* * *
Sean sat alone at the far end of the bar. He tossed back the shot and relished the burn, replaying the event in his head. What the fuck had happened? He had never felt such a sudden, vehement loss of control. He likened it to cruising along on his Harley, sun shining, road clear, wind in his hair, perfectly content, and getting instantly and cripplingly blindsided by a Mack truck.
She was just a woman. A woman. Barely more than a girl, really. His lead mechanic’s sister, for Christ’s sake. So what if she was the hottest, sexiest, softest, best looking-tasting-smelling female he’d ever come across in his life?
He ran his hand through his hair, stopping after the third or fourth time when he realized what he was doing. It was a gesture he’d seen his brothers adopt one by one. Jake, the weekend Taryn showed up at his Pub. Ian, the night Lexi returned to Pine Ridge. And Michael, the day after he’d first driven Maggie home. He’d abused them mercilessly about it, but each of them had simply smiled knowingly, as if being driven to such distraction was a badge of honor. As if they were the lucky ones.
The implications hit him solidly and without warning. Oh, fuck.
“Did you see that?” Jake smirked, nudging Ian. Ian’s grin was far too wide and knowing. “Yep, sure did.”
“Fuck you,” Sean replied miserably.
“Sean’s found his woman. Welcome to the club, brother.” Jake said with a grin.
Sean decided to repeat the sentiment, since they obviously hadn’t heard him the first time. “Fuck. You.”
“Oh, yeah,” Ian laughed. “He’s got it bad.”
“I do not need this shit from you dickheads right now,” he growled, getting up from the corner barstool where he had parked himself two hours ago. Jake and Ian literally howled with laughter. Sean’s scowl deepened considerably.
“What’s so funny?” Taryn asked, walking in with Riley. The little girl immediately put her hands out to Sean, whose face softened instantly at the sight of his little niece.
“Unk Shon!” she squealed in delight as he lifted her up above his head, bringing her back down to rain sloppy kisses on his cheek. It still amazed him how she always managed to tell him and Shane apart when most adults had difficulty.
“Sean’s doing the hair thing,” Ian informed Taryn gleefully. Sean ignored him and blew raspberries into his little niece’s belly, making her giggle.
“The hair thing?” Taryn asked, bemused.
As one, Jake and Ian turned and demonstrated the move in perfect synchronization, causing a wide grin to spread across Taryn’s face. “Sean fuair a chroí,” Jake said, laughing. Sean found his heart.
“That’s awesome!” she said. “When do we get to meet her?”
The laughter followed him as he handed Riley back to her mother with a scowl and promptly left the Pub.
Chapter Nine
By Saturday morning, Sean still had no idea what he was going to do. He watched her from the shadows of his office as she slid beneath another vehicle. She hadn’t spoken a single word to him – or to anyone else that he could tell - since arriving at dawn. Judging by the dark circles beneath her eyes, she hadn’t slept much either.
That made two of them.
Nicki had proven herself more than worthy of the job. Nick hadn’t been exaggerating when he said his sister was great with engines. She was an excellent mechanic. And a damn hard worker, too. For the most part she kept her head down, her mouth shut, and her hands busy, which was more than he could say for some of the others.
She was a distraction though, no question about that. Sean had never realized how much time a mechanic spent bent over or on his back before. It was impossible to look out into the bays and not see at least one of the men watching her. Hell, it was hard for him to tear his eyes away from her. It didn’t help that with each glance his mind and body conspired together and imagined all the things he could be doing to her. And he swore that if she bent over that low-riding sedan one more time he was going to send everyone home, shut the bays, and mount her right then and there. The woman threatened his control like nothing ever had.
Similar thoughts had probably occurred to his mechanics as well, and that filled him with a possessive need that bordered on frightening. For the few hours Nicki spent there each day, testosterone permeated the air. She might be getting through jobs quickly, but the others seemed to accomplish very little until after she left. Even Nick was feeling the pressure, spending more time warning off the wolves and waving big heavy wrenches around threateningly.
Sean fuair a chroí. The words echoed in his head. He still found himself trying to deny it, but it was becoming increasingly difficult, especially when every fiber of his being hummed pleasantly with the thought that Nicki was his, meant for him and him alone. Just the memory of her body against him had his skin burning, and that had been through several layers of clothing. What would happen once he had her naked beneath him?
He wanted her so badly it actually hurt, a physical pain that manifested itself both inside and out. That, more than anything else, was the determining factor in his acceptance of who and what she was to him. It was strange, he thought, how surrendering to that realization almost felt like a relief.
Not so with Nicki. She seemed to have no trouble whatsoever completely ignoring him and everyone else. Given the amount of work she was going through, her mind was just as focused and functional as ever. After the little stunt he’d pulled yesterday in his office, he’d be lucky if she willingly got within three feet of him again.
And that was simply unacceptable.
Shaking his head, Sean took a deep breath and tried to sort it all out. To achieve an objective, you had to have a clear set of goals and parameters.
