So what on earth was I doing?
“Fine,” I stated and looked back at the computer screen.
“What?” Tack asked.
“Fine,” I repeated to the computer screen then went on to explain to the monitor, “Eloise didn’t have enough time to teach me the ropes. I don’t know what I’m doing. You’re going to figure that out in thirty minutes. You don’t like me. I really don’t like you,” just my eyes slid to him, “so, fine. I’ll finish out the day and then you won’t see me again.”
Tack’s brows went up. “You slap me with attitude twice for this job and then you give in, easy as that?”
“I’m not going to work in a place where I can’t eat donuts,” I informed him, looked back at the computer screen and started tapping away. “You crossed the line with that one. So, yeah, easy as that.”
Then I took another sip of coffee.
“I thought you needed this job,” Tack said.
“I’ll find another job where I can wear my fabulous pink slingbacks without putting up with annoying, unnecessary, scary biker dude hassle.”
“So, you’re sayin’, you get in my face about keeping this job and then you give in ‘cause you can’t wear sex kitten shoes and eat donuts?”
My eyes moved back to him. “Yeah, handsome, that’s what I’m saying.”
He stared at me. I stared back at him. Then his face relaxed and his lips, surrounded by that kickass goatee, curled up into a sexy as all hell grin.
“Jesus, Red, tell me, when you’re such a pain in the ass, why do I seriously wanna fuck you right now?”
It felt like a strong, heavy hand pressed hard on my chest, pushing all the air out of my lungs.
“Don’t be coarse,” I snapped.
His eyebrows went up again. “Coarse?”
“Coarse, vulgar, uncouth… rude,” I explained.
His sexy grin turned into an even sexier smile. “Only way I can be, darlin’, ‘cause all that’s me.”
“Well, good. Another reason for me to quit.”
“You’re not quittin’,” he declared and it was my turn for my eyebrows to go up.
“Pardon?”
“You’re not quittin’,” he repeated.
That hand at my chest pressed deeper.
“I thought you didn’t want me working here.”
He jerked his chin up. “Changed my mind, babe.”
“You changed your mind?” I asked.
“Yeah, and I changed my mind about your clothes and the donuts too. Bring whatever you want for the boys. Wear whatever you want. Especially those tight skirts that remind me how great your ass feels and those sex kitten shoes that make me want to feel their heels digging in my back.”
Ohmigod! Could he be more of a jerk?
“You can’t talk to me like that,” I informed him bitingly.
“I can’t?” he asked.
“No. It’s sexual harassment.”
He smiled again. “Darlin’, don’t think I have to remind you that you took a job, you knew I was your boss, you came to what amounts to a company party and then you fucked my brains out. I didn’t harass you. You walked with me straight to my bed and you participated fully in everything we did in that bed. You could try but you’d have a hard fuckin’ time convincin’ anyone I’m harassin’ you.”
This was, unfortunately, true.
“I’m quitting,” I announced firmly.
“So quit,” he returned. “I can’t chain you to that chair. It isn’t me who’s gotta look in the mirror in the mornin’ and know I’m a coward.”
My body jolted straight in my chair.
“What?” I snapped.
“Babe, you took this job knowin’ it’d be a challenge and you fought for it knowin’ how that challenge changed. Now, two days in, your first head-to-head with me, you’re givin’ up. That’s bullshit and it’s weak. That’s the way a coward would act. You give in, you gotta look in the mirror and know that shit. I don’t. So you wanna quit, quit. That shit ain’t on me, it’s on you. You can live with that…” he trailed off and shrugged.
“So you wanted me to go, and I’m going, now you’re trying to goad me into staying?” I asked with easy to read disbelief.
“I’m tellin’ you the way it is. You’re sittin’ on your sweet ass in that sweet skirt knowin’ you’re gonna give in eventually and warm my bed. This isn’t about donuts, Red, it’s about you bein’ weak. So don’t try to bullshit me because I know your play and I’m callin’ you on it.”
“I am not going to warm your bed!” I fired back.
“Oh yeah you are,” Tack returned.
“You don’t even know my name,” I retorted.
“Nope, and I didn’t before when you sucked my cock, I ate you, you fucked me hard and I fucked you harder. Didn’t bother you then.”
“I thought you knew my name!” My voice was rising.
He bent at the waist, put a fist to my desk and said quietly, “If that what it takes for you, baby, then tell me, we’ll go to the Compound and I guarantee you’ll enjoy an extended break.”
“Go to hell, Tack,” I hissed.
“Or we can just lock the doors, close the blinds and I’ll do you on your desk.”
Total. Freaking. Jerk!
“Go to hell,” I repeated.
“Or, if you’re into that shit, we don’t have to lock the doors and close the blinds.”
I glared at him. He held my glare and did it with his lips twitching.
After we had our staring contest for a while, he whispered what sounded like a dare, “Gonna quit?”
“No,” I snapped, his lips stopped twitching because he grinned and then I finished, “Not until I find another job. You’re right. I need this job. I’ll start looking immediately and I promise to give you notice.”
“Right,” he muttered, still grinning.
