Big Bad Boss (Romance)

by Mia Carson

  Edmund motioned to the opposite booth. “I insist. I hate eating all alone.”

  With a loud laugh, she sat down quickly and rested her elbows on the table, gazing into his eyes. Edmund rubbed a hand over his mouth, wondering what he’d just got himself into. This was not the woman he wanted to have dinner with, but maybe she could tell him a bit more about the town and about Kris.

  The waitress returned and took Molly’s order, too, before she bombarded him with questions, so fast he barely had a chance to answer before she was onto the next one. While she interrogated him, she twirled a strand of hair around her finger and watched his mouth intently when he did manage to get a word in edgewise. At one point during their dinner, her toes found his calf and slithered up higher and higher until he shifted his legs and coughed at the same time so she would stop.

  “You should really come to Louisville some time,” he told her as their empty plates were taken away and he paid the bill. “I’d love to show you the horses we race.”

  “I would love that! I’ve never really been too far out of Green Valley. None of us get out of here.”

  “I’m sure you could if you wanted to.”

  She shrugged and sighed, leaning back in the booth. “Strapped for cash, like most of the people in this town, but it ain’t all bad. Every now and then, we get the random stranger who passes through and livens everything up.” She licked her lips and leaned over the table. “You know, it’s still pretty early.”

  Edmund spotted the lust in her eyes, and he quickly yawned and stretched his arms over his head. “I’ve been driving all night, otherwise I would love to. I’m afraid I won’t be much fun for too much longer.”

  “Pity. Maybe another time, then.” She slid a napkin across the table. “Call me.”

  “I’m sure I will. Thanks for the company.” He tucked his card back in his wallet. “Well, good night, then, Molly.”

  He took her hand and kissed the back of it as he had been taught to do since he was a teenager. She blushed and pressed a hand to her chest with a sigh. He walked out before she had a chance to follow him and corner him inside the inn–or worse, manage to find her way into his room.

  “Certainly a lot of interesting characters in this town,” he mused as he meandered down the street. Most of the shops were closed because it was a Sunday night, but the bar across the way had its doors thrown open and country music blared out the doors, accompanied by laughter and yelling. He considered heading there for a drink, but he saw Molly and the waitress darting across the street and ducking straight into the bar. Laughing, he resolved to turn in for the night when he realized the garage’s doors were open and lights were on inside. What are you doing? he wondered, and his feet took a turn, heading across the street to the gravel lot outside the garage.

  Music that was not country flowed out of a radio and echoed off the metal building. Edmund knocked, but when he saw the hunched over frame of Kris, his hand froze and all he could do was stare. She worked under the hood of another old car. The jumpsuit was gone, and all she wore were her work boots, shortie shorts that barely covered her ass, and the tank top from earlier. Her hair was slung in a messy ponytail, dangling down her back. There was the hint of a tattoo on her lower back he saw more of each time she leaned over further. Her legs were as well-toned as her arms, and an imaginary flash of her wrapping those legs around his waist shot white-hot arousal straight to his groin. He envisioned his hands tangled in her hair, tugging it back as he kissed her neck and made love to that curvy body, listening to her moan in his ear as she clenched him tighter.

  Kris turned around, and his hand slipped off the wall where it’d been resting and he nearly fell flat on his face. Laughing and holding a wrench in her hand, Kris cocked her hip to the side. “Something I can help you with, Ed?”

  Praying she didn’t notice his erection, he shook his head and smoothed his hair back, his face flushed with embarrassment and want. “Edmund, and no. Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.”

  She nibbled on her tongue as her gaze drifted down to his jeans. “Looks like I might’ve startled you,” she said huskily. She turned back around and leaned under the hood. “You don’t have to stand there. Come on in, I don’t bite… hard.”

  Swallowing a groan of sudden want, Edmund walked further into the garage. His car was parked on the far side, the hood up and engine already removed. He promised his baby quietly she’d be alright and reached Kris’s side. “Whose car is this?”

