by Green, Megan
This isn’t the first time I’ve seen these eyes.
This isn’t the first time I’ve laid eyes on this woman.
And this definitely isn’t the first time I’ve heard a gasp escape her lips.
Though the last time I heard it was under very different circumstances, with my cock buried to the hilt in her tight pussy as her nails dug into my shoulders as she came.
Monroe Daniels, the newest employee of BrookStone Partners, is none other than my little vixen from the club last night.
I see the words flash behind her eyes at the same time they run through my mind.
We are so fucked.
Chapter Three
Monroe
Benton stops swinging me around and finally places me down on the ground. I try to quell the dizziness that overtakes my body, but it takes me longer than I expected, and I hope that whoever he brought with him doesn’t think ill of me. Even as those words cross through my mind, I curse myself and my momma for all of those old Hollywood movies she forced me to watch.
Getting my wits about myself, I turn to the other guys standing there and he says, “Barrett and Ash, this is Monroe.”
Fuck.
Of all the things I could walk into this morning for work, this is the last thing I expected. Hell, I didn’t expect anything like this at all. I knew being the only woman, let alone one of the bosses, on the crew would be a struggle. It always is when you’re working in a man’s world. But this? No, I didn’t ever think something like this was possible.
This can’t be happening.
I repeat the words over and over again in my head as if they’re actually going to come true. Like I didn’t do something completely wrong and unlike myself last night to damn me to this kind of fate.
My lips fall open and I attempt to say something, anything, but my tongue gets caught in the sudden Sahara Desert filling my mouth. I’ve always been a good girl and done the right thing.
When my momma chose needles, liquor, and men over me, I never said a thing. I quickly learned how to take care of myself, and her when she needed it. If I didn’t do it, then nobody else was going to.
When she left me for the pearly gates, where I’d like to believe she went, I never spoke ill of her to anybody. My momma had a big heart that she gave around all too freely. She loved hard and felt the horrors of heartbreak even harder. I don’t fault her for that, and I don’t blame her for the way I grew up.
It is what it is.
But now? The one time I choose to step out and do something a little on the bad side and this is my payback?
I’m still deliciously sore from Barrett pounding into me over and over again in that seedy bar bathroom. I can still hear his groans intermingling with my own moans as we allowed ourselves to be absorbed by our pleasure. My hips are slightly bruised in the shape of his hands from where he gripped me tightly. Every inch of my skin remembers him, and my body involuntarily reacts to the memories.
Clearing my throat, I rein in my emotions and put my hand out between us. Forcing myself to look into his eyes, I draw the line that’s needed and say, “It’s so nice to meet you. I’m Monroe, the new foreman.”
Barrett’s eyes go down to my hand and back up to my face, but he doesn’t make a move to shake it. Instead, the guy standing next to him steps forward and takes my hand. His grip is firm, but his hands are soft against the calluses that coat my own. Years of working construction with my uncle Samuel hardened not only my once delicate fingers but my insides as well. It took a few brawls on the job site to prove I belonged, but once I did that it became a non-issue. Based on his hands alone, I’d say the guy standing in front of me wouldn’t know the difference between a framing or a finishing hammer.
Soft Hands smirks as his eyes trail my body from my toes to the top of my head giving extra attention to the full Cs sitting on the top of my chest. My boobs are not large, but I’ve been told over and over again how round and perky they are. Men flock to them like a moth to a flame.
When his focus finally lands on my eyes, he doesn’t even hide the fact that we both know he was checking me out and says, “You have to excuse my friend over here,” he nudges Barrett in the gut, and when he releases an oomph he continues, “your buddy Ben didn’t tell us you were a woman when he hired you, so we’re both a little shocked.”
Seriously? That’s their excuse? I want to laugh my ass off, but I hold myself back. “I’m sorry, you thought I was a man? Didn’t my name tip you off a bit to the fact that I most likely have a vagina below my belt rather than rocking a dick?”
That might have been a little crass, but I blame the job. When my momma died, I was only sixteen years old and had nowhere to go. With zero questions asked, her brother, a man I had never met in my life, took me in and moved me away from Winchester to Caldwell. He raised me the only way he knew how. He put me to work and worked me to the bone.
I didn’t go to football games or school dances. But I also didn’t have Benton dragging me to those things either. Instead, I was learning how to hang drywall and install insulation.
The dreaded C word which I refuse to let roll off my tongue had him leaving me long before he should have. He loved his pack a day and no matter how many times I asked him to quit, he just couldn’t do it.
That was over ten years ago and I found myself in a weird place nearly six months ago when he got the diagnosis. I refused to even think about what could happen, but in the end, I fought things harder than he did.
In his mind, it was all over at that point and he refused most of the treatments. Outside of smoking a little pot to help with the pain management. When he told me goodbye for the final time, I became numb. His house, life insurance policy, and selling his business all helped cover his medical bills but left me with little else. I didn’t have a reason to stay.
Barrett’s buddy takes a step closer to me while he’s laughing his ass off. “Apparently I’m a dick too because I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Ash Stone, as in the Stone in BrookStone Partners.”
