by M. Piper
“It’s too early for this,” he mumbles, his morning gruffy voice a mixture of sexy and adorable.
God, who would have thought I’d ever be using those two words in the same sentence?
“It’s seven. I have to be at work in two hours.”
He groans then his whole body freezes. “Seven? As in seven in the morning?” His wild eyes hit me and he pauses briefly. “Holy shit you’re even more beautiful in the morning.” He pulls me to him, frantically pushing his lips against mine and I barely have a minute to breathe before he’s stealing my breath. He pulls back almost as fast as he kissed me and flies off the bed.
“What are you doing?” I laugh nervously. “You forgot to skip out again in the middle of the night?” Raising an eyebrow at him I watch his face fall as he slides one foot into his jeans. His eyes catch mine and I see the worry lacing his features.
“No,” he whispers, yanking on his pants and walking over to the side of the bed with them unbuttoned. “Finley, I could lie in that bed with you all goddamned day. That was the best I’ve slept in ages.” He bends and pushes his lips against mine. “Baby, I’m so late for work it’s not even funny.” He chuckles. “Okay, it’s kind of funny.”
“How is being late for work funny?”
“I haven’t been late a day in my life. This is a damn good reason for it and I’m sure the guys will understand.” He winks at me and pulls his shirt over his head. I sit there, stunned that he’s running out on me again and trying not to feel hurt because he’s right…we both have jobs we need to get to.
“You want coffee or anything?” I pull the sheet up and wrap it around me as I pad to the kitchen. He stops me, his hand on my elbow and his eyes searching mine for understanding.
“Squirt,” he says seriously then laughs when I roll my eyes.
“I hate that nickname.”
“Well I love it, so get used to it. It puts a nice tint of pink on those cheeks.” With a lopsided grin, he clears his throat and puts both hands on my shoulders before running them slowly down my arms. “Go out with me again.”
His words stun me. Not that I wasn’t ready for him to ask me out again, but I honestly didn’t think it would happen like this. I push a smile to my face and tighten my grip on the sheet, because the look in his eyes tells me he’s about to rip it off me.
“Yeah, that’d be nice.”
He smiles wide and dips his lips to mine again. It’s like he can’t stop touching me this morning but I can’t say I hate it.
“Good.” He backs off. “Then I’ll take some coffee and your phone number please. I hate to beg, but you haven’t given it to me yet.”
God, that grin is cute as hell.
“I’m not sure. I mean, I just met you.” I bite my lip and giggle when he rushes me, wrapping his arms around me.
“You’ve known me your entire life, Finley Reeves. Don’t play coy now. I’ve tasted your pussy.” He pushes his lips to my neck and I melt into him. Fuck. How can lips on that one spot make the urge to rip his clothes off again so strong? “And I will taste you again. And again. So get used to this.” He smacks my ass as he heads for the bathroom. I bite my lip to try to not smile too brightly. I like this attention. And I like how comfortable I feel with him. There’s none of that early relationship awkwardness with Levi.
“Hey, you don’t work with that asshole every day do you?” He asks from behind me as I finish pouring his to go mug. I drew a winky face and wrote my number on the side of the one-time use cup and turn, handing it over to him. “Thank you.”
“The one you almost pummeled?” I roll my eyes. “He’s there, yeah. We work together, Levi.”
“Should I be worried about him?” he asks, taking a sip of coffee and shoving his keys and phone into his pocket.
“Not at all. He’s harmless,” I say, unsure if I believe myself. I haven’t seen him since the incident Saturday night and I’m not sure how he’s going to react to Levi doing what he did. I may have a world of annoying comments coming at me but I highly doubt he’d do anything worth being worried over.
“He’s not harmless. I don’t want you alone with the man.”
My eyebrows shoot up and I cock my head at him.
“Since when do you tell me what I can and can’t do?”
“Since we started dating and that fucker couldn’t take his eyes off your tits.” He cups my tits and tries to bring the sheet down then he drops his hands. “These bad boys are mine.”
