by KL Donn
Four years, a business major, and a good investment later, and they’d successfully opened Hogan Bros.’ Mechanics and Restoration. The first year of building up clientele had been rocky, but they’d made it through. Now they’re booked months in advanced for restorations and weeks for regular mechanical maintenance.
There was the oddball emergency situation they took care of immediately, but thankfully, the two other mechanical shops in Loveland, Colorado picked up the overflow. Adding the restoration to their business removed the rivalry the other shops might have felt when he and his brothers opened theirs. Having a specialty meant they weren’t looking to take over the day to day mechanical issues.
Growing up in the sleepy town, he’d seen many businesses try and fail and pop up again stronger than ever before. They were resilient citizens that he admired and was happy to provide a few jobs and bring in some tourism from his custom work.
He wondered how Soph would feel about him being a grease monkey. She was so put together, refined. Like fine china his mother only took out for the holidays. She hadn’t spoken more than a fistful of words to him, so he had no idea how she was even going to react to him just showing up at her home.
Oh hell, have I turned stalker after five minutes in her presence?
He found he didn’t care if he did. She was it for him. They had a lot to learn about each other, but he had faith they would.
She was the quiet to his outgoing. The soft to his hard. The sweet to his spicy.
And he was waxing poetic now.
Just fucking great.
He was tied up in knots over how she would accept his claim. Never before had he felt so unsure as he did right then.
As he pulled up to the mansion she lived in with her parents, he was shocked at just how massive it was. He wasn’t poor by any means and hadn’t grown up lacking for anything, however, being faced with the luxury she was used to was a kick to the nuts. If he couldn’t give her everything she was used to, would she push him away? He wouldn’t let her, of course. Come hell or high water she would be his. He would make them work.
Thankfully, no gates were denying him entry onto the estate. All seemed quiet as he parked under the porte-cochère at the front of the house. He was sure someone would have heard the rumble of his engine and was shocked Rebecca hadn’t come running out.
Walking up the steps to her door, he noticed the grease stains on his hands as he went to ring the bell. Probably should have cleaned up a bit first.
Shrugging his shoulders, he rang the doorbell as an image of him dirtying Sophia up with those same hands entered his mind. To see her polished self abandon her roots, to let him sully her pristine image, had his cock growing at lightning speed.
Shit. He had to get himself under control. Thinking hockey stats, he hoped it would help before anyone answered. “Can I help you?” The door. Shit.
“I’m looking for, Soph,” he told the older man. He was dressed like a butler maybe? Did people still have butlers?
“Soph?” he questioned.
Is he for real?
“Sophia,” Nox clarified.
“Ahh, the young Miss Bennett. She’s not taking visitors.” The man’s indifference bothered him. He just wasn’t sure why.
“Not taking visitors,” he asked. “She doesn’t even know I’m here.”
“I assure you, no visitors.”
He’d had enough of the man. “Sophia!” he yelled into the house, hoping she’d hear him wherever she happened to be.
Another man came into view. He looked as though he belonged in the house as much as Lennox did. Tall, around his own age of twenty-seven, Nox figured he had to be security. No way anyone living in the house had tattoos like the hardened man.
“Can I help you?” he asked after eyeing Nox up and down.
“Where’s Soph?” he asked a-fucking-gain.
The two men said a couple words quietly to each other before the maybe butler left the room. He wasn’t even paying attention anymore because he could hear soft steps coming closer and knew it was his girl. No way would her mother walk around barefoot.
As Sophia came around the corner at the top of the stairs, eyes wide and frightened, he forgot any manners his mother had instilled in him and booked it up the stairs faster than the might be security guy could catch him.
A small smile lit her face as he reached her, but the fear was still there. His hands immediately went to her curvy hips.
Fuck do they feel good in my hands.
“Soph,” he sighed just before his lips landed on hers in a light kiss. He couldn’t help it. They were soft, pliable, and willing.
Mine.
The spark he felt down to his soul cemented everything he’d been feeling the past twenty-four hours. She was his, and he was hers.
“Lennox,” she sighed happily as he pulled away.
Before he could respond, a hand landed on his shoulder, spinning him around. He came up swinging more out of reflex than assessing any real threat. As his fist connected with the might be security guy’s jaw, a shocked gasp left Sophia’s tender lips.
“Dude!” the other man called, shocked by Nox’s response.
“Don’t fucking grab a guy, dude,” he snarled back. He had no idea who the fucker was or why they weren’t allowing him to see his girl.
Ignoring the interloper again, he looked to Sophia whose eyes were wide in shock. “What’s going on, Soph?” he demanded.
Her eyes skittered to his, so many emotions swirled in their lightness. “I don’t know,” she finally whispered, stepping back.
“Who the hell are you?” the man he’d punched snapped out.
“Who am I?” Nox scoffed. “Who the fuck are you? And why the fuck are you in my woman’s house?”
“Your woman?” The man latched on to his inference.
Shit.
No point in backing out now. “Yeah. Mine. Now, who are you?”
Nox looked between the pair for so long he didn’t think anyone was going to answer him.
“I was hired to protect Sophia,” the bodyguard replied.
