I pulled the door open, ready to leave when a petite, adorable woman stepped into the space. She had to be the secretary or something, but she was dressed in all leather.
“Sorry,” I mumbled, stepping to the side at the same time as her. She shifted with me, shooting me a smirk as we did the same dance again in the opposite direction.
“You’re in my way,” she pointed out.
“That I am.” I grinned down at her, taken in by her beauty and incredibly sexy body. No woman should look that good in leather.
“Boss, you called?”
“Yeah, can you do me a favor and show Duke around the property?”
She sighed in irritation. “Do I look like the secretary?”
“You’re not?” I said in surprise.
Her eyes flicked to mine, full of mirth and a hint of danger. “They like to keep me downstairs. I work in IT.”
“Ah, a computer nerd. That makes more sense.”
“Does it?” Her eyes twinkled as she stared at me. God, she was fucking beautiful. I wanted to wrap my hands around her hair and tug her against me. I could already imagine this woman’s tiny frame riding my cock.
“So, how about that tour?”
“Sure.” She looked past me to Cash, sharing some kind of look with him. Cash shook his head, laughing under his breath as the woman turned and sauntered off to the front doors. I watched her ass sway as her heeled boots clacked on the floor.
“I’d be careful with that one,” Cash said, standing right behind me. I hadn’t even heard him move.
“Feisty?”
He chuckled, slapping me on the shoulder. “Have fun.”
I walked out, adjusting my cock as I followed her to the door. I was already hard, just from watching her ass. She was going to be killer on my cock. I pushed the door open over her head and followed her outside.
“So, what am I showing you?”
I shrugged, unsure why I even needed the tour. “Whatever you want to show me…” I waited for her to tell me her name.
She slowly spun toward me, her boots digging into the ground with the motion. Her eyes trailed over my body appreciatively. I could easily see myself taking her home and having my way with her. She seemed the bendable type.
“Rae,” she finally said, giving me her name. “So, you’re a mechanic.”
I nodded, wondering how she knew. “Yep. Ever since I was a kid in my dad’s garage.”
“So, it runs in the blood.”
Again, I nodded. Her eyes trailed over the ink on my skin.
“And you were in the military.”
“Rangers, 75th Regiment.”
“Impressive.” Her eyes lit up at that information, but I wasn’t sure why.
“Are you interested in the military?”
“You could say that.” She spun and started walking away.
Damn, I was going to have to stop watching her walk away. Her ass was too tempting, and those legs…I groaned as I rushed to catch up to her.
“So, you’ve owned the shop in town for how long?”
“Five years. I bought it off the old man who owned it for thirty years before me.”
“I know. He was a terrible businessman.”
“I see you’ve done your homework.”
“I always do my homework. Like you,” she said, turning back to me. “Duke Mason. Thirty-seven years old, divorced,” she stressed. “Married to Carolyn Baxter and had a kid with her, but everyone around town says that the kid belongs to a different man. When you returned home from your last tour, she had taken off with the baby daddy. But you still have dinner with her aunt, the local hairdresser, every Wednesday night.”
My jaw ticked as she listed some of the most private details of my life that I only told people I really knew. Not that it would be hard to find any of that out. It was all public, but most people around town kept shit like that to themselves. They didn’t want to become the next piece of gossip.
“Since then, you’ve buried yourself in work, turning that garage around into a successful business, which is about to get a whole lot more successful if you take Cash up on his offer. Not to mention, you’ll get to fulfill that lifelong dream of buying that muscle car you’ve always wanted and rebuilding it into the beautiful machine it should be.” She cocked her head to the side. “Have I missed anything?”
“You forgot how long my dick is.”
She smirked at me. “Yes, but I figured that was best to find out in a more personal way. Anywho, this is the property. Your building would be over there,” she pointed to the front. “And we plan to build our own homes over there,” she pointed in the opposite direction.
“If I take him up on his offer.”
“You’d be a fool not to. He’s a great boss.”
“Yeah,” I nodded, rocking back on my heels. “Except, I don’t work for anyone else. I gave that up three years ago, and I’m not going back for anyone.”
She pursed her lips at me. “What if I made a bet with you?”
“I’m always up for a good bet.”
“I bet I can drop you on your ass in five seconds. If I win, you take the job. If you win, it’s up to you.”
I looked away, not wanting her to see me laugh at her. It wasn’t nice to make fun of girls. “Look, that’s cute, but even if I let you win, you still wouldn’t get to decide what I want to do with my business.”
“Then what do you have to lose?” she asked, batting her eyelashes at me.
I studied her for a moment. She was a small thing. There was no way she’d kick my ass, even if she gave it her all. “Alright, give it your best shot.”
I was braced for it, but wasn’t prepared as I should have been. And even if I had taken her seriously, I’m not sure I would have seen her coming. I was on my feet, and then she was up on my shoulders with her legs wrapped around my neck. Then I was on the flat of my back, staring up at the blue sky, trying to get air into my lungs. What the fuck just happened?
She climbed over me, pressing her hand to my chest as she leaned down and whispered in my ear, “Yeah, I like the military. 1st Marine Raider Battalion.”
She pushed off me and strutted away, flinging a smile over her shoulder at me, along with a finger wave. I watched her go, then flopped my head down on the ground and stared up at the sky.
“Fuck, that was sexy.”
“So, you decided to go through with it.”
I stopped working on the car and smirked before grabbing the rag and turning around to face Rae. From the moment I laid eyes on her, I knew I wanted her. There was something about her that made me hard and pissed off at the same time. A woman like her, so confident and in control, made me doubt my sworn testament to stay away from all women, besides taking them to bed.
“Well, a bet is a bet.”
“You said you wouldn’t take Cash’s offer because of a bet.”
“Maybe I did it because a woman dressed in leather kicked my ass.”
She rolled her eyes at me. “Please, don’t try flattery. It won’t work on me.”
I knew that all too well. The woman that stood before me took no prisoners. Again, dressed in leather with her hair hanging around her shoulders, she looked innocent, almost too pretty for the she-devil lingering underneath. This woman was the epitome of a killer in disguise. I could see how she was such an effective woman. With her petite stature and innocent face, no man in his right mind would assume she was a deadly weapon. I’d fallen into that very trap.