I let out a laugh and shake my head.
“You should go before you dig yourself a deeper hole, Walsh.”
He lets out a laugh like he thinks it’s cute I’m refusing to go along with this little plan of his, but I walk him to the door and manage to get him outside of my apartment without any more talk of it. I can’t just ignore DJ. He’s not exactly my boss but he’s a superior of mine and he could very well be my supervisor one day.
“Just be careful,” he whispers, reaching out and smoothing down my wild as fuck bed head that I didn’t even attempt to tame this morning.
“I will. I promise.”
He raises his cup and wiggles his eyebrows.
“I have your number now. Be prepared for an onslaught of awesome.” He’s so cute when that dimple shows itself that I can’t even act annoyed by him.
Levi Walsh coming back into my life is absolutely unexpected but it’s probably the best thing that could have happened to me right now.
I just need to figure out how to tell my sister I’m fucking her best friend…
Chapter 4
Levi
“Where have you been?” My dad’s shocked expression at my tardiness is almost comical. In all the years I’ve worked for my dad I’ve never been late once.
I smirk at him and keep walking, gripping Finley’s coffee mug in my palms as I go, letting my mind wander to last night with her.
I didn’t plan on it ending like it did. I promised myself I’d be a gentleman and I wouldn’t use her…but damn she’s hard to resist. Or maybe it’s the fact that I resisted every urge I had for her for years and now that we’re finally able to do whatever we want my body and mind have no more resistance towards what they need.
And I need Finley like I need my next breath.
“I’m heading up, Dad,” I call out to him, grabbing my gear.
“Yo, Walsh, where the hell were you this morning? We waited around for you until Kellan checked your room to see you weren’t there.” Anders says coming up behind me. I glance over at my Dad who’s grinning and shaking his head as he ducks out the front door of the house.
We’ve been working on this house for two weeks now and are almost finished, thank God. It was hit pretty hard with the storm but the lady refuses to leave, so every day we’re here, reframing and fixing the huge hole in the side of her house and she’s on top of us playing mother hen. Not that any of us are complaining because she always makes us lunch and keeps us hydrated with some of the best damn iced tea there is…but it’s weird as hell.
“Yeah, I had a date,” I mutter, clipping on my belt. “Ready?”
“With legs?” He pushes the topic and I shake my head.
“She’s got a name, Anders.” A name I don’t want to talk about because they won’t stop until they have every last detail on the girl and there are some things I like to keep to myself.
Like the fact that I’m dating my best friend’s little sister.
“Yeah?” He follows me out to the ladder. “You going to talk or do I need to pry?”
I let out a laugh and start my way to the roof. The guys know my love life is pretty null and void. Miranda pretty much killed my drive to be with women and even after we came here I’ve kept to myself. That woman’s crazy and there’s no room in my life for crazy.
But Finley? There’s plenty of room for her.
“A lady doesn’t kiss and tell,” I joke, winking back at him then climb onto the roof.
The view here is one of my favorites since we started
working in Florida. Mrs. Lewis sure has the funds to keep her view of the ocean pristine. I could sit up here all day and watch the waves roll onto the shore just a few yards away. The smell of the ocean. The sound of the water crashing into land. Honestly, if I could move the business down here permanently I would but my dad thinks we’d make more money back home and the books don’t lie. So I take what I can get. A few months here a year in the beach house that belongs to the business is better than most people get.
Having a house right on the coast, however, also means more upkeep when storms like the one that ripped through last month plow through. Luckily for business, Mrs. Lewis doesn’t seem like she’s hurting for money, as with the seven other cases we’ve got lined up to work on over the next few weeks. As long as the weather holds off we’ll be raking in the money this season.
Coming down here during hurricane season isn’t always easy. One year we spent the majority of the season fixing the company house with all of our free time because of the storm that came through and took almost all the siding with it and tossed it in the neighbor’s pool. It’s definitely a risk we take, but at the end of the day we come out on top.
