William leaned into Megan’s space. “I honestly don’t know why my aunt Deb is so hot on this project; these people will trash everything once we leave. What a waste of time and resources.”
Megan grabbed for BJ’s hand under the table. The fire in her eyes brought back the heat and light his apparition had stolen. He squeezed her hand to encourage her.
She didn’t disappoint him.
“What is it with you Clausen assholes?” She pulled her hand away and pounded the table with it. “You can’t possibly be as ignorant as you sound. Do you know any of ‘these’ people?” Her air quotes nearly set off a breeze. “Or do you swallow the bullshit from the right-wing media without thinking? Is that why you smell so bad?”
“I told you he needed a fresh Depends,” Quinn snarked.
After a round of high-fives, BJ pulled his phone out of his pocket, slid it into his lap, and sent a group text to his brothers: $50 says he walks away first.
Quinn was the first to respond: Damn you’re cheap today. Make it a Benjamin, and he asks her out.
BJ’s blood boiled. Megan was his, God damn it, and if William wanted to keep breathing... what the hell? Megan was his? Yeah, Megan was his. She wouldn’t be going to Vegas with Riley or Maui with Shane or Peru with Knox. She was staying right here. With him.
His hand shook as he answered Quinn: C-note is fine, he asks, but she says no.
At least she’d better.
Shane chimed in: Still too easy, Megan’s a smart lady, she won’t go for that idiot.
The brothers continued to text while William and Megan sniped at each other, but BJ was far more interested in the drama unfolding in front of him than whatever nonsense his brothers were spewing.
“We grew up in foster care with people like these. We got lucky, or I should say I got lucky. Ethan pulled me out with him. The things you take for granted, I never got until I was on my own.”
William rolled his eyes. “Like what?”
BJ shook his head. If this was his cousin’s idea of romancing a woman, it’s no wonder the dude had to hire dates.
“Like a birthday party, or a cake or a card. If it hadn’t been for a few teachers who put everyone’s birthday on a big poster, it might have gone uncelebrated altogether. And forget about presents, even at Christmas. Everything around me belonged to someone else: toys, books, all of it. My clothes were all hand-me-downs, and if they weren’t total rags when I grew out of them, they went to someone else.”
William’s sneer telegraphed his disdain. “Those are luxuries; no one needs that stuff. You had a roof over your head, food on the table, and clothes on your back, which people like me paid for. You should be more grateful.”
Holy shit, he didn’t say that, did he? What an imbecile.
Megan returned William’s sneer and her voice dripped with sarcasm. “Well, let me kiss your hand before you kick me again, kind master. I don’t know what I was thinking. The scraps that fell from your table should have been more than enough for an unloved, unwanted orphan like me.”
Her chest heaved in anger, pain etched in her face, her narrowed eyes shot lasers at William. This was much different from their little exchange. She was dangerously angry, and the tears that glistened in her eyes no longer had anything to do with mirth. He half expected her to test his plastic fork theory on William herself.
Normally, watching William being taken down a peg would have brought BJ great joy. But the agony in her face struck a chord deep within him. His heart shredded as her words sunk in. Unwanted. Unloved. Orphan. The idea that this strong, beautiful woman had been a frightened, vulnerable child stirred something at the Neanderthal level of his DNA.
No one is EVER going to hurt you again. I promise. And BJ didn’t make promises, especially to women he wanted in his bed, and only in his bed. But somehow, Megan was different. For her, he could make an exception.
Megan continued her verbal assault on William. “When Ethan got money, we saw our first movie and had our first pizza. We were practically giddy with pleasure. We smiled for days.”
William pounced. “That’s my point. You enjoyed it so much more because you earned it. These people need to get off their asses and get to work!”
