The Heiress and the Mechanic: San Diego Social Scene Book 5

by Tess Summers

  “Luke Santiago Rivas!” his wife scolded from her timeout seat. “That’s a lie, and you know it! And watch your language, or you’re going to be in timeout with me.”

  Ben’s former roommate took that as an invitation, and slid into the seat next to Cassie. He wasted no time slipping his arm around her waist and nuzzling her neck, paying no mind, with his display of affection, to the fact that he was a fucking SWAT sergeant with the SDPD, not to mention that his son was watching. It was probably why they’d had two kids together in less than three years.

  Ben looked back at Harper, who was watching the two lovebirds in amusement.

  “I really can cook. He deserves to be in timeout just for the lying, not to mention the language.”

  “He doesn’t seem to mind,” she said with a smile as she observed them. Then she looked back at Ben. “And you might have to prove that to me.”

  Gladly.

  Chapter Eleven

  Harper

  Watching Ben with Lucas sitting on his knee all day without complaint, she knew her ovaries didn’t stand a chance. Neither did he. She was ready to climb him like a tree by the time the Padres won the game.

  “Do you guys want to come to our place for dinner?” Cassie asked in a hopeful tone as they stood at the Rivases’ SUV in the parking lot.

  “I want to try out my new grill,” Luke added, straightening after buckling a crashed-out Lucas into his car seat. He put his arm around his wife’s shoulder.

  The couple was flipping adorable. And probably two of the most beautiful people she’d ever met. Luke’s son was the mini-me version of him, and Harper could only imagine how adorable their little girls were.

  As much as she wanted to take Ben home and do dirty, dirty things with him, she also wanted his friends to like her. Declining their offer for dinner was probably not the best way to go about that.

  Still, Harper didn’t feel like it was her place to answer, so she glanced at Ben and found him looking at her with inquiring eyes.

  “I’m free tonight,” she said, replying to his unspoken question.

  Ben smiled and turned to Luke. “We’d love to. What time?”

  “Right now.”

  “We have to go back to Harper’s place and let her puppy out first, then we’ll be over.”

  She appreciated Ben thinking about Honey and reached for his big hand, whispering, “Thanks for remembering her,” as she squeezed his calloused fingers.

  He winked in response, a small smile escaping his lips.

  “Where’d you get her?” the Latin man asked.

  “SaveThePets rescue. To be honest, she kind of picked me. I was at a festival at JFG, and the rescue had a booth. I walked by, and she started going crazy until I reached down to pet her. Then when I started to walk away, she started in with the most pathetic howl I’d ever heard. How was I supposed to go home without her after that?”

  Ben’s eyes were shining when he leaned down and pecked her lips.

  “I love that story. She obviously adores you, but who can blame her? I might have howled pathetically, too, if you’d left last night without giving me your number.”

  You mean bringing you home with me. And actually, it was Harper who had been ready to howl when she thought he didn’t want to come with her.

  She’d noticed he was careful not to reveal to his friends that they’d spent last night together, so she chose her next words carefully.

  “I’m glad you asked for it,” she whispered as she looked up in his eyes.

  Luke smiled warmly at them—that had to be a good sign, right? He must be a dog person.

  Harper directed her next question to Cassie. “What can we bring?”

  “Nothing. We’ve got everything covered.”

  “Are you sure? Dessert? Wine?”

  “I’m never one to say no to wine or dessert,” the gorgeous blonde replied with a laugh. Even her laugh was adorable.

  Looking at her figure—which was amazing for someone who’d had a baby a few months ago—Harper found it hard to believe the woman ever had wine or dessert.

  “Do you have a preference?”

  “Oh, honey, I’m not picky. If it has sugar or alcohol, I’m happy.”

  Harper thought she might have just found her new best friend.

  ****

  Ben and Harper arrived at her house and were met by an excited Honey.

  “I miss coming home to a dog.” Ben said wistfully as he knelt down and scratched the cocker spaniel’s floppy blond ears.

  “Aw, did you lose your dog?”

