Bridging the Gap

by Annmarie McKenna

  “What the hell is this?”

  God must have been busy. She tried to wiggle out of his grasp, but he held fast.

  “Ryan?” His gaze flicked to hers, a million questions flitting through his eyes and making her squirm.

  His eyes slid shut as though he was searching for patience. Then he opened them and calmly flipped the small, football-shaped, stainless-steel medallion over and discovered all of her secrets.

  “Epilepsy.” His lips moved but there wasn’t much sound to be heard.

  She jerked her hand out of his. Silence reigned while she finished switching shirts. Only when she had herself situated did she finally look at him again. His jaw ticked away with what most likely amounted to anger, but there was sadness on his face. She hated that pity. Had since she was a kid.

  “Did you think that was something I didn’t need to know about?” he asked quietly.

  “No.” Dang it, she did not need to defend herself. “It’s just not something I broadcast. The bracelet was with me all along. If something had happened, and that’s a big if since I’m on medication and haven’t had an episode in almost two years, then the bracelet and my entire life’s information is right in my wallet.”

  You weren’t going to defend yourself, dummy.

  His eyes flashed and his nostrils flared. “But that’s not something I would have known, is it?”

  She rounded on him. “In case of an emergency you wouldn’t have handed over my wallet to the police or paramedics?”

  “You should have told me.”

  “Do you know what happened the last time I told a man I was an epileptic on our first date? He gave me the hairy eyeball, his entire body shivered like I’d told him I had a penis as well as a vagina, he gulped down the beer he’d just ordered, and he ran as fast as his cowardly legs could carry him, so no, I don’t tell everyone what I have. Excuse the hell out of me.”

  Carter shoved his fingers through his hair, making the short strands stand on end. “Is this a job you should be working with this condition?”

  “Oh. Oh, don’t even go there, buster. Do not think for one minute you can tell me what not to do because you’ve fucked me.”

  He pushed into her space, nose to nose once more, this time succeeding because he yanked his hat off and she didn’t have hers as protection anymore. “Maybe I just don’t want to get called one day saying the woman I’ve been making love to had a seizure four stories up and is now hanging by her lifeline.”

  Well hell. Since he put it that way…

  Chapter Three

  The door opening behind him kept Carter from saying what he really wanted to, that he couldn’t even come close to imagining how he would feel should he get a call one day telling him she’d fallen or gotten hurt.

  “Hey, cuz.” A tall, lanky man entered the trailer, a goofy grin on his face.

  Ryan swiped at her shirt and cleared her throat. She narrowed her eyes at Carter before turning her attention to the new arrival. “Tad.” She acknowledged him with a semi-smile, nothing like the one Tad graced her with.

  Carter ground his teeth together to keep from punching the man in the nose when he kissed Ryan’s cheek. Cousin or not, Carter didn’t like the sight of another man so close to his woman.

  Shit. There you go again, Car.

  “Your dad coming in today?” Tad asked, swiping the hard hat from his head and using the long sleeve of his shirt to wipe the sweat from his brow. He moved to the coffee and poured himself a cup.

  “Yes.” Ryan busied herself folding the coffee-drenched shirt. “He’s looking for you actually. I told him I’d tell you to stay put so he could talk to you when he gets here. So, stay put.”

  Tad flashed another grin over his shoulder as he doctored his coffee. “Yes, ma’am.”

  “You better not be drinking my decaf, boy.”

  “Trust me. I value my balls enough not to touch your shit, dear cousin.”

  Irritation threatened to strangle Carter. If he threw her cousin out the door, would he piss her off?

  “Who’s he?” Tad thumbed over his shoulder in Carter’s direction.

  “He’s the man who designed the building you’re working on.” Ryan peeked at Carter from beneath her long lashes. The same way she looked at him after she’d come in his mouth.

  His dick hardened despite the gravity of the situation. Fucking epilepsy. And she was working at a construction site. Granted, he didn’t know shit about epilepsy except that it caused seizures, but he did know seizures and heavy equipment didn’t go hand in hand.

