I grip his hand in mine and give it a firm shake. “Trip.”
Max nods. “So I’ve been told.”
I ask the question that’s been burning in my brain since I placed him as the guy who’d dragged Holly away from me last night. “You her boyfriend or something?”
He grimaces and shakes his head like I’ve just insulted him. “God no. We’re just friends.”
Just friends I can work with. He must be gay. Any red-blooded guy would be proud to own up to tapping an ass like Holly’s, but...whatever.
I’m so glad she wasn’t my random fuck last night, although I bet she would’ve been ten times better than what I ended up with.
Damn it.
I have to stop thinking about her that way. She’s not some random chick I’ll never see again. There’s no ‘hump and dump’ option here. I need her on my side in order to get the low-down on this place. I can already tell she’s the key to making this a successful business venture.
I glance back in Holly’s direction and watch as she piles a bunch of binders on the counter. She doesn’t even look in my direction. “What makes you so sure she doesn’t hate my guts?”
Max grins wider than the Cheshire cat. “I was there last night. My girl in there doesn’t just let any guy get his lips on her. If she didn’t like you, she would’ve kneed you in the balls the moment you came on to her. Granted, she was drunk last night, and she’s going through some things, but she still allowed you to kiss her.”
I look him directly in the eye. “You seem awfully protective. You sure you’re not into her?”
He shakes his head. “She’s my best friend and I watch out for her. I don’t like to see her get hurt because she’s a good person and deserves better than what she’s been dealt lately. Holly’s a tough woman, but she’s also sweet and sensitive. If you aren’t sincere in your intentions toward her, I’m asking you to back off. She’s not ready for more heartbreak.”
I open my mouth to ask what he meant by that exactly when Holly calls my name. “Trip, you coming or not? I don’t have all day.”
Max takes a couple steps back. “I’m sure I’ll see you around.”
I nod as his words of warning flow through my mind. “Later, man, and thanks.”
“No problem. Good luck.” He laughs as he hops on his dirt bike and fires up the motor.
Inside, the stifling air is hard to ignore, but now I understand why they don’t turn the air on. Their business is failing and they need to save every penny they can. I yank my ball cap off and wipe the sweat off my forehead with the back of my wrist. The entire state of Arizona is hot as hell.
Holly’s eyes train on my hair and her lips twist. “Do you dye your hair? I didn’t notice how black it was last night.”
She leans over the counter to fetch the schedule. I eye her daisy-duke covered ass appreciatively while her head’s turned. If she catches me eye-fucking her, she’ll smack the shit out of me, but it’s worth the risk. Her ass is one hundred percent biteable and I curse myself for wanting a piece.
I run my hand through my hair, pushing it back off my face before slapping my hat back on. “Yeah. I like it jet-black. It helps people tell me and my twin brother apart.”
She tilts her head and leans on the counter across from me. “Is he identical?”
I nod. “He is, except for the hair. His is more of a sandy-blond color.”
“Huh.” The look on her face tells me she’s trying to figure out why I color my hair. Or worse, she’s figuring out who I am.
“You’ve got something on your mind.”
“No...well, yes. I was wondering something.”
“What’s that?”
She clears her throat. “I can see wanting to stand out from your brother when you’re little to help people tell you apart, but why do feel the need to do it as an adult?”
I sigh in relief. I was fully prepared for her to ask me about Black Falcon. “We work together.”
Her eyebrows crunch together. “Does he work for the same investor too?”
Fuck. Panic floods over me as I realize my slip up. Quickly, I try to cover my mistake. “No. I’m working for the investor as a favor. He and I are personal friends. My brother and I have our own business.”
“Doing what?”
“We, um...” I trail off, trying to think of a plausible lie. “Our family owns a...”—I glance around the counter and the cowtail candies catch my eye—“farm.”
She flinches at the same time I want to punch myself in the face for saying something so ridiculous. “What kind of farm?”
