The Blue Collar Bachelors Box Set: The Complete Blue Collar Bachelors Series

by Miller, Cassie-Ann L.

  My arms drop to her waist and I kiss her like I don’t know how to stop. I lash my tongue against hers, I suck hard on her lips, I angle her face just right. I need her to know that I mean it. I mean this kiss with every fiber of my being.

  When she pulls away, stumbling back, her eyes are wet and confused, asking me what the hell I’m thinking. The stuttering words that come out of my chest do nothing to help the situation. “I—I, uh…” I glance down at the watch on my wrist. “What time is your flight?”

  “I should go.” She hefts her bags onto her shoulder and takes quick steps away.

  I leap forward. “Wait—let me help you.” I grab the duffel and the backpack. We walk side by side to the elevator. Silence hovers over us. It’s tearing up my insides. Our friendship used to mean the world to me. She was one of those people I could be myself with. Now, it’s like we’re strangers and that’s all my fault.

  I wait with her in the line to the airline counter. Each step takes us closer and the words in my head grow louder. Don’t let her go. Make her stay. Beg her. Tell her how you feel. But it turns out, I’m a coward. Besides, I know that New York is what’s best for her. Her dream career. A world of opportunities. A fresh start.

  After she’s done checking in, we walk silently to the security gate. She pauses and turns to face me. “I can’t go past this point,” I tell her stupidly, as if she doesn’t already understand that. In fact, she looks relieved for the physical barrier she’s about to put between us. Don’t let her go…

  Cupping her check, I lean down to kiss her again. This time she turns away.

  “Don’t,” she whispers, her attention focused on the ground. “This is already so hard. Too hard…”

  Those are her last words before she steps through the gate and disappears from my sight.

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Nova

  My jaw quivers as I stab my fork into the bottle of olives and stuff a forkful into my mouth. No salad dressing this time. Just tears. Sliced olives and tears.

  That’s tonight’s menu.

  This is pathetic.

  I should be happy. I’ve wanted an opportunity like this for so long. Here I am, in New York, with a production company prepared to turn my hard work into a product that will be seen by millions of people. Why am I not over the moon? Why do I feel like the whole galaxy just came crumbling down on my shoulders?

  All I think about is Charlie. The look on his face when I turned away from his kiss at the airport is burned into my mind. I didn’t want to turn away. I wanted to melt into his arms but that would have only made things worse in the long run.

  If I’d known that things would end up like this, I never would have accepted his offer to take me to the wedding. I would have kept him at arm’s length like I’d always done. Instead, I let him in and it left us both broken.

  I can’t keep dwelling. It’s driving me crazy. I wipe my eyes with my sleeves and set the olives aside. I pick up my sketchbook again because that’s the only thing that makes me feel better. I flit the lead back and forth on the paper. An image begins to take form. A face. Handsome, rugged, cocky. It’s Charlie’s face.

  Oh god. I’m fucked.

  My sister stomps into the room, causing me to jump. “The milk goes on the top right side of the fridge,” she informs me in a saccharine tone meant to hide her irritation. She shakes the half-empty carton in the air. “But not too far to the back because then it freezes and not too much to the front because then it turns sour.”

  I roll my eyes without looking up from my drawing. She’s been on my case since I landed in this shoebox a week ago. She needs to give it a rest. "Would you stop treating me like your kid sister? I'm your roommate!”

  She isn’t usually this much of a pain in the ass. That’s how I know that something is going on with her. I’ve been so deep in my own issues that she and I haven’t had a heart-to-heart since I got here. I wonder if her heart is as broken over Luke as mine is over Charlie.

  "No—roommates pay rent and they wash dishes. You, you're a squatter. And squatters get evicted. Back to mom and dad's place."

  My head snaps up. “Oh god, no. Don’t send me back to that den of iniquity. That’s just inhumane.” No matter how old a person gets, they just don’t get used to seeing their mother covered in hickies, bruises and other sex injuries.

