The Construction Worker & the Billionaire 2 Page 5

  A warm flush swept over her entire body just at the thought, and she quickly turned her mind to other prospects. A little smile curved up her lips as she reached over and started playing with his blonde hair—twirling it between her fingers and stroking it teasingly along the base of his neck. When the tip of her nail caught his skin, his voice faltered and the man he was speaking with shot him a conspiratorial grin.

  “So anyway, you said it was just down the—”

  One set of fingers squeezed his thigh, as the others started tracing his ear. There was a hitch in his breathing, and he flushed a million shades of red.

  “The interstate, I mean. If we just head...head south...”

  Her fingers were replaced with her lips, as she leaned over to kiss the soft skin just at the top of his jaw. His voice trailed off as his knuckles whitened upon the wheel.

  “Sorry, she’s...

  “A little crazy,” Lacy answered.

  Dylan shifted restlessly, as if there was something wrong with his pants. “Poor thing tried to jump in the lake.”

  “The lake?” The guy raised his eyebrows with a knowing grin. “It’s too cold for that.”

  Dylan nodded swiftly. “It most certainly is.” She batted her eyelashes at him with a sultry smile, and he was in a sudden hurry to get back on the road. “At any rate—which way is south?”

  The ranger gave them directions, and they shot off down the road. Both pretending they didn’t hear him mutter, “Wish my girlfriend was crazy like that...”

  They kept speeding until they were safely out of sight, at which point, he slowed down abruptly and turned to her with an exasperated grin. “What the hell are you trying to do? You want me to jump you with some guy watching?”

  She bit her lip with a seductive smile.

  “I don’t want you to jump me at all. I was actually planning on jumping you.”

  Before he could register what she’d said, she threw their picnic blanket across his lap and dove underneath. His body tensed as she reached for his zipper, catching it in her teeth and slowly sliding his pants down off his hips.

  “Lacy? What are you—”

  His voice cut off with a gasp as she took him into her mouth—wrapping her lips around his skin. The car lurched suddenly forward, before he quickly adjusted it and slowed back down.

  “Honey, you can’t do that now.” His body rebelled against his words, rocking his hips gently towards her. “I can’t drive with you—”

  “It’s dark,” she whispered, raking her teeth along his skin, “no one can see.”

  He opened his mouth to reply, but a low moan came out instead. The car fishtailed a bit once more, before he tightened his grip on the wheel—straightening it back out.

  “It’s not about that, it’s just—” He sucked in a quick breath, trying to remember what he’d been saying just a moment before. “I can’t...I can’t focus on the...”

  Faster and faster she moved. Sucking harder and harder. Every muscle in his body was flexed taut, and every hair on the back of his neck was standing on end. His hands clenched periodically upon the wheel, as his head fell back against the chair.

  “Clary,” he slipped into a nickname without thinking, one he’d never used before, “I’m going crazy here. You can’t do this to me.”

  She pulled back for only a second, taking in a silent breath of air.

  “Do what?” she asked innocently. “I’m not doing anything.”

  Before he could reply, she took him once more. This time, she added her hands to the equation—stroking him up and down, while she swirled her tongue across his skin.

  There was an even louder moan, followed by a reflexive jerk of his legs as he tried to keep himself together. It was a battle he was never going to win. It was a battle he didn’t even want to win. The only sound in the car was his frantic breathing and the soft rev of the engine, as she pushed him closer and closer to the edge.

  Come on, baby. Just let go.

  Be careful what you wish for...

  All of a sudden, there was a sound like an explosion and the car lurched violently to the side. Lacy surfaced with a gasp and looked on in horror as they went careening towards the trees. The blackened skies streaked in the windows above them as she screamed, but he was able to stop it just in time—rolling to an uneven stop on the sloped shoulder of the road.

  For a moment, all was silent. The only sound was their quiet, panting breathing. Then, without looking away from the dash, they reached over to take each other’s hands.