I nod my head like I understand, but in all honesty, I wouldn't care if he was Bradley Cooper. As far as I’m concerned, if they want this project finished on time, there is a lot of work that needs to be done and meeting the bosses was not on my agenda. Especially since the one who is doing his damnedest to ignore me had me bent over a sink less than twelve hours ago. Not that I’m going to bring that up in front of these guys, and I definitely know he’s not going to.
I give my megawatt smile that I know nobody can ignore and offer in my Marilyn Monroe tone, “It’s nice to meet you, Ash.”
He chuckles a little and says, “It’s Ash, as in short for Ashley. It’s a family name, but don’t go spreading it around. That’s why we didn’t assume you’re a woman. Plus, if you’ve ever watched that old TV show Grimm, the main character’s best friend’s name is Monroe and he’s totally a dude. A big hairy dude.”
I haven’t watched much TV in recent years, so I have no idea what he’s talking about, but that doesn’t distract me from what he said his name was. Ashley, huh? Well the dude standing in front of me does not look like an Ashley at all. At least based on any of the ones I’ve ever met. Although he is kind of a pretty boy like Ashley Wilkes in Gone with the Wind. Nothing like the handsome alpha male, Rhett Butler. I never understood why Scarlett was so obsessed with Ashley.
Now Rhett on the other hand?
He was the ultimate fictional boyfriend. The bad boy finally tamed.
I shake my head, pulling myself from getting distracted. “Don’t worry Ash,” I add a wink. “Your secret is safe with me.”
He nods his head in acceptance and turns his focus to Barrett. In fact, all of our eyes land on the very sexy and brooding man who has, up until this point, stayed incredibly quiet watching all of our interactions. As he senses everyone looking at him, Barrett looks up from his phone in his hand which has had a completely black screen up until this point and chooses to join our little circle.
&
nbsp; His eyes bounce from his brother to who I can only assume is his best friend, and then his eyes fall on me. I can’t tell whether or not he’s completely turned on or pissed off and ain’t that the truth of my life all summed up in a single sentence.
Barrett glances at all of us and coughs, clearing his throat, but I don’t miss the anger in his eyes or the way his jaw is clenched. He finally reaches his hand toward me and bites out, “I’m Barrett, Benton’s older brother and the CEO of BrookStone Partners. Like Ash said, we weren’t expecting Benton to hire a female as his foreman. Not that it matters whether or not you’re a man or a woman, but I’m going to hold you up to the same standard as any other employee that we hire.”
I didn’t expect him to lay everything out there between us, but I guess I also didn’t expect him to act like such a cold dick toward me. The least he could have done was treat me like a human being, not like I’m worse than the scum on the bottom of his very expensive loafer shoes. Wow, did it drop thirty degrees out here or what? I take his hand and shake it. He drops mine first and turns away from me acting suddenly bored with the meet and greet and starts grilling his brother for updates on the project. I heard things were a little bit dire and they took on more than they can chew, but I did not expect to be treated like a peon.
Obviously, I’m not needed here at all. With an overly dramatic and girly huff, I turn away toward the two crews of men who are waiting for their directions for the day. Benton hasn’t walked me through the site, but this isn’t the first government building I’ve tackled before. The gut job was already done before I even got here but that’s about it. Since the mayor’s office will be the major focus of the project, I send two of our guys over there with the threat that their futures with this company ride on the perfection of their completion.
I’ve never fired someone in my life, but as a woman in a man’s world, I’ve found that unless you light a fire under these guys’ asses, they won’t respect you in the long run. Once I finish giving every single one of these guys, including ones who are brand new just like me, their direction and purpose for the day, Benton walks over to me. His brother and Ash have long since disappeared, no doubt going back to their hard labor sitting behind desks all day long while we do the real work. I don’t pretend to understand what they do in the office, but none of that would matter if the construction didn’t actually happen.
Benton’s voice pulls me from my thoughts as he says, “Sorry my brother was such a dick. I don't know what has gotten into him.”
It takes everything in me to not lose it right then and there. It’s more like what has he gotten into rather than what has gotten into him. And the answer? My vagina...that’s what he’s gotten into and it does not bode well for either one of us. No matter how mind-blowing the sex was.
Instead, I wave my friend off and say, “You might have lived with a dick between your legs your entire life, but I know what it’s like to be a woman in a man’s world. I’ve been treated worse by lesser men. It all rolls off my back at this point, you have nothing to worry about.”
Even as the lies roll from my tongue, I can tell that Benton believes me. Either because it’s easier for him or because he legitimately can’t tell when someone is lying to him. Honestly, I don’t care how it goes either way...as long as he pretends like what I’m saying is true, because I really won’t be able to handle it if he starts questioning me.
Rather than continue this awkward conversation, I drag him to a corner of the room where I noticed some shoddy work and to get the lay of the land. If they truly want this job to be finished in the less than sixty days we have left, then there is some serious work to be done. I honestly don’t even know what they’ve done with the time they have already had, but it definitely isn’t enough.