Megan glared back. “Where are they supposed to get work? They can’t afford cars and all of the jobs are in the suburbs or Center City. Public transportation in this neighborhood is a joke. Generation after generation has been stuck here with no way out. We’re trying to break the cycle. These kids have no one to show them simple things like how to properly shake someone’s hand. Father Jim excuses himself and walks around the block while Ethan teaches the boys about condoms. We have homework help every afternoon followed by open gym. We’re building a swimming pool next spring. These kids are stuck. They see gangs and drugs as their only way out. A lucky few will sign a sports contract or record a hit song, but chances are without financial skills, they’ll end up broke and right back here. They’re being punished because their parents and grandparents made bad decisions, the way you’re blessed because your parents and grandparents made good decisions.”
William still wasn’t buying it. “Nobody gave me a goddamned thing! I worked for what I have!”
“Oh, don’t start, you pompous little shit,” Megan shot back. “You were damn near born on third base, scoring a run was easy for you. Most of these kids never get up to bat. You were born with a lot, so it wasn’t that hard. You walked into a good job without having to try. Imagine not having enough food, not that you’ve missed a meal in years, or having to go to crappy schools, not having someone to teach you how to be successful. I’ll bet you’ve never done a single load of laundry or cut one lawn in your life. Your world was a perfect little bubble. Your one job was sitting around looking pretty, and you failed at that miserably! You’re an arrogant, ignorant asshole! Go to Hell.”
Megan got up and stalked off.
BJ couldn’t contain himself, spraying his spiked fruit punch across the table, right at Knox who was too busy laughing to notice. “Oooh, that was harsh, even by our standards.”
Shane high fived him. “Harsh, but true. And funny.”
“Hilarious,” the brothers all agreed between taunts of “pretty boy” and making smooching sounds.
William glowered, but held his seat. Most of his executive staff was watching. He continued to devour his lunch as if nothing had happened.
BJ had to give his cousin some respect, grudgingly. “I gotta admit, I didn’t see that one coming. You fools should have taken the bet.” He got up to follow Megan.
CHAPTER 25
BJ found her pacing outside of the church, shaking. He walked up behind her and put an arm around her. “Are you okay?”
She laid her head on his shoulder and let his arms encircle her like his shirt. “Your cousin is an asshole.” She let a sigh escape into his chest.
BJ pulled her closer and felt her melt. “William is far more than an asshole, but then you said that about me. The difference is he believes what he was saying; I was playing.”
A sudden breeze sent a wisp of her hair across his cheek. Déjà vu. BJ remembered his high school French. You again. It was his turn to sigh. “Is he watching?”
Megan lifted herself on her tiptoes and leaned slightly to look around BJ’s shoulder. For a few glorious inches, her body scraped up his. The slight friction had the same intense effect of striking a match. “Yes.”
The flame intensified as she lowered herself back down. “Wanna piss him off?” he asked
An evil leer spread across her face. “Of course, I do. What did you have in mind?”
BJ smiled. Now we’re getting somewhere. “Kiss me, like you mean it, then let me take you back to the table so I can make him apologize.”
Megan tilted her head and planted a quick kiss on his eager lips. She pulled back quickly.
“That’s not going to cut it, babe.” BJ breathed in her scent, a scent that should have repulsed him. Dirt, sweat, a hint of urine, and
God knew what else. All mixed with the remnants of her soap and shampoo, creating a heady aroma of hard work and strength. Pure woman. It was so different, so exotic, it struck at the core of his maleness. This was a woman worthy of his respect. She was worthy.
He cupped her face gently in his hands, barely tracing her bottom lip with his thumbs before claiming her mouth. Softly, slowly, he worked at her lips with his tongue until she opened for him, poking, prodding, teasing; accepting her advances in return. He slid his hands behind her head and laced his fingers through the loose braid, working it free, feeling her hair cascade over his hands. He held her to him, pulling back slightly with a guttural moan. “That’s better.”
“This is dangerous.” She whispered into the crook of his neck as she tried to pull away; he tightened his grip to bring her closer.
He nestled his cheek into her soft, fragrant hair and inhaled. Mint and lavender might be his new favorite aroma. Lust rocketed through him. “Danger can be fun.”
She stayed in his embrace for a moment longer, then pulled back violently. “I’m a mother. I don’t get to have that kind of fun anymore. How long do we have to wait for soldier boy to stand down before we can carry out phase two of this little plan?”
