“I love cars, darlin’. Doesn’t matter to me who makes them.”
“That’s not what you say when you’re interviewed.”
“Yeah, well, I have an image to uphold.”
Her face falls, but I don’t know why. “I know.”
“Keep my dirty little secret for me, Petal?”
“Petal?”
“Everyone calls you Rosie, and I don’t ever want to be like everyone else to you, so yeah.”
“You’ve never called me that before.”
“I was waiting until I felt pretty sure you wouldn’t slap me for it.”
“I like it.”
Whoa. Did she really just admit that to me. Score one for Dixon. I’m still a million points or so behind, but I’ll take any win I can get.
“Listen, I’m sorry about the guys. I wasn’t sure when Reina would talk to you, or if you’d even come out here. I still should’ve said something.”
She shrugs. “I’m used to guys resenting me.”
“Idiots. A mechanic’s a mechanic. It doesn’t matter what they look like under their coveralls.”
“Yes, they are. Although, I hope you don’t undress the rest of them.”
“No,” I say, laughing.
“These cars are turning me on,” she says, coming towards me.
I step back, because I have to. “No, Rose.”
“What?”
“It’s not that I don’t want you.”
“Oh, God. Just stop, please. This is so embarrassing.”
Shit. Does she really think I don’t want her? “Let me explain.”
“No. It’s fine. Just go, please. I’ll get acquainted with everything here.”
“Rose.”
“Please, Ares.”
“Fine. Let me or Jerome know if you need anything that’s not in here. He’s the big guy you were squaring off with.”
“I know who he is. Thanks.”
“Lunch is at one. I have it delivered from a different place every day. I’ll send someone to get your order.”
“Sure.”
I want to shake her, and remind her of how much I always want her, but she has her back turned, and I can tell she wants me to leave. I’ll leave for now, but I’m going to make sure she knows I’m just trying to protect her. Maybe not today, but one day soon, we’re going to have that discussion.
“She’s hot,” Alec says, when I walk back inside the other garage.
“I’m only going to say this once, to all of you. Rose is to be respected, and treated the way you’d treat any other mechanic working here. Yes, she’s a woman, but that has no bearing on why she’s here.”
“You’re really not trying to hit that?” Paulie asks.
“No, and none of you better, either. I mean it. Rose is off-limits to all of you.”
“Sounds like you want her for yourself,” Jerome tells me.
“I want her to work on my cars, and that’s it. Rose Murphy is a mechanic to me. I see her as only that, and not a woman I’d be interested in.”
“Then why can’t we make a play for her?” Alec asks.
“Because she deserves respect, and hitting on while she’s working here is not respectful.”
“So, once she’s done, we can go for it?” one of the other guys asks. I have my back to him, so I don’t know who he is. I do know I want to punch him, but I hold it in.
“Yep. All bets are off once she’s not working here any longer.”
And yeah, it’s all a lie, but with the way they’re already circling, I know I’m doing the right thing. I asked Reina to send her to me, because she’s damn good, but also because I don’t want to be so close to her, and not see her every day. Why I thought it was a good idea is anyone’s guess, because now I’m fucked. Or not fucked, as the case may be.
2
Rose
“Wait, he didn’t want to get it on with you?” Matisse asks me when I get home after my humiliating first day with Ares.
“No, and then I heard him telling the guys I’m only a mechanic, and not a woman, to him.”
“Damn,” Sierra says.
“Did you have fun with the cars at least?” Nev asks.
“Yeah. The cars are cool, and playing with them is going to be amazing.”
“Well, there’s that,” Rhieve reminds me. “You love your cars.”
“I do,” I admit. “It’s just so frustrating, because I feel like we connect, and then we don’t.”
“He cares for you, Rose. I know he does,” Waverly tells me.
“I wish I could believe you, but I don’t see it from him.”
“Is he going to be at the party tomorrow?” Harlow asks.
There’s a charity thing for kids tomorrow we’re all going to, and yes, Ares is being honored for his donations, so he’ll be there. “Yep.”
“What’s the plan?” Camari asks, and I know she’s asking about breakfast the next morning, and whether he’ll be here with me, or not.
“I’d say it’s pretty clear he’s done with spending the night, or having me over for the night at his place.”
And I have to be okay with that. We never set expectations for each other, or promised anything. We were never exclusive, and while I didn’t see anyone else, I know from the pictures everywhere—and the foreign princess—he did. It’s time to put on my big girl panties, and suck it up.
I’m still thinking that when I walk into the country club ballroom the next night. My day at the garage was uneventful, and I only saw the other mechanics when I grabbed my lunch from the break room. I took it back to my space, because I’m not feeling sociable right now. And knowing I have to see Ares tonight, I wasn’t prepared to face him during the day, too.
I see him immediately, surrounded by women who look much more feminine than I do. My sleeveless, high-necked burgundy dress has a plunging back with straps in the middle. It’s a far cry from the flowers and flounces surrounding Ares, and even with the small train skimming the floor, I know I don’t measure up. For the crowd, I look fine, but not to be seen with the great Mr. Dixon.
