Devon's Pair: Powertools, Book 4 (2 page)

A golden beam cut through the dust in the air. It led her stare to the juncture of the men’s bodies. They hadn’t embraced closer because Neil fisted a double helping of beefy cock in his right hand, massaging their erections in time to the flicker of their tongues. He squeezed their shafts together. The tip of his cock tucked against James’s balls though James’s hard-on only reached most of the 12

way back to Neil’s groin. With a firm grip—much harder than Devon would have been comfortable administering—Neil made several circuits with his fist, drawing a sweet whimper from James.

The plea morphed into a groan as Neil’s hand shuttled faster between them.

James arched his hips, still wrapped in the ripped jeans he wore so well. The fly had been left open, allowing the V of denim to frame his cock. Devon wished she could see Neil’s fine ass, but his pants remained mostly in place.

Would he guide the pair toward the inevitable conclusion of their escalating exchange? Or would he yank his hand free, bend James over the nearby sawhorse and ride…

“Devon!” Dave’s holler broke through the steam fogging her brain.

She jumped several inches off the brand new hardwood planks, which the duo making out in the corner had laid this morning. Her boot knocked into a forgotten scrap board. It launched in the couple’s direction, skittering across the unpolished surface with a scratchy racket they couldn’t ignore.

James blinked.

He met her gaze, his eyes widening when he caught her spying on their break.

“Oh my God. I’m so sorry.” Her cheeks blazed. She hadn’t considered their privacy. Not that they should have expected any here. Still, she could have respected their relationship instead of ogling them as if they were stars in a seedy peep show.

Worse yet, when had her fingers strayed between her legs, pressing on the soaked crotch of her cut-off jean shorts? She stumbled backward.

“Dev, wait.” Neil took a stride in her direction. His rock-solid cock bobbed and waved. He cursed as he tried to tuck it inside the unzipped flap of his jeans.

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As if that measly scrap of fabric had any chance of obscuring his impressive erection from view.

She bolted for Dave’s truck, planted one palm on the open tailgate and boosted herself into the bed. In less than ten seconds, she’d snagged a tube of caulk at random and hustled up the driveway to the garage entrance. No way was she retracing her steps.

How could she face Neil and James after copping a self-feel at their display?

How could she have resisted the genuine love urging them to take the opportunity to bond? She’d never seen anything so beautiful in her whole life.

Not even the gardens at Versailles that she’d studied endlessly in hopes of adding landscaping to her list of handywoman skills.

“What the hell took so long?” Dave grunted. “My knees are turning into ground beef. Now I get why Kay hates blowing me in the shower. I’m never suggesting it again. Unless… Hmm. I could always hold her upside down, use the wall to—”

“Gah!” A strangled gurgle escaped her throat. Were they
trying
to give her a heart attack?

“Shit. Sorry, Dev. I forget you’re not one of the guys sometimes.” He winked.

“Planning to give me that caulk or do you really think it’s going to keep you safe from my wicked ways?”

She forced her fingers to uncurl one by one from the tube she hadn’t realized she’d aimed in his direction like a gloppy version of a vampire hunter’s stake.

“Seriously. Are you okay?” He tilted his head, his eyes narrowing. “I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. Smack us upside the head if we get too wild for you.”

“I don’t think they’d have appreciated that,” she mumbled below her breath.

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“What?” Dave accepted the cylinder then frowned. “Devon, this is clear silicone. We were using white to blend with the grout, remember? Is that what took so long? If you’re not sure of something just ask. It’s okay. You’re here to learn.”

“For Pete’s sake.” She slapped her hands on the outside of her thighs hard enough to sting both the skin there and her palms. “I know the fucking difference between clear and opaque caulk.”

“Whoa.” Dave climbed to his feet with hardly a wince as he focused on her, his voice softening. “What’s happening here?” She hated the tremble in her quads. Surrendering to the weakness, she let it drop her to the closed lid of the horrid shell-pink toilet they planned to replace after they finished the shower. Her head felt like a fifty-pound bowling ball in her hands.

The big man, who’d just escaped the torture of the bathtub, crouched beside her, ignoring the pop and crackle of his poor joints. He rubbed one broad hand over her back in big circles. “Calm down, sweetheart.”

“Don’t fucking call me that.” She may have objected, but she couldn’t make herself brush off his platonic touch. “Would you use frilly nicknames for the rest of the crew?”

“Yeah, he probably would.” Mike leaned against the jamb, nodding to Dave when the other man shot him a clear
mayday
look. “Devon got an eyeful of Neil and James trying to sneak a quickie. We warned them about trying shit like that these days.”

“Damn it.” Dave rubbed his temples.

“Does
these days
mean since I’ve been around?” Could she be cramping everyone’s style? What rabbit hole had she tumbled down if that were true? This

15

time
she
might be the one causing discomfort on the job site by forcing team members to repress their sexuality for fear of making things awkward.

Ah, crap.
How was that for karma?

There was a difference between asking assholes at prior sites to keep their hands off her ass every time she bent over and forcing two men obviously in love to hide their affection.

Okay, so maybe there’d been too much for anyone’s official workplace standards going on in the living room. If she’d forced them to keep a lid on it for weeks, it was no wonder they’d erupted in a spectacular display of passion. The two of them had the real deal. She refused to allow jealousy to turn her appreciation green.

“I think we’d better have a staff meeting. Come on you two. We’ll eat our lunches and talk this through with the whole crew.” Mike addressed them both though his warm eyes melted on her. “No slouching, newbie. You didn’t screw up. They owe
you
an apology.”

“No—”

Mike waved her off before she could explain. “Save it. We’ll figure things out together.”