Not fond of the other man saying her name, Nox decided to question the first part of his statement. “Protect?”
“Someone’s been threatening my father. Braxton was hired to shadow me,” Soph answered when the other man wouldn’t.
“Braxton?” he questioned her. Her cheeks flamed pink, and he had to kiss her again. Stalking towards her, she back-stepped away from him. Lucky for him, his legs were longer, and he reached her before she could run.
His arms bracketed her shoulders as he leaned into her slowly, giving her time to pull away or tell him to stop. Shockingly, she licked her lips, and when he looked into her eyes, he saw the need reflected back at him.
“Fuck yeah,” he murmured as he descended on her.
She tasted like cherries. Sweet as he entered, tart as he explored. Her lips opened willingly when he nipped her lower lip lightly. Her hands shot to his chest, rubbing gently as he devoured her light moans. Deepening the kiss, his body pressed hers as close to the wall as he could manage without burying himself inside of her. When he finally got that chance, it wouldn’t be in the middle of a hall with an audience. It would be in his bed with her screaming his name until her voice was hoarse.
A clearing throat had him slowly pulling away from her tasty lips. He could kiss her for hours and never get bored.
“You two done yet?” Braxton asked, impatience evident in his voice.
Lennox’s eyes never left Sophia’s as he pulled away. The embarrassment reflecting back at him had him snapping, “What?”, at the man behind him.
“Why are you here? And who the fuck are you?”
Were they in a fucking merry-go-round or what? Knowing he had to curb his desire to flatten the man in order to get the information he wanted about why Soph needed a bodyguard, he hissed out, “Lennox Hogan. I’m obviously here for Sophia.”
Finally turning, he saw the fist-sized bruise forming
on Braxton’s face and smirked. Knowing he’d taken the man off guard left Nox insanely satisfied. “I’ve answered your question, now tell me what the fuck is going on that she needs a bodyguard.”
“Braxton, could you excuse us, please,” Soph asked quietly from behind him.
Hearing Lennox scream her name a few minutes after the doorbell rang had been shocking. Her mother had warned her away from the man, and she found it hard to believe he was there for her. Yet, he was. The way he’d sunk his entire body against hers, devoured her untried mouth, proved it. It was almost too much to believe. After all the griping her mother had been doing the day before, she made it seem like she and Lennox were an item. That he was hers.
She was so conflicted.
Which had Sophia blurting out, “My mother’s not here,” before she could think it through. She wanted to smack her own head.
The narrowing of her visitor’s eyes showcased the storm brewing in his mind.
“Did it just feel like I was here for that cold-hearted wench to you?” The anger in his voice made her wish she could escape. She didn’t do well with confrontation.
Should have kept your mouth shut then.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered to him.
Ignoring her apology, he went straight to the heart of her problems. “What’s going on, Sophia? Ma never mentioned you were in danger.”
“I didn’t know I was.” Fear had been her companion since her father’s revelation, and she still didn’t understand what was going on. Braxton wasn’t budging. Her father hadn’t been home since dropping his bombshell and leaving. And she’d been avoiding her mother by staying in her room.
“I don’t understand, catch me up.”
“When I got home yesterday, mother and father had a fight,” she began, still confused about the entire exchange.
“And you’re in danger because of that?”
She couldn’t help the smile that played on her lips from his own confusion. He got these cute wrinkles in his forehead that she wanted to smooth out.
“No. Because of father’s work,” she said. “I think.”
“What do you mean, you think?”
“Lennox?” Sophia cringed at hearing her mother’s nasally voice, not realizing the woman had come home. “How nice of you to come by.” His face went from confused to annoyed to angry in a flash.
“Not here for you, ma’am,” he told her mother without even turning to face the wretched woman.
Her mother, however, was not swayed. “Well, who else would you be here for?” She obviously didn’t know or care that her daughter was being blocked by his body.
Looking over his shoulder, Sophia shuddered at the anger in his eyes. “Sophia,” he responded to the older woman.
Rebecca’s entire demeanor changed with that one word. She didn’t have to see the woman to know she was in for a ton of trouble when he left. “Why would you want her?” Pain sliced through Sophia’s chest.
Lennox turned to fully face the woman, and Sophia decided she didn’t want or need to hear any more, so she began to slowly slither her way down the hall to her room. Closing her door with a quiet snick, she could hear her mother’s raised and frantic voice as Lennox tried to back out of whatever it was she wanted.
Leaning against her door, taking deep breaths, she tried to force the tears back. She would not cry over something that was never hers. She always knew she would be stuck in her family home. Why had never even been a thought. It just was what it was.
When she met Lorraine Hogan, she experienced hope for the first time. Hope for more, for a life. For something. Sophia had never been encouraged by her parents when she was in school; she was never a straight A student. She was lucky that she had a C average.
Her mother had always been more concerned about appearances than grades or school. Sophia became a pretty little doll for her to dress up. Never a real daughter. Now, as an adult, she felt less than useless. While she had attended some of the finest schools in the state, she was never given the choice of going to college and becoming something. Real fear coursed through her body as she thought about how worthless of a person she was to society. With nothing to offer the world, she was a waste of space.
