––––––––
Half an hour later they were seated in the back corner booth at O’Leary’s diner in Birch Falls.
“Why this place?” she asked. She’d expected them to hit the local IHOP just down the street from his garage. When he’d ushered her into the sleek black Shelby – now meticulously restored to perfect condition - and passed the city limits, she felt a shiver of excitement.
“Best cinnamon rolls ever,” he replied with a smile. Not to mention he had an ulterior motive. He was not above stacking the deck in his favor, not for something he really wanted.
Nicki watched with mixed horror and fascination as Sean put away a half-pound burger, thick cut fries, coleslaw, three cokes, and two of the largest cinnamon rolls she’d ever seen. Only after the last plate had been cleared away and the waitress brought a carafe and two mugs did he sit back and regard her with those icy blue eyes.
“You’re a hell of a mechanic, but you’re too much of a distraction. I can’t offer you the full-time mechanics position, but I have something else in mind that will benefit us both.”
Her features, relatively relaxed up to this point, hardened and her eyes flashed, reminding him of steel blades. “You had to bring me all the way out here to fire me?” she hissed, her voice low. She reached into her pocket and drew out a five to cover the unsweetened tea and bowl of vegetable soup she’d had, slapping it onto the table.
“You think it’s okay as long as you buy me lunch? Fuck you, Callaghan.”
God, he loved the fire in her. He just wished it was channeled into something more pleasurable.
“You’re not listening, sweetheart,” he said calmly, pushing the five back toward her. “Close that sweet little mouth before I shove something in it and just listen, will you? Dayshift won’t work, we’ve already established that. But evenings will.”
That shut her up. But not for long. “Evenings?”
“Yeah. You’ll have the place practically to yourself.”
Nicki’s eyes narrowed, thinking about the “something else” he’d mentioned. “Why? So you can attack me without witnesses? No, thanks. I’ll take the pervs at Angels any day. Oh, wait. That would be you, too, wouldn’t it?”
His groin pulsed. “Don’t kid yourself, baby. You came for me, both times. And I mean that quite literally. You wanted it every bit as bad as I did.”
Nicki scowled; white flames danced in those beautiful, pissed-off eyes. She wanted to deny it, but she couldn’t. Triumph raced through his body, but it was short-lived.
“I’ll pass. Besides, I’ve already got a job working nights.”
Sean withheld his growl, but just barely. Declining his offer was simply not acceptable. He wanted her near him and away from every other male on the planet, even if that meant doing something insane.
“What if I promise not to do anything unless you ask me to?” he whispered. “No touching. No kissing. No accidental brush-by’s. You have my word.”
She snorted derisively. “Yeah, right. What do I have to do? Put on some skimpy little outfit while you watch me work and jerk off in the corner?”
“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 at his own hand would help. “Though I might consider it if that would get you off.”
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 bore 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 actually 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 imagined 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, only to stalk across the floor and finish in her? That it had been the most recent in a series of vivid, erotic fantasies that had plagued her each night when she closed her eyes since the first night she’d met him?