Page 31 of Seeking Vengeance
“No.” Hell, if he thought that might alleviate some of the ache he felt around her, he’d be tempted to try it, but he already knew damn well from the past few days of experience that nothing done with his own hand would help. “Though I might consider it if that would getyouoff.”
She averted her eyes but not before Sean caught a glimpse of the guilt in them. Nor did he fail to notice the crimson flush across her cheeks. The same one that sent a shooting pain up through his groin as he realized that she had at least thought of something along those lines. A vision of him standing over her and doing wicked things while she watched had his cock throbbing painfully.
* * *
His eyes bored into hers,leaving her feeling penetrated and breathless. How could he do that? It was like he was fucking her with his eyes. She could practically feel him inside of her, and it felt way too good.
Nicki blinked and swallowed hard, imagining him pinning her with that icy-hot gaze while he fisted himself. Had he known that she’d envisioned him doing exactly that? That only last night, she had dreamed of working in the garage alone at night, looking up to discover that he’d been palming himself as he watched her and then stalking across the floor to take care of them both? That it had been the most recent in a series of vivid, erotic fantasies that plagued her each night when she closed her eyes since the first night she’d met him?
Just sitting here with him was sending her hormones into overdrive. Even from across the table, she could feel the heat, the strength radiating off of him in waves, battering her defenses as if they were made of tissue paper. God help her, she was getting wet again. She clenched her thighs with determination and summoned every last bit of resistance she could muster.
“Yeah, well, don’t hold your breath.” She edged her voice with steel to mask the slight tremble beneath it.
His lips curled. Apparently, she hadn’t masked it enough.
He was watching her closely. She couldn’t shake the image of him coming to her, hard and heavy in his own hand, looking to her for relief. She shook her head.Hard.
When she amassed enough courage to look at him again, the fiery glow in his eyes had calmed, leaving them that perfect deep blue that she wanted to lose herself in. His patient, waiting expression gave away nothing.
“Quit your job at Angels. Work for me.”
“You’re serious?”
He nodded. “I never say anything I don’t mean, Nicki.”
Her mind tried to process his words while her traitorous body angled toward him like a magnet. She forced herself back rather abruptly, earning another quirk from those full male lips. To his credit, he refrained from commenting. She wouldn’t have been able to stop herself from slapping that arrogant smirk off of his face otherwise.
“You want me to leave Angels and work evenings, alone in your garage, no strings attached?” It sounded too good to be true. Nothing came for free. The question was, what did he want? “What’s in it for you?”
“Not alone,” he clarified. “Make no mistake, I will be there. No one works alone in my garage. It’s a safety policy,” he added when he saw the disbelieving scowl, “and it applies to everyone.”
“What about Nick? He could work with me,” she suggested, blurting out the words before she could stop herself.
She couldn’t possibly be considering this, could she? True, she’d gleaned all she could from Angels, and she’d been thinking of quitting soon anyway. As it turned out, the information she’d gleaned from keeping her ears open at the garage was proving to be more useful than what she was hearing at the club these days, but he didn’t know that. If she worked evenings, she could follow up on some of the more promising leads during the day.
Sean shook his head. “He’s my best mechanic. I need him on days.”
She gave a barely perceptible nod. She hadn’t expected him to go for it, but it was worth a shot.
“And as for what’s in it for me?” he continued, his eyes luminous. “I get a day crew that can concentrate on something besides the constant ache in their balls, thanks to you. Not to mention, a skilled mechanic and the pleasure of your delightful company every evening. Do we have an agreement?”
Her mind reached frantically for something,anythingthat would give her a valid reason to say no. She had nothing. Her lips tightened. Sean Callaghan was trouble with a capital T, and she was insane for even being within a mile radius of him. Willingly placing herself in his hands was beyond stupid.
But the cold, hard truth was that he was unknowingly getting her through each day. He gave her something to think about besides her shit life. And for a few hours each day, she needed that. He was her escape from reality, and without even realizing it, he was keeping her marginally sane until she could accomplish what she’d come to Pine Ridge for.
She did like working on engines too. It was a gift she and Nick had shared from the beginning. Maybe, when this was all over and she had her own place somewhere off the grid, she’d build a little shop and tinker when she was between jobs. Pick stuff up from a junkyard at random and see what she could do with it. Yeah, that sounded nice.
But that was later, and this was now. The real question was whether or not she could be in the same space with this man, alone, night after night, and retain her sanity. He’d promised he’d keep his distance, but could she?
Finally, after exhausting every other possible option as not viable, she nodded.
“Great,” he said.
The grin he gave her turned her insides to something fluid and warm, like melted chocolate. And what she wouldn’t give to have him dip into her—
She shook her head, dispelling the notion. That wasnotgoing to happen. Not in her waking moments anyway.
* * *