Chapter Four
Barrett
The sun has already set by the time Ash and I close up shop that night. I hadn’t even realized how much time had passed since we’d returned to the office until Ash’s stomach had grumbled so loud it had pulled me right out of my thoughts of our company’s impending doom.
And one Monroe Daniels.
I’d tried like hell to keep my mind off my little vixen from the bar and planted firmly in the here and now, but it was pointless. She had rooted herself in the forefront of my thoughts, and something told me that’s exactly where she was going to stay unless I did something to stop it.
The question is...what?
Firing her was out of the question. First, because I didn’t have any grounds other than the fact that she was a hot as fuck woman who would likely be a distraction for the men on site. And that was a lawsuit just waiting to happen.
And second, because Benton had shown up at the office a few hours after Ash and I had turned tail, pissed off and ready to fight over the way I’d treated his friend.
“Did you have to be such an asshole?” he’d said by way of greeting after he stormed through the front door.
My head had immediately swung toward him, my brows pulling together in confusion at his obvious displeasure.
“Nice to see you too, bro. Want to tell me what crawled up your ass?”
I could feel Ash’s eyes volleying between the two of us, no doubt an amused smirk on his lips as he took in yet another Brooks brother argument. Benton and I might have been close as hell, but that didn’t mean we didn’t butt heads every so often.
Or on any day that ends in Y.
Benton crossed the room in two long strides, snatching the keys to the company truck he always drives off the top of my desk. Ash and I had taken it while he’d been distracted talking to Monroe, leaving him high and dry at the job site. I hadn’t expected he’d be happy about me jacking his wheels, but this…
“Sorry, man. Ash and I have a shit ton of work to do. We couldn’t stand around out there forever while you caught up with your girlfriend.”
The slight flush in Benton’s cheeks deepened even further at my words. “I don’t give a fuck about the truck. Monroe gave me a lift on her way to the hotel she’s staying at until she can find a place. My problem is with the way your ass acted like you couldn’t even be bothered to introduce yourself to our newest employee, let alone actually act like you’re grateful she’s here to save our asses.”
I scoffed. “Ben, I know I said I was cool with this whole thing, but come on… you can’t really expect me to entrust the future of this company to—”
Benton’s palm crashing down against my desk caused me to pull up short.
“To whom, Barrett? One of the best foremen I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with. To someone who can work their way around a job site blindfolded and never miss a beat? Or to a person I’ve seen finish more jobs on time and with better than expected results than I can even possibly count.”
He’d shown Ash and I Monroe’s credentials and resume before we’d agreed to hire her on. I had to admit; it was impressive. But still…
“Benton, you don’t—”
“No, you don’t. You don’t get it. Why do you think I didn’t mention the fact that Monroe was a woman, Barrett? Because I know you. I knew you’d write her off before you even gave her a chance, all because she happens to have a V where you think there should be a P. I got news for you though, bro.”
My brows lifted as I waited for him to continue.
“That woman you insulted is ten times the worker than any of those men on that site are. And if you think, for one minute, that I’m going to let you fuck us over because of some sexist bias you’re holding onto, you’re sorely mistaken. Monroe is going to work that job. Not only that, she’s going to rock that job. And then I’ll be here to accept your apology when you come groveling at my feet, thanking me for having the foresight to tell you what a pretentious asshole you are and not letting you make the biggest mistake of our careers.”
I narrowed my eyes as my gaze swept up and down my brother’s form. I’d never seen him so angry, not even after that time he’d shown up at my dorm room to find h
is prom date half naked in my bed. And when my eyes finally met his, I’d seen a resolute determination there that I’d never seen before.
Benton believed the words he was saying. He wasn’t just trying to get his friend a job or get a piece of ass. He truly believed that Monroe would be the difference maker BrookStone Partners so desperately needed.
And that was how, against my better judgment and every single voice in my head screaming that it was a bad idea, I agreed to give Monroe Daniels a shot.
Because despite what my brother might think, I have no problem with the fact that Monroe is female. Sure, it was a bit surprising to see when I’d first spotted her. But as someone who’s been underestimated most of his life because of my family’s wealth and social status, I wasn’t about to turn around and do the same to someone else just because she was a woman.
No, my problem with Monroe Daniels had nothing to do with what was between her legs. Or rather, it had everything to do with what I wanted to do between those legs.
Seeing Monroe out there on the job site had shocked the shit out of me.
But not even two seconds had passed since recognition before I was already thinking of what this might mean for us.
Last night, she’d said we’d never see each other again.
And then today brings us right into one another’s path, likely for the foreseeable future.
I couldn’t help but wonder if fate had brought her to me, knowing how desperately in need of a repeat performance I was.
And then I realized what an evil bitch fate can be.
It brought her to me in the worst way possible. In the one way that ensures I can never touch her again.
As my employee.
With a heavy sigh, I open my car door and slide in behind the wheel. I watch as Ash does the same, pulling out ahead of me and pulling up to the stop sign down the street from our office. I follow close behind him, seeing his car make the same left turn it always does when it’s quitting time.
