Blocked (17 page)

“What an abusive son of a bitch,” Decker growled.

“Yeah”—she shrugged—“but I didn’t see it that way. I just wanted to make him happy. So I stopped going out with my friends and spent my time with him.”

Decker leaned forward, placing his palm on her cotton-clad knee. The warm touch sent tingles up her thigh, directly to the juncture between her legs. “I know how it feels to be with someone who uses your love and kindness against you. That’s how Olivia was, always putting her own needs first, believing that my loyalty to her and Charlie would stay steadfast even when her bitterness poisoned my love almost from the get-go.” He reclined back in the chair, severing the connection of their bodies, a move that immediately had her eyes lifting to meet his. “I’m not looking to hold you hostage, April, nor do I need to be the only person who matters in your life, because let’s face it, we’re both coming into this
thing
with the most precious cargo.” Her breath quickened as he leaned forward again, this time cupping her cheek in his warm hand. “I just want to know that I’m
one
of the reasons those sexy-as-sin dimples appear on your face each day.”

Holy shit.
April looked down at her body; yep, it was still there and not an ooey-gooey mess in a puddle on the floor. There was no doubt she needed to find a way to go out with Janie and still see Decker without taking any extra time away from Elijah, but how? “You want some dimple action?” There was no disguising the huskiness in her voice. “Then come up with a way for me to see you and celebrate with Janie and her friends without adding an additional night out this week.”

She stared as Decker finished off his water. Transfixed, she followed his Adam’s apple as it moved up and down the column of his neck with each swallow, wishing her lips were the rim of the plastic container.

* * *

HE ALREADY HAD a solution in mind, but watching her drink him in, with wide eyes and plump lips parted slightly, left an insatiable thirst he doubted water would quench. Draining the remains of the liquid, Decker chastised his body, willing his erection to subside long enough for him to give his suggestion without sounding like an overprotective asshole or, even worse, her ex-husband.

“So,” he asked casually, “Thursday night—the celebration at Danny’s on Main, is it just a girls’ thing?”

He watched carefully as she processed his words, waiting for the minute the meaning behind his question became clear. When her brows shot up to her hairline and her supple mouth formed a perfect O followed by a tiny smile, Decker allowed the trapped air to quietly leave his lungs.

“No, it won’t be just girls,” April professed. “Janie wants Rori and me to meet her fiancé, Max, as well as the rest of her friends, both the guys and the girls. They all co-own the bar and most of them work there, so it should be a pretty big group.”

“Would it be okay if I joined? I figure it solves your double-booking problem, plus while you get to meet Janie’s friends”—he shrugged with a grin—“I get to meet yours.”

“Wow, big guy, you wanna meet my friends already? I don’t know, it feels like a big step.”

Even though her smile was bright and her tone teasing, there was no hiding the uncertainty he saw swimming in her bright green pools.

“Relax, beautiful,” he implored as he stroked her knee, rubbing measured circles with the pad of his thumb over the black cotton pants. “It’s not like you’re taking me home to meet your family.” Awareness struck him like a dart. He’d have no qualms about introducing her to Charlie and the rest of his family, because he knew even in a relatively short period of time that not only was he falling for her, but he saw her in his future. He did, however, understand that after everything she’d been through with the abandonment of her ex-husband, she was more than just a little gun-shy, and she felt strongly about protecting her son and herself from people who wouldn’t be sticking around. Decker wasn’t going anywhere, and he had no problem proving himself to her. “But I’d like to meet some of the important people in your life. So are you okay with me joining you on Thursday?”

The twin indentations in her cheeks answered before her words confirmed, “I’d love it, Deck.” He couldn’t contain his chuckle when she squealed, “Rori’s gonna shit herself.”

“You may want to tell her over the phone then, babe.” April’s quizzical look had him laughing. “Well, if you tell her at school, she’ll walk around smelling all day and hating you. A teacher with a load in her pants is not something middle-school kids soon forget.”

“You are an unbelievable man, Mr. Brand.” April snorted as her smile grew even wider. “I’ll be sure to give her the news on the phone.” Glancing at her wrist, April let out a muffled curse. “It’s getting late, and I have to go get my little guy from day care. Care to walk me to my car?”

Decker would have escorted her out to the parking lot regardless, but when she batted her long eyelashes in that flirty little way she did when she was trying to be cute, well… that would get her anything, anytime, anywhere.
I hope she never asks for a pony
, he thought, grinning to himself as he wrapped his arm around her waist and led her to her Acura RDX.