“Oh, hell, let him see how turned on I am. It’ll remind him how much bigger I am than he is. Poor boy suffers from teeny peeny syndrome, which should be obvious from the way he treats people. And you should see his monster truck. He’s compensating, no doubt about it.”
Her soft laugh made him harden more until he felt as if it would split out of its skin. “Nice touch, now slide your hand in my back pocket that’s good,” BJ shivered with unexpected pleasure that traveled halfway around his body from his ass to his balls, threatening something that hadn’t happened since middle school. Damned if he was going to cream in his jeans now.
He put his arm around her and headed back to the table in time to see Shane snatch twenty-dollar bills from Knox, Quinn, and Riley. The kid looked practically high as he grabbed the double sawbucks while Dumb, Dumber, and Dumbest glowered at him.
“Dearest cousin,” BJ mocked William and smiled when he heard his brothers snorting in laughter. He looked down at his plate. “Hey, what happened to my hot dog?”
Quinn mumbled around a mouthful of food. “It was getting cold. Carry on.”
BJ growled and grabbed the cookie off his brother’s plate. “Dearest cousin, you’ve offended my boss, and that’s not very chivalrous of you. I think you owe the lady an apology.” He took a big bite of the cookie and snarled at Quinn.
“When did you turn into a libtard?” Politics were the one thing BJ and William agreed on.
“I didn’t say I agreed with her politics, what I said was I disagreed with the way you treated her. My mother raised me right.”
BJ’s not-so-subtle dig at Aunt Lillian spiked William’s temper. “Is that so? Rumor has it the two of you tangled pretty good not too far from here.” He pointed toward the gazebo. “Or at least that’s what the video made it look like.”
Damn, he’d seen the video. BJ was going to kill his brothers.
“True, but my mother made me see the error of my ways. I’ve made peace with the Boss Lady, now it’s your turn.” BJ stared down at his cousin. William remained seated, exaggerating their height difference. He pulled Megan closer and felt her snuggle into his side. Soldier Boy throbbed, straining the zipper of his jeans, and as luck would have it, fairly waving in William’s face.
William stood. “I have some phone calls to make. It’s about time you all stopped freeloading and got back to work.” He stomped off toward the church, ignoring his cousins’ catcalls.
CHAPTER 26
Considering the combative workouts he and his brothers engaged in several times a week, BJ considered himself in prime physical shape, but damn if Megan wasn’t running circles around him. His pure brute strength was no match to her lithe, graceful toughness. She was damned near poetry in motion. A frail hothouse flower? Hell no. She was the tenacious perennials his mother had planted in the inhospitable area around the pool that had thrived on the chlorinated water that somehow traveled the twelve or so feet from the pool to the garden. For the competitive Tobin boys, swimming was practically a contact sport, and by the end of the day, more water was out of the pool than in. Soon, emptying the pool became its own challenge so they could hear the old man grumble about having to call the pool filling service yet again.
And BJ liked challenges.
Megan picked up a gallon of paint in each hand and sprinted up the stairs of the house they were getting ready to work on. That had to be at least twenty pounds of paint. “I can’t believe how much weight you can carry.”
With the form of an Olympic weightlifter, she curled each arm twice. “This is no big deal. I have a wiggly fourteen-month-old who weighs nearly twenty-five pounds. I’m constantly picking him up and carrying him somewhere. Ouch!” Megan put the paint cans down and shook her left hand.
BJ grabbed her hand. “Let me see.” Huh, she was still wearing her wedding ring. His gut churned at the tiny stone. Was that the best the guy could do? I’d put at least two carats on that finger. Yeah, he was competitive, but where the hell had that idea come from? BJ quickly shifted to humor to mask his discomfort. “Aw, you bwoke a naiw.” BJ stuck his lower lip out in an exaggerated pout.
She pulled her hand back and shot him a look that all but shouted grow up. “So? It’ll grow back. This one hurts because it broke down to the quick.”
