“You have the added pressure of your dad.”
“Yeah.”
“All I have is the challenge, and I’m looking forward to it.” It was the honest truth. There was a female mechanic that he figured was going to give him trouble. Either by messing with one of the guys or trying to mess with him. With the strict harassment policies, there couldn’t be anything that remotely hinted of that. And unfortunately, it was almost always the man who was punished or fired. In this case, he was sure it was the woman who was going to be causing the problem. But Riley didn’t need to be burdened with that.
Everything else would be easy.
He flipped the turn signal on. “I can’t go in on the first day on the job and start making a bunch of changes. Everyone resents it.”
“Yeah. I figured you knew that.” She sighed. “My problems are less changes that need to be made in the workplace.” She snorted. “At least for now. It’s more that everyone who has come before has left the computer system in such a mess, I can’t figure a thing out.”
“Maybe you need someone from IT?”
“He didn’t know anything, either.”
“Isn’t it the same system that you used in Maine?”
“It is. But nothing is organized. There are no spreadsheets. I can’t find employment files. I did find some quarterlies from last year, but they weren’t in with anything else that had to do with anything...” She let out a breath. “Let’s just say, if we do this, it’s going to be a miracle. At least on my end.”
He slowed as they came to the house. “Don’t worry about my end. It’s good.”
She tilted her head over. “Thanks so much. Even if you’re lying through your teeth right now, your confidence is making me feel better.”
Without thinking about it, he reached over and cupped her cheek. “I’m not lying. There’s nothing in that shop that I can’t handle. They’ve got every machine I would ever need.” Even if he didn’t know how to run several of them. “And I met a few good, solid guys today. One good guy who knows what he’s doing is worth five who screw off all day. I know that I’ve got someone who has my back,” he was talking about her, “so when I start to make those necessary but painful decisions, I’ll be good. I’ve got guys on the floor who will work. I’ve got a woman upstairs in the office who will back me, and I know the system. I just have to adjust for three shifts instead of one.”
Her cheek was soft under his hand. He ran his thumb over her skin. Her eyes filled. He searched her face. “What?” he asked softly.
She took a shaky breath. Then her hand came up to press against his. “Thanks,” she breathed out, low and sincere. They stared into each other’s eyes as the seconds ticked by. He didn’t know how long they sat there, but he felt the pull, strong and hard. Riley was everything he’d ever thought and so much more. But he couldn’t fall for his fake wife.
Riley cleared her throat, breaking the spell that had fallen around them. “Come on. We’ll just have time to eat and shower before we have to head to the hospital. We’ve got the other side of the family’s problems to deal with.”
Chapter 14
They met the twins on the highway exit. Eve drove Riley’s car, and Eden drove the car they shared. They left both cars there and piled into the back seat of Ben’s pickup.
“That guy looks exactly like you, Ben,” Eve said as they pulled into the hospital parking lot.
Ben glanced over. A tall, broad-shouldered man with dark hair and eyes, wearing a black t-shirt and jeans, leaned against the building with his arms crossed over his chest and one booted foot braced against the wall behind him.
It had to be one of his half brothers. It wasn’t quite like looking in the mirror but close. The dude wasn’t smiling, either.
“That must be the welcoming committee. They missed us last night.” Ben wanted to ease the looks of consternation on his sisters’ faces. This was part of the reason he’d never tried to get in touch. If his half brothers were anything like his dad, they were mean, low-down snakes. Not people he wanted his sisters to have to deal with. Too late now.
“Should we send a delegation out to smoke a peace pipe before we all try to enter the sacred hunting grounds?” Eden asked with a dramatic shiver.
Ben eyed her in the rearview. “Why don’t you just say, ‘Ben, that dude looks scary. Go make sure he’s not going to hurt us.’”
“Because I would sound like a two-year-old if I said that.”
“Oh, versus sounding like a four-year-old by talking about peace pipes and hunting grounds?”
Riley and Eve chuckled. Eden rolled her eyes. “I was trying to ease the tension.”
Ben grabbed the latch on his pickup. He looked across the seat at Riley. “You okay for a minute?”
She nodded. “I’ve got a can of mace, and I’m not afraid to use it.”
“Not on me, hopefully.”
“I’m afraid it would be easy to get you two mixed up.” She nodded over at the man who hadn’t moved but watched them with an intensity that stirred Ben’s neck hairs.
“Yeah.” He pushed his door open. “Maybe he’s just out there on a smoke break.”
“And maybe he’s packing. Be careful, Ben. He doesn’t look like someone I’d mess with.”
“Don’t worry, Riley.” Eden reached up and patted Riley’s shoulder. “Ben deals with guys like that all the time.”
Ben got out and closed the door. He let his hands hang at his sides as he strode over. The guy straightened, watching him with the same brown eyes that stared back out at him from the bathroom mirror every morning. Ben stopped a few feet from him.
The guy didn’t say anything, and Ben considered waiting, but he was the oldest. He probably needed to speak first. He took his best guess. “Torque?”
The guy’s head jerked up. His eyes were honest and clear. Ben had worked with a lot of different kinds of men through the years, including some that were pretty shady. He’d also worked with a lot of decent, hardworking men. He’d become a fairly good judge between the two.