  Setting the milk on the coffee table, she shrugs out of her blazer and plops down onto the couch opposite me. “So how’s work going?”

  I try to force a smile. “It’s great. Challenging. Much more exciting than a shift at Gallos, that’s for sure.”

  She leans back and draws her legs up under her. She watches me doubtfully. “Doesn’t seem like you’re that into it, though…”

  I scoff. “Are you serious? I’m totally into it. I’ve wanted an opportunity like this for so long.” I’m just repeating out loud the story I’ve been telling myself.

  “So why have you been moping around like your pet centipede just crawled up your ass and died? You should be over the moon!”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I am over the moon. I’m so happy. Fulfilled, really.”

  My sister tilts her head to the side. “This is about Charlie, isn’t it?”

  Both of my eyebrows dart up. “Charlie? Why would this be about Charlie? Firstly, there is no this to be about and if there was a this, it definitely wouldn’t be about Charlie!”

  She just rolls her eyes. “What happened between you two anyway?”

  I throw her a warning look. “Nadia…”

  She throws it right back. “Nova…”

  I sigh and flop back against the couch. I pull a cushion into my lap. “There is no me and Charlie…”

  “Well, at the wedding, it certainly looked like Charlova was the next super couple of Copper Heights.”

  “Charlova?” I snort out.

  “What? You prefer Novarlie?”

  I shake my head, laughing. “You watch too much TMZ.”

  She smiles a little and then her face goes serious. “Nova, what happened?”

  I close my eyes and take a deep breath. Why does it hurt so much?

  “I started to feel things. Intense things. Things that would get me hurt…Charlie’s not the type of guy you fall in love with. I know better than that. But I let myself go anyway.”

  “And how does he feel about you?”

  I lift a shoulder, utterly defeated. “I…I don’t know. He says he wants me but I just can’t ignore his history. He’s always been a player.”

  With a hiked brow, Nadia watches me. “Are you sure he hasn’t changed? Because when I saw you together…There was something real there. The way he looked at you. The way you laughed together. It seemed real.”

  “Well, yeah—we laugh together. We’ve been friends for over a decade. But that doesn’t mean anything.”

  “How did you leave things, Nova? Has he called you since you got here?”

  “He’s texted. But it was just friendly. Hey, how are you? Nothing more.” I hate myself for the painful spasm in my chest when I admit that. I hate myself for missing him so much.

  “Look—I don’t know the guy the way you do. But I know you. I know how you shut yourself off from other people. You don’t trust anyone. I know how you try to be tough and pretend you’re okay when you’re really crying inside. Did you give this guy a real chance? Did you let him in?”

  I weigh her words. “I tried...” I say in a small voice. “It was scary. And then we had a misunderstanding and it was like a sneak peek at how badly I could get hurt. I freaked out and shut down…”

  “I’d say you owe it to yourself to take a chance, sis. Not necessarily for Charlie’s sake but for yours. You can’t live all your life with your heart barricaded behind an iron gate.”

  Tears flow freely down my cheeks now. When did I become such a wreck? Facing the possibility that my sister might be right is tough. And scary. I’m used to dating guys who don’t pose a threat, guys I could
never possibly fall for. But Charlie—I could fall hard for him, I could love him fully. And if I do that, he could ruin me. I’m not strong enough for that.

  Nadia’s phone chirps and she pulls it out of the pocket of her slacks. “Dammit! It’s Friday night, Cartwright.”

  “Work stuff?” I ask sympathetically as I wipe my eyes on my sleeves.

  With a reluctant sigh, she rises to her feet. “Yeah—I’ve got a helicopter boss.”

  “I know all about those,” I say as I think back to Mr. Gallo.

  She grabs the milk and hustles toward the kitchen for some privacy. She pauses in the doorway. “We’ll finish this discussion later, but in the meantime, I really think you should consider talking to Charlie instead of driving yourself crazy with what ifs.” With that, she disappears around the corner.

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Nova

  Lori Arthur is something of a renegade in the industry.