BJ couldn’t hold back the roar of sheer merriment that rolled up from his belly an out his mouth.
“What are you laughing about?” she asked.
“Most of the women I’ve dated would be in full meltdown over a ruined manicure.”
But then, most of the women he’d dated wouldn’t be here at all. They attended formal galas for carefully chosen charities that held the most prestige, not a renovation project in a neighborhood where the only cameras were likely to be security cameras. They carried checks for their favorite causes, not buckets of paint.
And Megan was a hot mess, but for some reason, he didn’t care. BJ’s other dates would’ve been mortified to have appeared in public without every hair in place, perfect make-up, and the latest fashions. Dirty, smelly, and disheveled, she wasn’t like BJ’s other women. Suddenly, all he could think of was getting her into a shower. His mind wandered to exactly where would he start washing her and which parts would get his tongue instead of a loofa. Good clean fun that morphed into dirty images. But dirty images meant they’d have to shower again. Lather, rinse, repeat. Repeat. Repeat.
“Sounds to me like you’ve been dating the wrong women. I haven’t had a manicure since before Pete was born. I keep my nails short now—too much crap, literally, to clean out from under long nails.” She opened a paint can with a single flick of a screwdriver and stirred the paint. “I like this shade of blue for the trim. It’s dark, like the color of your eyes.” She reached up to swat a mosquito, leaving a swatch of paint on her cheek.
BJ gently wiped the paint from her cheek, leaned in, and kissed her softly. The gentle heat from this kiss was so unlike the blast furnace of their last kiss. Tender and sweet and almost chaste. Almost. BJ knew there was nothing chaste about his feelings for her.
“Mmm, is William lurking?”
“No, I wanted to kiss you again.” He leaned in for another.
Megan pulled away. “Uh, yeah, well, here’s the thing. I’m a single mom. Widowed. No dad to take the kid on alternate weekends. No free time, just me and the kid. We’re a package deal.”
She continued to babble. “Pete will always come first. His needs are more important to me than my own. I won’t expose him to a stream of men parading through my bedroom. I won’t hurt him by letting him get attached to someone who might be gone in a week or two. Stephanie’s told me a lot about you, and I won’t be another trophy for you to brag about to your brothers and friends.”
“Remind me to thank
Steppie for her great job as my wingman,” he said dryly. “We’re Kegan’s godparents. If nothing else, we’ll always be at family parties together. Your brother married a Kerrigan. The Kerrigans and the Tobins have been family for decades. Not blood family, but better. Chosen, not assigned. Hell, we spent more time with the Kerrigans than any of my so-called real family. Now you’re part of that chosen family. I’ll always be around.”
Her face scrunched in on itself. Her eyes defocused as she stared into his shoulder. “Family is an unfamiliar concept.”
Holy shit, was that hollow sound coming from her?
“It’s something you’ve always had that I haven’t. We endured seventeen different foster homes in seventeen years, and through it all, Ethan was all I had. Our mother might still be out there, somewhere, our father, too, but who, and where, has always been a mystery. I could have other brothers and sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, the whole enchilada. We’ve looked for years but never found anything but disappointment.”
Megan took a breath and blew it out. She pulled herself up to her full height and plastered on a smile BJ recognized immediately. The smile all his past girlfriends had worn right after he’d delivered the “Let’s be friends” speech. The one that said, “Get me out of here before I break into tears.”
The smile that usually turned his heart to stone. But not this time. He reached out to stroke her arm. “That sounds rough. But having a family isn’t always that much fun. Case in point? Hanging out with my brothers versus spending time with Steppie. Partying with Steppie, and now Ethan and Kegan, is always more fun than being with the Four Mouthkateers. And since you and Pete are part of that group, you won’t be able to avoid me.”
The painful smile eased slightly. “You’re very persuasive, Mr. Tobin. Now that I’m confident of your commitment to be part of Pete’s life, I can consider my own needs.”
Fly Boy: A Friends to Lovers Standalone Romance (Tobin Tribe Book 2) Page 10