Torque was honest and upright. Ben’s heart cracked.
He held out his hand. “It’s good to see you, brother.”
Torque’s eyes moved from his face to his hand and back again. Then he straightened and grabbed Ben’s hand. Ben jerked him forward into a big bear hug. Torque hugged him back.
They parted, but Ben kept his arm around Torque’s wide shoulders. “Last time I saw you, you were about this tall and ugly as a mud fence.” He held out his hand waist high. “You grew, anyway.”
Torque’s grin revealed straight, white teeth. “Better watch with the insults. You’re my mirror image.”
“Think you got that backwards, little brother.”
Torque laughed. “Your wife and sisters getting out?”
Ben looked back at the pickup. Riley understood and got out immediately. Eve and Eden followed.
“Nice-looking family.”
Ben’s head swiveled around. It was on the tip of his tongue to tell Torque hands off, but then he realized that Torque meant it as a sincere compliment.
“Those are your sisters too.”
“They must favor your mom. Especially the blond.”
“That’s Eden. And yeah, she looks just like Mom.” He ran a hand through his hair. Did one ever recover from losing one’s mother? “The other one’s Eve. She has our dark hair, but Mom’s delicate bone structure.”
“Wow. Fancy words. Guess I mighta ended up like that if I’da had sisters.”
“Women,” Ben agreed. They shook their heads together.
Riley walked up and slipped her arm around his waist like they’d been married for years instead of one day. He could have kissed her.
“This is my wife, Riley.”
She held out her hand, and Torque shook it carefully.
“It’s great to finally meet you,” she said.
“Same,” Torque answered.
“Eve and Eden, this is your brother, Torque.”
/> They both shook his hand, eyeing him up and down.
No one really seemed to know what to say. Ben was too busy trying to keep his focus anywhere but on the slim arm that encircled his waist.
Finally, Torque broke the awkward silence. “Come on. Gram’s doing better today.”
~~~
After an hour and a half in the hospital room where they’d met Tough and Turbo and their wives, Kelly and Harris, Riley was exhausted. Harris, the one redhead in the room, had the only chair, since someone had said she was pregnant. The way Turbo babied his wife gave Riley the idea that they viewed their pregnancy as a small miracle. Apparently, there were other kids, belonging to the other couples, but they’d not brought them to the hospital. The adults were enough. Several of them at a time waited in the waiting room anyway.
Ben seemed to have a good time getting to know his brothers. She’d gotten separated from him, and she stood between Harris and Cassidy, who were deep in a conversation about babies, bottles, breastfeeding, and nap schedules, even though she had no clue about any of that stuff.
When the nurse came in to check vitals, Cassidy walked over to talk to Torque. Riley felt a warm hand slide around her waist.
“You okay?” Ben’s deep voice asked softly.
She was much better now. “I’m fine.” His arm was strong and hard and felt perfect around her. She’d taken a chance earlier when she’d walked to him and put her arm around him. There was no softness in the man, and he’d felt hot and alive under her touch. Her arm had sparked, and she’d wanted to move into his heat.
Even now, all she could think about was his arm around her. It blocked the rational thoughts from her brain.
“You look exhausted,” he said, like his arm wasn’t driving her crazy.
She tried to do the impossible and ignore it. “I’m sorry. I’ll try to smile more.”
“I wasn’t complaining, I was stating a fact.” His eyes skimmed over her face again. “Never mind. I’m taking you home.”
“But you’ve just met your brothers after twenty years apart, and your gram...”
He put a finger on her lips and bent his head. “I’m glad about my brothers, and I love my gram, but it’s my job to take care of you. Let me do my job.”
Was he saying that for the benefit of any of his family who might be listening? Riley glanced covertly around. None of them were paying attention. She lifted her face. Ben’s was right there. His eyes, concerned, filled her vision. The stubble on his chin called to her. A slight tug on her waist and she moved a step closer. The rest of the world faded away, and everything was just Ben and her. His breath and hers. His heartbeat and hers. Until it all became one.
“I think Ben and Riley need to go home.” Turbo, not quite as tall as the other brothers but with wider shoulders and the same dark hair and eyes, came over with the same grin he’d worn all evening. “Your woman looks exhausted.”
Although her father owned a trucking company, Riley had spent more time with the office employees than the guys outside. Ben’s family was a little rougher than the businessmen and millionaires she was used to socializing with. Even though the whole “your woman” felt very cavemanlike, she was sure, by the open, friendly look on Turbo’s face, he didn’t mean anything by it. Ben’s family might be rougher, but they were also more real.
Still, Riley tried to pull back. She wanted to look like Ben’s wife, not his “woman,” but Ben’s arm stayed around her like a steel band. She allowed her body to melt into his side. They faced Turbo together.
“I think Turbo has a great idea. We’ve had a big week. You girls ready to go?”
The twins came over and kissed their gram goodbye. “We’ll be back tomorrow,” Eve promised.
Ben let go of Riley and hugged each of his brothers. Riley couldn’t help but smile at the look of happiness on Gram’s face. If it were possible for joy to heal, Gram would be better in no time.
