The Heiress and the Mechanic: San Diego Social Scene Book 5

by Tess Summers

  “So, unless things change, you keep showing up and doing what you do best.”

  “It doesn’t work like that, Ben. It will be subtle, so they don’t open themselves up for a lawsuit—but I’m going to be pushed out within the year. Eighteen months tops.”

  “You know what? We’ll worry about that when the time comes. Tonight, you’re going to hold your head high, flash that diamond around so your father gets a good look at it, and dance so that anyone looking at you will know the MS isn’t winning. Even if you have to fake it.”

  “I might be in bed all day tomorrow if I do that.”

  He leaned down to growl in her ear, “Baby girl, you’re going to be in bed all day tomorrow regardless.”

  That made her nipples stiff, and her toes curled in her high-heeled shoes. Although she was reluctantly warming to the idea of staying a while longer, now she wanted to leave for an entirely different reason.

  “If’ we’re staying, I’m going to need another drink.”

  He broke out into a big grin. “Coming right up,” he said with a wink then disappeared to leave her alone with her thoughts. Fortunately, her friends at the table engaged her in their conversation and didn’t let her get into her head.

  Harper realized she thought of them as her friends, too, and smiled. It was nice to have them in her corner—especially when her corner man was a protective, sexy, mountain of a man named Benjamin Charles McCallister.

  ****

  Ben

  He’d never wanted to pummel a man as badly as he’d wanted to after Colin Finch’s stunt with Travis Sterling. If her father thought this was going to make Scout indebted to him or get her back with her ex, he obviously didn’t know his daughter very well.

  “Fucking idiot,” he muttered as he made another trip to the bar. The ladies had been dancing and needed water. He’d volunteered to go get it for them, hoping for another chance to run into Colin. Perhaps he’d give Ben a reason to knock him the fuck out. Okay, Ben already had a reason—legitimate opportunity might be the more operative word. Maybe Colin would start a shoving match or something.

  Instead, he found Fran waiting patiently for the bartender to deliver her order when he came to stand next to her.

  “Benjamin McCallister…” she started, drumming her fingers thoughtfully on the wooden bar. “I’ve done a lot of matchmaking in my day, and I have to say, I never would have put you and Harper Finch together.”

  He wasn’t sure how to respond to that. “I’m hoping there’s a but coming?”

  She stopped drumming her fingers.

  “Oh, there is. Watching you two tonight… you’re perfect together. I couldn’t have found a better match for either of you.”

  He chuckled softly. “Well, I’m glad we have the Frannie Ericson seal of approval, even if she didn’t initiate the union. That means a lot.”

  She was stone-cold serious when she replied, “You have it all right—not that you need it. It’s not important what I think, but you have it.”

  The man behind the bar handed her a glass of white wine, and she bid Ben farewell, but not before he grabbed her free wrist.

  “Thank you, Fran. Truly.”

  After Colin Finch’s disdain for their relationship, having Fran Ericson sanction their pairing meant a lot to him.

  “Take good care of each other,” she said with a soft smile and knowing wink, then left to circulate among the guests. Judge Ericson was sitting at the table with his daughter and Travis, content to let his wife eagerly perform her socialite duties while he happily remained in the background. They seemed to complement each other well.

  Ben felt that way about him and Scout—they balanced each other. Right now, she needed him to pick up the slack, which he was happy to do. He knew she hated feeling vulnerable, but it was his job to take care of her and make her strong again. And he had to confess, he liked it when she leaned on him. Call it male ego, but it made him feel good. Needed. Trusted.

  He arrived back at the table just as the DJ started a slow song.

  “Come on, Scout,” he said, offering her his hand.

  Once they were on the dancefloor, he murmured in her ear, “Have I told you how gorgeous you look tonight?”

  “Only about twenty times. But you can you tell me again.”

  “You look good enough to eat, baby girl.”

  She bit her bottom lip as she fought back a smile and looked up at him through her lashes.