  She straightened and grinned. The body of the car was solid, but under the hood was a mess. When he took a gander at the interior, it was missing several components—like seats and a steering wheel.

  “This… this is my baby,” she said proudly.

  “Are you building her from parts?” he asked, amazed.

  “Yes, I am,” she said and reached over to snag a beer. “It’s taken me several years to get this much going, but one day, she’ll be finished.”

  “What is she?” he asked, running his hand over the top.

  Kris’s eyes widened, and her beer rested against her bottom lip. “You’re kidding me, right? You drive that beast, but you have no idea what this one is?”

  “The family business is whiskey and horses,” he said with a shrug.

  She set her beer down and rested her hands on the car. “This right here is a 1970 Pontiac GTO, also known as ‘the Judge.’ I managed to track down a Ram Air III with 366 horsepower at 4.300 RPM. This baby is going to take me places when she’s finished.”

  Edmund nodded in appreciation of the beast before him. “Good old American muscle. D-port head?”

  She shot him a look and burst out laughing. “So you do know your cars.”

  “I had to see if you did. Make sure my mechanic knows what she’s talking about.”

  “Testing me, is that it?” she said, but she grinned as she said it and sipped on her beer. “There’s more in the fridge over there. Help yourself.”

  He walked to the fridge and grabbed a bottle of beer, using the opener attached to the wall to pop the top. “Using a manual transmission, right?”

  “Are you kidding me? It’d be an atrocity to put an automatic in this.”

  “Good. I was worried I’d have to take my car somewhere else,” he teased.

  “I’m the best mechanic in a hundred miles,” she told him. “You’d be screwed if you went anywhere else.”

  The beer was cold, and it cooled his body but not the growing hunger of watching her move in those damn shorts. “That’s too bad,” he whispered and sipped on his beer again as Kris nibbled her tongue until he wanted to rush across the garage and smash her to his body, claiming her mouth as they tore at each other’s clothes.

  Damn, Jenny really screwed you up. Get ahold of yourself, he grumbled to himself.

  Kris’s lips curled into a sly smile. “Shit happens,” she said simply. “You got two weeks.”

  “Yes. Yes, I do.” He dragged over a stool to sit close by as she went back to work.

  They didn’t talk for a while, but the silence wasn’t awkward. It was strangely comforting after so long spent surrounded by people who never shut up about their lives or their money, their portfolios, and stocks. He enjoyed the quiet music playing on the radio, bands he wasn’t used to hearing. The clank of tools as Kris worked on her precious baby. She lifted her right leg to scratch her left, enticing him with every little movement.

  “You going to tell me more about your wedding?” she asked after she grabbed another beer for them both.

  “Maybe one day, with more beer involved—or whiskey,” he said. They clinked the necks of their bottles together. “What are you doing tomorrow night?”

  Kris took a long gulp of her beer. “Not sure yet. Hanging out at the bar, like normal. Monday night is darts. I have to defend my title.”

  “As reigning champion?”

  “Ha. God, no,” she burst out. “As worst shot in the town.” She peeled at the label on her beer bottle and shifted.
“Care to join me?”

  “It’s a date,” he announced. “I’ll see you then.”

  “Turning in already?” she asked, disappointed.

  He shrugged one shoulder and loved the way her eyes followed the movement. “Early riser.”

  “Then I guess I’ll see you tomorrow night,” she said. “Night, Ed.”

  He rolled his eyes but didn’t correct her. “Night, Kristen.” She scowled, but he chuckled and walked to the inn.

  Chapter 6

  Kris groaned when her alarm rang shrilly in her bedroom, and she fumbled to turn it off. The sun wasn’t up yet, but summer in Kentucky did not make great running conditions. She never missed a run. As Dennis snored in the other bedroom, she tiptoed to the bathroom and changed into her running shorts, tank, and tennis shoes. The air was muggy when she stepped out onto the rickety front porch, but if she waited for the sun to come up, it’d be even worse, and after work, she had a date.

