by Vivian Arend
In spite of his best intentions to help her unload, Len found himself crazy busy as he got called out on one tow-truck request after another.
They all took turns driving pickups for the garage, and his name had come up on the roster. He didn’t feel right trying to trade off with any of his brothers because that would’ve required telling them what he intended, or at least putting up with their teasing when they made assumptions about why he was trying to free his schedule.
The only good part was none of the towing involved serious accidents. It was always rough to have to help friends out of the ditch, knowing the unexpected expenses for vehicle repair were probably going to set them back. But when it was an actual accident, Thompson and Sons got called too, with ambulance and police on the scene…
Those were Len’s least favourite moments to deal with.
Still, splitting his time between the shop and the tow truck kept him busy enough days passed without them getting together. Plus, he didn’t want to push Janey. He figured she’d call when she was done with her latest rush of work. Only the longer she didn’t make contact, the more he worried something was up.
Enough was enough. He was done his turn behind the wheel as of that evening. Troy got to put in the hours next.
It was his brother Mitch’s fiancée who lit a fire under him, intentionally or not, he wasn’t sure.
The set of red and blue lights flashing behind him as he dragged another vehicle back to the shop set his heart thumping as he wondered for a second what he was getting pulled over for.
Luckily Anna Coleman wasn’t the type to tease too hard. She parked the RCMP car behind him and made her way up to his window, removing her sunglasses and offering a big smile. “Don’t worry, no ticket. I wanted to get in touch with you in person.”
“You need to get a new coloured light to turn on. Something to warn us it’s a social call,” Len suggested.
She laughed. “Mitch would like that too. The trouble for him is now every time he sees an RCMP behind his motorcycle, he thinks it’s me. The guys down at the station are ragging on him because he accidentally blew a kiss at Magnus one time.”
Len hooted. “Mitch didn’t tell us about that.”
“Oh really? Oops.” She winked before her expression turned more serious. “Did something go wrong between you and Janey?”
He shook his head, not sure what she was talking about. “Not that I know of.”
Anna hesitated. “Okay. So this is me telling tales on your girlfriend, then. I was doing neighbourhood patrol last night, and I swear I saw her sleeping in the back of her truck.”
“What?” Len couldn’t believe his ears. “Why would she do that? Was she on the street, or in her backyard?”
“Parked in her back driveway, so it’s not as dangerous as if she were at the side of the road somewhere, but it didn’t make sense to me. And while I know her, and could ask her if there were problems, I thought I’d check with you first. If she needs a place to stay—”
“I’ll look into it,” Len promised. Why the heck was Janey sleeping in her truck? “Thanks for telling me.”
“Let me know if I can do anything to help.” Anna checked the road behind her, then offered Len a final wave. “Mitch and I will see you at the barbecue tonight, right?”
“We’ll be there.”
He drove back to the shop, his brain full of more questions than he knew what to do with. He checked in with Clay, but they were nearly done their tasks for the morning. Which meant he had time to skip lunch and head straight to Janey’s to find out what the hell was going on.
Her backyard was full of lumber, and she was in full-speed motion, installing vertical posts for a deck.
As soon as she spotted him, though, she put aside her tools and straightened, one hand going to her back as she stretched. “Hey. They haven’t worked you to the bone yet.”
Len marched right up and loomed over her, checking her carefully. She had dark marks under her eyes, and even as he examined her, she broke out into a full-fledged yawn. “You’re working too hard,” he snapped.
Her face folded into a frown. “Job won’t get done if I don’t do it.”
This was the stubborn Janey who drove him crazy in the bad way. “Working around the clock won’t get the job done any faster. You’ll get hurt.”
“I know what I’m doing.”
He glared. Wondered for a moment how hard to push, then decided to hell with. He was mad, and she might as well know it. “You don’t like sleeping in your house anymore?”
She paused, and then managed to look guilty and adorable at the same time. “Goddamn small-town gossip. Who told you?”
“Doesn’t matter. Why’d you sleep in your truck?”
Janey flipped a hand toward the house. “I did the floors, and they stink to high heaven. They’ll be good in another three days, but right now it’s too toxic to go inside. That’s why I’m working on the deck.”
“And that’s why you’re sleeping in the back of your damn truck? Why didn’t you ask to crash somewhere else?”
Janey planted her fists on her hips. “Right. So who am I going to crash with, Len? Katy’s got a house full, Liz isn’t back from holidays, and Shannon has a cat.”
“Bullshit on Katy having no room. She’s your best friend, and you know she’d always find a way to make room. Especially to stop you from doing something unsafe like sleeping in your truck.”
She lost some of her bluster. “Well, maybe I didn’t want to bother her.”
“Fine, but stupid. What about my place?”
“That doesn’t work because—” The most adorable flush spread over her cheeks, and she pinned her lips together as if refusing to say anything else.
It would have been more amusing if his blood wasn’t still pounding hard enough to make his ears hum. “Because you don’t want to sleep in my apartment? You’d prefer to camp out on a mattress in the back of your truck, where you’ve got no way to lock up and stay safe, rather than spend the night with me?”