I don’t know the first thing about farming. Why in the fuck did I say that?
Holly stares at me expectantly and I clear my throat. “Cows. We farm cows.”
I want to fucking kill myself.
“Really?” She raises her brow. “Like a dairy farm? I’ve never seen a farmer look like you before.”
I nod. Milk, yes. That’s something I know about. I’ve seen people milk cows before on television not to mention I eat a ton of cereal and milk. “Yes, exactly like a dairy farm. We go out and milk the cows every morning by hand.”
She laughs. “Nice try. You almost had me for a minute. I know they get hooked up to machines for milking. I’ve seen that in a movie before. I didn’t know you had a sense of humor.”
I laugh too but it’s fake as hell, and I pray she can’t hear the nervousness in my voice. “There’s no fooling you.”
She leans across the counter with a smirk on her pretty pink lips. Without knowing she’s doing it, she gives me a perfect view of her boobs. “There’s a stellar mind behind these good looks, sweetheart,” Holly says while lowering her voice to imitate me.
Wow. Now she’s throwing my own lines back in my face, making me sound like a complete fucking moron. “Good one.”
Holly straightens her stance and pats her hand on the stack of black binders. Each one has enough papers to fill a phone book. “Come on, genius. We’ve got a lot of books to go over.”
I eye the stack and frown. “It’s all on paper?”
She nods. “Dad didn’t know how to work a computer when he started this place and never got around to converting all the books. Besides, computers cost a lot of money.”
I run my hand over my face. “This is going to take forever.”
She shrugs. “I know, so we might as well get going. The faster we get through all this, the quicker you can convince your boss this is a great place to invest in.”
It takes at least an hour for Holly to explain the set-up of all the paper documents and then another hour before I can even begin making sense of their system. No wonder this business is going to shit. There’s not even an accurate way to track the expenses. Apparently there are also shoeboxes full of receipts that Bill has never gotten around to adding into the budget. This is so not good. Updating the computers alone in this place is going to cost a pretty penny. I can only imagine what the track looks like. I’ll have to look into that tomorrow.
Holly interlocks her fingers and stretches her arms above her head, allowing the gray uniform top she’s wearing to ride up and bit and give me a peek at her toned stomach. “I need a break. What about you?”
I fold the page over in the book I’m reading through and rub my eyes. “I’m starving. Where’s a good place to eat around here?”
“If you drive into town, there are a few places.”
I tilt my head. “You don’t want to come with me?”
She shakes her head. “There’s stuff to make peanut butter sandwiches in the house.”
I knit my brow in confusion. “Peanut butter sandwiches for dinner?”
“Why not? It’s cheap and filling,” she argues.
I stand and find that my ass is all sweaty from sitting on the black, plastic stool for such a long period of time. “You aren’t eating that. Get your ass up. You’re coming to dinner with me.”
She frowns. “Really, I can’t go. I can’t afford it.”
; Now I feel like a total jackass. “My treat. I’ve been a jerk to you since I got here. The least I can do is buy you dinner to make up for it. We can go anywhere you want.”
She drops her eyes to the counter while she thinks it over. “Okay. But this doesn’t change what I said earlier. I still won’t sleep with you.”
“I haven’t asked you to, have I?”
“Well...not in those exact words, but your actions—”
I grab her arm and haul her up off the stool. “Like I told you, if I intended on fucking you, you’d know it. Now quit talking nonsense and come on. I’m so hungry I’m about to gnaw my arm off.”
I don’t give her much choice in the matter. The caveman in me comes out and I pull her behind me out the door.
The sun setting over the mountainside helps cool down the intense September heat, but it doesn’t change it that drastically. Now instead of one hundred and five degrees, it’s a balmy eighty-eight. Whoever told me the high temperatures in Arizona were a different kind of heat to Kentucky was fucking loony. Eighty-eight is still fucking eighty-eight. It’s the kind of heat where it feels like a furnace is blowing directly on you and your balls stick to your leg. It’s fucking uncomfortable.
