by Aliyah Burke
Okay, so maybe that thought had crossed his mind. The man never—and he meant never—went out.
“So how come you understand women so much?”
“More than a gay man can understand women, Tuck. Come out of the Dark Ages. You want to know how I know? Because I fucked up a relationship and am still paying for it.”
Tuck arched an eyebrow.
“I’m married. My wife and I are separated.”
There was pain in that announcement. “We’ve been roommates for four years now.”
“Been married all that time.”
“No divorce?”
“No!” Steve’s exclamation was sharp and definite. “She’s my wife. I’m not divorcing her.”
“Okay. I’m sorry, man.”
“Look, this isn’t about me and my up-in-the-air marriage. This is about you and Ariel.”
“I’m not giving up, man. She’s the one.”
Steve leant forward, nodding as if he weren’t the least bit surprised. “You’ve got your work cut out for you.”
Tuck’s phone rang. “Yes?”
“Need you to don a suit tomorrow, man. We’ve got a new company taking over the security layout for the building. I want you there with the electrician to make sure it can all be done,” Richard Dockett, his boss, said.
“Me?”
“You want to have your own business one day—this is part of it. I’m en route to Maine for a wedding. I can’t make it. Do me proud, boy.”
“Who am I meeting?”
“A representative from Prometheus Protections. Not sure who they’re sending. This is, as I said, very last minute for them to be joining in. You remember what happened with the other company.”
“I recall.”
“I want you there so we’re not having to tear down walls and all that, which would put us behind schedule.”
“Got it. I’ll be there, when?”
“Tomorrow at eight.”
He hung up and relayed the information to Steve who smiled at him.
“Congrats, man, I know you’ve been looking to move up and get more experience for what you’d have to do with your own company.”
“I know. I’m going to see if she’s home.”
Steve rolled his eyes and went back to his magazine.
Tuck walked across the hall and knocked on her door. Nothing. “Ariel? Are you in there? If you are come talk to me, I’m not going anywhere.” Not a peep. “Christ, what’d you do, go stay at a hotel to make sure you didn’t have to see me?”
He stomped back to his place and slammed the door behind him. Making a beeline for his room, he didn’t say anything to Steve on the way, then just sat on his bed and dropped his head into his hands with a groan of defeat.
His phone rang again and instead of feeling uplifted by seeing Ariel’s number there, he saw Daisy’s. “Ariel was right and so was Steve. This is getting ridiculous.” He hit ‘Ignore’ and flopped back on his bed. Ariel wasn’t getting away that easily. He hadn’t lied when he’d told Steve she was the one.
* * * *
Morning came fast and as he fixed his tie he waited by the coffee machine. Steve gave him a thumbs-up as he walked by. “Good luck.”
He appreciated the support but he had no plans on fucking this up. Once he had his coffee in his travel mug, he went down to his truck and drove to the construction site.
Waving to the guys who were on their way to do construction work, he got out and went inside. He saw the electrician, Marvin Patterson, and made his way to his side. “Morning, Marv.”
“Hey, man. Good to see you here. Richard told me he was sending you.”
“Here’s hoping the one they send from the new company won’t be as annoying as the other one.”
“Amen.”
The sound of heels clicking along the floor reached them and together they turned. Tuck’s breath caught in his throat. No way. He blinked a few times but his vision didn’t change. Walking towards him—and Marv—was none other than the woman he’d been trying to get in touch with. Ariel Greene. She had her nose in the file she held and hadn’t spotted him yet.
“Gentlemen,” she said without looking up. “I’m so sorry to be the last one here, I was just looking…” She trailed off when she finally glanced up to see him.
That’s right, sweetheart. I’ve got you now.
She recovered quickly. “Looking to see where we should begin.”
Marv said, “Let me go grab something I forgot from my car. I’ll be right back.”
Yep, that was panic in her gaze but it only lasted a few seconds. He crossed his arms and stared down at her.
