by Lee Kilraine
Oh. My. God. She closed her eyes and savored the bite. It was even better than she’d remembered. The bright berry flavor intertwined with a touch of sweet honey. She moaned when the second bite revealed a tease of smoky bourbon. Oh man. After the third bite she lost all control and devoured the rest like a heathen. She whimpered, moaned, purred, and licked every one of her fingers off before coming up for air.
Her lips opened on a sigh as she came out of her foodgasm. She had to blink a few times to bring reality back into focus, only to find she was the center of attention. “Well, hello there.”
Renee grabbed an ice cube from the freezer bin behind the counter and ran it over her face. “Oh my. That was a little like watching a soft porn.”
“If only the rest of my food got that reaction.” Dave shook his head and turned his attention back to burning someone’s dinner.
Tynan stared, openmouthed, his gaze intense. He tilted his head as if seeing something new. Picking up his plate, he moved across and slid into the other side of her booth. His sheer size was intimidating, but when he leaned in and focused his odd-colored gaze on her she almost couldn’t breathe.
“How would you like this amazing burger in exchange for your second biscuit, and I’ll pick up your check too?” Tynan’s lips slid into a charming lopsided grin that kicked up her pulse. The man had skill.
“Wow. I’ll give you a ten for effort, but no, thanks.” She pulled her plate closer to her and started forking open the other biscuit. A small puff of yeasty steam rose up. Slapping the butter on quick, she looked up and grinned right back at him. “Nice teeth, by the way. After a week of you grunting and growling at me, I wasn’t sure you had any.”
He grumbled something under his breath, his gaze shifting from her plate to his. On a heavy sigh, he picked up his burger. “How’d you talk Dave into it? Magic pixie dust again?”
Lu shrugged as she spread the jam around and managed to give him the sweetest smile in her repertoire before lifting the sweet, sweet piece of heaven to her lips and taking a bite. Her eyelids fluttered closed and she lost herself in the moment.
Across from her, Tynan moaned. He ate his burger like a robot, watching every bite she took, finishing just before she did.
“You know, I’m not sure I can finish these last few bites.” She might have waved it close to his face so the lovely scents made his nose twitch.
Tynan pushed his empty plate out of the way and leaned forward into her space again, his eyes focused on the dish in her hand. He ran his tongue along his lower lip and flicked his gaze up to hers. She leaned forward the smallest fraction until they were breathing the same air.
“Oh, who am I kidding? Of course I can.” And she stuffed the last piece in her mouth and chewed, enjoying the scowl on Tynan’s face. She dabbed at her mouth with her napkin until she had her smile under control. “Well, I’m out. My boss worked us freakishly hard all week and I’m exhausted, so later for me.”
Lu slid out of the booth and added just the tiniest bit of sway to her hips on her way out the door. Hey, what was the fun in winning if she couldn’t spike the ball?
* * *
Tynan leaned back in the booth, his gaze narrowed on Lu’s ass, feeling unsettled in a vague sort of way. Hell, there was no way that petite woman should have been able to eat both of Dave’s biscuits alone. She’d done that just to spite him, and he was petty enough to hope she had a bellyache. And hot sex sounds while she was eating the biscuit? Hell, Dave’s biscuits were good, but orgasmically good? She was just yanking his chain.
“I like that woman.” Renee started clearing the plates from the table. “Tynan, you go easy on her at work, you hear? You’re working her to the bone. Whatever you do, don’t take your problems out on that poor woman.”
He scowled. “Poor woman? You do realize I pay her, right? And what problems?”
“That you seem to have lost your mojo. You know—your way with the ladies?” Renee’s forehead crinkled up in consideration. “The Grapevine has it narrowed down to an equipment issue, with an outside possibility of an overuse injury finally catching up to you.”
“Right.” A delicate snort from the booth behind him caught his attention, and he turned sideways in his seat to find Beatrice and Agatha Simon, two of the town matrons who kept the Grapevine running like a government operation, smiling like nuns at him. That never boded well. He started shaking his head at those innocent, sweet smiles. “I don’t know what you ladies have heard, but I don’t need the Grapevine’s help.”
