by Lauren Dane
The guy winced. Duke usually handled the contractors. He and Mick did nearly all the public face of Twisted Steel stuff because Asa was better left alone to do his work. He wasn’t really a people person.
Which was an understatement, naturally. But as the date for the grand opening approached, all three guys behind Twisted Steel were growing impatient, Asa most of all.
“Exactly,” Carmella said of the foreman’s wince. “So, if you don’t want to tell him yourself, I suggest you keep your crew here and finish what you’re supposed to on time. Then you can tell Asa happy news.”
Grumbling, the guy stomped off and Carmella got up to get more coffee.
Duke poked his head in, smiling as she got to the door. “Hello, gorgeous. Wow, I love looking at you.” He just took his time staring at her as she blushed.
“We talked about this,” she said for the dozenth time.
“And we talked about how we talked about it. I remember. You said words. I listened to them.”
Like a naughty little boy.
But it worked. “By the way, the foreman was just hinting that they might split guys off from their crew to work another site. I told him he needed to inform Asa in person if that was the case.”
Duke sighed. “They better be done. We have catering, equipment rental, party planning, all that stuff set for the end of this month. So much fucking money. Jesus.” He ran his hands through his hair and it messed up for about thirty seconds before it flopped back into that wave at the front. Perfectly.
“I don’t even know what dark magic you’ve done to get your hair so perfect.”
He brightened. “Yeah?” Duke bent to catch his reflection in the glass of the open door.
“You look like a GQ magazine version of a fifties pompadour. Not that poofy. Just exactly right. Even the gray you’re getting highlights the shape of your hair. It’s amazing.”
He smiled. “That’s my favorite compliment today. Thank you. Want to grab a cup of coffee with me?”
“Doughnuts in the break room?”
Duke nodded. “The manager at the Top Pot is a client. He sent them over as a thank-you.”
“Much better than flowers.”
“Just one of the many reasons we’re together. Any word from Craig today?”
The cops had stopped by her mom’s house a few days before, but Virgie denied Steven was responsible for her injuries and claimed she’d gotten them falling down some stairs. Steven played the super helpful guy just out of prison trying to keep his life on the straight and narrow, though from what Craig said, his friend saw right through it.
“Yeah. He called earlier. They just don’t have enough to push here. But the guy said he’d keep an eye on the situation. They’re busy, I know. But I appreciate it. My uncle says he’s done with her totally. I can’t blame him.”
“But that leaves you holding even more weight.”
Yep. Carmella shrugged.
They headed in to get doughnuts and take a few minutes to share a cup of coffee.
“I’ll be here late tonight. We’re putting in overtime on that fastback now that the parts arrived,” Duke told her.
“PJ showed me the paint. I love that color so much.”
“I’m a big fan of that stock orange myself. The upholstery should be coming in tomorrow. I’d like to push it out by Monday.”
Mick came to sit next to Carmella and she patted his hand. “Hey, you.”
“What’s up today, Red?”
“I’m eating a doughnut, so that’s a win. Looking at handsome men. Also a win.”
“I like your attitude.”
“I’m a ray of sunshine.” She stood. “I need to get back to work. I’ll see you both later.”
“I’ll escort you.” Duke pushed his chair back.
“Nah. Finish your coffee and your break.”
Duke watched her leave with a happy sigh.
“I’d make a crack about that look on your face. But even I’m not jaded enough to not see the beauty in what you have with her,” Mick said as he grabbed another doughnut.
“She seemed to float into my life, and once she touched down, the roots grew very deep very fast. I wasn’t expecting love. Knocked me on my ass,” Duke said.
“Is it scary? I mean, are you freaked about a long-term relationship when you were just dating three women at a time six months ago?”
“It was two, not three. At first it was startling more than scary. By the time I realized how deep I was with Carm, it was too late. There was no way to stop loving her. Love is pretty awesome, though, Mick. I highly recommend it.”
Mick spun his coffee mug slowly, clearly working through something.
“You still haven’t told me what you meant that day we went out on the ride. About loving someone. Or two someones.”
“Like I said, it’s complicated. Way too complicated to go into here. The very short version is that I ran away from something. I hurt people to do it. I fucked up.”
“Can it be fixed? Do you want to?”
Mick tipped his chair back. “We’d need hours, lots of liquor, and privacy for me to get into this whole thing. For now I have to ride herd on about two dozen people.”
“All right. I do want to hear, though. So let’s get together with Asa and pick a time. We’ll go camping or you can all come to my place. I want to know,” Duke told him.
Mick nodded and left the room.
CHAPTER
Twenty-five
The rain kept Carmella in bed that next Saturday morning. Duke had worked late the night before—as the whole shop had been doing to finish a project—so she’d been on her own.
She’d gone to her aunt and uncle’s for dinner and then out to a movie with PJ and Craig and had turned off her kitchen light at one, so he hadn’t been home by that point.
She stretched and grabbed her phone to text Duke. Ten minutes later she and Ginger opened the front door to find him standing there in sleep pants and a T-shirt.
