by K. C. Crowne
Sam stuck out his hand and I grabbed it. He pulled me to my feet with surprising power for a guy so much smaller than me. Then he took out his phone and checked the screen.
“Speaking of the devil,” he said. “It’s Greg Shanahan himself. I’ll go give him the good news.”
“And I’ll go out with you – think I need some fresh air.”
We headed for the large garage doors, all open so the fresh air could help with the overwhelming smell of car fluids. As we walked, Sam said, “Oh, uh, by the way, Hunter.”
“Yeah?”
“It was good to see you at the barbeque. To be honest, I wasn’t sure if you would show.”
“Yeah, of course. Sorry I couldn’t stick around much longer.”
“It’s fine. Just glad to see your face among the others, you know? And people are starting to talk about you, believe it or not.”
The skin on the back of my neck bristled. “What about?”
“Just about the new guy at my auto shop who’s a whiz with his hands. Bud, I don’t know where you learned your way around an engine block like that, but man, you’ve got a real talent for this shit.”
Relief settled over me. I wasn’t crazy about people talking about me, but if they were going to do it, at least it wasn’t idle gossip. “Uh, forgot to ask – mind if I take the rest of the afternoon off? Meeting a friend for lunch.”
“Yeah, sure. Me and the boys can handle the rest of the load for the day. You go enjoy your lunch company.” He winked, and I wondered how much he knew.
In the side parking lot, he said, “Go on and get to it. I’ll handle Greg. Though I’m sure he’ll wish he could thank you in person.”
“You take all the credit – fine by me.”
We parted ways and I glanced around the parking lot, the air cool, the sky a familiar overcast. I leaned against the building, feeling tense about Sam’s insinuation of my lunch company. Part of me didn’t like it. I’d never been a fan of people knowing about my business, even before recent events.
I sighed, taking out my keys and preparing to head to my truck. As I started toward it, I caught sight of someone on the edge of the parking lot who looked out of place. He was tall and built, with broad shoulders and eyes hidden behind aviator sunglasses, his head shaved. Everything about him screamed ex-military. And he seemed to be looking around for something – or someone.
“Yo!” I called, heading towards the man. I couldn’t tell where, exactly, he was looking because of the dark-lensed sunglasses. But he turned his head to me, a small smile on his face.
“Howdy!” he said, his chipper tone a total contrast to his off-duty-bouncer appearance. “This Sam’s Auto?” His voice was gruff and professional, his accent generic American. No doubt in my mind he wasn’t from around these parts.
My first instinct was to gesture to the giant sign overhead, the one that read “Sam’s Auto” in massive letters, but I kept that smart-ass comment to myself on the small chance this was a potential paying customer.
“Sure is,” I said. “You looking to get some work done?”
“Might be,” he said, putting his hands on his hips. “Heard there’s a new guy here named Hunter who can get any car problem sorted out before the day’s over. You him?”
Something about him put me on high alert. I would have to keep a close eye on him. “I am,” I said, stepping forward and cutting the distance between us. As I did, I noticed the man’s body tense up, his shoulders squaring and brow furrowing in concentration. It was instinctual – the kind of reaction a man who knew to be aware of danger would have. The kind of reaction I’d expect from a man who knew how to handle himself.
It faded as quickly as it’d shown up, his forced friendliness returning. “You know your way around a Silverado?” He tilted his head back in a quick nod.
I glanced over his shoulder and saw in the parking lot across the street a blood-red Silverado, a nice, late-model one at that. “I’m sure I do,” I answered, returning my gaze to him. “But that ride’s looking no older than a few years – you really having problems with it?”
He shrugged. “I am – isn’t that some shit? I’m taking a trip over to Billings and hear this weird knocking noise from the engine. Wanted to know if you could take a look at it.”
I glanced at the Silverado again. A ride like that, tricked-out as it was, wouldn’t be cheap. Whoever this guy was, he had money. The plates said California.