  He chuckled as he stood up. “Kind of. Luke got custody of Rex, his lab, when he moved in with Cassie. He used to foster dogs, so we usually always had at least one other dog in addition to Rex. That’s actually how Luke met Cassie. One of our fosters was adopted by Cassie’s sister Brenna, and he and Cassie split dog watching duty one time when Brenna was out of town.”

  “Those two are so stinkin’ cute.”

  “You have no idea what it took for them to end up together,” he said, rolling his eyes and shaking his head. “Talk about drama.”

  “Oh god.” She shuddered. “I’ve already had enough drama in my life to last me until I’m dead. No, thank you.”

  Harper meant it to be either a warning or an assurance—depending on where he stood on the issue—that she wasn’t into playing games. So far, he’d seemed pretty rock solid, and not the emotional rollercoaster type. But it was way too early to make a judgment on that.

  “Unfortunately, it was drama out of their control.” He paused, looked down, and grimaced as if reflecting back to that time. When his eyes finally met hers again, he grinned. “Well, maybe some of it could have been avoided if they’d done some things differently.”

  “Like what?”

  Ben shook his head. “A story for another time.”

  When I know you better. He didn’t say it, but she knew that’s what he meant. She could respect that. He didn’t want to gossip about his best friend to just anyone. Although, he’d come all over her face last night, so she would hardly classify herself as just anyone.

  “I should probably take Honey for a quick walk before I feed her.”

  He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her hips against his.

  “Or… you could feed her, and we bring her with us to play with Rex and Lucas. Between the two of them, she'll be worn out before we even bring her home. And we’ll have a little time to make out before we go.”

  Harper slipped her arms around his neck.

  “That idea definitely has its merits. But we really shouldn’t keep your friends waiting long.”

  “I’m not saying we should have sex—just mess around enough for me to turn you on so you’ll be wanting me all night,” he said with a naughty wink.

  “Too late,” she replied before softly sucking on his bottom lip.

  His hands slid from her waist to cup her ass. He squeezed gently while tilting his head and deepening the kiss. She whimpered against his mouth, and she quickly found herself slammed against the wall, his hands in her hair while she clawed at the t-shirt on his muscular back to bring his body closer.

  So much for not having sex.

  Harper was unbuttoning his shorts as he was unbuttoning hers, both pairs hitting the ground around their ankles at the same time. Ben easily lifted her up like she weighed nothing, and her legs wrapped his waist as he began to drive into her wet heat. Her back banged against the wall with each thrust so hard she knew a picture was going to come down. And she didn’t even care when it happened—luckily it was only a canvas one. He felt so fucking good.

  So. Fucking. Good.

  “Oh god.” She began to moan, her eyes closed tightly, her entire body bouncing with each push. His cock grazed her clit every time he drove deep inside her, and every time he pulled back. She was so close.

  “Fuck,” he groaned and slowed down. “I don’t have a condom on.”

  “I’m on the pill,” she panted, gripping his
back. “Don’t stop.”

  He resumed fucking her at a frantic pace but soon growled, “Baby girl, I’m going to come.”

  “Oh god, so am I! Don’t. Fucking. Stop,” she cried.

  Ben began to grunt as he thrust faster, his hold on her intensifying. Then she felt his cum spurting against her inner walls, all the while continuing to pump into her. It was so erotic it pushed her over the edge so she was coming too. She let out a long moan, wrapping her legs tighter around his waist and burying her face into his neck, which was sweaty from how hard he had worked. They stayed like that until their breathing evened out.

  Being fucked against a wall might be the sexiest thing ever.

  She would definitely recommend it. Which was why she didn’t understand when he gently set her down on her feet, he looked ashamed of himself.

  “I’m sorry I didn’t use a condom, Scout. I wanted you so fucking bad, I wasn’t thinking.”

  Harper stroked his cheek. He was such a goddamn good guy—apologizing to her when she was just as responsible, if not more so, since she was the one who commanded him not to stop.