  “I could say the same about you. I thought I was going to have to fight that woman in the red dress earlier.”

  “You don’t have any competition, Scout, and you never will. You’re it for me—forever.”

  “I love you,” she whispered, and put her head on his shoulder as he moved her around the portable wooden tiles.

  He kissed the top of her head while he held her reverently in his arms.

  “I love you, too,” he replied quietly.

  The song ended, and they broke apart, but she captured his hand.

  “I’m going to bite the bullet and go say hello to Ava. Do you want to come with me?”

  “Of course.”

  They found Travis’s table, although he was nowhere to be found. His very pregnant, very adorable wife, however, was sitting with her shoes off and feet up on an adjoining chair, her navy blue chiffon gown pooling under her heels.

  “Hello beautiful. You look uncomfortable,” Harper said as she bent and hugged her friend around the shoulders.

  Ava pulled out the chair next to her and said, “Hi, you! Please, sit down. You look absolutely stunning.” She gestured to her kitten heels lying at the bottom of her chair and wiggled her painted toes. “My feet are so swollen… there’s no way I’m getting those back on.”

  “Travis is going to have to carry you to the car,” Harper giggled as she took the offered seat.

  The blonde flashed a pair of flip flops from her bag.

  “Oh, no. I came prepared. I knew I wasn’t going to last long in those things.”

  Ben moved a chair and sat close to his future bride.

  “Ava, this is my fiancé, Ben McCallister.”

  A slow smile crept across Ava’s face.

  “Your fiancé? Congratulations! That’s wonderful!” She turned to Ben with a tilted head. “McCallister… Do you have any connection to McCallister Motors?”

  Harper giggled. “He is McCallister Motors.”

  “I’ve heard really great things about your shop. Travis needs to utilize your services,” she said, and rolled her eyes. “My husband’s car addiction is ridiculous.”

  “But nothing rivals your shoe addiction, baby,” Travis Sterling said with a smirk as he kissed his wife’s cheek and sat down on the other side of her.

  Ava let out a sigh.

  “I miss my shoes.”

  “You’ll be reunited soon,” her husband replied with an empathetic smile.

  “And you’ll have a beautiful little baby girl when you do,” Harper added.

  “Oh my god,” she said, throwing her head back and putting her hand on her baby bump. “She just needs to come already!”

  “Soon, my love,” Travis said, kissing her lips softly—to either comfort or silence her, Ben wasn’t sure which. Maybe a little bit of both. He pulled away and rubbed her stomach tenderly. “She needs to finish cooking.”

  “I know, I know,” Ava pouted, putting her hand on top of his.

  “I promise to give you the best push present.”

  “It better be a beach house,” the mom-to-be grumbled, making everyone laugh—except her husband.

  Instead, he looked deflated, and shook his head.

  “I can’t surprise you with anything.’

  Travis Sterling bought his wife a beach house for her push present? And she didn’t even seem surprised, just gave him a smug smile.

  As if he couldn’t resist Ava’s charms, he leaned over and kissed her again.

  “You take such good care of me, husband,” she murmured against his lips.
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  “Yeah, yeah,” he snarled, but his grin gave him away. He was obviously a happy man.

  As devoted as he was to his wife and family, Ben had a hard time understanding how he could let his pregnant employees be treated so badly. Or an employee with MS.

  But Ben knew that people were different when it came to their business. Some were able to live by the old adage, it’s not personal, it’s business. But Ben found his business did better when it was personal. Then again, he wasn’t running a multi-million-, possibly billion-, dollar law firm and buying his wife a beach house for a push present.

  While he’d never have beach house as a gift money, he did well for himself. Money wouldn’t be an issue if Harper quit, but Ben knew she loved being an attorney. She’d dedicated herself to her career at CBSC—losing that would devastate her.

  “How about if we have lunch this week?” Ava suggested. “It sounds like we need to catch up.”

  “Does Wednesday work?”

  Ava took her phone from her oversized bag and pushed some buttons.