Finally, they were walking out of the hospital. The twins stopped to use the restroom, while Riley and Ben validated their parking ticket.
“Thanks,” Ben said as they waited for the twins at the exit door. He held her hand. She didn’t even think about trying to pull it away. She wanted him to hold it. In fact, if he’d put his arm around her, it would be even better.
As though he could read her mind, he pulled her back toward him until she leaned back against him. He tucked her head under his chin and wrapped both of his arms around her waist, never letting go of her hand.
In the back of her head, warning bells were going off. But he felt so solid and strong behind her. After the crazy day she’d had, she didn’t want to face reality.
She relaxed back into him. His chin rested on her head. His warmth seeped through her.
“We made it through day one, I guess,” she said.
His arms squeezed then released a little. “I thought I’d have to remind myself that I was supposed to pretend to be your husband. I’m finding it’s harder to remember that I’m really not.”
Riley’s heart stopped. His words sent shivers out her fingers and down through her toes.
“Never know when someone in my family might come out behind us.”
Her heart froze. He’d just been holding her because of his family? Disappointment bit hard, and it stung.
Before she could answer, the twins came out. “You two ready?” Eve asked with a look askance at their cozy position.
“We are.” Ben dropped his arms. He didn’t grab her hand again as they all walked together to the pickup.
~~~
Friday morning, Ben was up and out on the front porch before dawn. If one could get up when one never really slept. It had been amazing to be reunited with his brothers. Part of him hated the fact that he’d let fear keep him from reaching out long before this. He’d missed twenty years with three men he was proud to call family. Who’d have looked at his dad and thought that a man like that could have sons like Torque, Tough, and Turbo?
Gram deserved a lot of that credit, he knew. Since he had only been concerned about protecting his sisters. He’d done what he thought was best at the time. He’d been so focused on surviving, on paying the bills and raising his sisters after his mother died that he hoped he could really be excused for not being able to have more than that in his life.
So, sure, part of the reason he couldn’t sleep was the fact that his old life had intersected with his new, and his whole family, at least all his siblings, was together at last.
But that really wasn’t what kept him up all night.
Riley.
She had felt so good in his arms. Like she belonged there. Like the past never happened. Like she’d never paraded past him with another boy on her arm and hadn’t said he was a poor boy who wouldn’t amount to anything and she wasn’t interested.
Was she leading him on now? Was she just playing her part when her hand slid into his and her body melted against him? Were the looks she gave him under her lashes, the ones that said she admired him and was grateful, were those fake too?
God knew he had enough trouble keeping his acting and his real emotions separate. Heck, there wasn’t any acting on his part. Everything he’d felt for her back when he was young and dumb as dirt was all right there in his heart now. And he was stuck with her for another six months. There was no way he was walking away from her without ripping a part of himself out. It was going to hurt, no doubt. He wasn’t sure, though, that he had what it took to put more distance between them. Everything in his heart and soul longed to be closer.
He’d better enjoy this time with his family because he was going to have to move to Antarctica to get away from the attraction he felt toward his wife and the web of lies he’d spun for himself.
How could he protect his heart, when the whole reason for their deal was so his family would believe they were married? For real.
He stretched a hand up the banister pole and leaned against it. Sure, there were problems to solve in the shop, but they were nothi
ng compared to the problem of his runaway feelings for Riley.
The door cracked open behind him. He didn’t need to turn to know it was Riley. The twins didn’t make the hair on the back of his neck stand at attention. They didn’t smell that good, either.
“Hey, wife,” he said without turning around.
“Hey, husband,” she imitated, and he smiled. Man, he wished she didn’t make him feel like the king of his castle.
“As exhausted as you looked yesterday, I thought you’d sleep like a rock.”
“I did.” She drifted over and sat down on the top step at his feet, wrapping her arms around her legs. “But I dreamed that my dad found out about us, and then all I saw was blood, and I knew it was yours.” She shivered. “I didn’t even try to go back to sleep.”
What would she do if he did what he wanted, which was to walk over, sit down on the step behind her, a leg on either side of her, and cradle her between his knees? Would she lean back into him? His heart thundered. Could he wrap his arms around her and watch the sunrise with his wife in his arms? Arms that ached to hold her. He’d put his lips on her hair and breathe deeply of her scent, allowing it to fill his lungs and his body, taking a part of her with him as he faced his day. He closed his eyes against the desire that rose like manifold heat in his chest.
He shook the thoughts, but the painful longing in his body to be closer to her didn’t ease.
He forced himself to speak. “Your dad might be ruthless in business, but he’s not going to hurt me.”
“He did once before.”
Oh, she was wrong about that. It hadn’t been her dad.
It had been her.
Ben didn’t argue. She needed comfort, so that’s what he gave. “He’s not going to hurt you, either.”
“I know.” She pressed back, rocking while holding her legs close to her chest. “You know how dreams can be.”
Did he ever. But she wasn’t talking about the dreams he’d had of her. So, he answered with something other than what he was feeling. “Yeah. Eden used to have night terrors. She’d wake up screaming. I didn’t know what the frig to do. That’s scary. For her and me.”
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