“And in the meantime, I will warn you that I have no clue what I’m doing.”
“I’m patient, baby,” he said softly and I knew he wasn’t talking about me getting car and bike part orders right.
“Well, that’s good because you’re going to have to be,” I returned then added, “Very patient.”
“You’ll get it in the end,” he muttered, his meaning clear.
“You’re unbelievable,” I whispered irately.
“Yeah, I think you whispered that in my ear Saturday night,” he whispered back, not, I noted, in the least irately.
It was safe to say I was done.
“I have a lot of work to screw up, Tack. Do you want to stop annoying me so I can do it?”
“Sure,” he agreed. I glared at him. Then, without warning and so fast I couldn’t avoid it, his hand was curled around the back of my head. He pulled me to him, leaned into me and I had to execute evasive maneuvers not to have a desk covered in coffee.
I forgot all about the coffee when I noted his eyes were so close they were all I could see.
“To be fair, baby, I’m givin’ you a warning,” he said quietly.
“Let me go,” I demanded just as quietly, mostly because I was freaking out.
“I want somethin’, I get it.”
“Let me go,” I repeated.
“Only once, I didn’t. That shit ain’t happenin’ to me again.”
“Tack –”
“You’ve been warned, Red,” he whispered and I watched his eyes drop to my mouth.
I held my breath and put pressure on his hand at my head. I was concentrating on both of these things so hard, I lost track of his other hand until I felt his fingers against my cheek. His thumb was sliding along my lower lip before I could do anything to stop it.
Then he released me, turned and without another word or look, he sauntered out the door.
When the door closed behind him, I sucked in breath, closed my eyes tight and kept breathing deep until I felt my heart slow and my lower lip stopped tingling.
Then I opened my eyes and stared at the door.
Then I whispered, ?
??I’m not coward and I’m not going to be your plaything. I don’t know where I’m going or what I’m doing but I do know I’m Tyra Sidney Masters and Tyra Sidney Masters is not a coward and she’s not a plaything. That’s what I know. So, Tack Whoever-You-Are, bring it on.”
Then I turned to the computer and royally screwed up the order.
Chapter Three
Only I Call You Red
“Hey, Lenny,” I called loudly to the mechanic (or body guy or whatever he was) closest to the door leading to my office. The big man in blue coveralls straightened, shoved back his welding mask and turned to me.
“Yo!” he replied.
“Do you know where Tack is?” I asked.
It was precisely thirty-seven minutes since my last encounter with Tack (I had timed it). I had the, what I was sure was screwed up, printed parts order in my hand along with the Sanskrit notes and a pen. I was hoping Tack had already taken off and when he returned, he’d promptly come in and fire me due to the lateness of the order being completed as well as the fact it clearly stated I had no clue what I was doing.
These hopes were dashed when Lenny’s eyes slid to the door of the bay and he jerked his head toward them.
“Out there, Tyra, Compound,” he yelled over the garage noise. I looked toward the door but couldn’t see anything so I walked down the steps and through the garage toward the doors.
Then I saw him. He was standing, back to me, at the line of bikes in front of the Compound. He was with two other bikers. There were more bikes there today. Eight, I counted as I walked across the forecourt, my heels clicking against the cement, my eyes squinting against the powerful, bright July sun of a Denver day.
I was ten feet away when the attention of the two bikers with Tack shifted to me and I was seven feet away when Tack’s body turned and his eyes hit me.
I will not blush, act like an idiot or a shrew. I will be professional. This is a job. Only a job. He’s my boss. He’s a handsome one but a jerky one and I slept with him but he’s just my boss. I embrace my inner slut. Sluts wouldn’t blush, act like idiots or shrews. They would just go about their business. Therefore, I am a slut and I am proud, I said to myself as I approached.
I stopped close to their huddle and looked at the two bikers. One was huge, tall, blond, his long hair pulled back in a ponytail at the base of his neck. He had blue eyes, lighter and grayer than Tack’s (which were a blue so pure it was nearly sapphire, no joke), and he was really cute in a rough and ready way. The other was also tall with a full beard that needed a trim and it needed that trim about two years ago. He had long russet brown hair that he’d bunched up at the back of his head in a man-bun. He also, unlike Tack and the blond guy, had a hint of a beer gut.
“Hey,” I said, my eyes pinned to the two other men when I stopped at them. “Sorry to interrupt. Do you mind? I need Tack but this won’t take a minute.”
“Not at all, darlin’,” the brown-haired guy said.
I smiled at him. “Thanks,” I muttered then looked at Tack and wiped the smile clean off my face, something he saw which made him press his lips together at the same exact time his eyes lit with what could not be mistaken as anything other than humor. “The order,” I announced curtly, holding out the papers and pen. “You can look over it. The notes Eloise gave me are on top. And there’s a pen so you can make any changes.”
I knew there would be changes so when he reached out with his left hand to take the papers and pen from me, I took a quick step away and went on, “You can bring it back to the office and I’ll make any changes before submitting it.” I looked at the boys and finished, “Sorry, gents, and thanks. You can go back to talking now.”