He took her hand, twirling her into a circle and then into his arms for a hug. He smelled good and was so warm she dragged him to her bed.
“You really did just wake up. And you texted me first thing?”
“Did I wake you?” Carmella asked, nuzzling his throat.
“No. I had to be up anyway. I need to get to the shop in a bit. But you contacted me right when you woke up.”
Carmella nodded, not sure why he was repeating it. And then he smiled, pulling her up his body to kiss her and then hug her tight.
“Keep it up, Bradshaw. This is why I text you first thing.”
“I love that you reached out for me without hesitation. I miss it when you’re not next to me when I sleep. I got used to that really fast. I don’t miss your dog’s farts, though, and I stepped on one of her gooey chew things on my way over. Gross.”
Carmella started to laugh. “Don’t. She’ll hear you. She has a complex about it.”
“I guess I’m just glad it’s her and not you who makes that smell on a regular basis.”
“Me too.”
“Now. As I have limited time and I did not have the pleasure of you next to me last night, I think we need to rectify my absence.”
He said this as he pulled her shirt off.
Then Ginger made a racket barking in the kitchen, startling them both. Duke was up and moving to the door before she could even manage to free herself of the bedding.
“You stay here,” he ordered and moved down her short hallway.
“So help me god, if anyone I know is here trying to rip me off, I am going outside, topless, to rip their fucking heads off,” she muttered as she slowly looked around the corner he’d told her to stay behind.
He prowled—oh yes, prowled—through her house, looking out windows, and then turned to her with an amused face. “She went out the doggie door. I think she’s chasing squirrels.”
Carmella joined him in the kitchen to peer out the window. Ginger trotted between two trees, giving her conversati
onal bark.
“She just wants to play with them.”
“Some guard dog.” Duke started and then his gaze went hooded when he noticed she stood there topless and in her underpants. “Well now. Hello.”
“I was wondering when you’d notice I made a booty call. Booty text. Whatever. I requested your sexual services. Maintenance, you see. I’m used to a certain level of satisfaction now. It’s all your fault.”
“I’ll have you know, I give excellent customer satisfaction.” He picked her up and carried her to the table, depositing her ass on top.
“I’m very aware. Five stars of five.”
He sat, scooting his chair close, resting his chin on her knee.
Duke rendered her shaky, breathless, and wanton. She watched, rapt, as he turned his head, kissing one of the dimples at the inside of her knee.
She drew in a ragged breath at the rasp of his beard against that sensitive skin. Then the flick of his tongue made her shiver.
“It’s a good thing I know this table is clean enough to eat off, hm?”
“Extra clean now because I know you watched me cleaning up in here night before last.” Carmella lifted her butt so he could pull her panties off.
“You’re so good to me.” He moved his chair closer as he pulled her to the edge of the table.
He spread her labia and looked his fill. It might have been embarrassing or odd but he always had this expression of wonder and delight when he took her in. Made her feel beautiful and sexy.
He took a lick. Just a quick one.
And then another.
She went back to her elbows, watching down the line of her body as he feasted on her.
He ate her hungrily at first and then he’d ease back, letting her go return to simmer. Closer and closer to climax each time.
Duke rendered her incoherent as she made sounds she thought were words begging him to make her come.
He hummed against her pussy and then sucked her clit into his mouth hard and fast. He did that over and over again, filling her with so much pleasure she nearly hurt when climax seemed to explode from her belly and into her legs.
“Goddamn, I love it when you come that hard.” He kissed her belly as he stood. “Don’t move.”
He jogged from the room. Like she could move even if she wanted to?
True to his word, less than half a minute later he was back, condom on and making himself at home between her thighs. Again.
He teased her with the head of his cock. Circling through her pussy, dipping inside just a little and pulling out to do the same thing over again.
“You’re so fucking wet,” he croaked as he tapped her clit with the head of his cock.
“Be a shame to waste it. Put your dick in me!”
Laughing, he obeyed. She wrapped her calves around his hips and hooked her heels around his thighs.
“No escape for me, huh?”
She shook her head.
“Thank god.” He grabbed her hips for purchase and began to fuck her, sending her boobs to bounce with each thrust all the way home.
“I think this is the perfection of breasts. That moment when they bounce so prettily that way. I considered letting go of your hips to grab them, and then when I go balls deep, they do that. And I think it would be blasphemy to stop them from moving.”
Caught between a laugh and a gasp, Carmella writhed when he ground himself against her.
There were no more words after that. She couldn’t take her gaze from his face. He was so expressive, especially during sex. Tenderness in his eyes rendered her utterly helpless against the rush of her own in response. Then determination as he got closer. A sort of feral satisfaction when he leaned forward, taking her hands, stretching them above her head as he came, kissing her hard.
She closed her eyes for a moment, trying to catch her breath. And when she opened them, he was straightening to stand. Smiling.
“Now then. Coffee and breakfast?”
“Don’t make me bacon until you’re wearing pants,” she called out as she headed to find some clothes of her own. Fucking in the kitchen and maybe being seen was one thing, but sitting bare-assed at breakfast wasn’t her idea of fun.
