“Trouble doesn’t hold any fascination for me.”
“Not even a little bit?” The twinkle in A.J.’s eyes was gone, something curious replaced it, and Mandy swallowed a thick knot down with a gulp of Pepsi.
“Well.” She took a deep breath, suddenly warm from head to toes. “Okay, there’s that romantic mystique of trouble. The kind that really isn’t dangerous. That’s trouble I can fantasize about, maybe even get into.”
“Sounds interesting.”
A laugh fluttered out of Mandy. “Yeah, well, that’s about all I’d do – fantasize.Marc got in enough real trouble for us both.”
Both A.J and Boston laughed. “He’s a guy.” A.J.
crunched on the taco. “Guys are prone to crashing.”
“You’re better off,” Boston said. Mandy thought she heard admiration in his tone. “Trouble’s overrated.”
“Come on,” A.J. said. “Trouble’s how you learn. It’s like a spice. You gotta have a little to flavor life.”
“Yeah, well, some spices I can deal with, others I can’t,” Boston said.
“Charlie?” The high pitched voice had them all looking up into the face of a tall, leggy woman with a mane of black hair.
Mandy looked at Boston, who’d gone still next to her, his eyes wide. “Alexis.”
It didn’t take a genetic specialist to figure out that this tall, dark vixen was the one who had shredded Boston’s heart. The woman flipped her black hair over a tanned shoulder. Behind her stood a blonde man who looked like she’d just fished him out of the sea. All that was missing was his surfboard and swim trunks.
“You on break from work?” she asked, sweeping everyone at the table with her amused gaze.
“Yeah.” Boston didn’t look at her again, focusing instead on the taco salad sitting in front of him.
After a thick moment of silence, she flashed her teeth. “I’m Alexis.”
A.J. half stood and extended his hand. “A.J.”
“Mandy,” Mandy said.
“This is Eric.” She wrapped her arms around Neptune standing next to her, and nuzzled a kiss against his neck.
Boston extended an eager hand toward Eric.
“How’s it going?”
Mandy had to steal a peek at Boston’s face. His voice was so chipper; she wondered what had suddenly gotten into him.
Alexis, too, seemed taken aback by his cordiality.
Eric shook Boston’s hand.
Then Boston sat back and slid his arm around Mandy, bringing her in close. His palm caressed her shoulder in an intimate move that fired a flush through Mandy’s body. Mandy’s eyes widened, her heart pounded.
Alexis eyed her, her brows shooting up in shock. “Are you two…?”
“Yeah, we are.” Boston wrapped his arm more tightly around Mandy’s shoulder and quickly leaned over and kissed her cheek. Alexis blinked in what Mandy thought was shock, but Mandy was trying to settle her own bubbling surprise. For a second, her gaze met A.J.’s.
His chewing had stopped and his usually teasing smile had vanished.
“I didn’t know you were dating anybody.” Alexis wrapped her arm tighter around the arm of the beach god standing next to her.
Mandy was a turbulence of shock, anger and disappointment. She didn’t like being used. At the same time she’d seen Boston’s hurt and his resolve to get over this woman. She wasn’t sure how to respond.
She snuggled next to him, trailing a finger down the side of his neck. “He’s private about our relationship,” she began. “That’s one of the things I like about him. Private and protective. Makes me feel lucky.”
Boston’s dark eyes met hers and for a second, the reality of what was happening flashed, along with other emotions Mandy couldn’t read and she wasn’t sure she wanted to. If he was going to use her, he’d better be cool with what she did. Questions later.
Still, her insides trembled being that close to him, touching him that way, smelling his skin so near she could almost taste it. To kiss him in front of this loser who had hurt him, that would teach her something, wouldn’t it?
“Wow.” Alexis’s surprise was obvious on her face, and she didn’t like what she was seeing. Mandy smiled with satisfaction. Then she turned Boston’s chin and brought his face close. His breath fanned hot and static against her lips. Anticipation turned his brown eyes a darker shade. She leaned close.
Her lips met his. She closed her eyes and let their mouths melt. His lips responded, shock discarded by urgency, shooting tingling fire from her mouth to every nerve in her body. At her shoulder, his fingers gripped hard and then his other hand slid around her waist and tugged her closer.
Time vanished. Sound disappeared. What began as an act was now real, warm and so lovely Mandy slipped her arms around his neck barely conscious of anything but the thrill streaming through every part of her.
A.J.’s cough startled her, Boston too, because he jerked back. Dazed, Mandy hardly noticed when he eased her arms away, looking at her in a moment taut with puzzlement. Mandy was certain she saw anger flickering in his dark eyes before they shifted back to Alexis who now stood with her hand on her hip, her brow raised over a smirk.
“My, well,” Alexis said, tone frosty. “I thought you hated public displays of affection.”
“He wasn’t with the right woman,” Mandy said, taking Boston’s hand and holding it on top of the table.