  “Wednesday works great. I’ll come to you. Twelve thirty?”

  “Perfect,” Harper replied, hugging her friend then standing up. Ben followed suit.

  They were just turning to leave when Travis casually threw out, “Harper, can you come by my office Monday morning? There’s some things we need to discuss.”

  Harper’s expression turned grave, but she nodded her head. “I’ll be there first thing.”

  “Not too early,” he said with a warm smile. “I’ve got daycare duty.”

  She nodded again, attempting to return his smile with a weak one of her own.

  “Have a great weekend. Enjoy the rest of your night. I think I’m going to take my wife home now so she can put her pajamas on.”

  “Yes!” Ava said, sitting up enthusiastically and pulling her flip flops from her bag. “Finally.”

  Ben chuckled with amusement at the pregnant woman’s reaction and escorted Scout back to their table.

  “I think I’m ready to go, too,” she said solemnly. Her mood was back to how it had been after her father had outed her to Travis. He hated seeing her so dejected.

  “Let me see if the others want to go now or if we should call an Uber.”

  After a quick discussion with Luke, he decided to call the car service and take her straight to their place.

  “Come on, baby girl. Let’s get you home.”

  Chapter Forty

  Harper

  By the time they arrived home, she was exhausted—physically and mentally. Ben seemed to sense this, and immediately walked her to the bedroom, where he helped her get undressed. He grabbed the big t-shirt of his that she liked to sleep in and pulled it over her head, then turned down the bedcovers and insisted she get in.

  She didn’t offer any objection, even though she knew she was leaving the dogs for him to deal with.

  She whimpered an apology about neglecting Honey and Pongo, but he quickly shut her down.

  “I’m perfectly capable of taking care of them, Scout. Go to sleep. I’ll be back in a minute.”

  It felt nice, letting him take care of her. She was able to relax, knowing Ben would handle things, and quickly fell asleep, not waking until morning.

  Unfortunately, things still looked as bleak the next day as they had the night before. Travis requesting a meeting with her on Monday morning could not be good. She tried to put a positive spin on things, to no avail. Her career meant everything to her.

  Damn her daddy for doing this to her. It was bad enough that he hadn’t taken her side in her divorce, but to purposely sabotage her job because she wanted to marry a man he didn’t deem acceptable—that was disgusting. The fact that Ben treated her a million times better than Tyler ever had made her father’s actions even more egregious. How could he want his only daughter to be with someone who didn’t value her?

  Ben cherished her.

  “I feel your wheels turning, Scout,” he said quietly once he realized she was awake. “It’s going to be okay. We’ll figure things out.”

  “I know. It’s just going to be a rough couple of days.”

  “I’m here—for whatever you need. To hold you at the end of the day, to talk to, to beat someone’s ass if you need me to. Your wish is my command, baby girl. Just tell me what you need.”

  Harper wrapped her arms around his chest and nestled closer to him.

  “Thanks. I think right now, I just need you to hold me.”

  “You don’t even have to ask, baby.”

  His big arms came around her sides, and she felt like she could finally breathe again. She took a deep, cleansing breath and immediately felt better. Her worries were less heavy with Ben there to help her hold them.

  “You make me happy,” she purred.

  “Good. That’s my job.”

  She lifted her head up.

  “Your job is to make me happy?”

  He nodded thoughtfully. “Among other things.”

  “Like what?”

  He looked upward, like he was thinking.

  “Well, love you, of course. Protect you and keep you safe. Listen to you. Be a shoulder to cry on or a hand to hold. Know when to make love to you, when to fuck you, and when to just hold you. And never let you forget how special you are.”

  “Oh,” she said in awe.

  “How am I doing so far?”

  “You definitely deserve a raise. Your job performance has been stellar.”

  His fingertips began to trace down her stomach toward her nether region, then slowly back up her stomach again. Over the t-shirt she was wearing, he drew circles along her tits and around her nipples, then traveled south again.

