Authors: Molly McLain
He arched an eyebrow and slid his gaze to her cleavage again. “Can we call it a date?”
Not quite what she had in mind for her first date in over a year and certainly not one that would garner him a better view of her boobs. But beggars couldn’t be choosers, and Tony was the first man in a long time to look at her with any amount of interest in his eyes.
Damn small town loyalty
.
While nothing more than conversation was going to happen tonight, spending a little time with Tony would be good practice. Baby steps and all that. And she’d feel way better about him getting behind the wheel if he got some food in his belly and sobered up.
She gave him her best smile. “Why not?”
***
“H
ot damn. Looks like your foreman’s aiming his cock a little higher than usual tonight.”
Halfway through a hefty swallow of Budweiser, Josh nearly choked at his older brother’s uncharacteristic choice of words. A few drinks in and Dan had apparently swapped his typical attorney vocabulary for that of a partially intoxicated Nebraskan redneck.
But as the meaning of his brother’s words sank in, Josh gave a wry grunt. Tony Dunn had no business aiming his dick anywhere these days, but leave it to his friend to keep trying.
Intrigued nonetheless, he followed Dan’s perverted stare across the backyard and through the festivities that surrounded them. Any humor he might have initially found in the situation evaporated instantly.
“
Son of a bitch
.”
Dan shrugged. “Mighty fine choice, if I do say so myself. Not that I’d ever admit it again—Maddie’d have my balls in a second.”
Josh swung a lethal glare at his brother, then begrudgingly returned his focus to where his number one employee was openly trying to woo the panties off a woman classier than his friend would ever be.
He watched the pair for a long moment, his annoyance escalating, because, on second thought, he
did
have it on pretty good authority that Carissa Brandt fancied herself the occasional walk on the wild side.
And if he read the gleam in her whiskey colored eyes correctly, a reckless night was exactly what she was gunning for. She confirmed his suspicion when she moved to stand before Tony, twisting her hips and shaking her peachy little ass to the up-tempo country remix blasting from the DJ’s speakers. She did some kind of spin move, stumbled a bit, and then fell into Tony’s lap, laughing hysterically.
“Come on, man, it’s not that bad,” Dan spoke up. “I mean, she did slum it with Fletcher for a while. If you think about it, Tony’s actually an improvement.”
Josh swung a blind, backhanded fist into his brother’s chest, causing him to hunch and wheeze. Not that Dan didn’t have a valid point. Reed Fletcher—preppy, almost-NFL-football-star turned Cameron County building inspector
and
county womanizer—had sleaze down to a science. He was also Josh’s oldest friend. A fact that had absolutely nothing to do with his sudden urge to pulverize his brother for the smartass remark.
“What the hell,” Dan groaned, rubbing his chest. “That was uncalled for. I should have you cuffed for battery.”
“Go ahead. Your friends down at the PD already know what a pussy you are.”
“Christ, you’re a snarky bitch tonight. Maybe you should take some pointers from Tony and find yourself a piece of ass.”
It was all Josh could do not to turn and pummel Dan’s nose in. Considering he hadn’t thrown a punch at the guy since he was 15 years old, he knew the urge spoke volumes of the possessiveness he felt toward a woman he had no friggin’ right to feel territorial over.
“Tony’s not in a good place right now,” he said, giving only half the truth. “I can’t get into the details, but suffice to say Carissa doesn’t need to get tangled up with him.”
Dan quirked an eyebrow but didn’t push for more. Thankfully, the two of them had developed a mutual respect for one another over the years, particularly when it came to their work. Josh couldn’t say the same for all of his family members, but at least Dan got him and, in this case, he seemed to respect the line Josh had to draw between his professional and personal relationships.
Unfortunately he was probably going to have to blur that line himself if this shit between Tony and Carissa didn’t simmer down.
He hated to do it— No, he
should
hate to do it, but he couldn’t seem to muster the emotion with any amount of sincerity.
“Aaand...they’re off.” Dan chuckled behind his beer before he broke into an off-key chorus of bow-chicka, wow-wow.