  Maybe Tad could fill him in. Might as well ask. Ryan couldn’t get any angrier than she’d been a few minutes ago. Although he could see her point about not telling him, it still pissed him off. What the hell would he have done if anything had happened?

  “How do you feel about your cousin working here?”

  Tad spun around and Carter could tell that the question had thrown him. “Who? Ryan?”

  “Unless you got another cousin running around.”

  “Nope.” He crossed his arms over his chest, and Carter decided maybe the man wasn’t really lanky after all. He had some bulk on him. “What exactly are you trying to insinuate?”

  “Insinuate nothing. I want to know what you think about her working here.”

  Ryan stepped in front of Tad and glared at Carter. “I don’t think it’s any of your damn business. This is my job. If you can’t handle it, then get the hell out.”

  Now wait a minute. Get the hell out of the trailer or get the hell out of her life? Because neither choice was going to happen. He shook his head. Her mouth dropped open.

  “Not gonna happen, sweetheart.”

  “Sweetheart?” Tad asked at the same time Ryan gasped.

  “Stay out of it, Tad.” Ryan didn’t bother glancing at her cousin, but kept her focus—the one shooting daggers—on Carter.

  “You have the audacity to call me sweetheart after all you’ve said to me this morning?”

  Her outrage had him raising his eyebrows. “Do you think the things I said were uncalled for?”

  “What did he say to you?” Tad’s voice took on a threatening tone.

  “How would you feel if you’d just learned about me what I just learned about you?” Carter questioned, ignoring Tad’s sudden defensive stance.

  Ryan’s mouth opened and closed. Her hands went to her hips.

  “What the heck are we talking about?” Tad scratched his head and looked back and forth between them.

  “Nothing,” Ryan snapped at the same time Carter said, “Epilepsy.”

  “Ah.” Tad’s one word was filled with understanding. “She just tell you about that, did she?”

  “No.” Ryan appeared ready to stamp her foot in a mini tantrum.

  So damn cute.

  “Out, Tad.” Ryan pointed to the door.

  Tad’s forehead wrinkled. “You told me to stay put.” He turned to Carter. “How’d you know about her condition if she didn’t tell you?”

  “The bracelet.”

  “Right. I keep telling her it’s stupid to keep it in the dark, but what do I know?”

  “Move.” She pushed him toward the exit.

  Tad resisted. “For what it’s worth, I don’t think this is the best place for her either. Too dangerous. Look what happened to Eric.” He shrugged. “Tom has other ideas though.”

  “If you don’t shut up, I’m going to kick your ass.” This time she shoved at Tad’s back with both arms. The man didn’t budge.

  “Who’s Eric?” Carter fumed. How many men did she have in her life, for God’s sake?

  “The foreman. He broke his leg last week in an accident. Pretty bad too. Coulda been her.”

  “But it wasn’t me,” Ryan growled. This time she succeeded in forcing Tad forward with the toe of her boot to the back of his knee. “Eric’s accident was just that. A freak thing.”

  “And you don’t think having a seizure on site will be considered a freak thing?” Tad said wha
t Carter wanted to yell.

  “Jesus H. Christ,” she shouted. “You know as well as I do that I haven’t had an episode in two years. It’s why I’m allowed to drive. Do I operate the heavy machinery? No. Do I use the I-beams as my personal balance beam? No. Am I standing in the presence of the bright, flashing welder? No. So get the hell off my back. Tom trusts in my abilities or he wouldn’t have put me here.”

  “No, he wouldn’t have.” Tad nodded in agreement. “He would have put me here.”

  “Exactly. So until I’m flopping around on the ground like you two seem to have me doing every five minutes the way you’re talking, let me do my job. I went to school and worked my tail off the same as you, Tad. Give me a chance to prove I’m not going to let you down, would you?”

  Crap. Shit. The woman knew how to make a man feel the size of a pea. Carter swallowed. He had to give her credit. She knew which buttons to push. Perhaps he wasn’t being fair.