  “What the hell happened?” Lacy asked shakily. “Was that me, or—”

  “No, that wasn’t you.” He let out a nervous laugh, unable to pry his other hand off the wheel. “That was just terrible timing. We blew a tire.”

  There was a beat of silence, then Lacy made the obligatory joke.

  “...that’s not the only thing we blew.”

  His eyes shut with a painful grimace.

  “Of all the times to make a joke—”

  “You’re just upset you didn’t say it first.”

  “...maybe.” He shot her a rueful grin, then pulled his pants back up around his hips. “I know for a fact there isn’t a spare, and we haven’t passed anything for miles. Not that you’d know,” he added teasingly. The two shared another grin, before his face abruptly sobered as he gazed out into the dark. “My cell’s out of service, and I have no idea if there’s any sort of town or service station up ahead. I don’t...I’m not familiar with the area.”

  She glanced over with a frown, still taking deep, steadying breaths as her pulse slowly returned to normal. “I thought you came here all the time as a kid.” He shot her a blank look, and she repeated their conversation from before. “Ohio rite of passage and all that?”

  “Oh. Right.” He ran his hands quickly back through his hair, a nervous habit she’d noticed the first day they met. “Yeah, I did. I just...I’ve never driven back to the city this way before.” He shot her a sideways glance. “And it’s dark.”

  What the hell are you hiding from me?

  Lacy raised her delicate eyebrows, but chose to play it cool. Instead of pressing for more information, as she’d been trained to do with her job, she leaned back in her chair with a smile.

  “Well, then it looks like we’re stuck here for a while.” She glanced up and down the deserted road. “This place is patrolled pretty frequently. It shouldn’t be long before a cop drives by. In the meantime...” She lifted the blanket off his legs, and spread it out so it covered them both. “Why don’t you tell me a little more about this Washingtonian childhood?”

  Okay, so maybe I pressed a little...

  Chapter 10

  For the next two hours, the two of them sat in their car. Getting colder and colder as the windshield began to frost over with the faintest hint of ice. Huddled happily under their shared blanket—doing their very best to keep each other warm.

  “And that is when I realized the man was colorblind after all,” he concluded with an animated smile. “We can chalk everything else up to elevation sickness.”

  Lacy stared at him for a split second, then burst out laughing. “What the hell kind of story is that?! Elevation sickness—and this happened in Arizona?!”

  “It happened on the very top of the highest roller coaster in all the land,” he replied defensively, throwing a leftover handful of granola in her direction. When they’d first gotten stranded, they’d decided to ration whatever food was left over from the picnic. That mentality tapered off after about fifteen minutes. “You would have gotten sick too!”

  She laughed again, shaking her head with incredulous wonder. The Dylan Stone she’d read about on paper was nothing like the man sitting in her car. She wasn’t sure what exactly had changed, but he couldn’t be more different than what she’d expected.

  She’d expected a show-off. He was self-deprecating and sweet.

  She’d expected a player. He’d forsaken all other women just for her.

  Sh
e’d expected a narcissistic jerk. He was adorably attentive, never missing a thing.

  “It’s still a random fucking story,” she chuckled, wiping the handfuls of granola from the side of her jacket. “What the hell were you doing at an amusement park in Arizona anyway?”

  “College road trip,” he answered promptly. “It was only about a day’s drive away.”

  Lacy froze suddenly beneath the blanket—staring hard at the dash. As it had so many times over the last few days, that strange cautious tingling prickled the back of her neck. She was able to hold her tongue for a second. Only a second, then she had to ask the question.

  “It was a day’s drive away from college? Because you have that one picture framed with all your buddies at Cleveland State University.”

  “Yeah, I only went there for a year.”

  This time, it was Dylan who froze—his hands stilling suddenly upon the dashboard as he silently missed a breath. Only an expert could have caught it. Someone professionally skilled at being able to tell when people lied. It was there for only a fleeting moment, before he twisted in his chair and flashed her an easy smile.