Josh shifted his attention back to his lead guy and the woman who’d given him more wood than his junior high stack of Playboys, just in time to see Tony slip his arm around Carissa’s waist and guide her out the yard’s side gate. Presumably toward the front of the house. Possibly to his truck. Probably to his bed.
Dammit all to hell.
This whole mess had moved faster than he’d expected and there’d been no time to come up with a tactful plan for intrusion. Which meant he’d have to improvise. The Marine in him was usually prepared for anything, but this? He downed the rest of his beer and slammed the empty bottle down on a nearby table.
This was a disaster in the making.
S
ometimes Carissa despised herself for being such a good girl, because no matter how desperately she tried to be a bad girl—hence the sexy underwear and the flirty dress—she inevitably failed on the follow-through.
Tony sobered up quite a bit and he’d made it abundantly clear that his interest in her went a lot further than sharing burgers and a couple hours of conversation and dancing. But after the initial thrill of his flirtation wore off, Carissa conceded, somewhat bitterly, that she was really nothing more than a big chicken shit. No amount of Victoria’s Secret lace was going to change that.
Sure, she was attracted to Tony, but who was she kidding? Neither of them wanted anything serious and the one night deal wasn’t exactly her style either. She’d proven that to herself three years ago.
Thankfully, Tony seemed to understand, albeit with mock disappointment, and he hadn’t given her an ounce of grief when she insisted on driving him home. Strictly as friends, of course.
“Hey, I hear congratulations are in order,” he said as they rounded the front of Maddie and Dan’s house, making their way toward the street where they’d both parked. “You’re now the proud owner of the house I grew up in.”
Carissa pulled up short. “You’re kidding me.”
Tony shook his head, smiled and grabbed her hand, tugging her along again. “Nope. My mom lost the place about a few years ago. Couldn’t afford to keep up on the payments after Dad died. The bank tried to rent it out for a while, but I guess that didn’t work out either.”
And that was the very reason she’d been reluctant to buy a foreclosure. The thought of profiting from someone else’s misfortune, especially in such a close-knit community, made her sick to her stomach.
“I am so sorry,” she said, truly meaning it and wondering why she wasn’t made privy to this information sooner. She’d known Tony since she moved to town a few years back. Surely someone would have mentioned his family’s connection to the house by now.
“Aw, don’t you worry that pretty little head of yours. Mom moved in with my aunt over in Hastings and now I can’t get the two of ‘em out of the bingo hall. Safe to say she’s a lot happier than she’s been in a long time.”
“That makes me feel only slightly better.”
“I didn’t bring it up to make you feel bad,” he paused to chuckle. “I just thought you’d like to know a little history about where you’re putting down roots.”
Now she felt like a real thief. “I’m not moving into the house, Tony, I’m just flipping it.”
“No way.” The wide-eyed look he gave her was laced with something more than surprise, but he looked away before she could decipher it.
Crap
.
She bit her lower lip, thankful for the moment of silence as they passed through the shadow of a big oak tree and eased back into the dim glow of the streetlights. Attempting to appease her discomfort and guilt, she explained, “I’d like to buy something outside of town someday. Preferably with a little land so I can plant a garden and a ton of flowers. Flipping this house is just a means of having more money down the road.”
Tony squeezed her hand. “A green thumb, huh? You strike me as a city girl, not the country bumpkin’ type. You’re from Lincoln, right?” She nodded, relieved he didn’t seem to hold a grudge or even pass judgment on what she was doing to his childhood home. “How did you ever end up here?”
“I came to visit Maddie one weekend after she moved in with Dan and realized I liked it so much I didn’t want to leave.” Of course, the abbreviated explanation made the decision to permanently change her address seem so much simpler than it really was. In reality, many factors had contributed. Most of which Carissa preferred not to think about, much less share.
He grinned again. “Yeah, this place can have that effect on a person. I thought about moving over by my mom a few times, but this is home, you know? All my friends are here and I’ve got a hell of a job. Can’t ask for more than that.”
Carissa gave a quick, reluctant smile. “Hudson Contracting, right?”
“Yep. Been with Josh for six years now. Since the beginning,” he said proudly. “Even helped run the company for a while when he was overseas.”
