Chapter 20
Chapter Twenty
Wolfe
“Since when did we become delivery drivers?” Calvin grumbled for the fiftieth time since they got in the truck. Just twenty-seven fucking minutes ago.
“What I wanna know is why you made my ass ride in the back seat,” Lynx bitched from behind us.
I peered at my cousin in the rearview mirror. “’Cause that’s where your ornery ass belongs.”
Lynx flipped me off.
“Why’d she refuse delivery again?” my father questioned, his head leaned back, eyes closed.
“She insisted I bring it,” I explained.
“She hot?” Lynx inquired.
“I ain’t touchin’ that with a ten-foot pole,” I said, using some of Lynx’s favorite words.
Amy had attempted—at my insistence—to get a regular delivery set up for Melissa Stephenson.
So, we’d changed the original delivery to the next available one.
I thought Mrs. Stephenson would simply accept the table and go on her merry way.
Oh, how I'd been wrong. Apparently, she’d answered the door in a bikini—which our normal delivery drivers hadn’t minded one bit—then adamantly refused the table because I wasn’t there.
I wasn’t any happier about the situation than Calvin or Lynx.
However, I damn sure didn’t intend to deliver the table by myself.
For one, I wasn’t going to carry the damn thing inside without help, which was why I'd brought Lynx. And two, I needed someone there to keep the woman from jumping me. That was the reason my father was along for the ride. I had no doubt she would come on to me, given the opportunity. Even if I wasn’t completely caught up in Amy and Rhys at the moment, I wasn’t going to go anywhere near that woman without backup.
“She’s married?” Calvin asked, one eye opening as he peered over at me.
I nodded as I turned the truck down the street I'd been directed to by the navigation system.
“And she’s interested in you?” Lynx sounded skeptical.
Asshole.
“Is she blind?” my father joked.
I glared over at my father, then back at my cousin. “Y’all just wait. You’ll see.”
“Aww, hell,” Calvin retorted. “This oughta be good.” He glanced back at Lynx. “I’ll get to watch you work your magic on this ol’ gal.”
“Damn straight,” Lynx hummed.
“Oh, come on, old man,” I teased my father. “I bet you got some magic left in them old bones.”
Calvin flipped me off.
I chuckled.
“This chick got money?” Lynx inquired, leaning forward and resting his forearms on the front seats as we turned into Mrs. Stephenson’s ostentatious neighborhood, both sides of the street lined with oversized mansions.
“Oh, yeah,” I told him.
A minute later, that was proven when we were pulling up the stone driveway toward the enormous white-stone monstrosity with an immaculately manicured yard, palm trees galore, and stonework that had to cost a pretty penny. Yep. The woman had money. Or her husband did.
Not that I gave a fuck either way. I wanted to drop off this table and be on my way.
I had a girl waiting for me back at the shop.
Although I'd wanted to bring Amy with us, I'd figured Mrs. Stephenson would find a way to be rude, and that was the last damn thing I wanted to deal with today.
So, I left Amy working with Copenhagen standing guard.
I'd given her the instruction not to answer the door for anyone, then I locked the doors behind us.
“We gonna flip a coin to see who rings the bell?” Lynx asked. “You said she was in a bikini last time?”
I glanced in the rearview mirror. “The job’s all yours, boy. Have at it.”
Lynx was out the door in a second, whistling as he sauntered up the front steps. He hit the doorbell, then cast a grin over his shoulder.
A second later, the door opened.
Lynx pulled off his straw hat and shot the woman a full-fledged grin. “Hey, sweet thang. We got a delivery here for ya.”
I peered up at the door and nearly fell over.
Melissa stood staring at Lynx, her eyes wide, her red lips shiny.
She didn’t look even slightly frightened by the intimidating cowboy covered in tattoos from his neck to his knuckles.
Nope, she certainly wasn’t scared. More like …
hungry. And if I were closer, I'd probably see the hardened points of her nipples peeking beneath the thin lace of that black teddy.
She even had four-inch stilettos to go along with it.
“Hot damn,” Calvin muttered. “She’s married, you say?”
I lifted an eyebrow, then headed around to the back end of the trailer. I unlocked the door, lifted it, then grabbed one of the chairs.
“Yes, ma’am,” Lynx was saying when I approached, “he’s my cousin. Clearly, I’m the better-lookin’ one.”
Mrs. Stephenson giggled.
Of course she did.
Lynx had a way with the ladies. Old, young, married, divorced, single. Didn’t matter. The guy knew how to sweet-talk his way right into their hearts.
When I moved up onto the porch, Lynx glanced back at me, a shit-eating grin plastered on his face. “She’s got lemonade.”
“Right this way,” Mrs. Stephenson crooned sweetly, turning and adding some additional swing to her hips.
I wanted to get this shit over with.
And fast.
