14 - Lane
Lane
The first thing that struck me about being inside Bear’s truck was how it smelled. I guess some part of my brain just associated construction company vehicles with the soot and grime the tools were usually covered in, and assumed it would stink of grease and old demolition funk.
But instead I was met with a surprisingly pleasant mix of cedar and damp canvas and the tiniest hint of cologne. There was something oddly comforting and familiar about that smell.
The next thing I noticed was that Bear didn’t look at me immediately.
His eyes were fixed ahead as he prepared to pull out into traffic, one hand resting casually on top of the wheel.
His heavy work jacket was unzipped, revealing the dark thermal shirt underneath, and his thick forearms were solid against the console.
I shivered and it had very little to do with the cold.
“Thanks,” I mumbled, peeling off my blazer.
He nodded, still not looking at me. Things had been a bit awkward between everyone in the house since his fight with Dax. For my part, I didn’t know how to conduct myself other than keeping my contact with both of them to a minimum until I had it figured out.
And now here I was, stuck in a car with the Boss himself. The Boss who, frustrating as it was to admit in my current predicament, looked so good wet. I stirred uncomfortably. Nancy’s words were still ricocheting in my mind like a pinball, bouncing straight off all the common sense options.
But common sense wasn’t going to bring me any relief, now was it?
“Not that I’m not grateful that you saved me from potentially being flushed down Chicago’s sewage system, but why did you come all the way out?” I asked.
Bear shrugged. “We need the check.”
It took me a while to figure out that he was actually joking.
Bear was usually the more stoic type, and especially after the fight, the last thing I’d expected was for him to be cracking a joke.
But the fact he did anyway instantly lifted my mood.
He was thawing and maybe…maybe it wouldn’t be that out of place for me to try my luck.
It was just flirting, right?
We had our moment in the kitchen, and I hadn’t forgotten the conversation I overheard between the guys either. I knew that he was, at the very least, attracted to me. But then what?
Shit, I hadn’t flirted with anyone in literal years, and Dax didn’t exactly need any seducing for me to get into his pants. But this wall was going to take some climbing and for a harrowing second, I doubted that I even had it in me to scale it.
I tried to remain calm and nonchalant, sinking back against the seat. “Well, I appreciate that I’m good for something, I guess. Though I'd hope my money isn’t the only thing you'd actually miss around the site.”
Bear pretended to think about it for a minute. “Your lunches. Definite loss.”
“Oh, how sweet of you. I’m glad to know the legacy I leave behind will be a couple of sandwiches,” I said.
He chuckled.
I relaxed a bit, easing into the banter. This was good. I could work with this. It was like riding a bike, right? Muscle memory. I shifted in my seat, turning my shoulders toward him and letting my gaze linger on his profile. Time to lean into it.
"You know," I murmured, trying to drop my voice into a low, sultry register like I’d seen women do in movies. "If you play your cards right, Wade, I might just give you an exclusive, long-term contract on those sandwiches. Unlimited access. Free of charge."
Bear’s chuckle died instantly. He didn't look at me, but his jaw clenched as he negotiated a tight turn. "An exclusive contract."
"Yeah," I said, a little bolder now, though my heart was starting to thump uncomfortably against my ribs. "Fully bonded and insured. Heavy on the... meat."
The words left my mouth and hung in the warm, enclosed air of the truck.
Heavy on the meat.
Oh, sweet Jesus. Did I actually just say that out loud to a grown man?
Bear didn't laugh. He didn't smirk. He slowly came to a stop at a red light on Elston, shifted the truck into park, and finally turned his head to look at me. His expression was a mixture of deep, structural confusion and mild concern.
"Lane," he said, his voice slow and heavy. "Did you hit your head on the train door?”
I felt my face heat up and yanked my gaze forward, shamed to the tenth generation that those consecutive words had ever left my mouth.
“No, I just think I’m coming down with something. I haven’t been feeling good all day, it’s probably some type of fever.”
“Ah, that explains it. I don’t have much on me, but there are cough drops in the glove box,” he said.
“I am absolutely fine, thank you. I probably just need to sleep it off,” I said, leaning up against the window and wishing that there was some giant hole on the side of the road I could leap and disappear into forever.