“Hey, sis,” Liv says, coming up to give me a hug.
“Hi.”
“You look beautiful,” Luke tells me, kissing my cheek.
“Thanks.”
“No date?” my sister asks.
“Nope.”
“Well, there are some very handsome men here who I’m sure would love to dance with you.”
“Excuse me?” my brother-in-law asks her, as I stifle a laugh.
“You know I only have eyes for you, Luke, but I have to keep an eye out for my sister.”
“I still don’t like it.”
“I can assure you, Luke, you have nothing to worry about. Liv still gets a dreamy look on her face when she talks about you, even after all these years.”
“Yeah?”
“Yep. It matches the one you get when you talk about her.”
“Go on, you two. Find Rose a dance partner, so I can dance with my wife.”
“Be back soon,” Liv tells him, pulling him down for a kiss.
It doesn’t take long for me to find a guy who can hold my interest for a half hour or so. That’s all I have in me for polite conversation, and dancing. I’ve only met one man who can keep the numbers at bay while we talk, but he’s got a socialite wrapped around him.
Not that I care as I move from one man to the next over the next two hours. Not at all.
Ares
I’m leaning on Rose’s apartment door when she gets off the elevator. She’s alone, and I thank God for that, because I don’t want an audience for what’s about to go down.
“What the hell are you doing here?”
“I thought your place would be better than mine.”
“What if I had someone with me?”
“I’d have punched him.”
“Really? You turn me down yesterday, and tell your guys you have no interest in me as a woman, ignore me at the party tonight, and then think you can just show u
p here like this?”
She pushes past me, and into her apartment, but I catch the door before it shuts. “I did what I did at the garage for you, dammit.”
“Me? What are you talking about?”
“The guys were circling you like a pit bunny, and if I’d so much as touched you, they’d think you got the job on your back.”
“Didn’t I?”
“You know better than that,” I growl at her.
“Yeah, I do,” she says, quietly. “I thought you were rejecting me.”
“When have I ever rejected you? You flirt and dance with other men at every party we go to, yet I’m always here for you after.”
“And you’re not flirting?”
“I wouldn’t if you’d acknowledge me.”
“I can’t be photographed with you! You know that!”
“Why? Nev gets photographed with Dylan all the damn time. And Sierra and Joel. Wave and Knox. Hell, Wayne and Jen are always in the news.”
“We’re not them.”
“No, we’re us, and I’d love to be seen with you, Petal, if you’d let me.”
“I don’t know. I need to think about it. What you said about the garage, though…you’re right. No one should know about us sleeping together until I’ve proven myself.”
Sleeping together. That’s all this is to her. I know it—I’ve always known it—but it still hurts like a bitch.
“Whatever you want.”
She smiles, but then her face falls a little. “The woman you were with tonight…you weren’t with her, were you?”
“You’re kidding me right now, right? This is a joke?”
“You left with her.”
“And you think I fucked her, and then came here to wait for you so I could fuck you, too? You honestly think I’d do that?”
She looks me in the eye, and shakes her head. “No. When we’re in the same town, I know you don’t sleep with anyone else.”
I don’t sleep with anyone else, period, but that’s a talk for another day. Right now, I’m just going to play along, and keep hoping she’ll one day want more from me than my dick. I’m not holding out a lot of hope, but I have some left, enough to keep trying.
Rose
He wants me. Ares wants me. Not the socialite, or the other women who fluttered around him like he’s a prize. He’s not a prize; he’s an amazing man, and I know how lucky I am that he’s here right now. He’s choosing me, and even if it’s just right now, it’s something.
I walk over, and smooth the lines between his eyes with my fingers. He’s got all the power here, so there’s no reason for him to be as upset as he is. “Kiss me, Ares.”
He doesn’t hesitate to lean down, and capture my lips with his. At first, he just moves his mouth over mine slowly. Soft and slow, and oh so sexy. I moan in pleasure, because I love his mouth, and everything it does to me.
“I could kiss you all night, Petal.”
“I need more than kisses.”
“I’ll give you anything you need. Tell me, and it’s yours.”
I take his hand, and turn towards my bedroom. His other hand reaches out and slips below the waistline of my dress in back. I stop, and lean back against him.
“Like my dress?”
“Love your dress. Wanted to play with these straps all night, and stroke your perfect ass.”
“Do it,” I tell him, knowing I’ll love whatever he has in mind.
He leans down, and takes the strings on the right side of my neck between his teeth. I feel them graze me as he moves across my shoulder, letting them drop over my arm. After repeating the motion on the other side, he moves to stand in front of me. The front of my dress got pulled down with the straps, and my breasts are free and bare.
“So fucking beautiful.”
“Not so bad yourself.”
He smirks, before reaching his hands around to tangle them in the thin strings still crossing over the middle of my back. I think he’s just playing, until they tighten on me, and I feel him binding himself with them. When he drops to his knees, pulling my dress down even further, I’m so aroused, it’s a wonder I don’t come on the spot.