I continue to pull Holly along until we reach a black Mustang parked around back.
“WOW! How much do you make working for this investor? That car is beautiful.” Holly twists out of my hold and begins walking around the car slowly. “Is this a two thousand fourteen—a V-8?”
She runs her hand along the hood, caressing the sleek paint job. “I think so. It’s not mine. It’s a rental. I’m not much of a car fanatic. As long as it’s fast, I like it.”
Her head snaps up in my direction and her eyes widen. “Most guys won’t let anyone touch their baby, but since it’s not technically yours, will you let me drive it? I’ve always wanted to test one of these babies out.”
The gleam in her eye is the same one I get when I get a new set of drums, or find a hot piece of ass. When something you really want is within your grasp it’s easy to get that look of awe on your face. Fuck me. I never imagined a car would turn her on. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen a woman get hot and bothered by a car.
“Sure.” I toss the keys over the hood and she catches them with quick, nimble fingers. “Anything to relieve that lady-boner of yours.”
“I should say you’re a perv for that remark, but since you’re letting me drive this beautiful machine, I’ll let that one slide.” A genuine smile toys with her lips and it’s nice to feel like we can actually be friends. “I can’t believe you’re letting me drive it. Do you know how much these things cost?”
I open my mouth to tell her money really isn’t a big deal for me but quickly close it, remembering this is the same girl that didn’t want to go out to grab a dinner with me because she didn’t have the money for a proper meal.
I shrug and play it cool. “No clue, but I’ve got insurance. Besides, if you scratch it, I can find more creative ways for you to pay me back.”
She rolls her eyes as she opens the driver’s door. “If you want to make it through the next month with your nuts fully intact, I suggest you cut all your bullshit and quit trying to get in my pants.”
I flop down in the passenger seat and glance over in her direction as she cranks the engine. As much as I know she’s right—nothing can ever happen between us—it doesn’t deter my normal, overly sexual personality. It’s just the way I communicate with women. They always respond the way I want them to.
Well, they usually do.
Holly is an entirely new breed of woman for me. She doesn’t give in easily to my bullshit lines, which is both frustrating and intriguing at the same time. It doesn’t help that she’s fucking beautiful, and I’ve tasted those perfect lips before.
I lean my head back against the headrest and allow my eyes to trace over every inch of her as she revs the motor and shifts gears. “You can drive stick. I’m impressed.”
Holly’s eyes cut towards me. “Why?”
“I guess it fits working on a track and all, but most hot girls can’t do it. I think they’re afraid they’ll break a nail or some shit.”
The tires bark as they meet the blacktop of the main stretch of road. “Not me. I love anything fast.”
The bare skin showing on her thighs as her shorts ride up while she works the clutch is nearly enough to make me go out of my mind. They’re so tanned and toned. I imagine her wrapping them around my waist and I have to restrain myself from biting my own knuckle and letting out a, “God damn”.
Holly notices me staring at her as she slides her eyes towards me. “What are you looking at?”
I smirk as I think about telling her the truth and trying one more time to get in her pants, but then remember I love my balls far too much to push her much more. So, I do what any respectable guy caught in my position would do, lie. “Just wondering why someone like you doesn’t have a boyfriend?”
Her brow furrows and her pretty pink lips twist. “Who says I don’t have one?”
I chuckle. “No one has to tell me. It’s obvious you don’t.”
Her heads whips to the right. “Yes...I mean no. Yes, someone had to tell you because no, it’s not obvious.”
I’ve flustered her. Maybe I can actually tap into what makes this girl tick. It would be nice to find common ground and make my relationship with her a little more pleasant. After all, if I have to deal with her indefinitely, I’d at least like us to be friendly.