  A date. The idea of spending more time with Edmund pumped her up for her run, and she took off down the gravel road that led into town. About a hundred yards down sat the house she and Dennis grew up in with their grandmother. The lights were on, but she knew Grams wasn’t home. She worked the early shift at the inn and was probably figuring out ways to harass her only occupant. Kris plodded on until she reached the blacktop road. She ran all the way to the outer reaches of town where the road curved up into the mountains before she stopped to stretch her legs and take a breather. Light crested along the ridgeline, and she smiled at the sight of it until her cell chirped. She pulled it from the strap attached to her arm.

  “Grams?” she asked out of breath. “What’s wrong?”

  “Where the hell are you?” she yelled.

  “On my morning run, why?” she asked, heart leaping into her throat.

  “That damn man’s on the roof! He’s just standing up on the roof and I keep yelling and it’s like he’s gone deaf, and I swear, if he jumps—”

  “Who’s on the roof?” she asked trying to catch up. “Edmund?”

  “Yes!” Grams screamed, and Kris hung up and took off back towards town. He definitely didn’t seem like the type of guy to jump off a roof, but if Grams was screaming about it, it was only a matter of time before she called the cops or the paramedics.

  By the time she reached the inn, she was out of breath and hunched over from cramps in her sides. Grams rushed out the front door, pointing frantically up to the roof.

  “There, he’s right there!”

  “I see him,” she said, gasping for air. “Why… didn’t you just walk… up there?”

  “It’s four flights of stairs,” she explained it away. “Go talk to him.”

  “Why me?”

  “Just do it! I don’t want a dead man splattered all over the sidewalk!”

  Groaning, Kris leaned her head back and yelled up to Edmund. “Hey! What the hell do you think you’re doing, you moron?”

  He leaned closer to the edge and waved down at her. “Come up here!”

  “Why the hell should I do that?” she yelled back, wondering if he was a crazy person after all.

  “Just come up here and I’ll tell you!” He disappeared, and Kris had no choice but to go inside and run up the stairs to the roof. The door was propped open, and when she stepped out onto it, the sun was just breaking over the ridgeline in a bright array of golds and reds. “Gorgeous, isn’t it?”

  Kris stared from the sunrise to Edmund and back again. “You’re kidding me, right?”

  Shaking his head, he reached out and took her hand. The shock that ran up her arm affected him, too, and they paused, staring down at their clasped hands. “No,” he said slowly. “I… uh, I always watch the sunrise. What are you doing out so early?”

  “I run in the mornings,” she explained and let him drag her to the middle of the roof to watch the sun rise. The hues painted the sky, and the wispy clouds hanging overhead. Darker ones patrolled the western sky, and she smiled. She always did like the rain. “Yeah, it’s beautiful, but next time you decide to climb to the roof, tell Grams before you give her a heart attack. Apparently she yelled up at you a few times and you flat out ignored her.”

  He cringed. “I do tend to get engrossed in the moment. And who’s Grams?”

  “The old woman downstairs thinking you were about to leap off the roof,” she informed him. “She’s clutching her chest, ready to keel over.”

  He grimaced and leaned over the ledge again, Kris mirroring him. “Sorry, Grams!”

  “Damn right you’re sorry!” she yelled and marched inside.

  “Why do you call her Grams?” he asked as they laughed lightly.

  “That’s who she is. She’s my grandmother,” she told him as she stretched her legs out on the roof ledge. “I haven’t sprinted like that in a long time. I think I pulled something.”

  “Want me to help stretch you out?” he asked with a wink.

  Kris opened her mouth to say yes, but swallowed the words. She rather enjoyed their flirting, but she was sweaty and gross and the last thing she wanted was him touching her in any way that might lead to something more. Grams being in the same building wasn’t ideal, either. “I must politely decline… this time.”

  “Then I look forward to next time,” he said as the morning breeze ruffled his hair.

  “Well, if you’re not going to kill yourself, then I have to get back home and get to work,” she said. “Cars don’t fix themselves.”

  “We still on for tonight?” he asked as she reached the door.

