Honka Honka (Honk Series Book 1)

by Krissy Reynolds

  But with Alison, there was nothing like that. No flinching or tensing up – not even when she reached out like she did now and brushed a strand of hair off his face.

  "You should come to church with me this morning," she said.

  Yuriel looked at her and couldn't help but smirk as if she had told some great joke. Him in church? He had never been to church in his life. Why the hell would he start going now?

  And Alison seemed to sense his confusion at her comment because she smiled a little, almost close to laughter, and she got off the bed. He kept sitting and watched as she went into the bathroom, sliding the door shut behind her.

  The word rolled over in his head as if he had never heard it before. Church. He knew he didn't believe in anything that had to do with that place. When he was younger and still thought it would help, he had sent a few prayers out to whoever was listening to make his dad stop beating on him with the belt or his fists whenever he damn well pleased but the prayers always went unanswered and soon, he learned that no one would ever help him except himself. There was no God. There was nothing. And Yuriel couldn't imagine himself sitting in a church, surrounded by people who thought there was.

  Despite all of that, he supposed it was no surprise to him when less than two hours later, he found himself sitting beside Alison in one of the hard wooden pews in the small church with her father and brother. He didn't know where Vicky was and he didn't really care. He wore jeans and a one of his tee-shirts because it was warm outside that day and it was damn near an inferno inside of the church. Alison sat beside him in one of her pretty dresses and he kept watching her from the corner of his eye. She was listening with all of her attention focused on whatever the preacher man was saying up on the altar behind his podium and Yuriel tuned in a couple of times but the man was boring with his sermons about heaven and just rewards and eternal damnation in a burning hellfire. Yuriel found Alison to be far more interesting.

  "What on earth are you doing here?" Mary Jane asked him after the service, her hand holding the hand of her daughter, Sophia.

  "I have no idea," Yuriel admitted in a near-grumble and Mary Jane laughed because Mary Jane probably knew that Alison had asked him to come and Yuriel already found it close to impossible to tell Alison Silver no. He wondered if anyone else had figured that out.

  He turned his head when he heard Alison's laughter and she was talking to an older couple he didn't know but then her eyes moved and they locked with his. She said something to the couple – probably politely excusing herself – and then she was heading his way, a small, bright smile on her face.

  "Hi, Mary Jane. Hi Sophia," she greeted them, looking to them, and Yuriel couldn't help but look at her. Her dress was purple that day and her hair was braided and pulled over her shoulder. She wore one of her sweaters – grey today – because despite even the warm temperature that morning, she was still cold.

  As Mary Jane and Alison exchanged pleasantries, he heard Sophia giggle and he looked down at the girl, pretending to give her a fierce frown.

  "What?" He asked.

  She grinned up at him. "You're staring at Alison," she teased.

  Yuriel just kept frowning at her. "Shut up," he grumbled and Sophia just giggled again. Yuriel let out another grunt and head nod when Mary Jane said she and Sophia had to be going and wished them both a nice Sunday. He was still frowning when Alison slipped to stand in front of him.

  She gave him a small smile, not at all intimidated by his near scowl. "I'm going to head over to the farm. We have breakfast every Sunday after church."

  Yuriel nodded.

  "Do you still want me to stay at the trailer?" She asked.

  His frown managed to deepen, wondering why she would ask that; wondering for a second if he had done something to think he wanted her gone. He knew they had said that she would stay for a few days but it had only been a couple so far and a couple of days did not equal a few – at least not to him.

  He didn't actually know how long he wanted her to stay there with him but he knew he wasn't in any kind of hurry to get her out of there. But again, he reminded himself that he wasn't ready to tell himself the reason why yet.

  "Course I do."

  She smiled then a little wider. She nodded and then stepped a bit closer to him. "I would invite you to come with me but I know you go hunting on Sundays."

  Yuriel couldn't help but feel relieved – that she knew that and that she wasn't going to ask him so he wouldn't have to tell her that he didn't really want to go. He liked her dad and her brother just fine but still, being in that nice farmhouse with her family, it made him uncomfortable.

  "Have a good time," he said, feeling lame for some reason, but Alison just smiled.

  She began to take a step back and Yuriel wasn't sure why he did it but he reached a hand out, grasping her hand gently, stopping her before she could walk away. She looked at him, curiosity clear across her face, and she gave him a small smile, obviously not understanding why he had stopped her. And for a second, he wasn't too sure why either but he stared at her and without a word, he leaned down and kissed her.

  He didn't think about how they were standing in the yard of the church and there were still people milling all around and they could all see him kissing Alison Silver. He only thought about kissing Alison Silver and the slight pressure of her lips pressing back against his and she kissed him in return.

  The kiss lasted for only a few seconds before he was pulling his head back again but he was feeling a little out of breath as he looked down at her. Alison was blushing and breathing a little heavier, too, and she gave him a small smile that despite its size, was practically blinding. And seeing her smile, it made him smile a little, too.

  "Have a good time," she echoed his earlier words and he smirked and nodded his head, watching as she was finally able to turn and head towards her daddy and brother, Shawn leaning against the family car with a shit-eating grin on his face and he looked past Alison to have his eyes meet Yuriel's and he seemed to be chuckling.