“Of course you don’t. The thing is, we need your help.” Agatha shamelessly batted her eyes at him. “We’re trying to build some enthusiasm for our next book club book, but we’re getting some push-back from a few of our members. You know, the ones who wear their buns too tight?”
“Uh, not really sure I want to know, but you know I’ll do anything I can to help you.” The library job was big, but they were about to let the electricians take over for a week, so he’d have some free time to work on a new project for Beatrice and Agatha. “You want me to build you a sign or something?”
“Tynan, that is so sweet of you. You see, Agatha, didn’t I tell you Tynan would help us any way he could?” Beatrice smiled over at him, nodding her approval. “We won’t have to stoop to blackmail. I feel so much better about this.”
“Excuse me, what in the world could you blackmail me with—” That was when the old memory from over a decade ago streaked through his brain. “Are you serious? That was over twelve years ago, and the only senior prank in the history of Climax High School to stay a secret, which I’m damn proud of.”
“Oh my yes. You outdid yourself with that one.” Agatha leaned forward with a wounded look on her face. “It’s been such a sacrifice keeping the information to ourselves all these years.”
Beatrice’s soft gray eyes looked off toward where Renee stood behind the counter. “It would be a shame for it to slip out now.”
“And this is why I don’t mess with older women.” Tynan narrowed his gaze on the sisters. “Okay. What am I signing up for? Raffle tickets? A bachelor auction? I mean, whatever it is, I’m signing up, right? Damn, you ladies outflanked me.”
“Sonny, we were outsmarting men long before you were born.” Agatha took a sip of her tea. “Go ahead, Beatrice; give it to him.”
Beatrice opened her patent-leather pocketbook and pulled out a paperback book, handing it over the back of the booth to him. “Here you go, Tynan. And our book club meeting is in three nights, so I hope you’re a fast reader.”
Tynan looked at the book in his hands. Love’s Savage Secret. Well, just hell.
Chapter Five
Tynan pulled up in front of the library Monday morning ready to work after a much-needed Lu-free weekend. Forty-eight tension-free hours. Almost. If he backed out the hours she’d busted her way into his thoughts, it was probably more like twenty-three hours of Lu-free time. But in those twenty-three hours, he’d come to a conclusion: He was going to go with the flow.
He’d heard a lot of advice in his thirty years, and one piece he hoped he’d never have to use was when you’re caught in an avalanche, your best chance at survival was to relax and go with the flow. It turned out that advice worked for a few things in life. A superior officer’s tirade, a woman’s tears, and the Climax Grapevine.
The Grapevine was almost as efficient as the Navajo code talkers, only without the accuracy. Funny how deciding to hit pause in his sex life six months ago had created such a stir. Okay, it was probably the confrontation with Caryn that had brought all the attention. If he’d known she’d take it personally when he’d declined the invitation to sleep with her, he wouldn’t have agreed to dinner. He regretted upsetting Caryn.
But now that the Grapevine had gotten their teeth into his sex life, so to speak, he knew he was in for an avalanche of advice from every busybody and well-meaning friend in town. And he’d rather deal with everyone thinking he couldn’t get it up than have his family worry about him
. So he would neither confirm nor deny any of the rumors. He was going to go with the flow.
He strapped on his tool belt and grabbed his coffee from the truck, pausing before shutting the door when his gaze caught on the book that had been sliding around the floorboard of his truck since Beatrice forced it on him. Guess he should make an attempt at reading the first chapter before tonight’s book club. Book club. There were two words he’d never have thought he’d put in a sentence. He fished it out from under the bench seat and tossed it in with his lunch.
Unlocking the front doors, he opened them wide to let the sunshine and cool air in. It was still a bit dusty from the drywall dust settling and getting kicked up again during the day. By the end of last week they’d uncovered more water damage on the third floor than anticipated, but so far not a budget buster. He couldn’t afford to spend the whole budget on the structure and then not have enough left to load it up with the new wiring to handle the state-of-the-art technology.