  “Few days. We all took turns driving.”

  I’ll bet.

  Lacy smiled just as sweetly, stuffing her hands beneath the blanket to hide the fact that her palms were beginning to sweat. “Does Cleveland University have a mascot? I always forget.” She knew the mascot was a Viking named, Magnus.

  She could practically see his heartbeat quicken. The color of his face paled by several dozen shades, and he was just opening his lips when there was a sharp tap on the window.

  The relief was palpable. Until he saw it was a cop.

  He rolled down the window quickly, remembering their predicament, and flashed the officer a polite smile. “Good evening, officer. We’ve been hoping someone would drive by—”

  A flashlight broke through the darkness. Blinding both of their eyes.

  “Do you know you’re parked illegally?” the man asked, with a bit of a Southern twang.

  “Yes...uh...” Dylan lifted a hand between them, shielding his eyes from the piercing beam, “we were just—”

  “You kids weren’t doing anything you shouldn’t have been, were you?”

  Kids. We’re both twenty-six years old, but to the ‘adult’ population, we’re still just children. Probably came out here to play tag in the woods. Make sandcastles at the beach.

  Dylan shook his head nervously, forcing himself to make eye contact. “Not at all. We were just driving back to Cleveland when the tire blew. I don’t have cell service to call—”

  “Really?” the officer interrupted with a scarcely contained smile. His eyes flashed down to the blanket, then back up to Dylan’s face. “No distractions? Eyes on the road?”

  What—did the guy have the place rigged or something?!

  Dylan’s face paled guiltily, but he held his ground. The officer had no proof. He was just trying to scare them. As long as they stuck to their story, he couldn’t possibly—

  “You didn’t see the huge rock in the middle of the road?”

  They both froze. Blinked. Then turned at the same time to look at the road.

  The officer was doing his very best not to smile. “I only ask because, judging by the tire treads, you two drove straight into it. Didn’t even swerve.”

  They shared a panicked glance, before Dylan turned back to the cop—making a visible effort to keep that smile plastered on his face. “That’s...that’s actually a funny story—”

  The flashlight came back. As blinding as ever.

  “A funny story that has something to do with the lipstick all over your face?”

  Lipstick? There isn’t any...oh yeah. There it is. Shit—my bad.

  By now, the game was pretty much up. The man had clearly played them into a corner and there was nothing left to say. Fortunately, he didn’t seem to require further explanation. And he happened to be one of the only cops on the road that night with a sense of humor.

  “Why don’t I call you guys a tow? Wait with you until it arrives.”

  Dylan sank down lower in his seat.

  “...thank you.”

  “Don’t mention it.” The man clapped the top of the car, gazing nostalgically up and down the road. “I’ve blown a few tires coming back from the lake myself.”

  Chapter 11

  By the time they got back to Cleveland, it was coming up on around one in the morning. The tow-truck driver had two other calls in line before them, and they had to wait in the freezing cold for another hour and a half before he finally arrived. From there, the two of them sandwiched into the truck beside him and he proceeded to make loud, flirtatious comments the entire way back into town. Lacy’s only consolation, was that none of the comments were directed at her.

  “I still don’t see why you couldn’t have just given the man your number,” she said for the fifth time, staring into the mirror as she brushed her teeth. “At the very least, you could have taken your shirt off or something—shown a little skin.”

  A cloud of steam wafted into the room, as Dylan turned off the hot water and stepped out of the shower—a fluffy blue towel wrapped around his waist, a withering glare narrowing his eyes. “I’m so glad you enjoyed yourself. I, on the other hand, sat twenty miles on a bumpy road with the man...” He broke off with a shudder. “Trying to slide his hand up my thigh...”

  She burst out laughing, spitting a mouthful of foam into the sink. “Welcome to my world, buddy. In the language of the sisterhood, we call that ‘taking one for the team.’”

