One Sexy Ride(13)

“I know what I’m doing.”

He glared. Wondered for a moment how hard to push, then decided to hell with. He was mad, and she might as well know it. “You don’t like sleeping in your house anymore?”

She paused, and then managed to look guilty and adorable at the same time. “Goddamn small-town gossip. Who told you?”

“Doesn’t matter. Why’d you sleep in your truck?”

Janey flipped a hand toward the house. “I did the floors, and they stink to high heaven. They’ll be good in another three days, but right now it’s too toxic to go inside. That’s why I’m working on the deck.”

“And that’s why you’re sleeping in the back of your damn truck? Why didn’t you ask to crash somewhere else?”

Janey planted her fists on her hips. “Right. So who am I going to crash with, Len? Katy’s got a house full, Liz isn’t back from holidays, and Shannon has a cat.”

“Bullshit on Katy having no room. She’s your best friend, and you know she’d always find a way to make room. Especially to stop you from doing something unsafe like sleeping in your truck.”

She lost some of her bluster. “Well, maybe I didn’t want to bother her.”

“Fine, but stupid. What about my place?”

“That doesn’t work because—” The most adorable flush spread over her cheeks, and she pinned her lips together as if refusing to say anything else.

It would have been more amusing if his blood wasn’t still pounding hard enough to make his ears hum. “Because you don’t want to sleep in my apartment? You’d prefer to camp out on a mattress in the back of your truck, where you’ve got no way to lock up and stay safe, rather than spend the night with me?”

“Oh, good grief,” Janey complained. “It’s not like that.”

He reined in his anger with an iron will. “Good to know. Then I’ll see you when you’re done work for the day. Or did you want me to come here and help you finish up once I’m done?”

She stood silently for a moment, as if trying to figure out what he had just told her. “Why would you come here?”

“So I can help you put the tools away, and you can come home with me.”

She wasn’t fighting him anymore. Now it was more as if she was playing out mentally the directions the evening might turn. And he totally understood, because he was going there himself.

“I didn’t want to inconvenience you,” Janey started.

Enough. Len covered her mouth with his so she had to stop talking. He kissed her because it was either that or give her a good solid shouting at, and he didn’t shout. Not often.

Even as she softened under him, it took a hell of a lot to lose his anger. He had his fingers fisted in her ponytail, the long length wrapped around his hand as he held her in place so he could ravish her lips. She moved in tight, as if seeking forgiveness with her touch as she slid her hands along his biceps and up to his shoulders. Scratching her nails lightly down his back.

He broke off the kiss, determined to make his point. “Just because I gave you an option doesn’t mean I’m not planning on making it happen. Or that I’m not planning on taking care of you, like you should’ve let me in the first place. You want to meet at my house, or do you want me to come here?”

She was damn near vibrating. The words she was holding back—he wasn’t sure if they were more in the line of “fuck you” or “I’m sorry, it will never happen again”.

But she took a deep breath and settled herself a little before answering. “I’ll come to your place. I don’t know what time I’ll be done, but it might be earlier than you.”

He dug in his pocket and pulled out his keys, finding the one for his apartment and taking it off the chain. He handed it over. “If I’m not there, let yourself in.”

“I can make something for the potluck tonight—”

“Dammit, Janey. Let yourself in, take a shower and hit the sack if that’s what you need. I’ve got no agenda that I’m following, so stop trying to do the right thing, or whatever the hell it is you’re doing.”

That’s when he fully expected to see her blaze up, but the sheer tiredness on her face told a different story. She nodded and accepted the key, tucking it in her pocket. “You’re a bossy bastard.”

The familiar complaint brought a smile to his face for the first time during the entire conversation. “So you’ve said before.”

“It bears repeating occasionally.”

He stroked her cheek softly. She might not like the idea, but if they were going to do this thing, they were going to do it right. And that meant she had to understand he was going to help take care of her.

Whether that made him a bossy bastard or not.





She caught herself yawning for the third time in a row and gave up.

For a short while after Len stopped over, she’d had plenty of energy. A combination of adrenaline, sexual frustration and guilt.

She’d known he wouldn’t like her camping out in her truck, but after all the years she’d spent chasing him, the new revelation the other day had changed things.

Oh, she still wanted to jump his bones in a bad way, but she didn’t want to be as assertive as she’d been. Assuming she could crash at his place seemed far too forward, and the last thing she wanted anymore was to make him feel pressured.

Janey carried her tools to the storage shed, stacking them neatly on the shelves before going back to do the final cleanup on her workspace. Scrap lumber got thrown into the back of her truck to take to the barbecue at Katy and Gage’s that night.

Just looking at the hard metal made her body ache. Good thing she didn’t have to sleep in there again tonight.

She packed clothes, rapidly stuffing things into a bag as she attempted not to breathe too many of the fumes inside the house. A couple minutes’ work made sure all the upstairs windows were open to let the place air before she headed for her truck, and Len’s place.

Letting herself in felt strange. Janey dropped her bag on the sofa, looking around with new eyes since the last time she’d been there. It was hard to believe it had been less than two weeks. So much had happened in that time, including…

The look of disappointment and frustration she’d spotted in Len’s eyes popped to mind, and a sense of guilt rushed in, because he’d been right. She’d made some assumptions, and fixing things before they got to be problems was important.

She grabbed her phone and put a call through to her best friend. “I’m at Len’s,” she announced.

“Umm…” Katy sounded very confused.

God, Janey was so tired she wasn’t thinking straight anymore. “Sorry. I didn’t call to freak you out. Didn’t want you to be worried if you go by the house and see the lights are all off.”

Katy was smiling. Janey could tell, even over the phone. “Of course you didn’t call me to freak me out, but don’t try to lie and tell me it’s not a nice bonus result.”

“I solemnly swear not to tell you any details that will hit your ick factor.” Janey stripped off her clothes and headed for the shower. “And I need to apologize. I made a mistake yesterday. Len pointed it out and gave me shit. And while it’s nothing you need to worry about, it made me think about how glad I am you’re my friend.”

“Awwww. That’s so sweet.” There were voices in the background behind Katy. “And I don’t know what brought that on, but you’re an awesome friend too, and I love you to pieces. And if you ever need anything, you let me know.”

Janey made a smooching noise towards the phone.

Katy echoed her back. “I’ve got to run—getting things ready for the barbecue. Talk to you tonight?”

“Deal.”

She hung up, laying her phone on the bathroom counter and turning on the water in the shower. She stepped under the spray and turned her face upward, and let the exhaustion roll off her with the water droplets.

She had made a mistake. Damage control might be done with Katy, but she still had to fix it with Len. But not until she worked out that kink from sleeping on a thin camping mattress in the back of the truck. And not until she’d snuck in a nap of at least thirty minutes. That should be enough to refresh her before Len came home.

By the time she got out and dried off, she barely had enough energy left to grab Len’s shirt off the hook on the bathroom door, tug it over her head and crawl under the quilt.





Chapter Seven





The light had changed.

Janey rolled over and cracked her eyes opened, groggily searching her memory for where she was.

Len’s place—thankfully with all memories intact this time, even the ones that made her flush with embarrassment. Her gaze darted to the window to check to see if the sky was still bright.

Instead, she got caught in a pair of dark brown eyes, smooth warm chocolate brown that made her hungry.

Len lay beside her, his head propped up on his hand, his elbow resting on the mattress. She glanced down to discover he was lying on top of the covers fully dressed.

“You just get home?”

His lips twisted slightly. “Is it too creepy to say I’ve been here for at least ten minutes?”

She laughed. “It’s your bed, you’re allowed to be in it.”