by Robin Leaf
I have learned not to lie to this woman. Why try? She’ll see through it anyway.
“I heard her talk to her mom about me.”
“And I take it you didn’t like what you heard.”
I shake my head and continue to wrap her collectables in newspaper.
“Well, Boy, tell me what you heard.”
I sigh, pausing my work. “She told her mother that I’m a bodyguard and a tattoo artist.”
“Duh.” She hands me another thing to wrap. “You are.”
“Yeah, but she was expecting her mother to be turned off by the information. And she said that I looked like a guy who’s had a lot of girlfriends and that she wouldn’t measure up to them.”
“Damn, Douglass, you were in the room with us. Were you not listening to our entire conversation?”
I shake my head. “Not really. I thought she wanted to keep it between the two of you, so I tried to stay busy.”
“You took what you overheard at her mother’s out of context. Ember has some insecurities.”
I nod. “Yeah, she’s told me a few.”
“She just spent the last hour and a half telling me how her mother threw her for a loop today. Ember thought her mother wouldn’t accept you because of those things.” She puts her hand on my arm. “Turns out her mom loved you despite those things.”
I pause for a second, thinking about that. “But she also said that I looked like a man who’s had a lot of girlfriends, like I’m some man slut or something.”
“Did she say the words ‘man slut’?” She raises her eyebrow at me. I shake my head, so she asks, “What did she say right after that?”
“That she was afraid her mom would say she wasn’t good enough for me.”
“There ya go, Boy. Two insecurities rolled into one. That’s called projecting. Ember is the one who doesn’t think she’s good enough for you.”
What? I stand there for a full ten seconds trying to wrap my head around that.
“But that’s stupid.”
“Why? Because you’ve told her how awesome she is, which you haven’t, or because you’ve been pushing her away, which you have.”
“I haven’t pushed her away, but I’ve been taking things slowly because I want to build a relationship with her.”
“But does she know that? Or have you told her that you feel your job is more important than she is?”
I move back like she slapped me. “Oh, fuck.”
“Yeah, oh fuck. You, dumbass that you can be, haven’t been honest with her, convincing yourself it’s in her best interest. She, sweet, naïve thing she is, doesn’t know your end game because you’ve kept it from her. You straight up lied to her. And here’s a tip… Girls don’t particularly like that.”
I rub my hand over my head, trying to come up with something, anything, to prove Mabel wrong.
“But don’t actions speak louder than words?” I ask, throwing my hands out to the sides. “I have made it clear that she is tempting me beyond my limits.”
“That may be true, but for someone who has some deeply-rooted issues involving trust, you gotta know that her mind is racing with all the possible scenarios here, probably unfavorable ones. She’s been dealt a pretty fierce blow finding out her husband was not who she thought he was. She can tell you she’s accepting of it, and rationally, she probably is, but in her mind, she blames herself for his sexual switcheroo. And with you keeping her at bay and keeping your feelings close to the vest, it’s not helping her ‘what’s wrong with me?’ inner dialogue.”
The doorbell rings, cutting off my response.
“Who could that be?” Mabel asks.
I check my phone to see that the guys are a few minutes early. Honestly, I’m kind of glad for the interruption. I need time to digest all this information.
“Let’s go find out,” I tell her, offering my elbow to escort her to her surprise.
I encourage her to open the door, which reveals four shirtless men.
“What in the world?” she asks, taken aback.
“Are you Mabel Bellamy?” Noah asks.
“I think so,” she answers, squeezing my arm.
I asked Noah yesterday to help me arrange a moving surprise for Mabel today. Since the strip club is closed on Sunday, a few of the guys were all too happy to earn a few extra dollars. Might as well put my inheritance to good use, and there’s no better way I can think of than to spend it on making sure Mabel gets her bucket-list wishes fulfilled. What’s a surprise to me is that Matty and Noah showed up as well.
“We’re here to help you move to your new digs.” Noah holds out his hand for her to shake. After she does, he turns to me, smiling.
