by Vivian Arend
They sat like that for a moment, Gage drawing his fingers over her back as he planned the next best move.
A knock on the door jerked their attention upward. She crawled off his lap, and he reluctantly rose to his feet.
“You want to grab us new drinks?” she asked. “I’ll get this, then we can watch something else if you want.”
Gage had just stepped through the doorway into the kitchen when he heard Katy’s quick indrawn breath. He swung around in time to see exactly who was on the other side of the door. All thought of refreshment vanished as he stomped his way back to her side.
“What the hell are you doing here?” he demanded.
Simon’s smile vanished as he took in Gage. “I could ask you the same thing.”
Katy thrust a hand between the two of them, literally cutting them off from each other.
“Guys, put your dicks back in your pants.” She faced Simon, her upper body stiff. “So. Haven’t seen you for a couple of weeks. That was quite the appointment you had to run off to.”
The dark-haired man on the porch had the grace to look sheepish. “Yeah, sorry about that. Can I come in? I wanted to talk to you…” his gaze shot up to take in Gage as he added, “…privately.”
Hell, no. “In your dreams, dickwad.”
At his side, Katy sighed heavily. “It would be really nice if I got to be in charge of what happens, since this is my house and all.”
She gave Gage a disappointed look, and he backed off only far enough to allow Simon to step into the entranceway.
Simon ignored Gage completely. Instead he took a package from behind his back and offered it to Katy. “I know I was out of line. I shouldn’t have taken off on you, or I should have at least phoned. But I’ve been giving it a lot of thought, and I wanted you to know that I’m there for you. One hundred percent.”
The sincerity in Simon’s voice seemed real. In fact, Gage had never heard the other man speak so kindly before.
And the Oscar goes to…
Katy twisted the package in her hands. “What is it?”
“Open it and see,” Simon teased.
She paced back into the living room, her fingers busily ripping the paper away. Simon’s gaze met Gage’s, his lips curling in a soundless snarl. That was it—the rivalry was clear. The battle had barely even begun.
“Oh, Simon.” She held a fancy baby book in her lap. “It’s beautiful.”
Simon slipped off his boots and padded across the floor to kneel at her side. “All us kids have one like it that my mom did up for us. I thought you might like to have it while you’re pregnant.” He turned a few pages in the book. “There are places for you to write things starting now if you want. I hope you like it.”
Well, hell. Gage had to admit the other man had more than stepped up to the plate this time. He still didn’t trust Simon any farther than he could throw him, but this attentive, caring pretense changed everything.
She ran her fingers over the scrolled gold lettering embossed on the front cover. “Thank you. It’s a very considerate gift.”
Simon rocked back on his heels. “Maybe you and I could talk about some other things as well.”
The tension in her body was clear as she gazed between Gage and Simon. “We do need to talk.”
Gage did not want to leave the room. He wasn’t going to suggest he should leave the room. In fact, he kind of felt like the only way he would leave the room was if he were dragged from it.
Then, hallelujah, rescue came from the least likely place. Simon’s phone went off. He cursed softly as he checked the display before announcing, “Sorry. I have to take this.”
“Not to worry,” she assured him.
Simon stepped toward the front door to answer his call. Gage took advantage of the moment to sit back beside Katy and place his hand gently on her knee. Reconnecting them.
He ignored the droll voice in his head pointing out he was staking his claim. “How are you doing?”
She made a face. “This is not what I expected to happen tonight. Not at all.”
Gage watched Simon as he spoke on his phone. Dammit, he didn’t want to do this, but he had to offer. “What do you want me to do?”
Katy sighed. She leaned back on the couch and stared at the ceiling. “I don’t know what I want anymore.”
Her comment jerked a brief snort of amusement from him. “Right, that was a load of bullshit.”
A snicker escaped her. “Yeah, well, how about I don’t know what I want at this moment.”
He spoke softly. “How about I admit I don’t want to leave you here with him.”
She glanced over the couch then back at Gage. “I can’t kick him out. He has just as much right to be involved as you do.”
There was something wrong with her reasoning, but Gage hadn’t yet figured out the best way to tell her that without sounding like an A-one asshole or a jealous fool. Both of which titles he probably could claim. “You don’t have to do anything tonight.”
She nodded, the heated passion they had shared from earlier rising briefly to her eyes as she stared at him.
“Katy, can I get together with you later?” Simon interrupted the moment. “One of my crew was looking over the material list we have to send to the supplier, and he thinks there are problems. I have to check tonight if we need to make changes, because they’re filling the order tomorrow.”
“You want to meet for coffee at the café tomorrow?” she asked.
Gage wondered if he should stake out one of the neighboring booths.
Simon paused. “I can get away for lunch on Monday. If you can be there at noon?”
When she nodded, Simon slipped his boots back on and placed a hand on the doorknob.
Instant decision time.
“I have to go as well,” Gage announced. He stood and paced past Katy, ignoring the shock on her face.
But hanging around any longer wasn’t going to help, not with the walls she’d slapped up as soon as Simon had appeared bearing gifts. Besides, there was something he had to do.