“Oh, good grief,” Janey complained. “It’s not like that.”
He reined in his anger with an iron will. “Good to know. Then I’ll see you when you’re done work for the day. Or did you want me to come here and help you finish up once I’m done?”
She stood silently for a moment, as if trying to figure out what he had just told her. “Why would you come here?”
“So I can help you put the tools away, and you can come home with me.”
She wasn’t fighting him anymore. Now it was more as if she was playing out mentally the directions the evening might turn. And he totally understood, because he was going there himself.
“I didn’t want to inconvenience you,” Janey started.
Enough. Len covered her mouth with his so she had to stop talking. He kissed her because it was either that or give her a good solid shouting at, and he didn’t shout. Not often.
Even as she softened under him, it took a hell of a lot to lose his anger. He had his fingers fisted in her ponytail, the long length wrapped around his hand as he held her in place so he could ravish her lips. She moved in tight, as if seeking forgiveness with her touch as she slid her hands along his biceps and up to his shoulders. Scratching her nails lightly down his back.
He broke off the kiss, determined to make his point. “Just because I gave you an option doesn’t mean I’m not planning on making it happen. Or that I’m not planning on taking care of you, like you should’ve let me in the first place. You want to meet at my house, or do you want me to come here?”
She was damn near vibrating. The words she was holding back—he wasn’t sure if they were more in the line of “fuck you” or “I’m sorry, it will never happen again”.
But she took a deep breath and settled herself a little before answering. “I’ll come to your place. I don’t know what time I’ll be done, but it might be earlier than you.”
He dug in his pocket and pulled out his keys, finding the one fo
r his apartment and taking it off the chain. He handed it over. “If I’m not there, let yourself in.”
“I can make something for the potluck tonight—”
“Dammit, Janey. Let yourself in, take a shower and hit the sack if that’s what you need. I’ve got no agenda that I’m following, so stop trying to do the right thing, or whatever the hell it is you’re doing.”
That’s when he fully expected to see her blaze up, but the sheer tiredness on her face told a different story. She nodded and accepted the key, tucking it in her pocket. “You’re a bossy bastard.”
The familiar complaint brought a smile to his face for the first time during the entire conversation. “So you’ve said before.”
“It bears repeating occasionally.”
He stroked her cheek softly. She might not like the idea, but if they were going to do this thing, they were going to do it right. And that meant she had to understand he was going to help take care of her.
Whether that made him a bossy bastard or not.
She caught herself yawning for the third time in a row and gave up.
For a short while after Len stopped over, she’d had plenty of energy. A combination of adrenaline, sexual frustration and guilt.
She’d known he wouldn’t like her camping out in her truck, but after all the years she’d spent chasing him, the new revelation the other day had changed things.
Oh, she still wanted to jump his bones in a bad way, but she didn’t want to be as assertive as she’d been. Assuming she could crash at his place seemed far too forward, and the last thing she wanted anymore was to make him feel pressured.
Janey carried her tools to the storage shed, stacking them neatly on the shelves before going back to do the final cleanup on her workspace. Scrap lumber got thrown into the back of her truck to take to the barbecue at Katy and Gage’s that night.
Just looking at the hard metal made her body ache. Good thing she didn’t have to sleep in there again tonight.
She packed clothes, rapidly stuffing things into a bag as she attempted not to breathe too many of the fumes inside the house. A couple minutes’ work made sure all the upstairs windows were open to let the place air before she headed for her truck, and Len’s place.
Letting herself in felt strange. Janey dropped her bag on the sofa, looking around with new eyes since the last time she’d been there. It was hard to believe it had been less than two weeks. So much had happened in that time, including…
The look of disappointment and frustration she’d spotted in Len’s eyes popped to mind, and a sense of guilt rushed in, because he’d been right. She’d made some assumptions, and fixing things before they got to be problems was important.
She grabbed her phone and put a call through to her best friend. “I’m at Len’s,” she announced.
“Umm…” Katy sounded very confused.
God, Janey was so tired she wasn’t thinking straight anymore. “Sorry. I didn’t call to freak you out. Didn’t want you to be worried if you go by the house and see the lights are all off.”
Katy was smiling. Janey could tell, even over the phone. “Of course you didn’t call me to freak me out, but don’t try to lie and tell me it’s not a nice bonus result.”
“I solemnly swear not to tell you any details that will hit your ick factor.” Janey stripped off her clothes and headed for the shower. “And I need to apologize. I made a mistake yesterday. Len pointed it out and gave me shit. And while it’s nothing you need to worry about, it made me think about how glad I am you’re my friend.”
“Awwww. That’s so sweet.” There were voices in the background behind Katy. “And I don’t know what brought that on, but you’re an awesome friend too, and I love you to pieces. And if you ever need anything, you let me know.”
Janey made a smooching noise towards the phone.
Katy echoed her back. “I’ve got to run—getting things ready for the barbecue. Talk to you tonight?”
“Deal.”