  “Leave. Now.” Ryan didn’t lift her gaze from the floor. She looked dejected and it tore at Carter’s heart to know he was responsible for dousing the light in her eyes.

  “Fine. Going.” Tad grudgingly walked to the door, yanked it open and disappeared, slapping the door shut behind him.

  Carter followed Tad to make sure the man had really gone away. He needed the privacy for a few minutes.

  “You too.” Her voice was firm.

  “What?” Carter pretended not to understand. No way was she going to throw him out now. Not before he’d groveled at her feet for forgiveness for being a total ass.

  She sucked in a breath and finally raised her face to his. “You heard me. I have work to do.”

  “And I have other things in mind,” Carter said, standing his ground.

  “Are you kidding me? If you think for even one second I’m going to let you—”

  He stepped over to her and grabbed her hands, holding tight when she tried to wiggle loose. “Forgive me.”

  He smiled at her confusion.

  He would have to touch her, wouldn’t he? Ryan fought her body’s response to him. She would not give in. She would not be swayed by the heat shimmering in his eyes. She would not let the tingle in her clit rule her brain.

  She would not, she would not, she would not.

  “Forgive me?” He tilted her face up to his with a crooked finger under her chin.

  His lips were so close. Close enough to kiss. Three inches max. She knew what they would taste like. Two inches. Slow motion. What the hell was he waiting for?

  “For you to forgive me.” He whispered the words.

  Had she said that out loud? One inch. One more inch…

  His lips landed on hers, soft when she would have sworn he was angry enough to take her with a vengeance. But who gave a crap how he kissed when all she wanted to do was strip her jeans off and crawl onto the rock-hard dick currently pressed against her belly.

  Ryan opened to him, accepted his tongue in her mouth, tangled hers with his and lifted a leg to his hip. One large hand, calloused she knew, gripped her ass cheek, squeezing. His fingertips grazed her pussy through thick denim and she wanted to cry out at the almost-nonexistent touch. It wasn’t enough. She wiggled in his hold, trying to get closer when his feet started moving them backward.

  His lips traveled away from her mouth, across her jaw and to her ear. “Does this mean I’m forgiven?”

  The velvet silk of his words sent a shiver through her body. If he didn’t fuck her soon…

  “Forgiven?” What had they been talking about?

  “Mmm-hmm. For being a jerk. Though I’m not sure whether to paddle your ass for worrying me or just fuck you into submission.”

  Her butt hit the desk behind her as his teeth raked along her neck. “I don’t care which.” She gasped and jerked her head up so fast she nailed his nose with her forehead. “I didn’t say that.”

  A wicked grin transformed his face. “You did.” With both hands on her hips, he lifted her to sit on the desk, spread her thighs and situated himself between them. Then he paused, his eyes creasing as if in thought.

  “Is it…safe?”

  The man was a puzzle. “Is what safe?”

  Carter sighed and took her cheek in one palm. “To, you know, have sex.”

  “Oh my God.” She would have jumped off the table but he had her pinned so she opted for slapping him instead. The blow, meant to be harsh, was. It cracked against his shoulder, making him wince. “You are an unbelievable bastard, you know that? We’ve been going at each other for two weeks. Has anything happened? No. I hardly think you knowing about it is likely to cause me to go into spasms.”

  “I seem to recall many times I’ve caused you to spasm.” He brushed a fingertip over one of her nipples straining against her shirt, and she sucked in a breath.

  “Exactly. The good kind of spasms.” She groped for the tails of his shirt and pulled them free from his pants so she could feel the softness of his satiny skin. Her palms traced a path up his sides, lifting his shirt until she reached his pecs.

  “Turnabout is fair play.” He stepped back out of her reach and stripped the T-shirt off her torso before she could take another breath, then stared at her chest.

  If she were at all self-conscious, she would cover herself from his gaze. Instead she arched her back and did her small breasts proud. “Not thinking about epilepsy now, are you?”