The ultimate objective: to ingrain himself in every cell of the woman’s mind, body, and soul until he was her world. That was going to take some work, so he focused on shorter term goals, the first of which was to have Nicki around him as much as possible. That was priority one. She was a hell of a mechanic, a good worker, and was bringing in work. Never mind the fact that being in close physical proximity actually soothed the baser parts of him (sexual desire excluded); it simply made good business sense to keep her on board.
On the negative side, the battle to control his possessive urges was reaching critical levels. More than once he’d had to stop himself from putting one of his men through the wall for something he’d said or done, not to mention that he’d almost done the same to a couple of customers who opted to hang around while their cars were being worked on. His customer waiting area had practically been standing room only since word got out about Nicki working the bays. And as good as her output was, the others were suffering in her company.
Sean had never understood the “can’t have your cake and eat it too” mentality. What was the point of having cake if you weren’t going to eat it? Nicki was staying, that was non-negotiable. But the terms of her employment were about to change.
When he locked up the office at noon, he asked Nicki to join him for lunch. She narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “Why?”
“Because we need to talk about your future here.”
“Can’t we do that right now?” She cast a sideways look toward the bays where at least three other guys were still working.
She was worried about being alone with him again and it thrilled him to no end. In his opinion that was a clear indication that what he was feeling was mutual. If it wasn’t, she’d just tell him to fuck off.
“I never talk business on an empty stomach.”
Her thoughtful gaze raked him from head to toe as she considered his offer. He fought the urge to preen, though he couldn’t help but stand a little taller and puff out his chest just a little.
“You buying?”
His grin grew. Oh yeah. She didn’t like it, but she felt just as compelled to be near him as he did her. He could see the struggle in her liquid eyes, in the way she fought her body’s natural angling toward his. The feeling of not being alone was s
o heady he wanted to throw a fist pump into the air.
“Yep.”
Seconds ticked by as she warred with herself; it felt like an hour. Sean knew he’d won when she took a deep breath and her posture sagged slightly, as if she was either unable or unwilling to continue to fight it. “Alright.”
Half an hour later they were seated in the back corner booth at O’Leary’s diner in Birch Falls.
“Why this place?” she asked. She’d expected them to hit the local IHOP just down the street from his garage. When he’d ushered her into the sleek black Shelby – now meticulously restored to perfect condition - and passed the city limits, she felt a shiver of excitement.
“Best cinnamon rolls ever,” he replied with a smile. Not to mention he had an ulterior motive. He was not above stacking the deck in his favor, not for something he really wanted.
Nicki watched with mixed horror and fascination as Sean put away a half-pound burger, thick cut fries, coleslaw, three cokes, and two of the largest cinnamon rolls she’d ever seen. Only after the last plate had been cleared away and the waitress brought a carafe and two mugs did he sit back and regard her with those icy blue eyes.
“You’re a hell of a mechanic, but you’re too much of a distraction. I can’t offer you the full-time mechanics position, but I have something else in mind that will benefit us both.”
Her features, relatively relaxed up to this point, hardened and her eyes flashed, reminding him of steel blades. “You had to bring me all the way out here to fire me?” she hissed, her voice low. She reached into her pocket and drew out a five to cover the unsweetened tea and bowl of vegetable soup she’d had, slapping it onto the table.
“You think it’s okay as long as you buy me lunch? Fuck you, Callaghan.”
God, he loved the fire in her. He just wished it was channeled into something more pleasurable.
“You’re not listening, sweetheart,” he said calmly, pushing the five back toward her. “Close that sweet little mouth before I shove something in it and just listen, will you? Dayshift won’t work, we’ve already established that. But evenings will.”
That shut her up. But not for long. “Evenings?”
“Yeah. You’ll have the place practically to yourself.”
Nicki’s eyes narrowed, thinking about the “something else” he’d mentioned. “Why? So you can attack me without witnesses? No, thanks. I’ll take the pervs at Angels any day. Oh, wait. That would be you, too, wouldn’t it?”
His groin pulsed. “Don’t kid yourself, baby. You came for me, both times. And I mean that quite literally. You wanted it every bit as bad as I did.”
Nicki scowled; white flames danced in those beautiful, pissed-off eyes. She wanted to deny it, but she couldn’t. Triumph raced through his body, but it was short-lived.
“I’ll pass. Besides, I’ve already got a job working nights.”
Sean withheld his growl, but just barely. Declining his offer was simply not acceptable. He wanted her near him and away from every other male on the planet, even if that meant doing something insane.
“What if I promise not to do anything unless you ask me to?” he whispered. “No touching. No kissing. No accidental brush-by’s. You have my word.”
She snorted derisively. “Yeah, right. What do I have to do? Put on some skimpy little outfit while you watch me work and jerk off in the corner?”
“No.” Hell, if he thought that might alleviate some of the ache he felt around her he’d be tempted to try it, but he already knew damn well from the past few days of experience that nothing done at his own hand would help. “Though I might consider it if that would get you off.”
She averted her eyes, but not before Sean caught a glimpse of the guilt in them. Nor did he fail to notice the crimson flush across her cheeks. The same one that sent a shooting pain up through his groin as he realized that she had at least thought of something along those lines. A vision of him standing over her and doing wicked things while she watched had his cock throbbing painfully.