She stood and accepted a hand from both men. Though their broad shoulders wouldn’t permit them to walk side by side, they didn’t let go as they formed a chain and headed downstairs together.

16

Chapter Two

Devon grabbed her reusable lavender lunch pouch from the pile on the kitchen counter. The pretty bag stuck out like a sore thumb in the mix of dented aluminum boxes and crumpled paper sacks. She couldn’t help humming a snippet of that old Sesame Street song, “One Of These Things (Is Not Like The Others)”.

Neil had claimed the red plastic cooler, which was far too large for one man’s sustenance even considering the astounding stomach capacity the guys in the crew possessed.

What other enormous appetites could they have?

Refusing to give in to the urge to huddle in the corner and let Mike navigate the tricky waters they’d found themselves in, Devon inserted herself between Neil and Joe, who leaned one hip against the crappy Formica they hadn’t yet replaced with granite. His powerful legs were stretched out and crossed at the ankle.

“Could I get a boost?” She smiled when he nearly encircled her waist with his long fingers then lifted her as though she weighed less than a bag of cement.

Tucking her legs under her in the front, she sat cross-legged, pleased to be somewhere near eye level with most of the crew.

“Sure thing, pipsqueak.” Joe ignored her glare in favor of scooping up his prime sandwich for another colossal bite that demolished a fourth of the generous entrée in one fell swoop.

“Is that fresh-baked wheat?” Her mouth watered. Suddenly her PB&J on Wonder bread with a side of baby carrots and celery sticks didn’t sound so appealing.

“Yeah, want a taste?” Joe ripped off a piece of the bread and held it out. “I think Morgan added some honey and oats or something. She’s a goddess.” Devon didn’t think anything of eating it from his fingers until she caught the strangled groan from Neil. Her knee brushed his ribs, which fluttered against her in time to his rapid respiration. Maybe he and James hadn’t finished their session after her extra-rude interruption.

“Devon—” he began as she also spoke.

“I’m sorry. Didn’t mean to ruin your fun.” When James attempted to cut her off, she only talked louder. “Believe me, I understand what it’s like to hide in plain sight. I would never wish that on anyone else. I hope that you won’t let having me around change your behavior. If the rest of these guys can handle watching you two
work
together, then so can I.”

“As enticing as that offer is, I’m not sure you know what you’re asking for, Dev.” Neil angled his torso toward her, his hand coming to rest on her stacked ankles. She tried not to thrust her pelvis at him when his knuckles brushed her pussy. Mistake or not, she didn’t care. A persistent throb had taken up a slow, steady pulse in her core. He had the ability to soothe it. If only he weren’t already in a relationship with a man he adored.

“Uh, the unintentional demonstration you gave was a pretty good indicator.” She bared her teeth, hoping she looked like she was smiling instead of flashing a big-bad-wolf grin. All the better to eat them with. They’d been delicious together.

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“That was nothing.” James slinked toward her, coming to rest along Neil’s side. A mysterious twinkle in his eye roused her curiosity. She tuned in to his teasing smirk. Did James bait her…or his boyfriend?

“Oh really?” She refused to be cowed. “Then why were you about to crawl inside him?”

“I think what James means to say is that we’re used to doing a hell of a lot more together than jacking off. What you witnessed was only the tip of the iceberg.” Mike corralled the crew, ensuring they didn’t veer off course when so much remained unspoken.

More than
that
. She blinked.

“Really? And who’s
we
? I’ve met your girlfriend, Dave.” She waved her hand at Joe and Mike. “And your fiancées. Are you trying to say you’re cheating on them? With each other?”

“Hold up a minute with the stink eye. We’d never lie to our girls.” Mike corrected her. “They know everything. They’ve all played along at some point or another. More than once if you want the truth. And, well… We’re still figuring things out. It’s new. Different. We’ve sort of settled on an unofficial look-but-don’t-touch policy. And we all reap the benefits of sharing those stories at home.”

“Mmm.” Joe’s moan echoed three times louder than the one he’d surrendered at the taste of his lover’s cookies. “Morgan
loves
hearing about what kind of trouble Neil and James get into. And when the four of us meet up, well, sometimes things evolve.”

“Except
these days
I’ve been keeping you all apart?” She glanced from man to man.

Joe pushed potato chips around the paper plate he’d set his sandwich on.

Dave studied the paint splatters on his jeans, and James reached for Neil’s hand.

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Mike swallowed hard then manned up. “Yeah. I’m sorry, Devon. We shouldn’t have put you in the middle like this. We thought long and hard about bringing someone else into the crew. You’re really a great addition. I’d swear we’ve known you a lot longer than a few weeks. You work hard, you learn fast and you never complain. You’re fun to work with, and you’ve earned our respect. I think that’s why these two felt comfortable enough to revert to our old tricks.”

“Plus Neil is sporting a boner every time you’re nearby.” Dave winked at her. “That’s got to make it hard to get work done.”

“What?” she sputtered. She’d thought the pair was gay. Were they saying she worked with five sexy and sweet bisexual men?
Wow.

Joe slapped Dave upside the head. “When will you learn to think before opening that big mouth?”

“You never complained about my mouth before.” Dave parted his lips and wiggled his tongue in his friend’s direction.

“Holy shit.” She clutched her pounding heart and rocked herself like a trauma victim.

A hush descended over the usually boisterous men. She’d never heard them so quiet or seen them so still. It was almost as though someone had sculpted five perfect figures and replaced the guys with decoys.

“Does it bother you that much to think of us screwing around with each other?” James tipped his head.

“What?” The blood rushed from her face. “You think I’m grossed out?”

“Look at you.” He reached toward her slowly, laying a gentle hand on her shoulder. He massaged her tense muscles with a steady, mild pressure.