  Yuriel found himself not caring though. He didn't care that everyone around them had just seen him kiss her; had seen him being some damn sap around this girl; had seen him being dragged to a place he would never step foot into even if the world ended just because she was here and he clearly wanted to be around her.

  They probably all wondered if Alison Silver had taken either his spine or his balls – or maybe even both – and Yuriel watched her walk away and found himself wondering the same thing. What the hell was this girl doing to him? And why did he seem to just go along with it without having a problem with it?

  He didn't even know when the hell it had happened because didn't he used to avoid this girl at all costs? And now, he was kissing her and wanting to be around her and he stood there, trying to pinpoint the moment it had changed between them.

  But he couldn't. He couldn't think of when it had changed; only that it had. Alison turned once more towards him and gave him a small wave and a small smile before slipping into her family's car and Yuriel stood there, knowing he looked like a damn idiot but he found himself smiling back and it was all because of her.

  Alison Silver made Yuriel Salas happy and to him, he realized that it didn't matter when it happened or why. He just knew he wanted it to last for a while.

  Chapter Nineteen.

  The garage was completely slammed. She didn't know what happened but it seemed like all morning, people had been calling, trying to set up appointments because all of the cars in town must have had mechanical problems over the weekend. Alison was barely able to get up from her desk to go to the bathroom in between phone calls. She was quickly filling in the schedules of the four mechanics for the next few days and she hoped that she wasn't overwhelming them.

  As soon as it turned noon, the others seemed to practically race from the garage for their lunch hour and Alison never thought she would be so happy to go to the bathroom. When she came out again, Yuriel was sitting in the chair across from her des
k and she smiled when she saw him, her heart fluttering like a butterfly's wings.

  He smiled a little, too. "Hey," he greeted her in his grunt. "Startin' to rain a little. We'll have to eat in here."

  Alison smiled and didn't say anything as she went to the break room to get her lunch from the refrigerator. She came back and instead of sitting behind her desk, she came to sit on the old loveseat pushed up against one of the walls of the office for customers to sit on as they waited. Without a word, Yuriel took his lunch and came to sit down beside her.

  "I need a break from my desk for a little bit," she told him but no sooner had the words left her mouth that the phone rang. She sighed and dutifully stood up, going to her desk to answer. "Good afternoon, Martin's Garage," she answered, polite as ever though she really just wanted to snap at the person because she was starving and tired and couldn't they give her just one hour without calling? "Let me check real quick. Hold please." She pressed the button on the phone and set the receiver down, going around the desk to her computer, bringing up the schedule.

  "What do they need?" Yuriel asked, the bologna sandwich in his hands but he hadn't taken a bite from it yet.

  "She doesn't know. She just says her check engine light keeps coming on and she needs a mechanic to take a look at it," Alison said, trying to find a spot any of the guys had available. Alison picked up the phone again and pressed the button. "Hi, Raquel. What sort of car do you drive?" She paused and then looked to Yuriel. "We actually do have a mechanic that can work on Hybrids but unfortunately, his schedule is full until at least Friday."

  She heard Yuriel sigh and watched as he stood up, crossing to her desk. He held out his hand and she handed him the phone, watching him, and she wasn't sure why but watching Yuriel just then, her stomach clenched into an almost painful knot. She didn't know anything about cars – even after working here for a few months – so she didn't know what Yuriel was saying about light indicators and cool injectors and engine grinds but all she knew was that she loved listening to his voice. His voice was like gravel, rough and low, and it had given her goosebumps more than one time. If Yuriel was reading a recipe from a cookbook, Alison would pay admission to listen to him speak.

  "We don't stock parts for a Hybrid so you'd have to bring it in sooner rather than later so I'd know what to order," Yuriel was saying to Raquel over the phone and then he was standing behind Alison, leaning over her so he could look over the schedule, too, and she could feel his warm breath exhaling across her cheek.

  She felt her eyes begin to flutter closed. He was so close to her and so warm and he had been this close to her before and yet, she always seemed to have the same reaction. She shivered as if she was cold but her entire body felt as if flames was licking across her skin as she stood too close to a fireplace. Alison couldn't help but lean herself back a little bit, as if seeking out his chest, and Yuriel seemed to know what she was doing and maybe he wanted it, too, because he leaned in a little bit more forward, his chest brushing against the back of her head.

  "Yeah," he rumbled. "Or you could take it to the dealer where you bought it."

  Alison swore the breath caught in her throat and she stopped breathing when she felt his fingers, the tips lightly brushing along the side of her neck. She instantly leaned into his touch, shifting in her chair and tilting her head to the side so he could have more room to touch her if he wanted to. And he seemed to want to and his fingertips brushed up and found the curve of her jaw.

  "I got an openin' tomorrow mornin' at ten. Just a half hour though. Don't know how good I could check it over in thirty minutes," he said.

  His fingers never stopped. They traced the curve of her face and then they paused beneath her chin. His fingertips began rubbing her there and Alison felt her eyes slip closed at the light, teasing, almost tickling touch. She had to bite down on her lip because she swore she was going to let out a quiet moan at any minute and she didn't want Raquel to hear it from over the phone.