* * *
His eyes bore into hers, leaving her feeling penetrated and breathless. How could he do that? It was like he was fucking her with his eyes. She could actually feel him inside of her and it felt way too good.
Nicki blinked and swallowed hard imagining him pinning her with that icy-hot gaze while he fisted himself. Had he known that she’d imagined him doing exactly that? That only last night she had dreamed of working in the garage alone at night, looking up to discover that he’d been palming himself as he watched her, only to stalk across the floor and finish in her? That it had been the most recent in a series of vivid, erotic fantasies that had plagued her each night when she closed her eyes since the first night she’d met him?
Just sitting here with him was sending her hormones into overdrive. Even from across the table she could feel the heat, the strength simply radiating off of him in waves, battering her defenses as if they were made of tissue paper. God help her, she was getting wet again. She clenched her thighs with determination and summoned every last bit of resistance she could muster.
“Yeah, well, don’t hold your breath.” She edged her voice with steel to mask the slight tremble beneath it. His lips curled. Apparently she hadn’t masked it enough.
She felt his eyes on her, knew he was watching her closely. Damn. Still, she couldn’t shake the image of him coming to her, hard and heavy in his own hand, looking to her for relief. She shook her head. Hard.
When she amassed enough courage to look at him again, the fiery glow in his eyes had calmed, leaving them that perfect, deep blue that she wanted to lose herself in. His patient, waiting expression gave away nothing.
“Quit your job at Angels. Work for me.”
“You’re serious.”
He nodded. “I never say anything I don’t mean, Nicki.”
Her mind tried to process his words while her traitorous body angled toward him like a freaking magnet. She forced herself back rather abruptly, earning herself another quirk from those full male lips. To his credit, he refrained from commenting. She probably wouldn’t have been able to stop herself from slapping that arrogant smirk off of his face otherwise.
“You want me to leave Angels and work evenings alone in your garage, no strings attached.” It simply sounded too good to be true. Nothing ever came for free. The question was – what did he want? “What’s in it for you?”
“Not alone,” he clarified. “Make no mistake, I will be there. No one works alone in my garage. It’s a safety policy,” he added when he saw the disbelieving scowl, “and it applies to everyone.”
“What about Nick? He could work with me,” she suggested, blurting out the words before she could stop herself. She couldn’t possibly be considering this, could she? True, she’d accomplished what she wanted to at Angels, and was thinking of quitting soon anyway. As it turned out, the information she’d gleaned from keeping her ears open at the garage was proving to be more useful than what she was hearing at the club these days, but he didn’t know that. If she worked evenings, she could follow up on some of the more promising leads during the day.
Sean shook his head. “He’s my best mechanic. I need him on days.”
She gave a barely perceptible nod. She hadn’t expected him to go for it, but it was worth a shot.
“And as for what’s in it for me?” he continued, his eyes luminous. “I get a day crew that can concentrate on something besides the constant ache in their balls thanks to you. Not to mention a skilled mechanic and the pleasure of your delightful company every evening. Do we have an agreement?”
Her mind reached frantically for something, anything that would give her a valid reason to say no. She had nothing. Her lips tightened. Sean Callaghan was trouble with a capital “T”, and she was insane for even being within a mile radius of him. Willingly placing herself in his hands like this was beyond stupid.
But the cold hard truth was that he was getting her through each day. He gave her something to think about
besides her shit life. And for a few hours each day, she needed that. He was her escape from reality, and without even realizing it, he was keeping her marginally sane - at least until she could accomplish what she had come to Pine Ridge for.
She did like working on engines, too. It was a gift she and Nick had shared from the beginning. Maybe, when this was all over and she had her own little place somewhere, she’d build a little shop and tinker when she was between jobs. Pick stuff up from a junkyard at random and see what she could do with it. Yeah. That sounded nice.
But that was later, and this was now. The real question, she realized, was whether or not she could be in the same space with this man, alone, night after night and retain her sanity. He promised he’d keep his distance, but could she?
Finally, after exhausting every other possible option as not viable, she nodded.
“Great,” he said. The grin he gave her turned her insides to something fluid and warm, like melted chocolate. And what she wouldn’t give to have him dip into her... She shook her head, dispelling the notion. That was not going to happen. Not in her waking moments, anyway.
* * *
Sean withheld his fist pump and the great big hooyah burning to break free, but just barely. “You start tomorrow. Be at the garage at six. Everyone else is usually gone by then.”
She nodded, suddenly looking very tired again.
“Now,” he said, “are you ready for your signing bonus?”
The weariness was gone instantly. Her eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Signing bonus?”
“Yeah, come on.” He stood and held out his hand for her. When she made no move to join him, he dropped his voice even lower and leaned in farther. “Don’t you trust me, Nicki? Or is it yourself that you don’t trust?”
He felt her tense, felt the air around her electrify with his soft-spoken challenge. She stood, crowding him when he refused to take a step back. Tilting her head to look up into his face, she said, “You do not scare me.”
Seeking Vengeance: Callaghan Brothers, Book 4 Page 9
