Love Bank: Jobs From Hell #1

by Ray, Marika

  We were going to be all right.

  It was probably the adrenaline dump or survivor’s high, but I felt a hop, skip, and a jump away from humping his leg and begging him to put the handcuffs to good use.

  “Keva!” I gasped, pulling back as I remembered the poor girl in the sample room. Here I was, ready to fling my virginity off with abandon while she may be frightened. The poor thing was only eighteen years old and entirely too innocent and adorable to have been hurt somehow by those assholes.

  “Ssh…she’s fine. I had her exit out the front and wait for the police to arrive.” Bain smoothed the hair on my head, his huge hand a balm to the tremors that still wracked my body. I laid my cheek on his chest and squeezed my eyes shut, needing just a little longer in his embrace. I wasn’t sure the last bit of the cold that had settled into my gut the second I saw the barrel of that gun would ever leave.

  “Lucille?” The chief’s gruff voice interrupted us some time later. “We’re gonna need to get your statement, darlin’.”

  Bain gave me a last squeeze and set me back. His hands were gentle on me, but there was something off in his eyes. The gray, normally so alive and sparkly, seemed clouded. Maybe he was sick of hugging the lady who blackmailed him and caused more trouble than she was worth.

  I’d have to figure out Bain later. That would take considerably more time and mental headspace than I had at the moment. I needed to finish this ordeal first. A dark spot on the floor grabbed my attention now that I wasn’t so close to all those muscles.

  “Well, crap. They got blood on my new rug.” I pointed an accusatory finger.

  Bain grabbed my face, his rough palms cupping my jaw fervently. “I’ll buy you a new rug. I’ll buy you ten new rugs.”

  “Hell, I’ll buy you twenty if you’ll just come give your statement so I can get home. Susie’s making meatloaf,” Chief said from the doorway, patting his belly.

  17

  Bain

  “Grab your purse. We’ll take my truck.”

  Lucille put her hands on her hips, ready to argue with me about every damn thing. If I said the sky was blue, she’d say it was red. If I said her ass looked fine in those pants, she’d tell me I was an asshole all while blushing at the compliment.

  “Not right now, Lucy. Just get your bag, lock the door, and get in my goddamn truck.” My eyes felt like they were rolling around in sandpaper. I’d never been so scared as when the alarm sounded at the prison right after I blew off Lucy’s text about the idling truck. The minute the bell sounded, I just knew without a shadow of a doubt, Lucy was in trouble and it was all my fault.

  Again.

  I hadn’t taken her seriously about inmates leaving my prison to harass her on their way out of town and look where that got us?

  Lucy stuck her tongue out at me, and had I not been knocking myself senseless inside with guilt, I would have found her antics hilarious. She was Lucille Ball’s twin when she stuck her tongue out at Ricky.

  The chief had left half an hour ago, but I’d stayed behind to help Lucy clean up her clinic. The bastard who’d escaped my prison and his buddy had really done a number on her office. Blood from my gunshot destroyed her rug. I’d taken it out back and tossed it in the trash. The other guy had broken his nose from Lucy’s head, which had caused blood to splatter on the filing cabinet. I hadn’t had the heart to tell her it was matted in the back of her hair too.

  Before he left, the chief promised me a visit bright and early tomorrow morning to discuss two inmates escaping in the first two weeks the prison had been open. I’d have to sweet-talk my way through that exchange with my balls in my hand—not literally, that would just be wrong on so many levels—and hope he had mercy on me. If that conversation didn’t go well, I could kiss my job goodbye. Kiss Auburn Hill goodbye.

  And there was a blonde-haired woman in a silk blouse and high heels with fire in her belly just waiting to burst out. I wanted to be around when it happened.

  Lucy collected her things and sailed by me, her perfume catching me as sure as a hook around my neck. She stomped out the door—an impressive feat in dainty heels—and stood there tapping her foot waiting for me. God, the woman drove me right out of my damn mind. She was irritating as hell and I needed to smack her ass more than I needed to practice my speech for Chief Waldo tomorrow.