  He did this repeatedly, stopping at her panty line each time. Harper tilted her pelvis in invitation, but he didn’t take her up on it, even though she could feel his hard cock against her leg. He just kept teasing her.

  She started to rub the outline of his erection through his boxer briefs. “Benji?” she asked in a demure tone.

  “Hmm?”

  He moved his fingertips further down to make circles over her panties. Her very wet panties.

  “I think now is one of those times when you should fuck me. Hard.”

  Her panties were ripped in two in an instant, followed by the shredding of the t-shirt she had on so she lay bare beneath him. He slid his underwear off as he moved between her legs, and with one hard thrust, he filled her as deep as he could go.

  It was exactly what she needed.

  He began to fuck her hard, as she had requested. Holding her tight, his arms moved up and wrapped around her shoulders for leverage as he slammed inside her pussy, which couldn’t get enough of him.

  “This is what you needed, baby girl,” he growled. “You needed to be claimed by me.”

  He wasn’t wrong.

  “Yes,” she panted. “Fuck me. Own me.”

  “Whose pussy is this?”

  “Yours,” she moaned. “It’s your pussy.”

  She raised her thighs and set her feet on his muscular ass, the angle hitting her just right as he began to fuck her harder.

  “My pussy,” he whispered harshly as he pumped into her over and over. “My. Fucking. Pussy,” he grunted out with each thrust.

  Sitting up on his knees, he put her feet on his shoulders and began rub her clit.

  “Ohhh, fuck yes,” she moaned, spreading her thighs wider.

  One corner of his mouth lifted into a wicked grin.

  “Do you like that, baby? Do you like having your clit played with while I fuck your cunt?”

  His words… so damn dirty and taboo. She loved it.

  Apparently his question wasn’t rhetorical, because he slapped her clit and barked, “Answer me!”

  “Yes,” she obediently gasped. “Yes, I love it! Please don’t stop.”

  She was on the brink of orgasm, his big cock hitting her in just the right place while he expertly manhandled her clit.

  “That’s it, come a
ll over my dick.”

  He started to grunt louder, and Harper could tell he was about to come. The idea of him selfishly using her body, not waiting to make sure she came first, was so unlike him—but it was hot as hell, and it made her feel powerful. She found herself quaking as he roared his release, his climax setting off her own.

  He lay on top of her, conscious to keep most of his weight on his forearms, and enveloped her tiny body with his hulking one. It felt very primal and raw—and oh, so satisfying.

  When he whispered, “Mine,” almost as if to himself, before rolling onto his side, where he possessively pulled her against him, she’d never felt more safe and content.

  His.

  Happily.

  Chapter Forty-One

  Ben

  They pulled into the driveway of his parents’ Spanish-style house, made of adobe mud with a mission-tile roof, at precisely five o’clock. His family knew he was bringing a guest, so everyone was already there, and then some—by the looks of all the cars outside the house.

  He recognized his sister’s maroon minivan and his brother’s white Camry, but there was also his Aunt Kelly’s Honda, Uncle Kevin’s Ford Focus, and numerous others he was sure he’d serviced over the years. What the hell?

  His mother opened the door before they even reached it, her arms extended to hug him.

  Or so he thought. Instead, she bypassed her oldest boy and hugged Harper instead.

  “Harper! It’s so nice to finally meet you.”

  His fiancée graciously returned the hug, smiling at him as she did.

  “Nice to meet you, too.”

  “My mother, Brenda McCallister, as you probably already figured out. Mom, Harper Finch. Soon to be Harper McCallister.”

  Tears immediately filled his mother’s eyes and she pulled her in for another hug. “Oh, that’s so wonderful. Congratulations. Welcome to our family.”

  It was like the rest of his family had been lying in wait, but the minute they heard he was getting married, they descended on the couple right there in the entryway.

  His sister, Laura, snatched Harper’s left hand to look at her ring, then waved it around like a doll’s hand to show everyone else as his family oohed appropriately.