Duke tucked a new bag of coffee in the drawer for her in her office. She’d frown at him, but he didn’t care. It was a little treat, and if anyone needed more treats in their life, it was Carmella.
The Wonder Woman mug he’d given her a few weeks before sat on her desk and it made him smile.
The office was thoroughly hers by that point. Two and a half months in, and she’d created a well-oiled, hyper-efficient atmosphere that was also human.
Duke wasn’t the only one who brought her things. In the drawer she kept the coffee in, there were also honey sticks from Duane. His family had bees, and once he’d found out Carmella liked honey in her coffee, he brought them for her.
And the most wonderful thing: the magnet collection.
That crab magnet Mick had given her when they’d gone on a ride around the peninsula had been the first in what was an ever-growing cast that took up the side of the large metal filing cabinet in the office.
Once the guys had heard about Mick’s crab, they began to bring her back little trophies whenever they went anywhere. Every single time someone gave her a new one, she was so tickled and thrilled it filled him with joy just to see it.
Naturally, as it was Carmella’s collection, it was very organized, but it reminded him every time he came in, to choose to be happy and find delight in the small things.
“What are you up to?” Asa called out as he came in through the shop.
“Just putting something in Carmella’s office.” Duke came out and met Asa partway.
“Mick said we’re on track to deliver that fastback later today. The client is coming at three,” Asa told him.
“Excellent.” They stood in front of the shop board. “Carmella told me last week that we’re up twenty-seven percent from this time last year.”
And once the space in the existing building was freed up, they’d start a remodel with new administrative offices, expanded inventory capacity, and some extra shop space.
Spending all that money made Duke nervous, even as he knew it was the right choice. He and Asa were going to meet with Mick shortly to offer him a buy-in to the business. Having him in charge was great. They all worked well together. But Asa and Duke had more power because it was the two of them who owned it.
“Lots of change going on these last few years,” Asa said.
“There were times in Iraq when I seriously wondered if I’d see another birthday, you know? And now here we all are, safe and healthy. And this thing everyone thought only losers did has given me a fantastic life.” Duke was fucking proud of what he’d built in Twisted Steel. Proud that he’d done it even when his family thought it was a waste of potential.
The sound of the number pad being used on the door made both men turn. Carmella came in, talking with PJ.
Both women smiled at the sight of the two men. “Fancy seeing you here,” PJ said to them. “I’ll be starting the detail work on the Ford this morning.”
Duke broke away to approach Carmella. He bumped fists with PJ on his way past.
“Good morning. Don’t bolt on me, I promise I won’t kiss you. Yet.” He winked. “And yes, we did talk about it.”
“Don’t poke at me. I haven’t had coffee yet.”
“Come on up to your office. I’ll make you a pot.”
She gave him a suspicious look. “People are already here. None of your hanky-panky.”
Even when she was Monday morning cranky, she was adorable.
“Cross my heart, I only have making you coffee on my to-do list right now.”
As he ground and measured out coffee, he watched her set her world in order. She had a little ritual to start every day, and as she finished each step, she brightened, as if bringing that order lightened her heart.
But she was still cranky until that first cup of coffee so
he wasn’t surprised when she left to use the machine in the break room, which was already done brewing.
After she’d finished half that cup, the scent of the fresh pot filled her office and she looked up at him with a smile. “You are really nice to me. Thank you.”
“My pleasure. You’re very nice to me so it’s only fair. How come you didn’t get coffee at home? I’m sorry I got home later again last night. But we finished and the guy will come to take delivery this afternoon.”
She made a note in her calendar quickly. “Excellent. I was in a rush this morning. I woke up late and then I took pills over to my mom’s.”
“You said you’d only go when I came with you from now on.” He frowned her way.
“You’ve been working eighteen-hour days. I’m not going to get in the way of the scraps of sleep you were getting to have you escort me over there. It’s still the same.”
Meaning her mother didn’t speak to her. Once the police had come over, Carmella’s mother had refused to speak to her. Duke felt like maybe Carmella should let her mother manage her own shit then, but Carmella wouldn’t go for that.
She had, however, stopped taking over meals. When Duke found out Carmella also paid for those groceries for her mother as well as paying the mortgage and utilities, he’d been so angry. Her mother had income from a settlement after being injured several years before while working as a waitress and Carmella’s grandparents had left her money that was paid monthly. And yet, Carmella had to scrimp.
She’d hated feeding Steven and her mother was being horrible and so there’d been a compromise where she took over pills and some basics like bread and milk, but nothing more.
Duke figured the minute her mother started speaking to her again, she’d start making her meals once more. But even this small step away from Virgie was one Duke applauded.
“Well, I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you when you needed me.”
She hugged him and it made him so happy he kissed her right there in her office just to see that prim look she always did when he took liberties. It was such a hot little game between them. He’d never actually kiss her at work if she truly didn’t want him to. But she’d also never initiated that sort of affection at work either.