  “I’m not sorry at all. You felt amazing, and that was the hottest sex I’ve ever had in my life.” Panic set in. “Unless you… oh my god. You don’t have something, do you?”

  “What? God, no. I’m clean. But I shouldn’t have been careless and put you in the position of making a decision while we were in the middle of hot sex. We should have had that conversation with our clothes on.”

  She shrugged. “Maybe, but we didn’t. But I’m on the pill, we’re both clean, and you slamming me into the wall was the sexiest thing ever, so I wouldn’t change a thing.”

  A slow grin formed on his face. “It was pretty fucking hot, wasn’t it?”

  “That is an understatement.”

  Cum was leaking down her leg. “Would you mind grabbing a towel from the kitchen?”

  He glanced down to where she had subtly gestured.

  “Oh shit! Yeah, sorry,” he said, and disappeared. His bare ass was delicious to look at, and she had a sudden urge to bite it.

  “God, you’re sexy,” she murmured when he reappeared with the dish towel from her oven handle, his cock still semi-erect.

  He dropped to his knees in front of her and began tenderly wiping her inner thighs; kissing her softly after each caressing swipe of the material.

  “So are you,” he whispered in between kisses.

  “You probably better stop, or we’re never going to make it to Luke and Cassie’s.”

  Part of her was hoping he’d suggest canceling on his best friend and taking her to bed instead, but she also wanted to get to know his friends better.

  Ben let out a deep sigh and leaned back on his heels. “You’re right,” he mumbled and handed her shorts to her before standing up. “Go get ready, I’ll feed Honey.”

  She glanced around, saw her cocker spaniel lying in the crate with the door open, and realized her dog had probably just witnessed them having slammed-against-the-wall sex. Harper hoped she hadn’t traumatized the poor pup.

  “I’ll hurry. We need to stop at the market for wine and dessert, too.”

  “Cass and Luke won’t mind if we don’t bring anything.”

  “Maybe not, but I’ll mind.”

  He kissed her forehead then slapped her ass. “You better move it, then.”

  She started to walk away, then stopped and turned around.

  “Honey’s food is—” she began, but he cut her off, raising his hand to quiet her.

  “I know; I watched you feed her last night.” Waving her off, he continued, “Go. I’ve got this covered.”

  Even with something as insignificant as feeding her dog, it felt wonderful to know he really did have everything under control. She hadn’t had someone she could rely on, other than her assistant, since she lived in her parents’ home.

  She liked it.

  Chapter Twelve

  Ben

  They pulled into the Rivases’ driveway with Honey standing at attention on Harper’s lap, looking out the window. The pup’s tail was wagging so fast her whole butt was wiggling.

  “She’s so excited,” Harper giggled. “It’s like she knows she has friends waiting inside for her.”

  Ben opened his door and the dog leapt from Harper’s lap like Underdog, ran past Ben, and raced toward the front door, her leash dragging behind her.

  “What the—?” Harper exclaimed. With a bottle of red wine in her hand, she got out and jogged after her cocker spaniel, who was barking excitedly at the front door. Ben followed, holding Cassie’s favorite store-bought cherry cheesecake.

  Luke opened the wrought iron screen door and looked down at an excited blond puppy, who piddled on his front walk at seeing him.

  “Honey?”

  She rolled over, into her puddle, and exposed her belly.

  “Aw, Honey, no!” Luke cried and tried to move her out of her mess, making her piddle even more when he touched her.

  Harper and Ben stopped short as Luke tried to pick up Honey without making things worse. He looked up and saw them staring at him in bewilderment.

  “Cockers… gotta love ’em.”

  “How do you know Honey?” Harper asked, moving closer.

  “Aw, you kept her name? That’s awesome. Lucas named her. She was one of our emergency fosters. She came to us last minute from the shelter on her D-day—I agreed to take her until the rescue could find a permanent foster so she wouldn’t be euthanized.”

  “No wonder she loves you,” Harper mused.

  “She’s a sweet girl. How cool that you’re the one who adopted her!”