I shake my head. “I didn’t expect –”
He holds up his hand to stop me. “We have a truck to carry equipment that doesn’t get a whole lot of use, and Matty knows how to drive it.” He shrugs. “You’re always helping everyone else in the company, Dugger. We’re a family, and family helps each other.”
My mouth drops open. I know my mask is doing a piss poor job of hiding the fact that I’m incredibly moved by his statement.
Family.
Just the word… wow.
“Dugger,” Beck, the stripper from girls’ night, says, pulling me out of my stunned emotional moment. “Good to see you again now that you don’t want to kick my ass,”
I smile, clapping his shoulder. “I’m just glad you guys were free today. We’re all about killing two birds with one stone.”
“What the heck does that mean?” Mabel asks.
“You wanted strippers. I hired them to move you. They agreed to go shirtless, and maybe, if you’re good, you’ll get a little lap dance out of it.”
I’ve known this woman more than two years, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen her blush until this moment. She reaches up with her bony hand and grabs my face, pulling me down so she can kiss my cheek.
“Thank you, Boy,” she chokes out, letting a tear fall down her cheek.
I wipe her cheek gently with my thumb, feeling a bit of a sting in my eye from seeing how affected she is by my simple gesture combined with Noah declaring me part of their Reed Security family.
“It wasn’t supposed to make you cry, Woman.”
I hear a sniffle from behind me. Turning to see the woman I owe an apology, I smile at her. She returns it shakily.
“Miss Mabel,” Beck says, taking her by the hand and leading her into the house. “Where would you like us to begin?”
I watch the men follow Mabel through the living room, feeling… so much. Wow.
Ember’s hand slips into mine. “You really are the best guy on the planet,” she says quietly, squeezing my hand once before letting go to follow behind Mabel’s entourage.
I make a move to shut the door when one last guy shouts, “Wait,” from the walkway. “Sorry. I realized we didn’t open the back of the truck, and I thought the guys were gonna wait for me.”
“Diesel?” Ember calls over my shoulder.
I look out to see what kind of vehicle they brought, when I realize she’s not asking about the type of truck they drove here.
The kid’s eyes get round as saucers and light up at the sight of her. “Ember!” he practically shouts, running up to her and pulling her in for a hug.
Never in my wildest dreams would I think I would be the jealous type, but seeing a half-naked younger guy throw his arms around my girl?
Yeah. Triggered.
Twenty Five
Ember
“Oh, good, we’re hugging again,” I utter lowly since I know it will fall on deaf ears.
“Sorry,” he says, stepping back without taking his hands off my arms. “I’m just so surprised to see you here.”
“Yeah, well, I’m a friend of Mabel’s.”
I successfully step back far enough that his arms can’t reach me anymore, motioning the direction everyone else went.
“C’mon, they went this way. I’ll show you guys what needs to be moved first.”
I shoot my eyes toward Douglass, who, for the first time since I’ve known him, doesn’t hide his emotion. He looks downright pissed.
Well, good. If he wants to drive me crazy with the I-can’t-tell-you-what’s-bothering-me game, he can choke on his anger. I know he’ll mask it for Mabel. So I simply grab Diesel by the arm while we walk away.
“I’m sure with five strapping lads, we can get this done in no time.”
As soon as we round the corner, I let his arm go. I’m really not that bitch, the one who tries to provoke anger in anyone, but something about the way Douglass has treated me since we left Mom’s makes me want to throw fuel on his fire.
I could make a joke about throwing Diesel on the Embers, but that would take it to a place I really don’t want to encourage.
“So, tell me, have you had any more cysty-type problems since I saw you last?”
When he doesn’t answer, I turn to find him staring at me, so I raise my eyebrow expectantly. When he notices, his eyebrows furrow in confusion.
“Um, huh?” I shake my head at him, and he actually looks ashamed. “I’m sorry, I’m just so happy to see you,” he says as we near Mabel’s room.