Anders drops the subject as soon as we get to work and when the sun’s at its hottest point and the sweat dripping off my face is enough to fill a bucket, I toss the nail gun down and curse.
“Break time, boys,” I call out, heading down to the truck for a rag then to the porch where Mrs. Lewis has left us a huge pitcher of fresh brewed iced tea.
I pull out my phone and take a selfie, shooting it over to Finley.
Me: Just in case you forgot about me.
I grin then glance over at Anders.
“What?”
“You were late to work this morning and you’re wearing a stupid grin on your face. Can I at least get her name so I don’t have to call her legs anymore?”
I laugh and down the rest of my tea.
“Finley. Her name’s Finley, man. Can we drop it?”
“Did you break up with Marissa?”
“I did. Again.” I shake my head. “I think she took it okay but who knows. Honestly I don’t care. It was over for me when she repainted my bedroom a bright shade of purple one day when I was at work because she didn’t like the grey walls.
Like I said…the woman’s insane.
“Good.” He nods watching me. “So this Finley girl…”
“Hey, isn’t that Kat’s little sister’s name? Finley?” I hear my dad’s voice behind me and groan inwardly. This is why I wanted Anders to drop it. Because while the boys don’t know about her…my dad always has. I turn and look at him, raising my eyebrows and smiling through the annoyance at the look on his face.
“Yeah,” I say. “She lives here now.”
“No shit,” he says then his eyebrows pull together as he watches me.
“Yep. We just ran into each other the other night…” I rub the back of my neck feeling more awkward than I should. I never told my dad how I felt about her but I think he always knew. He’s been the mother and father in our situation since I was old enough to eat solid foods. He knows things I’ve never had to say out loud.
My dad’s always been more than just a dad. He was my first friend and now that I’m an adult there are times I feel like I’m his only friend. He’s a good guy and one day maybe he’ll reach out and start dating again, but until he does I know he’s going to be in my business about this Finley thing. And I don’t want to talk to him about it.
I smirk to myself and as soon as I slide my phone back in my back pocket I feel it buzz. Unable to stop my lips from turning into a grin, I see her reply and rub my face, groaning. She’s out on a boat, the sun blaring down on her, and somehow even in that nerdy as hell rangers’ shirt she’s hot as fuck. Who knew they let park rangers show cleavage like that.
Finley: Haven’t forgotten you all these years. Definitely not forgetting after last night ;)
“Fuck, Walsh,” Anders blurts from behind me. “She’s hot as hell! Like the nerdy type of hot. Like… Damn dude, is she a virgin? Her sister single?”
I chuckle and shake my head but my dad’s voice stops my reply.
“Get to work, Pence,” my dad says as he leans against the porch post watching me carefully. Anders bitches on his way back to the roof and I smile as I type out my reply.
Me: Good to know. How’s your day? Don’t fall off that boat.
I put my phone into my pocket and down the rest of my glass of tea before walking past my dad.
“Be a careful, son,” he says, arms crossed in front of him.
“Yeah,” I say, pausing in my step because the warning in his tone isn’t like my dad. “Why though?”
“Kat’s your best friend, Levi.”
“Was, dad.”
“She’s still your friend, Levi. She’d be ok with this?”
“Dad, she hasn’t talked to me in a couple of months. And I can promise you whatever is happening between me and her sister doesn’t matter to Kat. She’s got her life. I have mine.”
I feel like he can see straight through the lie. Kat probably won’t be okay with it, but we’re grown adults. It’s time she gets over that little rule she made in fifth grade.
Anyway, she’s too busy for even a friendship with me, so why would she care about any relationship that I have?
God, I hope this isn’t a mistake.
Being with Finley will never be a mistake.
But lying to her sister might be.
I spend the rest of the day on that roof, sweating my balls off, trying not to worry about whatever’s going on with Finley and I. Mainly because even if Kat would get offended…would I honestly stop this? Now that I finally have her?