Pounding on her door had her thoughts disappearing and her heart rate skyrocketing. Turning slowly, she pulled the door open an inch to see an infuriated looking Lennox on the other side.
Pushing the door open, he forced his way in before shutting it with his foot and reaching back to lock it. All of this without taking his eyes off of her. When his hands came up to hold her face in a gentle grip, she was shocked to feel him wiping tears from her cheeks. She hadn’t even realized she was crying.
“What’s this?” he asked quietly.
Looking at the tear sitting on his thumb, she had no answer. “I don’t know.”
“You know I despise that woman, right?” His voice demanded she know the truth.
“I do,” she murmured. Now, she silently added.
“Good,” he mumbled just before drawing her face closer to his and capturing her lips in another searing kiss of passion. She’d never been touched by a man before, let alone experience the scalding hot desire he awoke inside of her.
It was over almost as quick as it started. “Damn,” Lennox whispered against her lips. She was still frozen in place, unsure of what she should or shouldn’t be doing.
“Go out with me.” His quiet command startled her eyes into opening. The eagerness in his stare had her nodding her head without thought. His smile was reward enough for her.
“I’ve got some work to do tonight, so I’ll pick you up at six tomorrow, yeah?”
“Okay.” She found herself easily agreeing if only to see the happiness on his face. When he went to leave, she found the courage to ask the second person in as many days as to why.
His eyes fixed on the door for a full minute before he answered. “Because I need you.” His answer was so simple, yet so unexplained. He clearly understood her question. The pain behind it. “You’ll see, Soph. Real soon you’ll see.” Confused by his answer, she watched him walk away before throwing herself on her bed.
She’d never done anything like what Lennox wanted before. Her mother had never given her that chance, let alone the choice to be around boys. With more than twenty years separating them, Sophia always felt like her mother was competing with her for the affections of boys she didn’t even have any interest in.
When Lennox had asked if she were her mother’s daughter, she’d felt sick to her stomach imagining the first man she was attracted to being in any kind of relationship with the older woman. The thought had nearly sent her running for the hills.
Now, she wished for so many things, she didn’t even know where to start. Lennox had a rough, hard exterior, but with her, he was soft and kind. He made her want things she’d never thought about.
Leaving Sophia in that house with that vile woman made Nox wish she wouldn’t have freaked out if he’d taken her with him. He could almost count the minutes they’d spent in each other’s company, and already, he was hooked. She was his drug of choice, and nothing else would do.
As he drove back to his shop, he thought of all the things he could do with her on their date. Then he thought of all the things she would actually like to do with him. His mother might be useful to recruit for help on it. After leaving her house the day before, he knew she had wanted one of them to click with Sophia when they met her. There was no doubt in his mind about it. She was constantly pestering each of them to meet a girl, settle down, give her some grandbabies. Undoubtedly, she had now taken it upon herself to play cupid.
Since she wanted to be a matchmaker, he’d put her to use. Clicking the Bluetooth on his phone, he called her number, hoping she would be home and not at one of her many card clubs she went to since his father’s passing.
“Lennox, dear. What a lovely surprise.” Her voice was cheerful, knowing. She’d been expecting to hear from him since his abrupt departure aft
er Soph left.
“Hey, Ma, how you doing?” He’d worm his way into her helping if he had to.
“Oh, cut the bull, Lennox. What do you need?” She always could see right through them.
“I went and seen Soph today,” he began.
She, of course, had to interrupt him. “That’s wonderful, dear. Tell me the wicked witch of the west hasn’t hurt her.” She had his full attention now.
“What do you mean hurt her, Ma?” Rebecca was a total cunt, but he had a hard time believing she would do anything harmful towards another human. Then again, looks could be deceiving. He knew that better than most.
“Not physically, dear, calm your horses down. Her words can cut sharper than any knife, though. Sometimes poor Sophia comes here looking so sad and lost.” That didn’t make him feel any better.
“Son of– “
“Don’t you dare say it, Lennox,” she warned before he could finish his sentence.
“Sorry, Ma. Look, I do need your help, though. With two things.” He was hoping she could find out more about what Soph’s father did, and why she might be in danger.
“How can I help?”
“I’m taking Soph out tomorrow. Any ideas what she’d like?”
“A picnic!” she shot back immediately. He should have expected something of the sort.
“Okay, great. Chances you’ll put that together are…?” Fingers crossed.
“I have the perfect idea!” Thank God.
“Now, the other thing…she has a bodyguard, Ma.” Her sharp intake of breath indicated her shock.
“What for?” Fear was evident in her voice.
“That’s the thing, all she knows is that her father has been getting some threats. I was hoping you could talk to some of Dad’s old army buddies, maybe they can dig something up?”
“Of course! I’ll call Sophia this afternoon, see how she’s doing. Maybe I can convince her to come to knitting club tomorrow.” The thought made the older woman happy.
“Sure, Ma, just don’t come on too strong, will ya?” False hope he knew.
“Yeah, yeah, gotta go. Love you!” Barely giving him time to say goodbye and she was gone.