“I’m done for the day but come back tomorrow morning. If I’m not too busy, I’ll squeeze you in.”
“Sure, sure. I’ll do that.” A beat of silence passed, a strange tension in the air. “Well then,” he said. “Good to know she’ll be in good hands. I’ll see you tomorrow, Hunter.”
With a quick nod, he turned and trotted across the street, catching the red light and the stopped traffic. He climbed in his truck and was gone, giving me a two-finger wave from the window as he drove off. I listened closely for the knocking he’d mentioned but heard nothing.
Something was off about the guy. Man like him, former military, from out of town and poking around my job. It stank like shit. I wondered if he’d been there looking for me, if he’d expected me to be still working.
Or maybe he’s just a paying customer, and you’re just being paranoid as usual, I thought as I climbed into my own truck and turned over the engine. Not like this town doesn’t get its fair share of people passing through. I filed the incident away, making a mental note to keep my eyes open for anything else strange.
But I had other matters to get my mind around – like my lunch with Mandy.
I drove toward the burger place, wondering if I’d made a mistake. I felt like I was at a crossroads in whatever my relationship with my gorgeous neighbor was going to be. More than anything, I could feel the life of solitude I’d wanted to carve out for myself slipping away.
Millie’s Burgers was a free-standing restaurant with 80’s-style, neon décor. I couldn’t tell if it was new and trying to look old or was simply so old that its outdated style had finally come around to being cool again.
Mandy’s car was parked out front. My gut tensed at the sight of it. Part of me wanted to keep driving, to go back to my place and forget about this bullshit.
Instead, I parked and headed in.
The place was a mish-mash of more 80’s décor and Halloween stuff, orange-and-black mixed with neon greens and purples. In the back corner sat Mandy. She spotted me as I entered, rising slightly from her seat and giving me an eager wave. People glanced at me as I passed, and I wondered how many of them were trying to figure out if I might make another scene.
“Good to see you,” she said, touching my arm as I approached. My body tensed at her touch. She backed up, her eyebrows arched in mild surprise. She smiled that beaming, gorgeous smile that I felt myself getting addicted to. “Sit,” she said. “I bet you’re hungry.”
I dropped into the booth, the white pleather groaning underneath me.
“So,” she said, folding her hands on the table. “How was work?”
I shrugged. “Work was work. I—” Before I said another word, I caught myself, realizing I’d been about to say something about the man I’d seen. She didn’t need to know about that.
“You what?” she asked.
“I forgot how good it was to work with my hands. Been years since I’ve done any mechanic work.”
“What changed your mind? I assumed you’d been okay living in that cabin of yours without so much as coming into town.”
“A friend of mine said it’d be good for me.”
“Sounds like it is. I was thinking the same thing when I moved here, that work was the last thing I’d want to do. But my friend talked me into it, too. I’m glad she did. When you’ve got a lot on your mind, spending time alone dwelling on matters is the worst.”
“You need to stay busy,” I agreed. “Keep your hands moving, have something to focus on. Otherwise your mind goes right back to where it shouldn’t be.”
She nodded. “That’s right.” Mandy turned her attention to the menu. “And right now, my mind’s on a burger.”
“Same here,” I said, picking up the laminated page in front of me. “Hungrier than I thought I was.” As I looked over the menu, I noticed something strange. “Why the hell do these all have weird names?”
Mandy chuckled. “Because it’s an 80’s-themed diner. Well, it wasn’t a theme until I came back. Before that, it was just how it looked.”
“Breakfast Club Burrito?” I asked. “What does that mean?”
Total confusion appeared on her face. “You’re kidding, right?” she asked. “You don’t know what The Breakfast Club is?”
“Not a clue. And I don’t care what the theme is, it’s not a good idea to call anything a Marty McFly Burger. Doesn’t exactly rouse the appetite.”
She laughed again. “I’m starting to get the impression you’ve got some serious cultural blank spots.”