Those stolen moments were some of his favorites - the two of them alone together but out in the open where an audience could appear at any time, standing close, breathing the same air, near enough to touch yet no physical connection linked them together. It was erotic, and it was torture. He dropped his eyes to her parted lips, wanting nothing more than to taste their flavor and wondering what sweet surprise waited for him; sweet berry, tart apple, or maybe the youthful bubble gum that she seemed to favor.

There was no need for permission as her invitation was clear the instant she slid the tip of her tongue across her bottom lip. His patience turned to dust and his body to steel as Decker closed the remaining distance between them, cupping her face in his large hands and claiming her mouth. He loved how her warm body melted into his, their tongues caressing as an intimate dance began. Pulling her closer, he nipped at her sweet, flavored lips and inhaled her scent. The spicy sweetness sent a jolt through his body, causing his heart to pump a quick tattoo behind his ribs.

Decker heard the blood flow though his ears as April pressed herself closer to him, grinding her pelvis against his rigid cock. Her muffled whimper would have brought him to his knees if not for the voices coming from the gym exit.

“Fuuuck.” Decker pressed his forehead to April’s for a quick breath before placing some needed space between them.

With her eyes round like half dollars but shimmering with excitement, April grazed her lips with her fingertips. “I think we have a bit of a problem, Deck.”

“What’s that, dimples?”

“I really enjoy saying good-bye to you.”

“Hmm, that is a problem.” He leaned in and placed a quick peck on her forehead. “I guess I’m gonna have to start greeting you the same way.”

“Sounds perfect to me.” She grinned as her cheeks flushed.

“By the way, I couldn’t tell.” Decker ran his thumb across her bottom lip then placed the pad in his mouth just far enough to swipe the tip with his tongue. “What flavor did I just enjoy?”

“Passion Fruit.” She winked before hopping in her car and blowing him a kiss.

Chapter Twelve

Happy Face Pancakes

“HOW YA FEELING, Ror?” April spoke to her friend while driving home from the gym on Tuesday afternoon.

“I definitely feel better than I did last night and this morning.” Rori still sounded weak, but at least she was able to speak, which was better than the partial conversation April had had with her that morning. Nothing said close friends like listening to someone vomiting on the phone. “Uhh, I’m so sorry about this morning, chica. I can’t even imagine what that sounded like, but if it was even a quarter as bad as the real deal, then blech… I owe you big time.”

“Stop it.” April laughed. “You don’t owe me anything. I called you out sick—it was no big deal. Clearly you weren’t able to make that call on your own. My God, it sounded like there was an alien invasion going on inside you.” Just the thought of the early morning call had April’s stomach roiling. “Do you think it was a twenty-four-hour bug?”

The sound of Rori’s snort made April laugh again. “Twenty-four-hour bug, my ass. I probably got food poisoning last night from the fool my mother set me up with. She thinks just because he’s cute, he’ll be a class act. She thinks if she gives me something nice, I’ll forget about all she took from me when she uprooted me from my family in Los Angeles and brought me here.”

The torment in her friend’s voice was hard to miss, and it made April sad that in the years she and Rori were friends, Rori still hadn’t let go of the resentment she held toward her mom.

“Umm, so why do you think”—April bit back a giggle—“the fool gave you food poisoning?”

Rori heaved a loud sigh. “Because God spent too much time on the guy’s looks and forgot to fill his head with anything but air. Seriously, don’t laugh, April.”

The minute April heard the grin in her friend’s voice, she started shaking her head. If there was anything she knew for a fact, it was that Aurora Velez could tell an entertaining story. Rori explained how in trying to impress her, Larry, the cute guy her mother had met while he was scooping dog poop at the park (which just so happened to be his full-time job), decided to
impress
her by taking her to a restaurant where she’d feel at
home
. While the small Cuban place only had a one-star rating, he claimed it would be perfect for her.

“Wait,” April interrupted, “you’re Mexican.”

“Why, yes, I am, April. Thank you for pointing that out.”

Uh oh, when sarcastic Rori comes out to play, no one is safe.
April bit the insides of her cheeks so as not to interrupt her friend’s story again.

“When I nicely explained that same thing to Larry, he said, ‘Isn’t it all essentially the same? Let’s eat.’”