“Two days.” He was a bit shocked by the venom that coated such simple words.
“What are you doing here? I’m supposed to meet Pierce Carter.”
“You are.” He sketched a bow. “Pierce Carter at your service.”
She gave a shake of her head—almost like she was in disbelief—along with a slight grimace. “Of course you are. You never said your first name was Pierce.”
That time he heard the slight condemnation in her voice. Like this meeting situation was all his fault.
“I go by Tuck ninety-nine per cent of the time. Besides, it’s not like you said you worked for Prometheus Protections.”
She gave him a nod. “True. I didn’t.”
From that statement, it was clear she would have had no problem had he never known. Tuck didn’t like the feeling roiling around within him. He wanted to shake her, get some of the emotion he knew lay deep within out of her. Hell, he’d experienced much of it the other night.
She wasn’t even looking at him. Ariel had put her attention back on the file she had in her clipboard binder combo. Tuck could see her shoring up the walls around her emotions. Not what he wanted. Beyond her, he saw Marv had been paused by another worker. Focusing back on Ariel, Tuck knew his grin was near feral.
“I want you back in my bed.”
That did it. Her head snapped up and she pinned him with a dangerous glare. “Do not mention that.” Her fingers tightened around the pen in her hand.
“Was it bad?” He smirked. “No, I do remember how many times and how loudly you screamed my name.”
Her pupils dilated and he didn’t miss her sharp intake of breath. Oh yeah, she knew exactly what he recalled because it lingered all over her face. Their entire night together. However, she composed herself within seconds.
“Apparently a mistake,” she snapped before spinning on her heel and stalking to another man he’d failed to see arrive.
Tuck groaned. It wasn’t a mistake, Ariel. And it should be happening more and more. Then he shifted his attention. “What the hell is he doing here?”
Thomas Schaffer had arrived and was trying desperately to make himself useful to Ariel, from what Tuck could see. The man had no real worth in his opinion. His father was to be the curator and the museum was being built with their family money but Thomas himself… A wastrel would be far too kind a word to squander upon him, in Tuck’s mind.
As he prepared himself for the snide remarks that always came from Thomas, Tuck allowed himself to take in Ariel’s attire. A dark blue power suit that moulded to her in ways that should be considered illegal. No, none of it was overtly sexy. In fact it was very professional—a skirt suit she had paired with sensible heels. All he saw, however, was an ad for sex.
Her hair had been gathered up away from her face to rest in a tight bun upon the back of her skull. Nothing about her said softness. Still didn’t change the fact that when he looked, he saw the naked woman who’d lain in his bed, skin flushed with pleasure. Marks from his stubble along her body and love bites from him in places the public would never see. Then, her eyes had been soft and welcoming. Now, nothing but business.
He and Marv arrived at the duo at the same time and Thomas frowned when he looked up and saw Tuck. A smarmy smile lifted his lips and Tuck readied himself for the first slanderous comment to arrive.
“Thought
you were just one of the workers, Pierce. Shouldn’t you be in a hard hat and up there working with the rest of the men?”
Would it be wrong to punch him in the nose? “Richard asked me to step in for him. But don’t worry, we all will be in hard hats.” He waved for another one. “Wouldn’t want you to feel left out.”
Thomas sniffed in derision. “Shall we?”
They all donned their hats. Ariel moved her gaze between the three men and readjusted her clipboard. “After you.”
He trailed behind them, eyes more oft than not drifting down to the gentle sway of her ass in that skirt. More things for his wet dreams to work with. Marv dropped back to walk beside him as Ariel had the pleasure of being with Thomas as he talked loudly and pointed things out they specifically wanted as far as security went. She jotted things down and maintained the utmost professionalism. It was a whole other side of Ariel he’d never seen before. She was good. Damn good at her job.
When she had questions for him or Marv she would face them and ask, ignoring Thomas’ claim he could answer it all.
