Page 8 of It's Going to Be a Chrome Christmas
“You aren’t eating.” Her head snapped to her right where Cayden was looking at her. “It doesn’t taste that bad, does it?”
Trixie shook her head quickly, finally taking a bite of her food. It didn’ttastepoisonous. She didn’t know if the sauce was homemade or store-bought, but it was good too. “Just talking.”
“I heard.” He took a sip of water. “Be warned, though. Paul will talk anyone’s ear off about his family, if you let him.”
Trixie had gotten that feeling. The kid was in love, and she hoped he never lost sight of that. Something nagged at her mind,forcing the question from her mouth before she thought better of it. “Are you married?”
Cayden’s smirk was just as arrogant as his smile. Damn it. He lifted his left hand to show her the naked finger. “Nope.” He popped thep. “You?”
Wanting to throw him off his game, she also lifted her hand and said with the same emphasis, “Nope.”
All she had to do was lean forwardjust a bitand their hands would touch. She recalled the warmth she’d felt just from platonically shaking his hand. What would it feel like to hold his hand, to caress it, and receive such touches in return?
She quickly lowered her hand and faced forward again. Damn it, she hadn’t thrown him off his game. She’d thrown hers.
The hand on her thigh almost made her jump. It took her a moment to realize that it wasn’t placed there to be sexy or erotic. He gave her a quick squeeze, as if to reassure her, and then took it away just as quickly. Her skin felt cold at the loss of his touch. She wasn’t sure if she was happy or sad he’d removed his hand.
Reminding herself that they weren’t alone, Trixie settled on being glad. Grudgingly.
Cayden was getting impatient. Why hadn’t Mrs. Wynn said anything to Trixie about having Cayden look at her security system? Wasn’t that the whole point of Trixie being here tonight? And if he had to watch Victor’s eyes stray one more time to her cleavage, he was going back to prison for murder.
He hadn’t lied to her. Hedidprefer her in her work clothes and smelling like motor oil. He liked how rugged she’d looked, hardworking. It was a trait that made her stand out from the rest of the population.
But hereallyliked that top and skirt combo on her too. Except that he wanted her to have worn it for him, not to be polite to Mr. and Mrs. Wynn. Cayden knew she was affected by him, but not enough to make her act on it.Thatwas what bothered him. He wanted to grab her and kiss her, to make the claim that she washis, and pour a bucket of grease on her. Having Victor lick his lips across the table from her as he openly stared down her shirt was pushing on the edges of Cayden’s sanity. His notorious anger was starting to rise.
Trixie was going to be his one day. He’d see to it. Maybe not today or tomorrow, but fuck someday soon. He wanted her. She was smart, stubborn, ambitious, sassy, sexy…andshe loved cars almost as much as he did. What more could a man ask for?
A hand on his arm drew his attention away from Trixie and Victor’s wandering eyes. Geordi sat on Cayden’s other side between him and Mr. Wynn. Like Paul, Geordi was young, only twenty, but he acted younger. From what Cayden understood from Mr. Jones, Geordi’s father had taken a baseball bat to his head when he’d been a kid. His mother had abandoned them and his drunk of a father hadn’t liked being a single dad.
It was a good thing Geordi’s father was already dead, or Cayden would be currently sitting on death row for murdering the man after hearing his story.
Geordi was a sweet kid who just wanted to be given a chance. He was forgetful though, and exceedingly gullible. Unfortunately, this had landed the kid in a wannabe street gang as a lookout. Geordi had gotten distracted and the crew had been caught. Thankfully, the judge had been lenient regarding Geordi’s condition, and he’d only served six months with two years parole plus counseling. Geordi might be twenty, but he acted sometimes like he was five. The fact that the man couldn’t remember how to tie his own shoes only emphasized his condition.
Mrs. Wynn took special care of Geordi. She bought him Velcro shoes and created a chart for him so he would know where he was supposed to be at what time of day. He worked at a florist shop, which seemed to calm him. Geordi wasn’t ashamed of his condition. He spoke openly about it. In the short time that Cayden had been at the house, he’d seen the others shy away from Geordi. Whether they did this because they didn’t know how to act around him or because they didn’t want to risk Mrs. Wynn and her wooden spoon if what they said was taken negatively, Cayden didn’t know. He liked Geordi and tried to look out for the kid.
Geordi was having trouble collecting the spaghetti on his fork. Cayden picked up his spoon and showed Geordi how to use it to twirl the spaghetti onto it. If his very Italian Gran saw him using a spoon, she would use it to castrate him. But Cayden hoped she would forgive him given the circumstances.
Once he was sure Geordi had it, Cayden turned his attention back to his own plate and paused. Trixie was staring open mouthed at him. Not Geordi,him.
His back stiffened. “What?”
She seemed to catch herself and shook her head. “Nothing.” She turned back to her own plate, hesitated, and then faced him again. “That was really sweet.”
“Bikers can’t be sweet?”
Her cheeks reddened just how he liked them. He wanted to reach out and brush his knuckles along the heated skin. Damn, she was sexy when she blushed. “That’s not… I mean… I mean, I didn’t mean…”
He reached forward and touched her thigh again. Yeah, he wanted to touch her there too, and not platonically as he was now. “I was teasing.” Cayden removed his left hand from her leg and tapped Geordi on his shoulder with his right. “Geordi, have you met Trixie yet?”
Geordi, a single noodle hanging out of his mouth, shook his head. He chewed vigorously and then swallowed hard. “Hi, Ms. Trixie!” His deep voice did not fit with the innocence behind it. It threw most people off, but Cayden watched the mix of emotions cross her face, from confusion to sympathy, and was pleased none of them were disdain. Geordi had already been dealt a rough hand and didn’t deserve any more. “What are you here for? I lost the car.”
Trixie glanced to Cayden, obviously not understanding. He leaned in and said softly, “Geordi was arrested for being the lookout for a crew. He was supposed to stay with the car but got distracted and then got lost. The crew was caught with the stolen jewelry when Geordi wandered back towards them. If he’d just kept walking, the police would have never known he’d been involved.”
Pity crossed her face and then she smiled at Geordi. “Hi, Geordi. I have a lot of cars, if you ever want to come take a look at them.”
His eyes widened in excitement. He whirled so fast towards Mr. Wynn that he knocked over his water glass. Cayden quickly moved to catch it, thankfully before too much was spilt. Geordi didn’t even notice. “Please, Mr. Wynn! Can I? Please, please, please?”
Mr. Wynn sent Trixie a questioning look, to which she nodded. He looked affectionately at Geordi. “I’ll take you tomorrow after work. How’s that?” Geordi nodded his head energetically. Mr. Wynn looked back at Trixie. “Around three-thirty, Trix?”