“Thanks for all your help today.” Katy handed him his toolbox.
“Thanks for dinner.”
They stood awkwardly as Simon looked on. Then Gage figured what the hell, leaned in and kissed her. Right smack-dab on the lips. He pulled back before he could get lost in the act, though, tipping a finger to his forehead and giving her a wink.
He turned toward a very stern-faced Simon who left the house ahead of him at a near run. Asshole probably had an idea what was coming.
Gage had to move quickly to catch up to the man before he got his truck door shut and locked. Gage wrapped his fingers around the doorframe and jerked it all the way open.
“Seems strange you’re that gung-ho all of a sudden about Katy and the baby.”
Simon sneered, all the pleasantness he’d shown earlier vanishing like snow hitting a hot stovepipe. “I don’t give a shit what you think, Jenick, so fuck off.”
He attempted to pull his door shut, but Gage had his arm firmly in place, and nobody was going nowhere until he was done his say. “I promised Katy I wouldn’t go around her decisions, but I’m warning you. Do anything to hurt her, physically or otherwise, and I will take you apart one piece at a time.”
He slammed the door shut with enough force to make Simon’s eardrums ring. Gage didn’t care. He was already halfway across the yard to his own vehicle, fighting to keep the fire inside from flaring even higher.
Handing out a caution was one thing, but actually taking his tire iron to the other man’s vehicle would be pushing it a little far. Especially when he noticed Katy standing in the window watching them both.
The possessive feelings growing inside could tear him apart if he wasn’t careful, but he wasn’t sure he could turn them off anymore.
Chapter Eleven
Simon met her at the café, all sincere and contrite for having taken off for weeks without a word.
He’d brought her flowers. Roses. Like a dozen lo
ng-stemmed red roses that made her feel uncomfortable, especially when she realized everyone around them had gotten an eyeful and were whispering furiously. This gift wasn’t like the baby book; it was as if he was stamping his mark on her.
And hothouse roses? Not really her thing.
“I needed to get my head straightened out,” he explained. “It was a shock, but I’m ready to face my responsibilities.”
He reached for her hand. Katy grabbed her water glass and curled her fingers around it to remain safely on her side of the table. Might as well get the worst part of the conversation over with early. “I’ve decided to wait with the paternal testing until after the baby is born.”
Disapproval streaked his face so briefly before a smile replaced it she was left wondering if she was imagining things.
Simon shrugged. “If that’s what you want, I’m okay with it.”
He leaned back in his chair and looked her over, and it wasn’t like when Gage did it. No rush of pleasure streamed to any of her body parts. Instead, Katy held herself in control.
“You want to go to a movie tonight?” he asked.
Drat. After his high-class desertion he still expected her to date him? “I’m…seeing Gage.”
This time there was no mistaking his frown. “But I told you we’d gotten back together.”
“It’s been a while since then, and life has changed. Gage and I are dating now.”
“But you might be pregnant with my baby.” He shook his head. “You should be with me, not him.”
If she had to repeat this many more times, she was going to start bouncing off the walls. “Enough. This is not up for debate, Simon. What we need to talk about is if you want to be around, if you are the dad—”
“Then I want to be around,” he snapped. “Of course.”
Dammit. Could nothing go easy? Katy nodded slowly. “If you want to wait until we know for sure…”
He gave her an intent smile. “Hell no. I want to be with you now, Katy. So that means anything you need.”
Right. She tossed out the ultimate test. “Then I’ll let you know when my prenatal classes are, and stuff like that.”
“I’ll be there.” He lowered his voice. “I’m always available to you, sugar. Anytime you need me, you give me a call. And you be careful with Gage.”
Careful? “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Simon leaned across the table. “There are things about that man that don’t line up. I’m worried about you being with him.”
Katy laughed. “I think it’s okay. He’s been around for a long time. We pretty much know everything there is to know.”
The waitress showed up and took their order, and in some ways the rest of the meal passed okay. Simon was attentive, and polite, and a touch…unreal. As if he was playing a part.
Or maybe it was her discomfort in finding herself in another out-of-control situation. Two guys paying attention to her. The baby. Dealing with her continued mental changes.
Somewhere along the line she had to get a break.
Katy paid for half the lunch bill, fighting to keep it on a “not date” footing. Simon took off back to the construction site he was working. “I’ll call you later to figure out when we can get together.”
Oh joy.
“Hey, Katy.”
Across the café a group waved her down. She said goodbye to Simon and gratefully escaped.
“Your brother done working on my car yet?” Older fellow. The face was familiar, but the man’s name escaped Katy.
Another annoying byproduct of her accident—names were like ghostly creatures, flitting in and out of her memory at the least convenient times. And she was sick of asking names only to get a huge disappointed frown and be informed she was talking to someone she’d known her entire life.
Screw repeating that embarrassment. Instead, Katy smiled big and faked it. Surely she’d get a clue from his response. “You know what? I’m headed back to the shop right now. I’ll check how it’s going, then give you a call.”
The guy nodded. “My new cell number is on the work order, and you know my home number.”