  I walked out of the clinic, giving it one last glance, silently promising the structure I’d protect it better, protect Lucy better. Never thought I’d become the self-imposed guardian of thousands of swimming little sperm that didn’t come from my own body, but nothing was going according to plan in Hell anyway.

  Lucy locked the door behind us and didn’t even flinch when I put my hand on her back and guided her past her convertible to my truck, half on the sidewalk and half in the actual parking lot. In my rush to get over here, I didn’t give much regard to the parking lanes.

  Opening the passenger door and then noticing her eyeing it with skepticism, I saw the problem. There’s no way she’d be able to climb in, even with those pants that were driving me to distraction. The front tire, up on the sidewalk, raised the height of the truck considerably. There was nothing for it.

  I grabbed her by the hips and lifted her up, easily getting her to the seat of the truck as she squealed in surprise. Her hands grabbed my biceps, still squeezing even when she was fully seated in the truck. Her face was an inch from mine, her stormy eyes finally losing that edge of wariness those bastards had put there. My heart lurched in my chest and I realized I couldn’t just beat myself up inside. I mean, I could and would for a very long time, but I also needed to apologize to her. No more feuds over birds and sample cups. Just a sincere apology for letting her down. She’d come to mean something to me—wasn’t sure why yet, but I’d examine that later—and she was owed an apology.

  I ran my thumbs over her hip bones, wishing the layer of clothing were gone so I could feel her soft skin. She paused, staring at me intently, barely even breathing.

  “Lucy, I don’t even know how to properly apologize—”

  “You don’t—” she interrupted me.

  “Just let me say this, please?” I begged.

  She nodded and motioned zipping her lips. I plunged ahead.

  “I should have taken you seriously from day one and I didn’t. I know a simple apology isn’t going to cut it when you’ve just been held at gunpoint, nor should it. But I promise you this: I’ll spend the rest of my life apologizing to you to make up for it. And more importantly, I’ll do better.”

  She sat there staring at me, not moving a muscle. A bead of sweat formed on my brow, but I didn’t dare let go of her to swipe it away. If she didn’t accept my apology, I might never get the chance to touch her again. Might always have to carry this guilt like a heavy burden.

  Just when I was coming to terms with her telling me to leave her alone, her lips lifted on one side and those eyes danced.

  “Well, that’s gonna be pretty damn annoying.”

  I frowned. “What’s annoying?”

  “Apologizing to me your whole life? It’ll be like Groundhog Day. Every time I see you, you’ll be saying the same thing, reminding me of a day I wish to forget about. No, thanks. Apologize now and get it over with already.”

  I swallowed my laugh, utterly charmed with this woman who always said and did what I least expected.

  “All right. Because you asked so nicely and because I fear you breaking my nose, I’ll offer my sincerest apology now.” I tugged her closer, my lips brushing her cheek as I spoke. “I’m one hundred percent sorry”—I kissed her other cheek—“for not listening to you.” I kissed her forehead. “And letting things get out of control.” I kissed the tip of her nose, seeing her eyelashes flutter closed. “I will never let that happen again.”

  My lips brushed hers, a question, a plea. She closed the gap and pressed her mouth to mine. An acceptance, forgiveness.

  Her tongue demanded entrance and I let her lead, loving how she took what she wanted. What sh
e lacked in skill, she made up for in eagerness. Her fingers dug into my arms momentarily and then released to travel up to my neck. She gripped my hair tight and the pain lighting up my scalp made me growl into her mouth. My hands traveled too, right to the underside of her breasts, covered by a silk blouse I would destroy in a split second with a nod from Lucy. Instead, I palmed them through her shirt, finding their weight in my hands to be only half the fun. A swipe of my thumbs and her nipples pebbled, straining to get out of the contraption that kept them hidden from my ministrations.

  A loud squawk right above my head had me breaking the kiss and flattening Lucy to the seat with my body as the shield between her and harm. I wasn’t sure what I was protecting her from, but damned if I’d let her be hurt again.