  “Don’t be a smart ass, sweetheart.” He moved in again and pushed the straps of her bra off her shoulders to reveal pert nipples. With a flick of his thumb and forefinger he undid the clasp between her breasts. “I never get tired of looking at you.”

  “You’re not so bad yourself.” She wanted to tear through the buttons of his shirt but tackled them one by one, exposing his abs inch by tan inch. He had a tickle spot right below his left armpit which she found without error.

  He jerked in response and reached for her wandering fingers. “Not this time.”

  “What?”

  “The innocent card won’t fly.”

  She pouted and fluttered her lashes.

  “That won’t work either.”

  “Why I just don’t know what you’re referring to, Carter,” she cooed in her best Gone with the Wind imitation.

  He grunted and left her sitting there, boobs hanging out—as much as it was possible for little boobs to hang—and her clit ringing with need.

  “Hey. Where are you going? I wasn’t done yet.”

  He turned and walked backward, looking devilishly sexy with his shirt open to the top button and red tie swinging over his naked chest, pointing at her reward.

  “You want Tad to walk in on us?”

  Ryan’s cheeks heated. She’d been ready to have sex on her desk without once thinking about the fact that anyone could have walked in. First day on the job and she’d get caught screwing around. Literally. The thought had her leaping from the desktop.

  “Right. We can’t do this.”

  “The hell we can’t.” The lock clicked decisively with a flick of his wrist, and Ryan licked her lips.

  Jeez the man had some kind of effect on her libido, making her forget everything except wanting to partake of his body. If the gleam in his eye meant anything, he didn’t have any qualms about fucking her on her desk.

  She noticed her nipples and clit had no qualms either.

  “Jeans down to your knees, bend over the desk.”

  “Excuse me?” Her heart raced. She’d never heard that particular tone from his mouth before and couldn’t decide if it scared her or excited her.

  “You heard me.”

  He tugged on his tie, loosening the red silk enough to slip it over his head. Wouldn’t want to retie it now would he? He pulled it off and tossed it somewhere behind him. With one hand, he unbuttoned the last remaining button and with the other, unbuckled the black belt threaded through his khakis. Watching as he stalked her from across the small trailer, Ryan swallowed. The next thing to go was the zipper on his pants, revealing blue plaid bo
xers, his cock a hard ridge straining to escape, the broad, smooth head poking out from the opening.

  She was so going to get fired.

  Chapter Four

  He wanted to smile at the unsure look that crossed her beautiful features. Her blue eyes sparkled with a mixture of uncertainty and desire and her bra clung to her elbows where it had fallen earlier. A beautiful flush stole over her chest, telling him the one thing he needed to know.

  She wanted to be naughty. Her eyes flashed to the door at his rear. Making sure he’d locked it?

  Carter decided to give her another chance to do his bidding before he did it for her. “Jeans down, bend over, sweetheart.”

  That pink tongue of hers darted out again to moisten her lips, and if her nipples could speak, they’d be screaming, “Take me, take me!”

  Eyes wide as he divested himself of his shirt, she shrugged out of the bra and reached for her fly. Then her chin lifted and she caught his gaze as if in challenge. She quickly yanked the denim to her knees. Red panties flaunted themselves, practically taunting him to remove them from her slender legs and stuff them in his pocket as a memento for later. He may have to do just that.

  He twirled his finger in the air, waiting not quite so patiently for her to finish what he’d requested of her.

  “You will pay for this,” she mumbled, turning to face the desk before slowly and provocatively bending at the waist. Ryan glanced over her shoulder at him, her lips pursed, nostrils flared.

  She definitely wanted this.

  The jeans prevented her legs from spreading and provided him with a gorgeous view of her ass. He’d take her there someday, he decided, show her how he could make her feel the bite of painful pleasure.

  As it was, she wiggled the delectable cheeks of her bottom, tempting him at a time when she shouldn’t be messing with him. Didn’t she realize how nervous she made him now? How he wouldn’t be able to work without wondering if she was all right. He envisioned a long night of research to find out exactly what he was dealing with.