“Oh my fucking God! Rori, did you slap him? Kick him? What did you do?”

“What did I do?” Rori huffed. “I went against every instinct that my gut shouted, begging me to leave, but I stayed. I figured it wasn’t right for me to judge the man based on his job any more than for him to assume all Latinos were the same. So I calmly gave a simple explanation on the huge difference between Cubans and Mexicans while we waited for our food.”

“Okay,” April asked, infusing as much hope as she could in the next question, “how was the conversation once you cleared that up?”

“Ha, the conversation turned to shit. Literally. I sat there and listened to him talk about his poop-scooping business for twenty minutes, April.” Exacerbation ebbed from Rori’s tone. “No joke, he got into detail about the different smells, textures, and colors of doodie. He even told me some story of how he saved a dog’s life by telling its owner that the canine’s poop smelled strange. Ended up the pooch had cancer, and now Larry thinks he’s the high priest of poo.” When April couldn’t hold the laughter back another minute, Rori joined in. “You know I couldn’t make this stuff up, right?”

“Oh my God,” April gasped. Thankfully she’d just pulled into the parking lot of Elijah’s day care center, because her eyes were filled with tears as the hilarity consumed her. “Okay, wait…” She pulled in a breath. “What did any of
that
have to do with your puking your guts up for ten hours?”

“Oh, please. Whoever gave that restaurant one star was being generous,” Rori said flatly. “It didn’t matter if I was Mexican, Cuban, or Martian, that food was disgusting. It tasted like shit… come to think of it, Larry loved it. Go figure. It looked the same coming up as it did going down, you know?”

April swallowed hard, doing her best not to picture what her friend was describing. “Oh, honey. I’m really sorry you had such a bad night. But I’m glad you aren’t sick-sick, because I’d hate for you to miss Thursday.”

“April Maddox, it wouldn’t matter if I needed to come to Danny’s on Main with a barf bucket and an intravenous line, I wouldn’t miss meeting Super-Hot-Gym-Guy for the world.”

April grinned at the memory of Rori’s reaction when she’d informed her that Decker would be joining the celebration on Thursday night. Ecstatic didn’t begin to cover it. “Aww,” April teased, “you’re the best friend a girl could ever want. That said, I gotta hang up with you and go get my boy. It’s Tuesday, remember?”

“Ahh, IHOP night,” Rori confirmed, having joined in a time or two on the weekly tradition April and Elijah had started when Eli was only a year old.

April nodded, and a kernel of warmth spread through her chest. She loved IHOP night; there weren’t many things better than fluffy pancakes, sticky syrup, and her little boy. Well, maybe she could come up with a couple of things—Decker’s sexy face flashed through her mind. He hadn’t made it to the gym that day, but from their earlier texts, she’d known it was a possibility. Still, she missed him, and that was just as scary as it was exciting. But it had nothing to do with pancakes, and that was where her focus needed to be.

“All right, Ror. I’ll try to call you later, but if not, I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Eat a pancake and give my boy a sticky kiss for me. Love you.”

“You got it, and back atcha.”

* * *

“HEY, MOM, THANK you so much for picking Charlie up from the after-school program for me.” Decker’s phone was clutched between his shoulder and his ear as he scrubbed the day’s grime from his hands. “This job is just one cluster-fuck after another.” He swiped the horse-hair brush over his fingernails in an effort to remove the stubborn black gunk that refused to rinse off with soap and water alone. “It would help if the person writing the checks and the two guys showing up every damn day to ‘oversee’ the work being done were on the same fucking page. Or better yet, if the ‘helpers’ didn’t come at all, being as though they do nothing but get in the way.”

Every so often, Decker came across clients who were fellow tradesmen. While he respected their opinions, it never failed that those clients were unable to step back and let Decker and his men do the job they were hired to do. Nearly one hundred percent of the time, that led to more harm than good. The person footing the bill was the one who had gone through the entire process with Ford and the architects. That same person had also met with Decker to discuss various options and issues. Often times, once the papers were signed, the “money man” stepped back and the job began, but there were occasions when the financer sent in his own person/people to “keep an eye” on the progress. The current job fell into that category, making the past three weeks not just a challenge but semi-unproductive. He’d already asked the men kindly to leave the property, but they’d returned. Now it was time to discuss with Ford about having the two men permanently banned from the site until the work was completed.