Weird.
I look behind us, expecting Doug to have followed, but he hasn’t. I try not to get sulky about it, so I focus on Diesel. He’s sporting a goofy puppy look, which, again, I find weird.
“How’s the job?” I ask awkwardly, my specialty, hoping that by engaging him in conversation, I can get him to stop looking like he’s about to lick my face.
“It’s going really well. I’m getting more requests for lap dances than most of the other dancers.” He looks down. “You know, you were my first.”
“Oh,” I say, blinking. “Well, you popped my lap dance cherry, too. Now I feel awful for pointing out –”
“You’re kidding, right? You saved me. That could have been disastrous in my business.” He motions to his chest, wagging his eyebrows. “This is the money maker, after all.”
I avoid the bait. Sorry, little one, but I’m not into ogling the youth.
I walk to the doorway and motion him in. “Yeah, I guess it’s a good thing it didn’t leave a scar.”
Mabel is sitting on her bed, directing the boys on rearranging the boxes for more efficient moving. She indicates which furniture will go and which will stay. I take one of the strippers, making sure to leave Diesel in Beck’s and Noah’s hands, to the kitchen to grab the boxes she and I packed in there earlier.
Walking back to her room, I’m grabbed from behind and pulled into an open door, pushed up against a wall, and trapped by tattooed arms. I look up to see angry blue eyes focused on my face and nostrils flaring. It’s astoundingly sexy.
“How do you know him,” Douglass growls lowly, setting my vagina into spaz mode.
I lay my hands on his stomach and feel it ripple under my hands. Pulling my lower lip into my mouth, I bite down, swallowing my moan. His eyes flash, the anger in them cooling a bit, so I stand taller, nuzzling my nose against his jaw.
“He was the baby stripper I scared the night we met,” I say, barely above a whisper. “I told him to come to the ER the next morning. He was actually the friend I needed Dr. Sellers to check out while I irrigated Shay’s cut.” My hands travel upward slowly, feeling his ragged breathing. “He was grateful.”
I feel him relaxing into my touch, so I continue my slow path around his chest. His forehead rests on mine, and he takes a deep breath, releasing it slowly.
“I don’t like him touching you.”
Yeah, I don’t particularly like it either, but now’s probably not the time to point it out. I think Dugger could inflict some damage on the poor little lad, so I opt to continue my distraction.
“I like you touching me,” I whisper, flicking his nipple ring through his shirt.
He groans softly, before diving for my lips.
Holy hot damn, this man can kiss. I have no choice but to let him do what he wants, tilting my head with one hand while his other is fisted in my hair allowing for no chance to escape, not that I would try. I’m devoured, owned… all by the only man to ever completely consume me with a kiss. It’s the kind of kiss that makes time and location irrelevant. My knees go weak, my head goes swimmy, and my lips are his to control. Hell, my whole body is under his command. I’m so going to need recovery time after this one.
I think I was right the other day. If he can almost kill me with a kiss, I definitely will not survive sex with this man. Vaporized into a fine mist, only to hover near the stratosphere forever.
“Ember?” we hear Mabel call. “Douglass? Where did you two go?”
He pulls back abruptly, releasing my hair slowly. Damn, if the kiss didn’t do it, the way he’s looking at me right now could disintegrate me.
“I love to see you dazed and panting,” he whispers before pushing back from the wall.
I have to will my knees to keep me upright and not slide down the wall into a puddle of melted Ember on the floor.
“You remember that the next time that boy tries to touch you.”
Whoa. Way to make me go from a melty puddle to kinda pissed in zero-point-two seconds.
“Is that all that kiss was?” I hiss. “Some jealousy-fueled, marking-your-territory bullshit?”
He blinks, seemingly confused, before he smirks. Oh, that smirk did it. Now I’m really pissed.
“Great, I guess I should be grateful it was a fucking awesome kiss and that you didn’t pee on me.”