We drove on in silence until the truck finally rolled to a stop in his usual parking spot in the alley beside my house. The second the ignition cut, I rummaged around in my bag and pulled out a credit card.
“Here, take this,” I said, handing it over to him. “Nance and I are working on getting my mom off my back and the hold on my account reversed. Until then, feel free.”
He took it from me and I smiled, still embarrassed from my disgraceful attempts at flirting earlier, then tried to escape. But just as I touched the latch, the heavy plastic lock pins near the window glass snapped down flush into the door panel with a mechanical clack-thud.
He’d locked the doors. I looked at Bear in confusion.
“I’m sorry, I wasn’t done. There’s something I need to tell you before you get out of this truck,” he said. When I looked at him more closely, I was surprised at the contrast between his calm, typical-Bear voice and the softness of his dark eyes. The command and authority wasn’t there anymore.
He swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing.
“Lane, I’m sure you’ve noticed already but I have…
I have certain feelings for you. I’m not sure you understand just how deep they run.
It’s because of what I feel for you that I got into it with Dax.
I’ve tried ignoring it, I swear I did. And I know that this isn’t professional, and it’s honestly pretty damn childish too, but I just can’t help myself. ”
It felt like I stopped breathing.
His eyes flicked to the side, almost like he was looking for an out but then he dragged them back to me and instead kept eye contact. I loved that about him. “That’s why I’ve been acting like a jerk lately. I’m sorry. It’s unforgivable and I—”
“You talk too much, Barrett Wade,” I said, leaning forward and pressing a kiss to his cheek.
He instantly stopped, his whole body seizing up. I raised a hand to cup the other cheek, then brushed a finger down his jaw. His skin was hot and flushed beneath my touch, and I trailed my hand down his neck and the front of his shirt before placing it on his cock.
His mouth popped open silently in shock and I kissed his cheek again, then his neck. I may have been absolute shit at flirting but knew how to get a point across loud and clear. I started stroking him through his pants and could feel him harden instantly.
He exhaled sharply, a tortured sound strangling his throat. I pressed a kiss there.
“Lane,” he rasped. “Lane, this isn’t a good idea.”
“You want me to stop?” I asked, stilling my hand on his dick. Bear’s hand flew instantly over mine, applying pressure that forced him to squeeze his eyes shut.
“No,” he whispered, then groaned. “No, I don’t want you to stop touching me, Lane.”
“Good because I don’t want to stop,” I said, dragging my nose along his neck.
I could feel the delicious tension in his strong body, the way he was holding himself back from fully letting go even though it was so obvious that he wanted to.
That he needed this just as much as I did.
“I want to fuck you, Bear. I want to forget about everything for a while and just feel you.”
Those words were the final stripping away of the last boundary wall.
Bear turned his head and kissed me, and at first I was startled by the sheer hunger behind it.
It held the force of a dam breaking under pressure, the relief so sharp and sweet I moaned against him.
There was adrenaline, the same type you might feel during a free fall.
But the difference between Dax and Bear was stark.
Kissing Dax felt like a spark to dry tinder, or loading up a canon.
It felt almost destructive, consuming in its intensity.
But with Bear, it felt like being grounded, eclipsed by a strength and power that until now I’d only ever witnessed in the hands that had led the renovation of my home.
But now those same, strong, big hands were slowly roaming over my wet body, his palms warm against the cold damp of my clothed skin.
I shuddered, already starting to feel overwhelmed by the sensation.
In the distant, temporarily deactivated part of my brain, I knew that we were technically in public right now.
The rain’s steady rhythm droned on, but there was also the low hiss of passing cars and squelching tracks of wet shoes on pavement passing not too far from where Bear’s hands were starting to slip under my clothes.
But I didn’t care. No, that wasn’t quite true.
I liked the calculated risk. We had nothing but a veil of rain and the assumption of innocuousness to protect us from catching a public indecency case but why the hell did that make it even hotter?
And even if part of me might’ve protested, the second Bear’s hands unclipped my bra and covered my bare breasts, the final whispers of logic were snuffed out like a candle.
I gasped his name out loud and he moaned, pressing his mouth to my neck and trailing kisses all over my chest. The combination of it all was intoxicating—the heavy rain outside, the danger of getting caught, the cold exposure of my now naked upper body all contrasted by his warmth and focus.
So much warmth.