Alexis lifted her chin and drew her man next to her.
“Come on, let’s go. I’d rather eat somewhere else. It was nice to meet you, A.J.” She glanced at him, then her cold eyes met Mandy’s. “I forgot your name.”
“Mandy.”
Alexis merely stared then turned her disproving gaze to Boston. “See ya, Charlie.”
“Yeah.”
Mandy watched Alexis and her companion go out the door. “Guess she lost her appetite.” Mandy turned back around. A.J.’s face was stony. She had Boston’s hand tightly in hers, and she glanced at it before releasing it and picking up her fork. Boston stared at his untouched taco salad. The corners of his jaw were rock hard. Mandy moved her chips around her container with the tines of the fork.
The silence was as suffocating as wood dust, and almost as unbearable. Mandy looked at A.J., whose expression was not amused. What? She’d only played along. In her mind, if anyone should be peeved, it should be her—being used like some cheap skank for the sake of…what? If it was revenge Boston was after, he sure didn’t look satisfied. Over A.J.’s shoulder, her gaze caught on Marc and Larry, grinning like two cats that had just swallowed bluebirds. They slapped palms. Mandy’s skin burned.
They stood, laughing and talking, then threw their trash away before coming to the table.
“You caved, dude.” Marc grinned at Boston, who looked thoroughly miserable, Mandy thought.
The momentary confusion on Boston’s face shifted to understanding. He sat forward and dragged his hands down his face. Mandy wasn’t sure why she felt the need to defend him, especially after he’d used her like that and not yet said a word about it. But she’d willingly participated in the little charade, and Marc and Larry deserved to know that the scene was just that—a charade.
“It was nothing,” she said, picking up a now soggy corn chip. “He’s still…clean.”
Marc laughed. “That’s what it looked like, yeah.
You’re full of it.”
“I’m serious, Marc.”
“She’s right,” Boston’s tone was sharp, and it cut straight through Mandy’s confused heart. He stood, picked up his untouched taco salad, his body twitching like a racehorse at the gate. “That kiss was nothing.”
Mandy’s heart fell to her feet. She couldn’t believe he’d said the words.
Marc and Larry caught the hard shift in Boston’s demeanor and their smiles flattened. Marc stuffed his hands in his pockets. Mandy recognized the fury building in her brother’s face all tight and turning red, and her neck broke out in a sweat.
“Then what were
you doing with her?” Marc hissed.
Mandy shot to her feet. “It wasn’t what it looked like.
That chick at the table was—”
“Mandy, stop.” Boston’s eyes flashed to hers and held. Then he looked at Marc. “It’s really none of your business.” He stepped over to the trash receptacle, shoved his untouched taco salad through the swinging door, and left the restaurant.
Marc grabbed Mandy’s elbow. “What was that all about?”
She had to temporarily ignore her tender heart and bruised ego, it just wouldn’t do for Marc to see that Boston’s cold detachment was affecting her. She tugged her elbow free and scowled. “None of your business.”
Mandy dumped her trash and followed Boston outdoors into the noon sun. His stride was fast and frustrated as he headed toward the truck. She wasn’t sure she should confront him, but the way he’d looked into her eyes and said that the little charade had been nothing stuck with her like a bee stinger she couldn’t pluck out.
“Hey.” She finally caught up with him and they strode shoulder-to-shoulder. “You want to talk about that?”
He stopped at the back of the truck and slammed his hands on the tailgate. A heavy sigh seeped from his chest. He shook his head, his gaze off over the parking lot. Then his black eyes locked on hers, sending a cold shudder down her middle. “Not now.” He pulled himself up and over the tailgate and sat down.
Incensed, Mandy opened her mouth to lay into him for using her when she heard Marc, Larry and A.J.’s voices. They were coming out of Taco Bell and heading for the truck. She was numb inside.
She climbed over the tailgate and plopped down directly across from Boston, satisfied when he looked at her with surprise on his face. “That kiss wasn’t nothing,”
she kept her voice low. If he thought she was going to let this go and cower away like some spineless female, he had another thing coming.
“I said not now,” he said between teeth.
It was juvenile to glare at him, even though she was swimming in conflicting feelings. She took a deep breath, pondering what to do. For now she’d respect his wishes and not pry it out of him. The last thing she wanted was for Marc to suspect anything, anyway.
Marc and Larry were talking about Larry’s date with Samantha as they got into the truck cab. A.J. hopped over the back of the bed and sat himself down next to her, his arm brushing hers when he crossed them over his chest. He stretched out his legs.
Boston’s narrowed gaze honed in on the zero distance between her and A.J., but Mandy wasn’t sure why. If he cared at all that she’d kissed him and made a fool out of herself all in the name of helping him out of a jam, he wasn’t showing it.
“You okay?” A.J. asked before Marc started the truck and the diesel engine grumbled.
Mandy nodded, casually keeping Boston out the corner of her eye. He was still watching them like a hawk.