“You could say that. My parents weren’t crazy about TV. And my old man didn’t let me do a thing that didn’t somehow make me more fit for the military.”
“So you never got to have fun, is what you’re saying?”
“Fun wasn’t a thing in my household. Just me and my pops and that was it. My mom passed when I was a kid.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” she said, sympathy in her eyes. “That has to be rough. I lost my dad not too long ago. Natural causes.”
I’d never been good at these kinds of social niceties. But even I knew I had to say something. “I’m…sorry,” I said. “My Dad passed when I graduated high school. Pushed my whole life for me to go into the military and wasn’t even around to see it happen.”
“Looks like neither of us is a stranger to loss.”
She didn’t know the half of it.
“Why are you here?” The words came out of my mouth in a rough voice. Instantly I knew it hadn’t been the best way to ask the question. I’d been a goddamn detective, for Christ’s sake. I used to interrogate people, work informants for tips on cases. Now I couldn’t string a damn sentence together without barking like an idiot with zero social graces.
“I grew up here but moved around a bit when my husband was in training and deployed. He was last stationed in San Diego. Two years ago he died in an accident on base. I stayed for as long as I could so I wouldn’t uproot Parker’s life too much after losing his dad, but it was just too hard to be there. Too many memories. So I came back.”
“Fucking hell,” I said. “I’m sorry to hear that.” This sorry came out a hell of a lot easier – I’d seen my fair share of family members who’d lost good men and women in the line of duty.
She glanced down, sadness coming over her beautiful features. “Thanks. Just trying to start fresh, you know?”
I nodded. I knew. I turned my attention back to the menu. “Picard’s Poutine?” I asked. “Now, I don’t know what either of those two words mean.”
She smiled, and I knew my attempt at changing the subject to lighten matters had worked. “You can’t be serious – you don’t know who Picard is, or what poutine is?”
“That’s the long and short of it.”
Mandy glanced aside, as if thinking of something. “I’m wondering if a better way to spend the afternoon would be back at my place.”
“Your place?” I asked, alert.
“Right. Unless you got a TV all of a sudden.”
I thought about my cabin, how it wasn’t even close to anything approaching guest-friendly. “Nope. But why a TV?”
She leaned forward. “Here’s my idea – we order some food to go, we take it back to my place, and I can at least make some attempt at filling in these oh-so-gaping cultural holes. I’ve got all the “Star Trek Next Generation” episodes on Blu Ray. Perfect place to start, if you ask me.”
Going back to her place. Alone. It was enough to make me a touch uneasy. But I couldn’t resist.
“Let’s do it.”
When the waitress came, we put in an order for burgers and poutine and shakes, passing the time it took to make with idle chatter. I’d always hated small talk, viewed it as a total waste of time, a chance to slip up and reveal more about yourself than you’d intended. But with her, it was different. It was actually nice.
My stomach was rumbling by the time the white bags arrived at the table. We snatched them up and left, the scent of food trailing behind us.
“Now,” I said as we headed to our cars. “Want me to drive behind you? It’d be a shame for you to wreck that gorgeous new bumper with another accident.”
She laughed. “Would you look at that? It’s the joke that never gets old. See you in a minute – and don’t even think about snacking on those fries on the way there.” Mandy flashed me another smile before disappearing into her car.
I put the food on the seat next to me and we were off. I spent the drive thinking about what I was getting into by going to her house. What were we going to do there? My cock was half-solid in my jeans – whatever we were going to do, I knew what I wanted.
I wanted her.
Bad idea. Bad fucking idea.
We soon pulled into her driveway, my eyes going to the dinged-up solar panels and all the other things that needed to be fixed.
“Come on,” she said as she alighted from her car. “I’m starving.”
One more sexy-as-fuck smile over her shoulder as she walked into the house, my eyes going from her face right to her ass. I wanted her like fucking crazy.
The moment I stepped over the threshold, I knew I had to have her.
