The box shielded me from the customer and I allowed my eyes to flutter shut for a few moments, enjoying being this close to him. As the receipt printed, he leaned over and whispered, “You don’t know how bad I want to bend you over this counter right now.”
His words caught me off guard, sending a blast of liquid heat to my center and a shot of panic to my brain. I should be disgusted. I should slap him. I should—God, who was I kidding? Take me into a room and do me already. My breathing became shallow as I imagined him taking me on the counter, his strong hands gripping my hips as he slammed into me.
Wrong, wrong, wrong. Alert! Stop now!
But did my head listen? No, because I, Jules Carmichael, was brain-dead. Horny and brain-dead—an unfortunate combo. I shouldn’t be thinking about this at work, but an off-limits Ryan made for an even hotter fantasy. I looked around to make sure Jack wasn’t in the vicinity. What he didn’t know couldn’t hurt him.
Ryan liked to talk dirty. Though I’d never really done it before, I channeled my inner phone sex operator.
Let the games begin.
With the box still concealing me, I bent over farther, my ass deliberately sticking out way past acceptable. I raised my brow and murmured, “Like this?”
His Adam’s apple bobbed, and he closed his eyes, his hands gripping the register. Before I could do anything else to tease him, he grabbed the receipt, walked around the other side of the counter, and helped the customer to his car with the chair.
Jules: 1, Ryan: 0.
At five, Jack and Ryan walked up to the service counter. We closed early on Sundays, and I was counting the money in the till when Jack dropped the bomb.
“Seems both of you want the same weekend off in July. Amanda already requested that weekend for vacation, so I can only let one of you take it.” My heart sank. Of course he’d pick his son over me. “I’ve decided that the person with the most membership cards and protection plans sold before July third can have the weekend off. Sound fair?”
Oh, it was on like Donkey Kong. I shot Ryan a smug smile.
He shrugged, not even looking worried. “Sounds fair.”
Right as I put the cash bag in the register and logged out of the computer, Ryan came over with a wad of price tags. Normally, we changed the prices every Monday with the weekly specials. He handed me one, and I shot him a look. What was I supposed to do with this? He walked away without saying anything.
I turned the price tag over and smiled.
You’re going down.
Chapter Fourteen
Ryan
I didn’t know what Jules had planned for Fourth of July weekend, but I doubted it was as important as the camping trip to the Sierra Nevadas that Blake and I had planned. I was looking forward to hiking and just getting away from everything.
Pulling on some gym shorts and a Baylor shirt, I made my way out of the locker room of Dixon, the Drexler University gym that I’d gotten a summer pass to, and met Blake at the weights. The way Jules stared at my arms made me want to double my reps, just to give her more to look at.
Blake may have had a few inches on me in height, but I more than made up for it with weight I could lift. He slid onto the incline bench and readied his hands on the bar. I walked around the back of the bench and positioned myself on the step, hands under the bar, ready to catch it if Blake slipped up or got too tired to push it back up. He never did.
He breathed roughly through his nose and pushed the bar off the stand. “So, you’re going for her?”
How did he know? I hadn’t even told him how I felt about Jules. I didn’t even know how I felt about her yet. “Who’s her?”
“Don’t play stupid. I saw the way you looked at her. It was written all over your face.” He lowered the bar and let out another harsh breath, pushing it back up.
“It crossed my mind.”
“She’s not really the hit and quit type.”
“Neither am I.” And maybe that’s where I’d gone wrong. If I’d just kept it casual, I wouldn’t have had my heart shredded.
“Just saying, she deserves someone who isn’t going to leave in a few weeks.”
I scoffed, focusing back on spotting Blake. “She’s not some delicate flower that I’m going to wilt.”
He pushed up the bar, his shaking arms placing the weights back on the rack with a loud clang. “She’s more delicate than you think.”
Were we talking about two different people? Delicate was the last word I’d use to describe Peach. Sexy and naughty fit the bill. That was made apparent when she bent her ass over the counter, like she wanted me to take her right then. I would have, too, if that damn customer wasn’t there. “Right, man.” My mission to hook up with her was in full swing. I wasn’t about to put the brakes on this because Blake thought she might be fragile. Plus, I’d make sure to handle every inch of her with care.