Twenty minutes later, we had the table set up in the dining room and I was wiping it down with a cloth.
“Come on, boys,” Mrs. Stephenson called. “Come get some lemonade while it’s cold.”
Calvin leaned in. “Does it get hot?”
I shrugged. “I’ll see y’all out at the truck.”
“Nope. Sorry, son.” My father grabbed my arm. “You got us in this mess. You’re gettin’ us out.”
Fuck.
Amy
I was sitting in my office when I heard the boys come in. Copenhagen was out the door and down the stairs in no time.
They’d left almost three hours ago to deliver the table to Mrs. Stephenson and hadn’t been sure when they’d be back. I had been so engrossed in coming up with ideas for the online store that I hadn’t even realized the time.
“Amy! Hey, girl! Come on out here!” Lynx shouted.
Laughter ensued.
Getting up from my chair, I couldn’t help but smile, loving the sound of so much happiness. I'd spent so many years alone, trapped in my house. No friends, no family, no one to talk to. It was nice to have Wolfe and Lynx around. Not to mention, Calvin. And Copenhagen. I couldn’t forget him.
Stepping out of my office, I peered over the railing.
“Hey, darlin’,” Wolfe’s father greeted.
“Hi, Mr. Caine.” I smiled brightly, happy to see him. I'd only talked to him a few times since I started working at the shop, but whenever I did, he always made me feel as though I was a part of his family.
I glanced over at Lynx. He was holding something up toward me. “I brought you a donut.”
I grinned.
“Don’t lie, boy. Wolfe got her the damn donut,” Calvin grumbled as he smacked Lynx on the back of the head.
“Yeah, but I went with him; therefore, I’ll take my thanks in the form of a kiss.”
Wolfe swatted Lynx on the back of the head.
“Hey!” Lynx laughed, passing the donut to Wolfe.
My eyes flew over to Wolfe. He was smiling up at me, and my heart twisted tightly in my chest.
It had been two days since I'd stayed the night with Wolfe and Rhys. Wolfe had driven me to work the next day and I'd stayed at my own house last night. Of course, I'd spent nearly every waking moment wishing I were back with them.
Granted, it was nice having Reagan at the house, and I'd felt slightly more comfortable now that I'd told them about what happened. I knew they would be on the lookout, and Reagan had even brought her shotgun back to the house. Rhys had told me he’d keep extra patrols going by my house to help me feel safer.
But for Wolfe to bring a donut…
I was going to fall in love with this man if I wasn’t careful.
“Stay there,” Wolfe insisted. “I’ll bring it to you.”
I nodded, then returned to my office.
“How come you get to have all the fun?” Lynx whined, laughing. “I’ll talk to y’all later.”
“Don’t you call that woman,” Calvin hollered, following Lynx toward the door. “She’s married.”
“Trust me. I wouldn’t get near that with a ten-foot pole.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if she doesn’t start stalkin’ you,” Calvin told Lynx. “See her eyes get all bugged out when she saw those damn tattoos?”
“I wasn’t lookin’ at her eyes,” Lynx noted.
The front door closed with a bang and the entire warehouse was silent.
Wolfe appeared in my office doorway and I smiled at him. “How’d it go?”
One dark eyebrow lifted. “Well, the good news is she’s latched onto Lynx.”
“And the bad news?” My heart swelled to overflowing when Wolfe handed me the single glazed donut. It was my favorite.
“She’s latched onto Lynx.”
“So, how’s that bad? Well, other than, you know … she’s married and all.”
“It means she’ll likely be stoppin’ in for visits.”
“But at least she’ll be keeping her hands off you,” I told him.
Wolfe closed my office door, flipped the lock, then moved toward me.
“There’s only one woman’s hands I want on me.”
Setting the donut on the desk, I allowed him to turn my chair so that I was facing him.
“Is that right?”
He relocated the donut to a safer place up on the filing cabinet. It made me wonder what his intentions were. My body had already heated about ten degrees since he stepped into the room.
When he reached down and easily lifted me from my chair, I squealed. My butt was planted on the edge of the desk, and Wolfe took a seat in front of me.
“I think you should wear skirts to work,” he said as his hands slid beneath my T-shirt.
“Yeah?” Okay, so I was breathless, but that was because this sexy cowboy was touching me, his warm hand grazing my side, sliding higher. “You thinkin’ about implementing a new dress code?”
“Oh, yeah.”
“Why’s that?”
Wolfe pulled my head down with his other hand, his mouth meeting mine, his lips firm yet soft. I accepted his kiss, leaning into him as his hand traveled higher on my rib cage. It was warm, rough against my skin. My nipples hardened; my sex clenched.
When he pulled back, he groaned. “Because it would make buryin’ my face between your legs so much easier.”
My clit pulsed at his gruffly spoken words.