  She began to shake beneath me and, for a second, I was alarmed to think she was terrified again. I didn’t sense any immediate danger nor see anyone outside the truck, so I glanced down at her face to assess the situation. Her lips were red from my kiss, but they were pulled into a huge smile.

  She let out a wheezy whoop and I realized she was laughing.

  “What the…”

  “The damn sea chickens!” she hollered, too lost in her giggles to expand on that.

  “Sea chickens?” Auburn Hill was nuttier than a Willy Wonka nut factory.

  “Seagulls…they’re…everywhere…” she said between giggles.

  I clenched my teeth and prayed for patience. Figures. The damn seagulls I’d let loose on her property were the exact ones to interrupt the best kiss I’d had all year.

  “Damn nuisance is what they are. You should do something about them, Lucy.”

  Her giggles cut off and she lifted her head to drill me with a glare. Ah, good. The blue was back in her eyes. In Lucy, the fire burned bright and I’d do my best to never let it die out again.

  “I’m teasing.” I smiled at her even as my hips swiveled, grinding down like a heat-seeking missile. I rather enjoyed the way her thighs had parted to give me room. My voice turned gruff as I felt her heat. “But I do enjoy having you under me like this.”

  She lifted her head again, as if to kiss me, just a fraction of space separating us. I’d completely forgotten we were out in the open parking lot in the fading daylight. All that mattered was her lips on mine, the way her little moans lit my body on fire.

  She paused, that eyebrow of hers lifting, the only warning before she inevitably smacked me with her wit and sass. Her mouth was doing crazy things to me.

  “Admit it. You like me, Bain Sutter.”

  Warning bells clanged in my head, alerting me to the dangerous territory we’d stepped into with that question. Admitting affection was akin to proposing marriage in my rule book. I didn’t do that shit. I enjoyed a woman, sure. And I made sure she enjoyed herself too. But affection and liking and relationships were for other men. Not me.

  She lifted her hips and shamelessly rubbed against the steel length that had formed in my pants the moment our lips met. All warning bells were silenced with that one action, leaving me with an easy, honest answer I’d regret later.

  “Yeah, I do like you, Lucy,” I admitted.

  She smiled like I got a supermodel to leave a refrigerator full of samples in her clinic. In other words, my girl was happy.

  I blinked, wondering what spell I was under to label Lucille Eureka as my girl. How did we get here, a dry hump in the middle of a parking lot and checking the box that I liked a girl, just a week after a nasty blackmail attempt? I leaned down and kissed her nose before stepping back and rounding the hood of my truck. Adjusting the evidence of my desire for her, I reminded myself I needed to get her home. She needed to rest after her traumatic experience, not get mauled by the guy who’d let it happen in the first place.

  By the time I hopped in and closed my door, Lucy was sitting upright, her blouse pulled down properly. But she couldn’t fix that hair. She looked like she’d been well and truly kissed. A devilish grin slid onto my face before I could train my eyes on the road and focus on driving.

  I started the engine and put it in reverse, nearly rear-ending the tree lining her parking lot when she finally spoke.

  “Take me home to your house?”

  * * *

  My phone buzzed again in my pocket, causing Lucy to glance at my pants instead of out the window. My cock got excited, thinking she was looking at him. I had to grip the steering wheel and grit my teeth to calm things down. I pulled into my long driveway and killed the engine by the steps leading to the front door. The dense pine trees made it seem like we were the only two people in the world.

  “You going to answer that?”

  The first words spoken in eight long minutes of driving to my place. The silence had been filled with unspoken questions. Did I want to take things further with Lucy? My body said “oh, hell yes” with an erection that only grew with each mile, but my pesky brain was having doubts. Was that even what she meant when she asked to come back to my place? From most women, I would say she knew exactly what she was asking for, but multiple somethings told me Lucy wasn’t your typical woman.