No. Probably not.
There has to be a happy medium here. I’m not about to take Finley to Kat’s and flaunt it in front of her face, but there’s no way I’m letting Finley walk away from this just because her sister’s butt hurt.
By the time I get home I’m exhausted and after a quick bite to eat of something that was left in the fridge, I pull out my phone to call her.
“Hey,” she answers after the first ring and suddenly that knot in my stomach is loosening.
From one syllable out of her lips my day immediately brightens.
I’m fucking screwed with her.
“Did you know that little old ladies in Florida make the best damn iced tea there is?” I grin as I clean up my dishes. All the other guys went out for dinner but I need a shower and a little bit of sleep.
We didn’t get much last night.
Plus I really wanted to talk to her tonight.
“Oh really? Is this a proven fact? Because I’ve been known to make a killer glass of tea.” I hear the smile in her voice and chuckle.
“I don’t know. Mrs. Lewis makes a damn good glass. I guess I’ll have to try yours one day to compare them.”
“Mrs. Lewis, huh? She sounds like a hot cougar that likes to fuck the construction boys working on her house.”
I laugh loud.
“Oh totally. She’s the hottest eighty five year old cougar there is.”
Finley’s airy laugh dances through the phone and into my ear, sending chills down my body. “Nah. But we’re finishing up a project on her house. Her husband died a few years ago and she doesn’t even have any cats to talk to. So when we’re there it’s like she has purpose again.” I yank my shirt off and toss my jeans into the hamper, not even bothering with closing the curtains as I strip off all the gross layers from the day. If someone is looking into my room and offended by what they see, then they deserve it. Plus, the view here is pretty incredible. I’m not sure I’ve ever closed these blinds.
“She sounds like she’s lonely.” Finley’s sigh makes me smile. The girl’s always had a heart of gold, especially when it comes to old people. I haven’t heard her say a negative thing about anyone. Ever.
She’s a strange one… A strange one I crave. I need more of her positivity.
“Sh
e is.” I stand there, looking at the beach out my windows, and a thought comes to mind. “Hey, you want to take a walk?”
“Now?” she blurts and I chuckle at the cute shock in her tone.
“I mean, you’re not busy, right? And we’re neighbors so it’s pretty easy…”
“No… I’m not busy…” she giggles. “Uh… But I’m in my pajamas, Levi.” I hear her groan which makes me laugh even harder at her.
“Holy shit, Squirt, it’s not even seven pm!” I head for the bathroom and turn on the water as hot as it will go.
“I’m tired!” She laughs harder and I roll my eyes not believing her.
“I would put money on the fact that every Monday night at this time you’re in those exact pajamas.” The line falls silent. “I won’t let you turn into Mrs. Lewis, Squirt. I’m getting in the shower and will be out on that beach in front of your apartment in ten minutes. Be there in whatever clothes you have on, I don’t give a fuck.”
I end the call and take quite possibly the quickest shower known to man. It’s still muggy outside, but at least I’m washing off the grime from the day. I get to see Finley two days in a row and I’m not about to show up sweaty and smelling like the dirt of the day.
“Squirt!” I bellow, walking up to her apartment building when I don’t see her waiting for me. “You had fifteen minutes!” I walk up the path and go to yell for her again when I hear her laughter behind me.
“Knock that off! You’re going to wake my neighbors,” she hisses through laughter. I don’t see her so I spin around and when my eyes hit her my jaw drops.
“That’s what you sleep in?” I ignore the fact that her neighbors go to bed this early and step closer to her, pulled by some imaginary magnetic force, and glance down at her shirt. “Fin…” I hear her giggle and she wraps her hands around the front of her, hiding the boy band on her shirt that looks like it’s seen better days well over ten years ago.
Well this is mother fucking adorable. And kind of alarming. God, I hope she doesn’t still jam out to them like she used to back in the day. This girl needs more help than I thought. Pajamas in the early evening and nineties boy bands. No wonder she’s not taken yet.