Oh, yes, she was aware. When Josh shipped out, he’d left his beloved business in the hands of his most trusted employees. Reed and Dan had helped too, doing all they could to ensure Josh’s life’s investment remained intact and successful in his absence. She’d moved to town a few months after and had been impressed with their loyalty.
“So what’s it like working with your ex?” Tony shot her a conniving grin. “Fletcher has a hard enough time keeping his nose out from where it doesn’t belong on any given job; I can only imagine how uptight he must be with you taking on a reno.”
Carissa shrugged. “Reed’s fine. But we’ve only just started. Come August I'll probably have a different opinion of him." And that was just because Reed was the county building inspector, not her ex-boyfriend. Surprisingly, she and Reed had a decent friendship independent of their working relationship.
When they’d split last summer, it had been on amicable terms and they’d remained close. She, more than others, knew what a perfectionist he could be and how that impacted the way he worked. He did everything by the book and he wouldn’t allow her any exceptions just because they shared a few memories.
“I gotta tell ya, you and Fletcher came as a complete surprise to a lot of people.”
Yeah, her too. Still, she was curious. “Why do you say that?” she asked as they slowed near the line-up of cars and trucks crowding the sides of the street.
“He’s never been the settling down type, long as I’ve known him. For him to get serious about a woman, even for a short while, came completely out of left field. Of course, when there was an amazing girl like you involved,” Tony paused to elbow her in the side and wink, “it was a little easier to understand. Took a while though.”
She smiled and wrapped her arms around herself as the wind kicked up, making her shiver.
“You cold? I’ve got a sweatshirt in my truck I could grab.”
She hesitated, but ultimately the trembling won out. “Sure.”
They arrived at his vehicle and she waited patiently while he dug his keys from his pocket, unlocked the doors and reached into the backseat. When he emerged with a gray hoodie with a red Hudson Contracting logo emblazoned across the chest, she grimaced.
Oh, the irony.
She should have told him she’d changed her mind, but at the risk of looking like an indecisive fool, she let him bunch up the fleece and help her into it.
Then he tucked his keys into her palm and moved in close.
“There you go, gorgeous. Happy now?” Still holding her hand, his thumb stroked over her knuckles while his free hand came up to smooth her hair behind her ear. His fingers lingered at her jaw. “You
are
an amazing girl, Carissa.”
“Tony...”
“Shh, I know.” He put a finger to her lips and smiled. “If you ever change your mind about going on a real date with me...”
She reached up and lifted his fingers from her face, lowering them so that both of their hands hung loosely between them. “I’ll keep it in mind.”
With that, he sighed and wrapped her in a friendly hug. “For the record, I’d do the right thing by Reed if you reconsidered. Make sure he was cool with us and everything.”
“That’s such an archaic rule.”
“Maybe so, but it’s the proper thing to do and it’s the way our circle of friends has operated since...cripes, since high school. Guy code and all that shit.” He straightened up from the embrace and then leaned in again to kiss her cheek. “See, I can be a gentleman. Much as it’s killing me.”
She laughed out loud and squirmed against him as he took a playful nip at her ear. “Tony!”
“Sorry! I couldn’t resist—”
“Then let me help.”
Both she and Tony jumped at the deep growl that came out of nowhere, and she barely had time to process that they weren’t alone when a large arm snaked around her waist and yanked her backward.
Time reduced to slow motion, and she tried to search Tony’s face for answers, but his expression was just as pinched and confused as she felt.
Glancing down, she saw her sandals intermingled with a pair of big, broken in boots that connected to long, lean legs covered in a pair of dark-washed jeans. Her gaze slid up to where her dress caught high on her thighs, the thin material pinned between her rear end and the lap of the brick wall behind her.
Slowly, her senses began to recalibrate and her nose picked up on the first clue—a fresh, spicy scent that was painfully familiar.
Oh no.
Her eyes continued to journey upward and when they landed on the thick, tattooed arm cinched possessively around her middle, her stomach twisted into a tight, repentant knot.
This was not happening.
***
J
osh watched Tony’s face morph into a million different shades of pissed off and it felt damn good to know the control had shifted back to him. He’d deny accusations of being a control freak, but it was no secret that things tended to work out better when he was in charge.