been wearing slipped off, dropping to the counter as her hair bounced free. He buried his fingers in it, using the purchase to tip her face and kiss those lips.
Carmella might have been quiet at work, but she demanded everything he had to offer, kissing him back with a deceptively lazy pace. Really what she did was seduce him moment by moment until all he could think about was kissing every inch of her.
She tasted like oranges. Smelled like them too. As he pulled away, breaking the kiss, he gave a quick look to the spot on her forehead she’d whacked into his so hard. It would be fine, probably not even a goose egg.
“How are you feeling?” he asked.
“I’m hungry.”
“Is that sexual innuendo?” Duke teased.
“Oh, when I want you to make me come, I’ll let you know. I’m not delicate when it comes to sex. However, I meant food. For now.”
Coughing to cover up the way he nearly choked on his spit, Duke helped her down, trying to figure out why he was so turned on by pretty much everything about this woman. “You should take some pain reliever when you eat. Just in case you get a headache.”
“Is that sexual innuendo?”
“Ha! Sit down at the table. I’ll rustle us up something. It’s the least I can do after nearly splitting your head open.”
“You cook too?” He was really bad for her.
“I do okay.” He ducked his head.
Carmella didn’t argue any more because she really wanted to watch him move around her kitchen.
Other than her family, she’d never had a man make her a meal before. It was especially nice when that man was Duke Bradshaw in his jeans and T-shirt, padding around quite competently.
“I can’t for the life of me figure out what you were cleaning in here because this is the most orderly kitchen I’ve ever seen in person,” he said as he slid the ziti into the oven.
“It’s stress relief sometimes. Or I’m working through something and mindless activity helps. Ironing, laundry, that sort of thing.” And when she was growing up, it gave her some measure of control and comfort in a world full of chaos.
“I get that. I like to do physical stuff when I’m stressed too. Racing, as you know.”
“Fistfighting.” She raised a brow and he waggled his brows.
“I freely admit we’re a brawling bunch. But we’re all consenting adults.”
Carmella was familiar with that type of man. Which was why she should run the other way when he came near.
Easy enough to think, harder to do. She hadn’t been so hot for someone in years. It addled all her defenses.
“That ziti will take a while.” Duke looked her up and down and in her head, she told him that they should leave well enough alone and not complicate things with sex.
Instead she found herself saying something else entirely. “Probably about half an hour given that cantankerous oven.”
“I can do something with half an hour.” Like kiss and kiss those lips of hers. “That’s not enough time for what I plan to do to you when we get naked finally. But I can work with it.”
She laughed and he really liked how it looked on her. More often than not she had a more serious or thoughtful expression. Pride warmed his belly that she’d opened up to him.
“You’re very sure of yourself.” Her voice had gone lower, throatier.
Now that he’d had a taste of this Carmella, Duke was pretty sure he was going to want a lot more.
“When it comes to the inescapable fact that you and I are going to end up in bed, hell yes. For now, I think we should head into your living room, settle on the couch, and make out awhile.”
Carmella thought about it for a moment and then stood, giving him a fantastic view of her body as she swayed from the room.
He double-timed it to catch up, nearly tripping over the dog, who, once she was assured everything was fine, headed to her bed in the corner and curled into herself with a sigh.
“Your dog is a trip,” he said, settling on the couch.
“She doesn’t know she’s not a person. Don’t tell her,” Carmella said as she sat next to him.
“Her secret’s safe with me.” Duke stared at Carmella’s mouth until she licked her lips and made him groan. “I need that.” He tipped his chin in her direction and she gave a cockeyed
expression in return.
“Come get it,” she murmured, knowing exactly what she was doing. It flipped switches he never knew he had.
He slid an arm around her, pulling her to his side, and did as she’d bid, wasting no more time getting his lips on hers.
Duke cupped her cheeks a moment, brushing his thumbs down her temples as she made a sound. This sort of moan that verged on a purr of delight. He sucked it into his mouth, tasting her as he did.
Taking his time, he nipped at her lips, licking them to take away the sting. Each time he did, she arched, pressing into his teeth a little more.
He bit a little harder and that purr deepened. He pushed his control back into place, wanting to see just how much pain Carmella liked with her pleasure.
He licked and kissed down the line of her neck, abrading the pale, velvet soft sensitivity of her skin there with his beard and the edge of his teeth. She shifted, pressing closer, her pulse thundering against his lips when he kissed her just below her ear.
He bit the lobe, sucking it into his mouth, and then whispered, “Someone likes it a little hard.”
“Mmmm.”
How she managed to make it sound like an order as well as an answer, he wasn’t sure. But he liked that too.
She slid her fingers through his hair, tugging him back to her mouth and he was only too willing to comply.
With one easy movement, he banded an arm around her waist and pulled her into his lap, facing him.
“Yeah, this works,” he murmured into her mouth and she nipped his bottom lip.
Perfect. He slid his hands up her sides, over her generous, luscious curves, as the music still played in the other room.
They kissed like this, her body against his, the heat of her pussy against his cock as she rocked back and forth against him, for long, lazy minutes as the scent of the pasta rose and her taste settled into his system with deep roots.
By the time the buzzer on the oven timer sounded, he was beyond hard and drunk as fuck on her.
Ginger barked twice as Duke resisted Carmella’s efforts to move, not wanting to lose the heat of her. The dog jumped up and licked them both and then got down.
“Ginger says playtime is over,” Carmella said as she got off his lap.