It gave her a small wince of satisfaction.
At the site, Boston jumped out of the truck the minute Marc killed the engine. A.J. stood and held out a hand to Mandy who took hold and rose to her feet.
But when she stepped toward the tailgate, A.J. held her hand firm and brought her flush with him, his green eyes sharp staring into hers. “What are you doing, baby doll?”
Mandy’s throat closed. He was so near, so very strong holding her hand as firm as a bear.
“I’m not talking about getting out of the truck,”
Mandy swallowed jittering nerves. “I was helping Boston out of a jam.”
A.J.’s eyes stayed locked on hers and so did his hand, wrapped around hers. He seemed to consider her words as he stood there still as a statue. A shudder rambled deep inside of Mandy aware now that the guys weren’t talking anymore but loitering at the back of the truck, listening. Boston’s dark form moved into her peripheral vision.
A.J.’s grip softened and he rubbed her hand with both of his in a caress. Then he led her to the open truck bed, jumped down and held up a hand for her again.
Mandy stole a glimpse of Boston, belted up, watching. She set her hand in A.J.’s and let him assist her.
“I want to get the second floor interior walls done by tonight,” Marc said. His voice broke the tension strung between her, A.J., and Boston, and Mandy let out a sigh as she reached into the toolbox and retrieved her belt.
But the minute Larry and Marc headed into the house, the blaze of pressure was back, flames of frustration and confusion leaping all around them.
“You want to work with me, baby doll?” A.J. asked, slipping his red bandana around his head.
“She and I work together first.” Boston’s tone was hard, his glare aimed at A.J. “That’s the protocol.”
A thin smile slit A.J.’s lips. He finished tying the knot at the back of his head. “I don’t know Charlie, you seem to lose your head when it’s convenient for you. Kinda unprofessional.”
In a fast step, Boston was chest-to-chest with A.J.
who stood with his fists flexing at his side.
Mandy swallowed and took a tentative step toward the two men. “It’ll be fine, A.J. I’ll start with Boston. He’s right.”
“I don’t know how right he is,” A.J. said, locked in a stare with Boston. Boston snickered and A.J.’s gaze slid to Mandy. “But you’re calling the shots here.”
Mandy’s eyes widened when both men looked at her.
“Hey!” Marc’s booming voice called from the upstairs of the house. He stood at the open stairway watching. “Let’s get to work.”
A.J. sent him a grin and a salute. “On our way, boss.”
He crossed between Mandy and Boston, his cool gaze lingering on Mandy.
Boston’s hands sat on his tool belt. He looked restless.
Mandy wanted to talk about what was going on, what had happened, but realized the timing was off for that.
First and foremost they had a job to do.
She followed Boston’s dusty steps into the house.
White Snake blared from Larry’s boombox in a corner.
A.J. went to work in the bathroom they’d framed earlier, and he put the finishing touches on the tub and shower framing. Mandy trailed Boston to the closet they were going to construct in one of the three bedrooms.
“What the heck is this?” Marc’s boom cannonballed through Larry’s loud music and every hammer and nail gun went silent. Marc stood next to a wall in bedroom two that Boston and Mandy had worked on earlier.
“There’s supposed to be a window here,” he barked. Boston started over, so Mandy followed. Mistakes like this weren’t uncommon during framing. Her dad had told her stories of every kind of building error from a house being feet off its intended foundation to stairs going up the wrong side of a room.
“I want this fixed.” Marc looked at Boston as if the mistake was his fault. Boston seemed to accept the chastisement.
He nodded. “Same size as the other one?”
Marc looked at the other window in the room, crossed to it and whipped out his measuring tape before he stepped back with a nod. “Yeah.”
“Should we check the blueprint?” Mandy asked.
Marc scowled. “If window A is thirty-five by thirty-five, it’s a pretty good bet window B is the same. But, yeah, check it out, Mand.” Then he went back to work.
Mandy joined Boston at the wall where the window was supposed to be. “I guess we should have seen it. It’s an obvious place for a window, look at the view. It’s so clear. You can see everything from here.”
Boston didn’t agree or disagree, he just started in working. Mandy found the blueprint and double checked before joining Boston again. His tone was sharp and direct as he gave her orders. Mandy bristled. She didn’t mind being instructed, but being told what to do was another story. When they stood together as she held the two-by-fours for him to hammer in place, she couldn’t bear the strain a moment longer.
“So what happened at lunch?” she asked.
His palms wrapped around the wood so close
to hers, she felt the heat of his hands. Barely two feet of space stood between them and his scent mixed with the smell of the raw wood surrounding them. His brown eyes looked into hers but he didn’t say anything.
“You one of those guys that doesn’t like to talk about stuff that’s uncomfortable?” she asked.
“I’m one of those guys who like to talk about stuff that’s private in private.”
Mandy swallowed a lump. “Oh. Well. What was that at lunch then? That kiss wasn’t very private.”
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