  She couldn't quite believe that Yuriel was touching her like this and she wondered if she was just imagining it. Maybe she was having an incredibly vivid daydream of his hands on her but she opened her eyes and saw him still standing behind her in her peripheral and his fingers slowly trailed down the column of her throat now.

  And now, she couldn't help but arch her head back, pressing it against his chest and letting out the quietest of moans.

  "I'll have Alison put you in," Yuriel said and Alison hardly heard him hang up the phone.

  Within a second, Alison spun around in her chair, seeming to catch him by surprise, and she stood up, pushing herself up on her toes and pressing her lips to his. Yuriel didn't seem to need a moment to have his mind catch up because as soon as she was kissing him, he was kissing her back, his fingers tangling in her hair and she was suddenly quite glad she had worn it down that day. Her own hands cupped his cheeks and then moved down to the sides of his neck before she slipped her arms around his neck, pressing her body tighter against his and he held her within his strong arms, practically crushing her and squeezing the air from her but she could have cared less in that moment. As long as he kept kissing her and holding her and she nearly shivered again but definitely not because she was cold.

  In the back of her mind, she knew that making out with Yuriel Salas in the middle of the garage office wasn't the most professional thing to be doing but right now, that was also the last thing on her mind.

  She didn't want this to stop. She knew most people knew she and Yuriel were living together in his trailer and she knew that most just assumed that they were sleeping together. The truth was though, they hardly touched one another when they were alone in his home except for the occasional brushing of their bodies as they passed one another or her light kiss to him each night before going to sleep. She had no idea what they were or what they were doing and she longed to just down with him and ask him countless questions until she didn't have a single one left but she knew that Yuriel wasn't the sort to ever have that sort of conversation and she knew that she was happy with whatever it was that was happening between them.

  She just couldn't help but wonder if she would be happier if she had a concrete definition of what they were.

  They had to come up for air and for a few seconds, the only sounds were their heaving breaths and the raindrops lightly falling on the roof above their heads and the pavement outside.

  Alison's eyes fluttered open and she wasn't surprised to see him already looking at her. She had no idea what to say or do and the most she seemed able to do was give him a small smile. One corner of his mouth twitched but he didn't make it bigger and he didn't say anything either.

  Slowly, his arms moved from being wrapped around her back and they dropped down, his hands resting on her hips. Not that she had much hips to rest them on. She wondered what he thought about them. Did he like more… full women? Women with curves and softness instead of all sharp angles and bones? All of this time, she had honestly never thought of what a man thought of how she looked. She had other things on her mind than worrying if the opposite sex found her attractive.

  But then, this whole thing with Yuriel started and she couldn't help but imagine him seeing her naked eventually. She wondered if he was going to be disappointed or worse. Disgusted. She was still too skinny – too many bones still sticking from her skin – and even if she was gaining weight back, she knew she still had a long way to go and she didn't want to imagine Yuriel cringing the first time he looked at her without clothes on.

  "I gave Raquel that spot at ten o'clock," Yuriel broke the silence.

  Alison nodded and didn't speak because she still didn't trust her voice at the moment. She stared into his eyes and wished she could look into them for the rest of the day.

  She couldn't help herself or stop herself from stretching her neck forward and brushing her lips across his in one more kiss; a kiss that had to satisfy her for the rest of the day and Yuriel seemed to think the same thing because his arms slipped bac
k around her waist, bounding around her as if he didn't want to let her go but eventually, he did because they heard cars approach as the other guys began returning to the garage for the rest of the work day and they still had their own lunches to eat. Alison couldn't help but sigh softly – a little with disappointment – when his arms dropped away and he took steps back to the couch.

  She felt so cold without him near.

  …

  It was still raining hours later when they left the garage. They had ridden his motorcycle that morning and it was a steady, soft rain but it was steady enough to soak them thoroughly as Yuriel raced them – yet still driving carefully – home.

  Alison was laughing as she hurried inside with Yuriel right behind her and she brushed some wet hair stuck to her cheeks back from her face. She turned to look at him and Yuriel stood there, staring at her, his eyes unblinking. She felt her stomach clench and she shivered – a mixture this time of cold and steadily growing hotter.

  "What?" She asked, sounding breathless from both laughing and from the darkness she could see in his eyes as he kept them on her.

  He didn't say anything and she realized she really wasn't expecting him to but then, he shook his head and rubbed a hand over his head, glancing away.

  "Don't know what the hell I'm doin' when I'm 'round you," he said.

  "You don't have to know," she was quick to say. "Yuriel, everything you're doing…" she trailed off then and his eyes moved back to her. "It's perfect," she whispered.

  He stared at her and she felt nervous and scared and excited all at the same time and it was a jumbled mess in her mind. She really needed Yuriel to do something because she had absolutely no idea what the next move should be. And she had meant what she said. The ways this man was making her feel, there was no way feeling so wonderful every day could be something wrong.

  She shivered then, not able to help herself, the water soaking her skin and clothes and the trailer was cool from being unoccupied all day and the temperature dropping outside.