  She has a reputation for hiring the very best artists and taking on projects that no one else would touch. Profitability takes second place to innovation and even still, CXT’s profits are through the roof.

  I know—I’ve done my research.

  And right now, I’m having lunch with her at one of uptown Manhattan’s classiest lunch spots.

  Most of the office staff couldn’t believe that she’d take me out to eat. Some of them have been there for years and she doesn’t even know their names. So for her to take me to lunch in my second week, it’s kind of mind-boggling for them. Apparently this is a big deal. I’d be excited if I weren’t a lovesick fool right now.

  Nadia has spent the past few days trying to convince me to talk to Charlie. She says that we can make a relationship work, even if we’re long distance. I don’t see how that would happen. We couldn’t make it work when we lived in the same town. How are we going to do it when we’re not even in the same state? My sister’s optimism gives me hope but I’m still not fully convinced that what she’s saying is practical, realistic. Anyway, I’ve been longing for Charlie so much that I think that tonight after work, I’m just gonna pick up the phone and call him, let the chips fall where they may.

  With a dainty movement, Lori lifts her wine goblet off the table. Her matte burgundy lips curl around the rim as she takes a small sip and her eyes tilt up to the ceiling as she swishes it around in her mouth like snobby people do in movies.

  Oh jeez…

  “This is absolutely divine,” she coos as she holds the glass up to the light to admire its rich color. When she’s done worshipping the overpriced vintage, she lays the glass down on the pristine white tablecloth. “So, Jessie is very impressed with your work,” she tells me. “She had some very flattering things to say about you.”

  Jessie? Who the hell is Jess—? Oh, Jaimie, my supervisor.

  I briefly consider correcting her but then the magnitude of what she’s saying hits me. My heart pumps just a little faster. “Really?”

  She chuckles tightly. “Of course. Would Jessie lie for you?” A perfectly-penciled in eyebrow inches toward her hairline. Despite her smile, I can’t fight the feeling that this woman is laying a trap for me, trying to trip me up. She doesn’t like me. One of the skills I quickly developed in high school was how to discern whether someone is being sincere or whether they’re playing an angle. Lori’s playing an angle.

  “No! No!” I say, quickly. “She wouldn’t. She has no reason to. She doesn’t even know me.” My alarm bells are warning me to be careful with her. I haven’t figured out her game yet, but I know not to let my guard down.

  Lori gives me a dry smile and pulls her linen napkin into her lap, carefully spreading it across the skirt of an exquisite shift dress that obviously costs more than all my earthly possessions combined. Her tone goes solemn. “Honestly, Nora. I knew from the very first time I saw your work that I had to have you on my team. At all costs. You have a unique kind of talent. A special way of looking at the world.”

  “I’m really flattered. Thank you.” I try to mimic her grace as I take a taste of my wine. The only thing I’m used to gargling is Listerine so I’m not quite sure I pull it off. “There’s so much great art on the internet. It’s sort of serendipitous that you happened to stumble across mine in that sea of talent.”

  Her stiff brow makes an attempt a furrowing but it seems to freeze halfway. “I didn’t find your work on the internet,” she says matter-of-factly.

  My surprise bleeds onto my face. “I’m sorry, I—”

  “Oh, I thought you knew. Charlie Hartley introduced me to your work.”

  I drop my glass to the table so fast that the wine sloshes over the side and pools on the tablecloth.

  “Charlie introduced you to my work?!” I blurt it out like a parrot before I can manage to censor myself.

  “Yes, he did. Although I have to say that it was inadvertent. He was at my house with your sketchpad. I snuck a little peek. I couldn’t help it.” Her smile is completely insincere and she eyes me closely as if trying to gauge my reaction. “I won’t apologize because I immediately fell in love with your work.”

  A flood of betrayal nearly knocks me out of my chair. I try to piece the timeline together. Was Charlie seeing this woman while I was busy falling for him?

  And even more importantly, did I get this job based on my talent? Or was it just a part of this rich woman’s scheme to rip me away from him?