Back at the front of the building, she paused. “Thank you for your time, Mr Schaffer. Have a great day.”
He inched closer to her, like a kid in a candy store who couldn’t keep his hands off the treats. “Maybe we could go to lunch together and discuss your plans.”
Glacial cold, her gaze smacked into him. “Sorry. I have things to do and last I knew I was to take this to”—she glanced at her papers—“Gerald Schaffer, not Thomas.”
Thomas flushed but recovered quickly. “I could be of help. I can push back my tee time.”
Marv coughed under his breath and personally, Tuck wanted to lay Thomas out flat.
“Oh no, any questions I have now will be for Mr Carter or Mr Patterson. You showed me what your family wanted, despite me having that information from your father already in my file. I would hate for you to miss your tee time.”
Thomas’ expression told him this man was one who was used to getting what he wanted. Not only that he wasn’t happy when he wasn’t allowed to. Right now, the man wanted Ariel. Like I’m going to allow that to happen.
Thomas’ smile tightened. “You understand golf then, wonderful. Do you play? Perhaps we could play some holes sometime.”
There was no way to mistake the underlying meaning there. Tuck shook his head slightly at Marv, who took a step forward. Ariel could handle herself, he knew that much. He also knew her opinion of golf. This isn’t going to go well for Thomas.
Ariel licked her lips and stepped closer to Thomas. “I don’t play,” she said, her words succinct and straightforward. “And no, I’m not a fan of the game. In fact, I think it’s a waste of time and energy, not to mention water.” A small grin—more of a baring of teeth, actually—lifted her lips. “While I understand you don’t have anything to do during the day, Mr Schaffer, I’m going to have to ask you to excuse me. I still have a job to do. Have fun playing your game.”
Thomas got it that time and walked off muttering under his breath. Then Ariel looked at Tuck, however briefly. She passed on to Marv, pulled a card from her binder then handed it to him. Marv gave her one as well.
“I need to take another walk through the building,” she said. “Thank you for your assistance, Mr Carter. Mr Patterson.”
Tuck let her get a short distance away. “Ms Greene.”
She paused and pivoted, showing the flame pin of her company’s logo.
“This is an active construction site. You’ll need an escort. I’ll be right there.”
Her expression was priceless.
“That woman looks like she wants to kill you.”
With a smile for Marv, he nodded. “She probably does. We’re in the middle of a rough patch.”
“So you know her then.”
Intimately. “See you later, man.”
Marv waved him on and he went back to where Ariel waited, her hardhat seated upon her head. It wasn’t fair for someone to look so sexy in one. It was blue, light unlike the dark colour of her suit.
“Ready?” he asked, pausing next to her.
Her answer was to stride off. He chuckled and followed.
This could prove to be most interesting and fun.
Chapter Three
This is so going to suck.
Ariel bit the inside of her cheek. It was so hard to concentrate with him near. Him. Tuck. Pierce. Whatever the fuck he wanted to call himself. All she knew was she had to focus extra hard not to notice how well he filled out his dark charcoal suit.
“Ignoring me won’t make me go away, babe.”
She sucked on her teeth but continued to keep her back to him as she scanned the ceiling. Eyes on your own paper. Came in handy during school years, why not now?
“I’m working, Mr Carter.”
“Tuck. You seem to forget we’re neighbours. Hell, we’re a bit more than that now, wouldn’t you say?”
His warm breath teased the back of her neck and she ground her jaw, desperately trying not to lean into his strong body. Ice, she could definitely use some ice right about now. As quickly as he’d moved up, he stepped away to stand beside her. Moments later, some men walked by and inclined their heads, a gesture he returned.
“Gonna tell me why you’ve been ignoring me for the past two days?”
She closed her eyes before pivoting her hips towards him. “Really? You feel the need to do this now? I’m working. You’re working.”
“Yes, I do. For all everyone else knows, we’re talking about the building and what your company will do to it. I want to know. Two days, Ariel. No response at your door, nothing.”