  With one hand on the door, she nodded. “Enjoy your sunrise, Ed.”

  His face scrunched, and the dimples she was coming to love stood out on his cheeks. She ran down the flights of stairs and passed Grams at the front desk, telling her quickly to stop overreacting and that everything was fine. Before the old woman could get going on one of her rants, Kris ran out the door and home in time to see Dennis stroll into the tiny kitchen.

  “How was the run?” he asked and handed her a cup of coffee.

  “Interesting. Grams thought our new guest was going to leap to his death.” She sighed.

  “New guest?”

  “Yeah, the guy whose car I towed yesterday. He’s staying at the inn for a while.”

  “And he tried to kill himself?” Dennis asked, his thick brows knitting together.

  Kris hopped up to sit on the counter and kicked off her tennis shoes. They thudded to the floor, and she swung her legs back and forth, breathing in her coffee. “No, he was watching the sunrise,” she responded. “He just wanted to watch the sun come up over the mountains.”

  Dennis sniggered behind his mug. “What man gets up to watch the sunrise?”

  “Someone with a romantic bone in his body,” she suggested.

  Dennis set his mug down and crossed his beefy arms over his chest. “Romantic?” He studied his sister closely and leered at her as he pursed his lips. “You like him.”

  “What? No, I don’t,” she insisted but couldn’t stop the smile from spreading across her face.

  “Do I need to have a chat with this fellow?”

  “Don’t you dare scare him off,” she warned. “And we’re not doing anything together.”

  “Damn straight you’re not,” he agreed, and she jumped off the counter, taking her coffee to her room. “Are you mad at me now?”

  Kris reached her room and leaned back to yell down the hall, “I will be if you terrorize him!”

  “I won’t do anything as long as he behaves himself.”

  “You know I can handle myself, right?” she shot back.

  “And you’re still my little sister,” he retorted. “Deal with it.”

  Kris groaned and slammed her bedroom door shut. Now he wanted to be there for her and play the part of overprotective big brother, not that it mattered. They weren’t even going on an official date tonight. Just casual drinks at the local hangout and maybe some darts. That was it.

  You’re a shitty liar, she
thought to herself as she picked out clothes to take with her to the garage. She pulled out a short denim skirt she hadn’t worn yet and her brown cowboy boots to go with it. Her fingers ran over shirts on their hangers as she debated which top to wear. The bar was always hot during the summer months, so she picked out an orange halter-top with cups so she wouldn’t have to wear a bra. She tossed the outfit on the bed and recalled her dreams throughout the night, feeling hands on her body, caressing her curves as his eyes had done in the garage last night. Wanton desire pooled low in her belly, and she shivered despite the warmth in the house. They didn’t have AC yet, couldn’t afford it.

  They’d start with drinks and see where the night took them. With any luck, she’d get to feel those hands on her and his kissable lips crushed against hers.

  “Cold shower,” she muttered hotly. “Definitely cold shower.”

  Her eyes drifted over the outfit before she smirked with delight for what was to come and got ready for a long day in the garage.

  ***

  After the episode on the roof, Edmund didn’t feel safe hanging around the inn all day with Grams sitting in the back office, so he slipped out when she wasn’t watching the doorway and wandered around town. He heard whirs and loud music coming from the garage, but pestering Kris while she worked was probably not a good idea. He smiled at everyone he passed, not minding the looks so much today or the whispers behind hands. He even stopped an elderly couple and asked if the town had a bookstore anywhere nearby.

  “The drugstore, son,” the old man said, pointing down the way. “Small selection but decent.”

  “Thanks,” Edmund said and started to walk away, but the man patted his arm to stop him.

  “What are your intentions with the dear Kristen Rivers?” he asked sternly, standing taller as he asked it. His wife smacked his arm, but Edmund wasn’t put off by the question.

  “She’s just the mechanic fixing my car,” he lied and hoped the old man bought it, but by the way his eyes narrowed and he smacked his cane on the sidewalk, he wasn’t buying a word of it. “Maybe we’re having drinks tonight.”