  I hit the button on the side of my phone to silence the ringer. It was the second call from the mayor since the chief left the fertility clinic. An ass chewing was sure to come and I didn’t really want to deal with that while I had Lucy with me. I’d handle that tomorrow morning.

  “Nah. Just the mayor calling to express his frustration with the escaping inmate issue.”

  Lucy cocked her head to the side. “Are you going to be in trouble?”

  I nodded quickly and reached for the door handle. “More than likely. I’m hoping to keep my job after we chat tomorrow morning.”

  She sucked her bottom lip into her mouth, her teeth chewing on the sensitive flesh. I’d never been jealous of a set of teeth before.

  I hopped out of the truck and rounded the hood to help her get down. She opened the door before I got there and swung her legs out like she planned to jump down in high heels.

  “No sense spraining an ankle when you can just slide down.” I crowded her, putting my hands back on her hips and nudging her to the edge of her seat. She pushed off and slid down my body, each curve lighting up every nerve ending I had as she went. The doubt I’d been wrestling with flew out into the darkening night sky. I wanted this woman.

  When her feet finally landed on the gravel drive, I stepped back, grabbed her hand, and laced our fingers together. She smiled, the edges a bit wobbly and uncertain. I tugged her forward and went up the stairs, onto my porch, and then to my door where I fumbled with my keys until the door popped open. We’d talk first and then if it progressed to more, then so be it. But that smile would be completely confident before we went further.

  “You lock your door every day?” Lucy asked, her voice half awe, half teasing.

  I frowned. “Um, yeah?”

  The smile grew. “City boy.”

  I pulled us through the doorway and into the tiny living room. “Hey. Calling me names now?”

  “I’ve been calling you names since the first day I saw you.” Lucy swung her head around, taking in my tiny rental, probably appalled by the lack of personal items or decorations I’d put up in the few weeks I’d lived here. The butter yellow of the walls did seem a bit old-fashioned, but I couldn’t change it. Figured I’d wait to decorate until I got my own place and could do it up right.

  I stepped into her, forcing her gaze to meet mine. “Like Steelshot or Hammer or my personal favorite: Sexy Devil?”

  She snorted and I not only heard it, but felt it as I snaked an arm around her waist and pressed her to me. Her curves were addicting.

  “No, like Warden of Wanktown.”

  I cringed. “Yeah, that’s not as flattering as I hoped for.”

  Her giggle was contagious, making me smile even though the laughter was at my expense. She sobered quickly, looking uneasy again. Her gaze focused on my chin.

  “I need your help, Bain.”

  My heart squeezed a
nd I rushed to answer. “Sure. Anything. Just say it and I’ll do it.” I owed her that and more.

  She bit her bottom lip, and this time, I brought my thumb up to tug it loose, swiping her thick lip. Her gaze fluttered up to mine again and I gave a small nod to urge her on.

  “Will you relieve me of my virginity?”

  18

  Lucille

  Bain choked and turned his head to cough it out before looking at me. I couldn’t believe I’d said that out loud. There were so many more elegant ways to say it, but then again, I’d never propositioned a man—or a woman, for that matter—before and he’d scrambled my brain with that kiss at the clinic.

  This morning I hadn’t been sure what I wanted to do with this tension and attraction between Bain and me. After surviving the robbery at gunpoint, things had become crystal clear. I was experiencing intense feelings of sexual desire I didn’t want to suppress or ignore any longer. Life was short and I wanted to get laid.

  Bain still hadn’t said anything, the tension in the room mounting with each second of indecision. Which meant I started to babble to fill the space.

  “I mean, despite the seagull issue, I like you too. I think you’re extremely good-looking and based on what pressed against me in your truck, I think you have the equipment to offer me a memorable experience. I have no expectations of a relationship and it’s safe to say most of my feelings for you are felt in the nether region, which lends itself to a strictly physical encounter. If you don’t believe you can satisfy what I’m looking for just tell—”

  “Shut up, Lucy,” he growled just a split second before lifting me up, spinning us, and pinning me to the front door we’d just closed behind us.