I shrug. “I know you don’t for two reasons. Number one, I’ve been with you most of the day and you haven’t gotten one phone call or text from a guy.” She opens her mouth to argue with me, but I cut her off. “Believe me, if I had a girl like you, I’d be calling all the time. And the second thing, no guy in their right mind would be okay letting his girl go anywhere with me. Women are defenseless against my sexiness. You should know that.”
She laughs. “Oh. My. God. You are so full of yourself. I’ve never met anyone like you. If I hadn’t been drunk last night, you wouldn’t have got that far with me.”
“Kid yourself all you want, sweetness. You liked it.” I grin. “As for the comment about meeting anyone like me, I’ll take it as a compliment.”
“You shouldn’t, because I didn’t mean it as one.”
“Well, however you meant it, I like standing out. You’re talking to a guy who dyes his hair to do just that, remember?”
She smiles and nods. “Touché. Very true.”
We ride in silence for a few more minutes and my mind drifts back to the topic of Holly and a boyfriend. I know she’s kind of a bitch, or at least likes to come off as one, but I can’t imagine one of these local yahoos couldn’t overlook that to tap her fine ass on a regular basis. It’s driving me nuts. “Really, I have to know. Why don’t you have a boyfriend?”
She sighs. “I had one until recently, but he turned into kind of an asshole. So now I’m waiting until I find a guy who meets all the requirements on my checklist.”
“Oh, God. You’re not one of those crazy chicks that have a dream man in mind and turn away every decent guy that approaches you because he’s not a doctor, lawyer or famous with lots of money are you?” Those kinds of women are the worst and a few of them have tried to get their hooks into me. I’ll be damned if I ever let that happen.
“Absolutely not. I just want a real man that isn’t a complete jackass and who appreciates me. I don’t care about money and as far as fame is concerned, I would never date a famous person.”
“What’s wrong with famous people?”
“What’s not wrong with them?” She lets out a sarcastic laugh. “They’re egotistical, beautiful and they know it. Cheat on you any chance they get. You know, the real full of themselves types.” She gives me a pointed look. “Kind of like you.”
I don’t know why, but my heart drops into my stomach. It’s not like I’d ever date her, but hearing her confirm there’d be no way she’d date a celebrity lik
e me is crushing.
I laugh nervously and do my best to throw her off my rock star scent. “Well, I can promise you that I’m just a regular guy. But I won’t argue with you about me being beautiful. The ladies do love me, especially the cougars. They’re all over this shit.” I make a show of grabbing my junk.
“Eww. You are so gross,” she mumbles.
I laugh at her salty reaction. “Don’t knock it. There’s something to be said about experience. I’m total cougar bait and I appreciate a woman who rides cock well.”
She shakes her head. “You have no couth.”
A deep laugh rumbles out of my chest. “Couth? Who uses that word anymore?
She shrugs. “I do. I don’t see how you do it. Have sex with people like it means nothing, especially with someone who’s a lot older than you. You know most of those kinds of relationships are just about sex, right? That’s why I can’t ever see myself dating an older man.”
“What do you consider older?”
“Oh, I don’t know, like ten years older than me.”
“Do you think I’m too old for you?” I question.
Holly raises her right eyebrow and examines my face. “You can’t be more than, what, twenty four? That’s not too bad.”
I clear my throat. “I’m twenty-five, actually.”
“Really?”
“Why does that surprise you?”
“I don’t know. I thought I was being generous with saying twenty-five. You act so much younger sometimes.”
My lips pull into a tight line. “I should be deeply offended, but I’m not. I can be serious if I need to. Life’s too short. I choose to have fun with it.”
She nods. “I guess I can understand that philosophy.”
Holly turns in to one of those chain steakhouses and asks if this place is okay. After I tell her it’s fine, she whips into a parking spot and throws the manual transmission into neutral.
She grins as she revs the engine one last time before shutting it down. “I’ve never met a girl who’s into cars before.”
“That’s because most girls are pampered princesses who don’t understand the rush of going fast.” She opens the car door and gets out, while I do the same.
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