Drat. Foiled again. She walked into the cold winter air and wrapped her coat a little closer around her. The December sky was clear, and her breath escaped in small puffs of white. It was far too pretty out to stay frustrated, even with Simon and her brain being annoying.
She could deal with this. She’d just describe the guy to Clay, and he’d know who it was.
The bell over the shop door rang as she stepped into the warmth of the Thompson and Sons customer area. The front desk was empty, so she stuck her head through the door to the workshop hangar to shout a warning before anyone rushed to answer the summons.
“Just me. I’m back from lunch.”
Why did her gaze have to automatically find Gage where he squatted near the front of a vehicle working on a bumper?
Why did he have to be staring back with that intense expression that made her knees shaky?
She escaped to discard her coat on a side table in the office. Slowly she’d figured out how to do the paperwork and expense tracking, but it was still a struggle making the numbers line up. It was her job, though, so she’d find a way, even if numbers made her jittery.
A couple phone calls later, she remembered the mystery man in the café and returned to the workshop.
“Clay? There’s a guy I met at lunch who wanted to know when his job would be done. Older man, receding grey hair and fairly thin face.”
Her brother wiped his hands on a cloth, his lopsided grin taunting her. “That describes about eighty percent of the owners we’re working on stuff for. You got anything more for me to go on, like, oh…a name?”
She shook her head. “Sorry.”
Then Gage was there, all large and looming and far too sexy in his coverall. How a bit of grease and dust could increase his appeal was unfair. “Memory lapse?”
“Let’s pretend I got memory wiped by aliens. That would make it simpler.”
Gage laughed, his arm curling around her waist to hug her gently. “We need code words and secret signals to use in these cases.”
His lighthearted response soothed her edgy nerves, and it wasn’t so upsetting anymore. “Hang on—I’ve got an idea.”
She dropped the notepad in her hand on the hood of the nearest car and went to work. Maybe a pen wasn’t the best tool, but it still worked. The man’s face appeared before her in inky blue on the lined paper.
Only a few moments later when she held out the sketch to Clay, the shop had gone silent. None of her brothers were working—they had all gathered around her.
Katy glanced at them, puzzled. “What?”
Clay cleared his throat. “When did you learn how to do that?”
“Do what?”
Gage took the notepad from her, staring at the page with a huge grin on his face. “Draw pictures so lifelike I’d swear that Steve Berkhold is about to wink at us. Katy, this is amazing.”
She shrugged. “That’s who needs to be called about the job.”
“But you can’t draw,” Troy informed her. “You nearly flunked art in junior high.”
“Bullshit. How can you flunk art?” Gage asked.
Troy had taken the notepad from her and held it up to admire the sketch. “Ask her, but somehow she managed. I remember the conversations at the dinner table.”
“You remember them because you were thankful someone other than you was getting in shit about their report card.” Mitch tousled Katy’s hair then paced backward to return to his task. “That was the year Troy spent more time skipping English class than attending, right?”
“Fuck off. Not only was that a long time ago, but you were out rebuilding bike engines when you should have been in class as well.” Troy handed the book back to Katy. “Nice picture. And you did have a lower grade than me.”
“Ass.” Katy rested her fists on her hips. “Go away. We’re not teenagers anymore.”
Clay went to c
all Steve, leaving Katy alone with Gage. He leaned back on the railing, arms crossed easily in front of him as he smiled at her.
There was a streak of dirt on his cheek, and without thinking she wiped it away with her thumb.
He snuck an arm around her and lightly tugged her against his body. “So, you’re a budding da Vinci, are you?”
She peeked over her shoulder, but shockingly, no one was watching them. “You’re being awful forward. You don’t think manhandling me in the garage is a bad idea with all my brothers around?”
“First, I’m not manhandling you, I’m hugging you. And second, your brothers need to get used to the idea that we’re a couple. They’re big boys. They can handle it.”
She laid the notebook on his chest and crossed her hands over it, enjoying the close position far more than she wanted to admit. “So we’re a couple now?”
His hand made slow circles on her back. “We don’t need to repeat this conversation. Yes, we’re a couple. Deal with it.”
A laugh bubbled up. In spite of her frustrations, there were a few silver linings beginning to appear. “Hey, Gage. Did you know I could draw?”
“Hmm, you going to draw me sometime?”
Oh, lordy, the images that flooded her brain were far too triple X. Naked Gage. All the long, hard muscles she was currently leaning against glistening with water fresh out of a shower. Or better yet, slick from a hard workout, muscles pumped up and heated.
“You look as if you like that idea.” Gage leaned closer and whispered by her ear, “You want it, you got it. Need to explore this new talent of yours, and I’m game to be of service any way I can.”
Not only did it appear she had miraculously learned how to draw overnight, but his words threw her into a sexual heat wave—the images far too vivid.
“You want to service me?” she teased, shocked by her boldness.
“Oh hell, yeah.” He nuzzled the side of her neck lightly before drawing a deep breath and reluctantly separating them. “Only later. Back to work for us both.”
She stepped away from him, sad at the loss of warmth, but highly pleased by the fact that when she turned in the doorway of the office he was still watching her.