His eye glints with either evil or mischief, not sure which. “I came on you this morning if you’ll remember.” He leans in. “I bet I can still taste it on you.”
Oh, that clears up my mischief/evil question; it was evil, definitely evil.
I ball my fists and push them into his chest. “You just, right this second, lost that right, you stupid caveman mother fucker.”
He very wisely steps back, allowing me to push past him out the door.
“Ember, wait.”
His call to me is useless. My middle finger does my talking for me.
“Please. I didn’t mean it like that.”
I nod, letting my other middle finger join the first in a double-fisted, fuck-off wave. One has to be a pretty special kind of stupid to receive that kind of salute from me. In fact, Douglass Van Cleef just may be the first.
I make my way to Mabel’s room, running my fingers through my hair to straighten it. I just hope I can act my way through this. Mabel is pretty good at seeing through the bullshit.
I find her sitting in a chair, smiling and pretending to fold the last bit of clothes to place in a box as she watches the boys work.
“How much more is there, Mabel?”
“Where were you, girly?” she asks, not taking her eyes off Beck.
“Restroom, so what do we have left?”
“I think only this box and the big furniture.” She lays the folded item in the box. “These pretty boys sure are efficient.”
I eye a particularly beefy one, the one who I took to the kitchen, and watch him bend over. “Yeah, this was a good idea.”
She nods toward the doorway. “That blonde one sure is taken with you.”
“Who, Diesel?”
“Oh, Lordy, tell me his momma didn’t hate him that much,” she chuckles. “That can’t be his name.”
I giggle. “It actually is. He came into the ER once and I was his nurse.”
“I guess you get a lot of that hero-worship stuff as a nurse. Probably a lot of them patients flirt with you.” She stops folding and looks at me. “You think maybe your stalker is one of your former patients?”
“We talked about that possibility yesterday when we were at the Security offices. Usually when they come into the ER, they aren’t real flirty. No one really sticks out in my mind.”
“What about one of their family members?”
I shrug. “It could be anyone, Mabel. Like I said, I can’t imagine who it could be. I was absolutely no help ye
sterday when we tried to come up with a list of possible suspects. We did eliminate Dr. Sellers though. He was on an airplane coming back from a seminar the day my apartment was broken into.”
She spares me a glance before returning to Beck. “You never thought it was him anyway, did you?”
“No. His only crime is general douchiness.”
We watch the boys for a few more minutes wordlessly, folding the last few items she has laid out on her bed and placing them in the box. We listen to the men try to figure out how to keep the furniture safe in transit. When she lays the last piece of clothing on the top, I grab the tape roll and secure the box, then label it.
“I’m going to take this one out to the truck.”
“Don’t be silly. Let the boys lift the heavy stuff.”
“It’s only half full, Mabel. I can handle it.” I lift the box and smile at her. “Enjoy your show.”
She nods, winking at me. “Boys, don’t hurt yourselves trying to reinvent the wheel. I have plenty of quilts to wrap around the furniture so it doesn’t get scuffed.”
When I make my way through the doorway, I literally run into Douglass. He smiles, but I look away, not ready to have that smile disarm my anger just yet. I want him to think about what he’s done, which honestly, was just make a comment at an inopportune time. I don’t quite know why I got so mad. I’m sure he was teasing me, and I, of all people, should understand inappropriate jokes. So, I’ll take this box, dump it in the truck, and find him. I’m too old to be playing these games anyway.
I just wish I knew what I did to upset him before we got here. I know what pissed him off while we were here. By sort of flirting with Diesel, I played with fire, which is not like me, but if pissing him off makes him kiss me like he did, I’d like to do it again. In a fucking heartbeat.
But apparently, he’s the jealous type, and I’m not certain I like it. I mean sure, I liked the result. That fucking kiss. Wow. But I don’t like the caveman shit. I need trust in a relationship.
On the other hand, I was way too trusting in my last relationship. Except I honestly liked that Walker was never jealous. In fact, he used to point out hot guys to me whenever we were…