The Climax Public Library was finally going to get in the fast lane of the information highway, and that path wasn’t cheap. But investing in digital books was a smart choice because the library was so small. He’d heard a rumor someone had applied for a grant so the library could connect with some of the North Carolina universities.
The crew pulled up truck by truck by VW Bug. He shook his head looking out at Lu’s light blue Beetle. Nope, not a construction worker. After working with her for a full week, he still didn’t know what she was running from or to, but he hoped she found what she needed soon.
Tink was distracting his crew daily—and she was driving him crazy. He couldn’t get away from her. She was under his feet at work. She was in his regular booth at the diner. When he thought to escape her by heading home it didn’t do any good because she was in his head. The look of ecstasy on her face when she’d eaten the biscuits and jam? She was wearing it every night in his dreams, under him, on top of him, hard up against the wall. Yep, Lu was messing with his head.
Six months ago he’d made some changes in his life. He’d put sex on the back burner while he focused on other things. He liked sex. Hell, he loved sex, but he didn’t let his dick direct him like a needle on a compass. He could do without. His nine- to twelve-month-long deployments proved that. He was doing fine without sex until a week ago when Lulubelle Swan barreled into his life.
Today he planned to avoid distraction by assigning her up on the third floor. If she would only stay there. He got to work, enjoying the sounds of a construction site: hammers, saws, the radio from the third floor. Yeah, even Lu’s off-key, made-up singing was growing on him. Not that he’d ever tell that to her.
“Ouch!”
“I’m sorry, Juan!”
The rest of the conversation was lost under the music, but Tynan figured he’d see Lu in about five . . . four . . . three . . . two . . .
“Oh boy. I did not know the staple gun shot out with that much force.” Lu came down the stairs, her forehead creased and her eyes darting up to the third floor. “We’re going to need a new box of Band-Aids for the first aid kit. Want me to pick them up after work?”
“Sure. But what I really want is for you to stop hurting my crew.” Tynan couldn’t blame it all on Lu. If the guys would pay less attention to the sexy pixie and focus a bit more on work and basic safety . . . Served them right if they were going to let her big brown eyes get to them.
Lu smiled a wobbly smile. “I guess I’m working with you now.”
“I guess so.” He went back to tearing out the wooden floor in the lobby. It was too worn to salvage, so the town council had decided a tile foyer would hold up to the foot traffic better. “Go ahead and start prying up the floor. You can start over in the corner and we’ll meet in the middle.”
For the next hour Lu worked and talked. Talked and worked. She must have mentioned at least seven times how bad she felt about hurting Juan. Hell, Juan would be fine. His own ears and peace of mind was another thing.
It was hard, messy work. As they lifted and pried up the old flooring, wood splinters were flying right and left. He threw a quick glance over at Lu and stopped his work.
“Hey!”
She stopped talking in midsentence and leaned against the long-poled scraping tool she was using, her breath coming in short, fast pants. “Hey what? ‘Hey, that’s a great job you’re doing, Lu’? Or, ‘hey, Lu, you deserve a raise’?”
“Hey, get those princess goggles of yours on. The wood splinters are flying all over the place.”
“Oh, right.” She grabbed her protective glasses from one of her tool-belt pockets and slipped them on.
That rhinestone heart made him cringe every time. He shook his head at her cheesy grin over at him and they got back to work. Man, the woman was a puzzle. She had a little-bit-country, little-bit-rock-’n’-roll thing going on. She didn’t have a clue about construction or how to use any of the tools, but she was a fast learner. Not a delicate feminine flower once you showed her how to do something—and yet there were those pink tools and that flower-child Beetle.
After another hour of work even he needed a break. The crew broke for lunch about the same time every day, and today it was a godsend.
Craig and Junior decided on a run to the diner. “Anyone else up for the diner?”
“Oh, heck. I forgot to pack a lunch today.” Lu wiped at the sweat trickling down her temple. “I guess one of Dave’s burgers is better than nothing.”