I started to turn away and found my progress halted when a strong arm wrapped around my waist and I found myself three feet from where I was half a second before. I also found my front plastered against Tack’s side, his arm an iron band around my waist.
“Brick and Dog won’t mind I look at this here, Red,” Tack told me when I tipped my head up to stare at him.
I heard his words but had no response since I was pretty certain my lips were parted in shock and surprise that he was suddenly holding me plastered to his side. I was also pretty certain my eyes were wide for the same reasons. And lastly, I was definitely certain I forgot just how hard and lean his body was because feeling my soft one pressed to his rock-solid one acutely reminded me of this fact.
Before I could recover, a rough voice came at me and I dazedly turned my head to look at the dark-haired guy. “You the new office girl?”
“Uh… yeah,” I answered as I put pressure on the arm around my waist, something which made the iron turn to steel.
“Brick,” he stated.
I nodded, still putting pressure on the arm. “Hey, Brick.”
“Dog,” the blond man said. My eyes went to his face to see his gaze on Tack’s arm around my waist and a grin playing at his lips.
I’d seen them both at the party but I hadn’t met either of them. I also had a feeling they’d seen me at the party with Tack and very likely had seen me walk to the Compound and disappear inside it for hours, also with Tack. And therefore, standing in the Colorado sun, in the forecourt of Ride Custom Cars and Bikes, pressed to Tack’s side with his arm tight around me, I had the feeling they were getting the wrong impression.
I fought the blush that was creeping along my skin and said, “Hey, Dog.”
Then I said no more.
Therefore, Brick asked, “You got a name?”
My body tensed and my eyes went to Brick. “You can call me Red.”
The steel arm tightened around my waist and my neck twisted, my head tipping back as Tack growled, “Only I call you Red, Red.”
“Why do you only call me Red?” I asked.
“Because only I do,” Tack answered.
I tipped my head to the side. “Is that really your answer?”
“Only one you’re gonna get,” he replied.
I stared up at him and he stared down at me. Then I gave up.
“Whatever,” I muttered, looking away, pulling again at his arm and not getting anywhere.
“So, again, babe, you got a name?” Brick asked and I looked up at him to see he was smiling.
“Is the name on your birth certificate Brick?” I asked a question I was pretty sure I knew the answer to.
“No,” he gave me the answer I was pretty sure I knew.
I looked at Dog. “Is your name really Dog?”
“Nope,” Dog responded, also smiling.
I looked up at Tack and pulled again at his arm and again it was ineffectually.
“And you? Did your parents name you Tack?”
“No,” he answered.
“Okay then,” I turned to the boys, “since it’s nicknames all around, I’ll answer to whatever you christen me.”
“Whatever we christen you?” Dog repeated.
“Sure,” I told him on a shrug. “I invite you to be creative.” Dog and Brick looked to each other and grinned but I looked to Tack and demanded on a request, “Can you let me go? I have an Employee Handbook to write.”
“No,” he answered and I felt my eyes narrow. He ignored the narrowing of my eyes and went on, “Darlin’, this order is totally fucked up.” And he shook the paper in his hand.
“I know that,” I informed him. “I told you I didn’t know what I was doing and I was going to screw it up. That’s why I brought the pen, so you could make amendments.”
He grinned. “Not enough room on this paper to write all the amendments, Red. How could you fuck this up so much when I wrote down everything I needed?” Then he shook the papers again, my eyes went to them and I realized the Sanskrit notes were his.
“Those are your notes?” I asked.
“Yeah,” he answered.
“I can’t read Sanskrit, Tack.”
“It ain’t written in Sanskrit, Red.”
“You have worse penmanship than a doctor,” I informed him.
&n
bsp; “I can read it,” he informed me.
“Of course you can, you know what it says. To me, it’s a bunch of scratches and squiggles and since I don’t know anything about car and bike parts, I couldn’t guess very accurately. So you need to take some time and write out the changes…” I paused and concluded with emphasis, “Legibly.”
“Eloise hired an office girl who don’t know shit about cars and bikes?” Dog asked Tack and I looked at him.
But it was Brick who answered for Tack. “Eloise hired an office girl who wears fuck-me shoes and skirts. Who cares if she don’t know shit about cars and bikes?” Then Brick looked at me. “You just take your time, sweetheart, you’ll get it.”
“Thanks,” I smiled at him, deciding to ignore his comment about my skirt and shoes being of the “fuck-me” variety. I thought they were cute and girly but I was a woman, they were men. Men, I knew, thought way different from women and most of these thoughts, I knew, centered around sex so obviously cute to a woman would be something else to a man.
“You need any help, I know all about car and bike parts,” he offered.
I kept smiling. “Thanks, that’s sweet.”
“That’s me, I’m sweet,” Brick smiled back and it was then I felt Tack’s body get tight. My head turned to look at him again and I saw that his neck was twisted and he was looking beyond Dog. My gaze followed his to two men walking from the door of the Compound toward our huddle. They were the two men Tack had been talking to the day before. And they were two men who didn’t look laidback and welcoming like Brick and Dog. In fact, they looked so not laidback and welcoming that they were more than a little scary.