  Chapter Forty

  Charlie

  There’s a hesitant knock at the door. I groan on the inside. It’s been a long day on the Silverberry worksite and I don’t want to deal with anybody right now. I just want some time to myself, to stare out the window. Apparently, that’s too much to ask.

  I look toward the door and the temp smiles at me. “Hi Charlie, can I come in?”

  With a weak nod, I spin my chair around and give her my attention. Licking her lips, she saunters into the room, her anxious gaze on my face. “What is it?” I ask gruffly.

  I don’t mean to be brusque but pleasantries are more than I can manage. Just getting out of bed, pulling on my boots and driving down to the worksite takes up all my energy most days. I’m completely depleted, running on empty.

  I’d almost forgotten that loving a woman and losing her could feel so draining. And Nova isn’t just any woman. She’s my best friend, too. I don’t know how I’ll ever find anything to fill the size of the hole she’s left in my life.

  Jackie—the temp—steps up to my desk with a pile of envelops in her hand. “Mail man just came by,” she says, her blue eyes twinkling amorously as she leans a round hip against my desk.

  The girl has a crush on me. Normally I’d be flattered but these days, it’s an annoyance. She walks around in her suggestive outfits with her pheromones spluttering all over the place and all I want to do is throw an aluminum blanket on her. Or douse her with a fire extinguisher.

  Still, I try to be polite. It’s a harmless crush and as long as she doesn’t act on it, there’s no need to hurt her feelings.

  She bends forward to place the first envelope in front of me. “Electricity bill,” she tells me before slapping down another envelope, “Internet.” And another, “Letter from your trade association regarding their annual conference.” And finally, “Personal letter from an Archibald Jones.”

  Shit. I still haven’t replied to his other letters.

  “Thank you, Jackie,” I say as I gather the papers in my hand and toss them to the edge of the desk.

  She sighs heavily and I feel her eyes on me. When I look up, she bites the corner of her lip and hesitates before leaning a little closer. “Look, I know that you don’t know me and I’m only here while Sharon is on maternity leave but my job is to make your life easier…and I see how tense you are…” She flips her blonde hair over her shoulder. “I want you to know that I take my role very seriously. So, if you ever need my help…with anything…” She bites the corner of her lip and her eyelids grow heavy.

  Is this woman propositioning me?
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  This is the kind of thing that would have made my dick hard two months ago. Before I got a taste of Nova, I would have been pulling Jackie into my lap and roughing my hand up her thighs and making her come on my fingers.

  But I’m not that guy anymore. There’s only one woman for me. I’m sure of that now and no one else will do.

  Thoroughly pissed off, I stand from my chair and motion to the door with my hand. “Get out!”

  Jackie’s eyes widen as she looks up at me, stunned. “I—I’m sorry…I.”

  “Get. The. Fuck. Out.” I order her. “And pack your things. Call your temp agency and tell them to send me someone else.”

  She’s crying as she runs out of the room, covering her face with her hands. I don’t care. My thoughts are focused on one thing, one person. Nova is the only one I want.

  Enough of this. I’m done torturing myself.

  I snatch the stack of mail again and sift through it until I find what I’m looking for, the letter from my general contractor’s association. Tearing it open, I read and memorize the information printed on the page. Overcome by a sense of urgency, I grab my fleece overshirt, my phone and my keys before marching out of my office.

  Jackie is still crying, gathering up her things as I storm by. I throw her a look. I feel no pity. “Make sure to lock up and put the key in the mailbox outside. And I don’t want to see you here on Monday.”

  The heavy metal door creaks shut behind me.

  Chapter Forty-One

  Nova

  Work has been awkward ever since my lunch with Lori last week. With every sketch that I submit, with every idea that I present, with every freakin’ trip to the toilet, there’s a nagging little voice at the back of my head questioning whether I’m here because I’m good at what I do or if I’m just here to clear the path for my boss to sink her claws into Charlie.