She hung up, laying her phone on the bathroom counter and turning on the water in the shower. She stepped under the spray and turned her face upward, and let the exhaustion roll off her with the water droplets.
She had made a mistake. Damage control might be done with Katy, but she still had to fix it with Len. But not until she worked out that kink from sleeping on a thin camping mattress in the back of the truck. And not until she’d snuck in a nap of at least thirty minutes. That should be enough to refresh her before Len came home.
By the time she got out and dried off, she barely had enough energy left to grab Len’s shirt off the hook on the bathroom door, tug it over her head and crawl under the quilt.
Chapter Seven
The light had changed.
Janey rolled over and cracked her eyes opened, groggily searching her memory for where she was.
Len’s place—thankfully with all memories intact this time, even the ones that made her flush with embarrassment. Her gaze darted to the window to check to see if the sky was still bright.
Instead, she got caught in a pair of dark brown eyes, smooth warm chocolate brown that made her hungry.
Len lay beside her, his head propped up on his hand, his elbow resting on the mattress. She glanced down to discover he was lying on top of the covers fully dressed.
“You just get home?”
His lips twisted slightly. “Is it too creepy to say I’ve been here for at least ten minutes?”
She laughed. “It’s your bed, you’re allowed to be in it.”
“Damn right I am.”
He rolled over and kissed her. The whole long length of him pressing her to the mattress, and even with the quilt and his clothes between them, Janey felt a pulse of sexual tension leap into her belly.
This wasn’t like the afternoon when he’d basically chastised her with his kiss. This was exploration, and tender, his lips moving over hers softer than the water from the showerhead had rushed over her skin. Janey wiggled her arms free so she could reach up and thread her fingers through his hair.
Len kissed the tip of her nose before pulling away. “I like finding you in my bed,” he admitted.
Sadly, he rolled off. She was ready to protest until he caught the top of the quilt and peeled it down, exposing her from head to toe.
“Damn. I should have hid all my T-shirts,” he complained. She smiled but she was far too breathless to laugh. He rested his fingers over her lips. “You and me, we need to finish that talk we started this afternoon.”
His hand slid down to trace back and forth along her collarbones.
“I’m sorry I didn’t ask for your help,” Janey said.
He nodded once. “Accepted. But let’s make this clear. Just because I don’t have experience in one area doesn’t mean I don’t have a hell of a lot of opinions and needs and abilities. I’m not a two-year-old, and you treating me like I am is going to backfire big time.”
“Of course you’re a man, but I’m not helpless,” she countered, “You’re right, though, I did make some assumptions. I won’t do that to you again. But, Len? While we’re getting stuff out in the open?”
He rested his hand on her upper arm, sliding his palm up and down against her naked skin. “Yeah?”
“You’re not a big talker. And I don’t expect you to change, but you gotta know there’s a difference between staying silent because there’s nothing you want to add to the conversation, and staying silent because you’re refusing to share.”
He nodded.
And then with typical Len restraint, he caught hold of the bottom of the T-shirt she wore and tugged it until she had to curl up and let him strip her bare.
Her heart fluttered, anticipation tingling through her like a fine mist of rain.
This was all up to him. Janey liked sex, and she liked being an active participant, but she was going to do her damnedest to take her cues from him and see which way he wanted to go. No more pushing, but no more assuming.
He pressed her back to
the mattress, his hand slipping off her shoulder and down her torso, his fingers along the outside of her breast as his thumb came to a stop over her nipple. The sensitive tip reacted like he’d hit the remote control button, pebbling tight.
Len seemed fascinated with her body’s response. “You still sleepy?” he asked.
“Hell, no.” The words came out breathless, turning into a deep gasp as he leaned over and licked the nipple nearest him.
Janey let her head relax back into the pillow. Chances were he would take his time exploring, and she had absolutely no issues with that.
With her eyes closed, it was easy to concentrate on the sensations. Focus on what it felt like when he closed his lips and sucked. One hand continued to caress her breast, playing with her nipple before releasing it in a slow sensual tease.
Every draw of his lips increased the web of sensation tangling around her body. He changed position, and she waited for him to come back to her lips, but he changed sides, continuing to torment her other breast until she found herself grabbing his hair and damn near purring as she tried to…
She didn’t know what she wanted. Shove him away or keep him right where he was.
Fortunately, Len seemed to know what he wanted. He met her gaze square on, his chocolate eyes melting with passion. “You okay with me touching you everywhere?”
“Is oh, hell yeah clear enough?”
He chuckled, the noise coming from farther down the bed as the mattress shifted. Kisses started again, this time beginning with one pressed to the tip of the nipple he had left throbbing. One landed on the underside of her breasts followed by a set across her belly until he reached her bellybutton. Not just his lips, but the side of his face with his five o’clock shadow scraping her skin, and she shivered.
Len tongued her belly, sending more thrills through her. “You know how many times I’ve wanted to do this?”
She was pretty sure he’d figured out that scratchy layer on his chin was driving her crazy, because even while he flicked his tongue in and out of her belly button, he teased her with his chin. His hands rested lightly on both hips to hold her down.