“Lift your dress for me.”
It’s hard with my arms effectively pinned at my side, and his hands bound in my dress at my back, but there’s no way I’m missing out on this. I pull it up inch by inch, keeping my eyes on him. He licks his lips when I get the fabric to my hips, and I whimper in anticipation. I still have my lacy red panties on, but I know that won’t deter him.
He licks up the center of the wet lace, never taking his eyes from me. I press my pelvis into his mouth, silently begging him to do it again. He doesn’t disappoint, licking and nipping at the fabric. He pulls one side into his mouth, and darts his tongue under the fabric. That tongue is even more magic than his mouth, and the things it’s doing to me right now are probably illegal in some states, but I’d gladly go to jail if it means he’ll never stop.
I never would’ve imagined that knowing he’s bound to me while he’s going down on me would turn me on so much, but it does. I can’t pull his head to me, because I’m holding my dress up, and no way am I going to drop it and lose sight of him, so I just keep moving my hips. It’s not enough, though, and we both know it.
“Put your legs together for a moment.”
I do as he says, and watch as he removes his mouth from me to take the waistband of my panties between his teeth. It takes a few tugs, along with a little help from me as I manage to hold my dress up, and pull my panties over my hips at the same time, but they eventually fall. I can’t kick them off, because my shoes are still on, but they’re loose enough at my ankles for me to spread my legs again.
“Love this pussy.”
“It loves you, too,” I say, desperate to have his mouth back on me.
Now that I’m bare, he goes all in. Licking, sucking, biting…it’s a non-stop frenzy of the best oral sex ever. He’s never been anything less than spectacular, but tonight he deserves an award. As I climb higher and higher to that magical peak, I know no other man will ever do, because I’ve been ruined by the one on his knees in front of me. When I scream out his name as my orgasm shatters me, I feel him tear right through the straps on my back.
With his hands free, he grabs my hips as he falls to his back on the floor. I’m fucking his face as I keep coming, thinking I’ll never stop. I can’t see his face, because my dress is covering him now, but I’m too far gone to care. It’s only when I hear his zipper, and he’s moving me down his body that I come back to Earth.
I stand and pull my tattered dress off me, while he gets up, and relieves himself of his clothes. We stand there for a moment, staring at each other with smiles on our faces. It only lasts that one moment, and then we’re launching our bodies at each other. The force is strong enough to knock my couch over, but we don’t stop.
My legs are in the air, and he’s pounding me like his life depends on it. I scratch his shoulders, and back, while he bites me hard enough to leave marks. He yells while I scream as the orgasms overtake us, and we collapse into each other’s arms on top of a toppled couch. Not many women’s idea of a romantic coupling, but I absolutely love it. I love him, even though I know I can never have anything other than what he’s giving me right now.
3
Ares
Waking up, and making slow and sweet love to Rose is probably my favorite thing in the world. I want this every day. I want her every day. Not just for sex, but to be with her. She’s still skittish about it, so I won’t push, but damn if I don’t want it.
“We have to get to work. Separately,” she reminds me, as I hold her in my arms.
“I know.”
“Yet, you’re not moving.”
“I could stay here forever with you, Petal, and be the happiest man on Earth.”
“You wouldn’t be happy if you weren’t racing.”
“Racing, and you, then. All I need in life, and not in that order.”
“And break t
he hearts of all the other women who are looking for a chance to sleep with you?”
“I don’t care if their feelings are hurt.” I only care about hers and mine, and I’m pretty sure mine are about to be hurt right now.
“Be serious, Ares.”
“I am.”
“You’re so cute when you’re all sexed up, and talking about wanting more. It’ll pass.”
And there you go. Heart meet knife. Just like always, and just like always, I’m going to play it off like I was joking right now, because a heart can only take so much.
“Maybe not, if you keep me sexed up.”
“I’m totally down with the sex.”
Sometimes, when you’re given an opening, you just have to take it. It might be a blind leap of faith, and you might get hurt, but if something’s worth it, you speak your mind.
“How can I get you interested in more?”
“You don’t want more with me.”
“Don’t make that choice for me.”
“I’m just being honest. You like the women who give you all the attention.”
“I like your attention more.”
“Enough to give up everyone else?”
“Yes,” I tell her without hesitation.
“You’re serious.”
“As a damn heart attack.”
“I…I don’t know what to say.”
“I’d like to suggest that you tell me you’ll give us a chance.”
“I don’t know if I can.”
“Will you at least consider it.”
“I will. I promise.”
“Then, I’ll do my best to be patient.”
“I care for you, Ares. I hope you know that.”
And there goes my heart, dispelling that knife, because it doesn’t really belong there. Rose cares about me. She may not say she loves me, but she cares, and that’s enough to let me hold on for a little while longer.
“I do now. I care, too.”
She smiles at me, and I can’t help but smile back. “I should go shower. Would you like to save water, and join me?”
“Hmm…as your boss, I should be making sure you get to work on time. But, as your lover, I’m going to say hell to the fucking yes!”
Society Girls: Rose Page 3