  He shook his head with a grin, then came up behind her—wrapping his arms around her waist and bending down so they were both staring into the mirror at the same level. Their eyes met at the same time, and he shook his head again. This time, with a tender smile.

  “How did I get so lucky?” His eyes flickered over her fluffy robe and giant penguin slippers, before softening with complete adoration. “How did I manage to find you?”

  She sucked in a silent breath, staring in some sort of trance at his gorgeous face. His arms tightened again, and she forced herself out of it—looking down at the sink with a little blush.

  “I found you, remember?” She glanced up with a wry smile. “That was the job. To find out all of your little secrets, Dylan Stone. To bring you to justice.”

  His body tensed, but he drew her into his arms with a mischievous smile—turning her around so the two were standing face to face. “And did you? Do you know all my little secrets?”

  The silence between them grew abruptly tense. It had been a throwaway question, asked in a playful tone, but there was something undeniably serious about the way both of them were reacting to it. He was staring at her with a guarded smile, one designed to mask the nerves as he searched her eyes, looking for the truth. As for Lacy, she was doing the exact same thing.

  Staring into those magical blue eyes. Trying to uncover the secrets underneath.

  “Not yet.” She stretched up onto her tiptoes, whispering lightly in his ear. “But don’t worry Dylan Stone, I’ve never failed to get my man...”

  Chapter 12

  The night may have ended on a strange note, but they still spent it together—curled up in her bed, tangled in each other’s arms. The power was still out at his place—that was the official excuse. But the truth was that neither one could manage to pull themselves away. Even if everything wasn’t exactly as it seemed. Even if they were plagued by stilted questions and evasive answers. It was as though the two were magnetized. No matter how hard they fought against it, something kept pulling them back.

  “You know...you’re really cute in the mornings.”

  He was still lying in bed, stubbornly naked, watching as she paced back and forth across the room—sleepily getting dressed. Sleepily being the key phrase. So far, she’d managed to compile one sock, a backwards skirt, a sports bra, and a wrist watch. Not that she was very aware of any of those things without having had any coffee.
>
  She glanced back at him with a little grin. “Only in the mornings, huh? I’m not cute at any other times of the day?”

  “Not in the slightest.” He folded his arms behind his head with a dramatic shudder. “It’s like talking to some kind of troll. But not in the mornings. In the mornings, you’re cute.”

  She threw a pillow at him, but kept her distance. They’d been playing this game for the last two hours now—she knew what he was doing. He’d taunt her into coming close enough to the bed, that he could grab her and pull her back inside. He’d fooled her three times already, and the hours had flown by. (The fourth time, she only pretended to get caught. She happened to like very much what happened in bed when she did.)

  “Well that’s very gracious of you,” she said sarcastically, pulling her skirt back around the right way. “Now are you ever going to get out of bed? Or should I start charging you rent?”

  Not that he could pay it. The man can’t even pay his electricity bill. Although he mysteriously wrote an exorbitant check to bail the man who punched him out of jail...

  “I’ll get out of bed...only if you agree to let me buy you breakfast.”

  And breakfast. He’s paid for everything we’ve done so far. Including breakfast.

  She glanced curiously over her shoulder, then flashed him a quick smile. “Breakfast would be great. There’s a little diner up the road. We could go there?”

  He leapt gracefully to his feet—letting the sheet fall to the floor to reveal the perfectly sculpted body just underneath. “Waffles or pancakes?”

  Waffles it was.

  She kissed his hand and couldn’t help but notice how good his nails looked for a construction worker. They looked perfectly manicured. And his hands, so soft, not hard and calloused.

  The two of them finished dressing quickly, and strode out into the open air. This time, he didn’t hesitate to put his arm around her shoulders—pulling her into his side with a smile so bright, she’d swear she could light a room with it. This time, there wasn’t an ounce of caution or hesitation on his face, as he began rambling on about everything and nothing in particular, taking great pleasure in those frequent times he was able to make her laugh.