“If you must know,” she said, staring down at the papers, “I was at work. This just got handed to us and we had a bunch of work to do on it.”
“And you don’t have phones at work? I mean, your cell. Which I’m pretty sure I called about ten times.”
Okay, so that she felt a bit bad about. “Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why does it matter, Tuck? I know how you treat women you take home to your place. Heck, we talked about it earlier that day. I’m ashamed enough, I don’t need to be reminded of it every time I look at you.”
A low rumble filled her ear and she glanced up to find him standing close, fury lining every inch of his face. “Ashamed?”
Perhaps that wasn’t the right choice of word. Still, she didn’t back down. Apparently she didn’t respond fast enough for he muttered some words she’d not heard since she left the Corps and grabbed her arm before pushing her back into a room with walls and a ceiling—one of the offices to be. He slammed the door behind him, drowning out most of the sound of the workers surrounding them.
“Ashamed?” His voice had risen.
She held his gaze. “Yes. Come on, Tuck. Are you really surprised by that?”
“Fuck yeah. Am I so vile then, you can’t imagine sleeping with me once much less the number of times we did it that night?”
She frowned as she watched him furtively. “Oh, check your fucking ego at the door. Just that morning, that morning, I saw little Miss Daisy immediately after she left your bed and I was in it less than twenty-four hours later. That is what’s making me ashamed. I’m not a baby and won’t stand here lying about how attracted I’ve been to you. But my behaviour was inexcusable. I left your bed and ran into Steve. I didn’t need him to see that.”
“I used protection with her.”
She held up her hands and shuddered. “I don’t want to think of her and you together. I acted like a slut and I know better. This isn’t going to work—it’s better I just don’t hang with you two anymore.”
His expression should have warned her. Should have. His features went blank seconds before he exploded. For a large man he sure could move fast. He had her back against the wall with his mouth slanted over hers.
She purred in pleasure as his taste sank back into her. She slipped her free hand inside his suit coat and around his waist, drawing him in closer. No
willpower and no strength. She accepted that.
His rumble ran through her, making her panties damp and her nipples tighten behind her shirt. She closed her eyes and moaned with raw need as he slid one hand up beneath her skirt to her panties. Her moan turned to a gasp when he jerked them off with a snap.
“They seem wet—you don’t need to wear them. Because I promise you, Ariel, before we’re done going back through this place, I’ll fuck you at least five times.” His words were gravelled and rasped along her skin as he spoke against her lips. He shoved two fingers deep inside her and her legs threatened to give out. “You’re already soaked.”
“Tuck,” she whimpered.
In and out he stroked his fingers, pushing her nearer to the edge she’d been missing since she had left his bed.
“No, not yet.” He withdrew his fingers, licked them clean and pocketed her panties. Then he helped straighten up her skirt.
Her gaze lasered in on his groin. His thickness pressed against the pants of his suit and she wove slightly towards it, wanting to touch, lick and more. He readjusted himself then went to the door, opening it.
“This room, Ms Greene, is just like the others. There are two more, which have a different layout. Would you like to see them next?”
It took her several tries to get her reply out. “Yes.”
Christ, her legs were wobbly. As they walked along the corridor where the offices were, she tried desperately to regain her breath. It wasn’t easy—her heart pounded as if she had just finished running. Her lungs struggled to get any air. And beside her, Tuck walked as if he hadn’t a care in the world. She could do as he did. Just had to focus on nonsexual things.
He introduced her to several of the workers they passed—nothing sexual in that. Tuck was the consummate professional. “Right in here,” he said, gesturing to a corner office.
Her pulse kicked up in anticipation as she entered. When she’d been through here before, her brain had picked up on things but she hadn’t registered them all. Now she was beginning to do that so she could figure out the best plan for them.
Tuck stood behind her. “Do you know how sexy hot you are in that hard hat? I think I’ll bring one home and take you while you’re wearing it.”