  “Small world,” Ben muttered, while wondering if it was kismet that this girl he was crushing on—hard—had adopted a dog whom his best friend had not only fostered, but basically saved her life by agreeing to do so last minute.

  Luke’s retriever, Rex, came bounding through the door, followed by Lucas, who shrieked, “Honey!”

  “I guess she really is going to be worn out,” Harper observed as the three frolicked through the front door in their happy reunion without a care in the world.

  “Wipe her off with a grooming cloth!” Luke yelled after them. “Well, she’s made herself right at home again.” he chuckled. “Come on in, you two,” he said, and turned to walk back in the house. He also didn’t seem to have a care in the world, although Ben knew nothing could be further from the truth.

  That reminded him that things don’t always appear as they seem. He needed to cool it with this kismet and serendipity bullshit and take things one day at a time. Harper was a crush—that was it.

  A sexy, adorable, perfect crush.

  ****

  Harper

  Luke and Cassie’s house was Harper’s version of heaven. Updated, tastefully decorated, with an amazing brick patio that included an outdoor kitchen/bar and fireplace, and their backyard was the Pacific Ocean.

  “How do you even leave your house—ever?” she asked Cassie from her comfy plum lounger. Staring wistfully at the rolling waves, she sighed. “I think I would find a profession that let me work from home if I lived here.”

  Cassie, who had been making a pitcher of margaritas from behind the bar, came around and handed Harper a salted glass with a lime garnish, then sat down in the matching chair next to her.

  “My sister’s place is next door, and she works from home. She’s a lot like you—loves the water and is very much a homebody. Of course, she has a strapping Marine general to keep her company—and no kids in the house. I’m pretty sure they fuck like rabbits whenever he’s home, so I always make Lucas call before going over.”

  That made Harper think of her own bunny-like ways over the last twenty-four hours. She wondered if Luke and Cassie knew that was what had taken them so long to get here. She decided to gloss over that little tidbit.

  “You don’t love it here?”

  “Oh, no. That’s not it. This is my dream house—the coroner is going to haul my dead
body outta here; I’m never moving again. It’s just that I’m a lot more social than Brenna. But she’s also sort of famous, so I get why she doesn’t like to go out in public as much. Every time she does, she winds up on Page Six. Me, on the other hand”—she gave an evil grin—“I have the luxury of not having to mind my Ps and Qs.” She looked at her stepson playing on his jungle gym in the corner of the patio with the two dogs and her expression turned more serious. “Although being married to a cop has kind of quelled my wild side. Along with having three littles I’m supposed to be a role model for.” Cassie raised her glass as if toasting. “To adulting—woohoo.”

  Luke and Ben walked onto the brick pavers with a platter full of steaks and veggies to cook, and Cassie got a dreamy look on her face as she watched her husband fire up the grill.

  “There is a definite upside though,” she remarked with a sly grin.

  Harper looked at the mountain of a man talking to Luke, tipping a beer bottle against his sexy lips as he laughed at something his friend said. With his tattooed sleeves and calloused hands, he looked like such a badass, but she knew better.

  Cassie saw her watching Ben and lifted her chin toward him. “He really is just a big ol’ teddy bear, isn’t he?”

  “Yeah,” Harper replied, still not averting her eyes from the man candy that was Ben McCallister. “He is. He’s… pretty wonderful.”

  Whoa—where did that come from?

  Cassie tilted her head and narrowed her eyes.

  “And you guys met yesterday?”

  She looked away sheepishly. She knew where this was going.

  “I know—it’s obviously too soon to say something like that, so take it with a grain of salt. I’ve enjoyed our time together, is all.”

  “On the contrary. Ben is the most solid, trustworthy man I know—other than my husband, of course. I’m glad you already realize how great he is. His last one didn’t.”

  She was suddenly jealous that he had a last one. But of course he did. Hell, she had an ex-husband.

  “Well, then, she was a fool.”

  Cassie leaned over and whispered conspiratorially, “And a bitch, but don’t tell him I said that.”