“Alright,” she said, stepping into the small kitchen area and plucking the bags from my hands. “Let’s get this on some plates. Then we can figure out what we’re going to watch.”
The only thing I hungered for was her. The only thing I wanted to watch was her on the end of my cock.
I was losing control, like I had no say in the matter of what I wanted. Without another word, I stepped to her side, close enough that she took notice.
“Sit down, big guy,” she said with a smile. “I’ll bring you lunch.”
I didn’t say anything. Instead, I wrapped my arm around her waist and pulled her close. Mandy’s eyes widened, but she didn’t have much time to be surprised.
I kissed her hard.
The moment my lips touched hers, I knew it wasn’t enough.
Not even close.
Mandy
The kiss was what I knew I wanted. More than that, the kiss was what I knew I wanted but shouldn’t have wanted.
I’d spent the entire drive back from town going back and forth on the Hunter question, as I’d been calling it. But the question had been answered for me the moment he’d put his hands on my hips, his mouth on mine.
Our bodies slammed into one the other, the intensity of the kiss growing between us with each moment that passed. His body was solid, like I was pressed against a brick wall, and the sensation of his mouth against mine sent a fire through me that I could scarcely wrap my head around.
The guilt. It hit me hard, surging through my body as his hands clamped down on my ass, traveling along my curves. The guilt was almost too much, enough to make my legs feel weak beneath me.
Or was that him? Was Hunter having that effect on me?
Either way, it didn’t matter. Any say I had vanished the moment he made his move. The kiss made me want him more and more, and when my mouth opened, his tongue traced the outline of mine, his rich, musky taste igniting my senses. I knew there wasn’t a chance in hell I was going to stop.
The sensation was so intense, so overwhelming that my legs stopped feeling like they were going to buckle – they did, and I worried I might collapse into a heap.
Hunter smoothly wrapped his arm around my waist, pulling me against him. I could feel his cock through his dark blue Levi’s, smell the faint scent of motor oil that let me know he’d come to me from work.
He wanted me as much as I wanted him, his intensity raw and animalistic. And
knowing how badly he wanted me only turned me on even more, a tight heat forming between my legs. I smiled through the kiss, smiling as I surrendered to his touch, his strength, his desire.
And the longer he kissed me, the more I could feel his own passion grow – along with his cock. He was already hard when our bodies touched, but as the kiss continued, as he squeezed my breasts through my shirt before moving his hands down to cup my ass through my jeans, I could feel him grow so hard I thought he might rip through his denim.
He lifted me off my feet, his hands still on my ass. I wasn’t a small girl, but his strength was enough to make me feel like I was light as a feather. I wrapped my legs around him, pressing my mouth to his as he set me on the counter.
I grabbed his oil-stained T-shirt, using it to pull him flush against me. Everything about him –his hard, massive body, his narrow blue eyes, his body scent— drove me wild. I couldn’t stop myself from pulling the shirt off over his head and tossing it aside.
My eyes opened through the kiss, enough that I could make out his sculpted muscles, that powerful upper body I’d devoured with my eyes before.
Then, his lips on my neck, my skin tingly, I laid eyes on that scar. What happened? An accident? Or something more? Did it have to do with why he was here, why he’d left his old life behind?
As if sensing my mind was wandering, Hunter put his massive hand between my legs, pressing on my clit through my jeans. The sensation was incredible. My eyes opened wide, and a sharp gasp of air filled my lungs.
“Tell me what you want.” His voice was a low growl in my ear as he rubbed me slowly.
“You know what I want,” I breathed.
“Then say it.” He pressed on my clit, and another spasm of pleasure rushed through my body.
“I…I want you to take me to the bedroom. Now.”
He grinned, a sexy sliver of white appearing on those sexy lips. Before I had a chance to respond, he cupped my ass again and effortlessly lifted me off the counter. His forearms, ropey with muscle, tensed as he carried me through the kitchen, the scent of diner food fading with each step.