“Don’t count on it.” Cash pointed at her and lifted his own mini-cooler, shaking it temptingly. “I’ll share.”
Lu’s face looked like a shipwreck victim’s being thrown a life preserver. “What have you got?”
“Liverwurst sandwiches.”
Her face fell. “Oh, um, thanks, but I’ll just go grab a burger.”
With that, the library cleared out. Tom, Cash, and Juan sat out in the sunshine, eating and talking about the latest sports scores. Tynan needed the quiet after having to hold a sparring conversation with Lu for the past hour.
He leaned up against a wall in a warm sliver of sunlight and pulled the romance book out of where he’d tucked it and ate his ham sandwich while he read.
Normally he read thrillers or military fiction, with a bit of science fiction thrown in too. Books with characters who spent half the chapters blowing shit up. So he began reading Love’s Savage Secret with about as much excitement as an FNG tasked to clean latrines—with a toothbrush.
The book was a surprise. A big surprise. Huh. Chapter one was hot, twisted, and so, so dirty. And that was before he got to the sex scene in chapter two. Oh, damn, the heroine confronted her ex and—
“Earth to Tynan. Come in Tynan.”
Tynan looked toward Lu’s voice and found her sitting about ten feet away holding up her own piece of wall. “Sorry. Didn’t hear you come back.”
Lu grinned over at him. “So . . . romance novels. Is that what all the tough, ex-military construction guys are reading?”
“I’m an open-minded kind of guy.”
“Really? You just picked up a romance book out of the blue and decided to read it?”
Tynan shrugged. “Yeah, let’s go with that. What have you got against romance books?”
“I used to read romances. Years ago.” Lu snorted. “But then I grew up and realized happily ever after really is a fairy tale.”
His gaze narrowed on her. “You’re awfully young to be so cynical, aren’t you?”
“Are you telling me you believe in love and riding off into the sunset?”
“Sure I believe in it. I mean, not for me, but I’ve seen my brothers find exactly that.” He shrugged. “Some of them, at least. And my parents.”
“Well, aren’t they the lucky ones? Good for them. Someone should be lucky in love, right?” She stood up abruptly and readjusted her tool belt. “Back to work. Too bad we’re done with most of the demo. I’m in the mood to swing my hammer into something and smash it into smithereens.”
Whoa, som
ething about love ticked the lady off. Tynan took a step back from her dark energy. A relationship that went sour? An abusive husband? An unfaithful boyfriend? Or girlfriend . . . although he was pretty sure after the way she’d ogled his butt from day one, she liked dudes.
* * *
That evening Lu sat at the counter in the diner finishing her third bland burger of the week. She was almost ready to admit that Tynan didn’t have some hidden secret to moving on with his life. Although she’d spent most of her weekend passed out on the wonderfully comfortable bed in her hotel room, she did manage to venture around town a bit for some reconnaissance. She’d popped into the local bakery, the craft store, and the bait-and-tackle shop. People were friendly and more than happy to talk about Tynan’s high school shenanigans and his flirtatious ways, but mention his time in the Army? Mouths closed up tighter than a kid trying to avoid a spoon of cough syrup.
She’d been invited to attend a book club tonight and figured she might as well. Didn’t most women talk about men when the men weren’t around? It was worth a try. As she sat and watched a little boy push his way in through the diner door, she decided she might as well stick around for the full two-week trial period Tynan had offered. If nothing else, she’d gotten out of her rut, which was more than she could say for her last three years.
She refocused on the kid as he moved through the diner like he was on a serious mission. Her gaze drifted back to the door, expecting to see a mom right behind him, but the door stayed closed. Small towns were pretty safe, but it just didn’t seem kids that age should be running around town alone. She was no expert on children, but he only looked about seven or eight. Maybe even younger.
He walked toward the elongated U-shaped counter in front of the kitchen and waitress station and had to jump to get up on one of the stools. Lu was sitting farther down the counter on one of the sides of the U. Renee stood behind the counter, wiping it down with a dish towel.
