Chapter Thirteen
“You know exactly what he means, baby doll.” Pax grinned when Elena shot him a mutinous glare.
Her face was so expressive, it was obvious she was fibbing. He could understand her hesitation to tell the truth but that didn’t excuse the lie. Honesty played a major role when it came to building a relationship between the four of them. If she had already belonged to them, a transgression like that would have earned a light spanking.
They didn’t tolerate lies, even small ones.
“I’m not looking for a fuck budd—” she paused for half a second to glance at all three of them, “for fuck buddies. Now, if that’s all…”
Elena gestured to the door.
Tanner ignored the motion and dropped into the spare chair on the other side of Vinyl.
“What makes you think we’re looking for a fuck buddy?” Vinyl asked her with raised brows. He glanced over at Pax and gave him a nudge. “Did we say that?”
“No.” Pax shook his head. He leaned forward to look at Tanner. “You?”
His buddy grinned. “Nope.”
“Oh,” she squeaked as the color drained from her face.
It only took a second for Pax to realize what she must be thinking. Her expression once again had given her thoughts away.
“We want more,” he clarified. They weren’t rejecting her, just the opposite. “We want everything.”
Elena’s mouth dropped open in disbelief.
They’d obviously stunned her with that admission.
“I don’t think she believes us, boys.”
“She looks like she might need some convincing,” Tanner chuckled as she continued to stare at them mutely. “Should we prove it to her?”
“No!” she yelped, holding at her hand as if they were lions and she the tamer. She was flustered. “Are you kidding me?! We can’t do this; we work together.”
“My mom works with her husbands, and they love it.” Pax shrugged her worry away easily. His folks were the perfect example of what the three of them wanted with Elena. His dads dedicated their lives to ensuring their wife was not only happy but cared for every second of her life. One of them was always in the background in case she needed them. The more he thought about it, the more he appreciated the system his dads had come up with to be close to their wife. “I like the idea of being able to see you whenever I want during the day.”
Vinyl and Tanner agreed without prompting.
She shook her head at the trio and fell back against her chair. Elena touched the back of her hand to her forehead. “Am I having a stroke?”
He barked out a laugh. “Why do you think that, baby doll?”
“Baby doll?” Elena echoed in disbelief as she looked at him goggle-eyed. “What is even happening right now?”
“We’re setting up tonight’s date,” Vinyl answered. “Is eight too late to eat? We have a client coming that may need some work done before we can clock out and clean up.”
“Eight works,” she answered, almost immediately following it with a shake of her head. She glared at Vinyl. “Wait! No! Who said we were going out on a date?”
“You said you didn’t want to be fuck buddies,” Tanner reminded her with an innocent grin that Pax had seen work miracles in the past.
“I don’t!” she squawked. The color was back in Elena’s cheeks as she paced away from her desk with a little growl.
“We don’t either.” Pax stood up along with her. The time for games was over. In his opinion they’d already wasted days. He’d been wanting to claim her since the moment they met. “And you don’t need to worry about your job.”
“His mom has already threatened us with castration if we fucked shit up with you,” Tanner supplied with a nod.
Pax had planned on saying that a wee bit gentler, but it was the truth. His mom had warned each of them—in her scariest ‘don’t fuck with me’ voice—that she’d turn them from stallions to geldings with her garden shears and a spoon if they broke Elena’s heart.
They’d all taken her warning seriously. His mom was sweet as can be but the moment you crossed her; you best kiss your ass goodbye. That woman wasn’t playing around.
“Your mom knows!?” Elena gasped, looking horrified at the prospect.
The trio nodded.
“She saw it happen with her own two eyes, baby doll. You knocked me on my ass at first sight,” he admitted, not embarrassed in the least. “She knew. I didn’t have to say a thing.”
His mom had been able to sense something was up before he’d ever opened his mouth to ask about Elena. Once he’d confirmed her suspicions and brought the other guys up to date, she’d corralled all three for a come-to-Jesus meeting.
Warnings were given, threats were made, and promises were delivered. Pax and his friends hadn’t needed them though; they were all on the same page when it came to Elena.
She belonged to them.
The office phone rang, interrupting the staring contest he’d been having with her.
She held up a finger, telling them to wait while she picked it up with her other hand.
“Iron Seeds Garage, how can I help you?”
Pax couldn’t help but be impressed by the customer service voice Elena had switched to seemingly effortlessly. His friends were watching her as if they agreed too.
“How’d she do that?” Tanner whispered.
Vinyl shrugged. “Witchcraft?”
Pax snorted, watching their woman work. It was easy to see why his mom was so impressed by Elena. Her people skills—even over the phone—were fantastic. She sounded professional, knowledgeable, and helpful from the moment she’d picked up the phone until she’d hung it up.
“That was Mr. O’Connor canceling his appointment tonight,” she said, looking at Vinyl. “He said he’d call back to reschedule.”
“Good, that means dinner won’t have to wait until eight.”
Pax couldn’t help but smile when she growled at his friend.
“You’re not going to let this go, are you?” She looked at the three of them with fire in her eyes. “You’re determined to drive me crazy.”
“Let us take you out to dinner,” Pax proposed as his friends nodded in agreement. “Give us a chance to show you who we really are. If, at the end of the night, you don’t want anything more to do with us we’ll leave you alone.”
Tanner and Vinyl both looked over at him like he was crazy.
“Really?” she asked, eyeing him just as dubiously as his friends were.
“Yeah,” Vinyl growled with a glare. “Really?”
“Promise,” he answered with a firm nod.
His gut was telling him this was the right move—even though his friends looked ready to pummel him.
“What do you say?” he asked. Pax mentally crossed his fingers for good luck. “Can we pick you up at seven?”
“No,” she answered with a shake of her head. “I’m going to be on Mass tonight already, so I’ll just meet you down there.”
Pax let out the breath he hadn’t known he was holding. For a second there, he’d thought she was going to tell them to fuck off.
“Where would you like to eat?” Vinyl asked. He pushed up from the chair he’d been occupying and tucked his hands into pockets.
“Anything but tacos,” Elena answered with a resigned sigh. She gave them a small grin when Vinyl chuckled at her answer.
“Thai?” Tanner suggested with a growing grin as he watched their girl.
“Meet ya’ll out front at seven?”
The three of them nodded in unison.
“Great.” Elena clapped her hands and stood up. Picking up a stack of papers she handed over to him.
Pax glanced down to see the insurance forms he still needed to sign.
“Now sign these so ya’ll can get the fuck outta my office.” She gave them an exaggerated smile. “Please.”
After a brief moment of silence, the sound of deep laughter filled the room.