Lucky 7 Bad Boys Contemporary Romance Boxed Set (16 page)

All those things combined to give him that kind of bad boy air she had first noticed.

Then there were his teasing comments about her being a princess which probably had the ring of truth in them, she suspected. She hoped that after today, she had dispelled some of his thinking on that issue. After all, she was no princess.

She was just someone who worked with her hands every day the same way that he did. Granted, she hoped the artistic twist she brought to her craft elevated it slightly. Just like the artistic vision which Rey had demonstrated made him something more.

It was certainly part of the reason he had made his business a success. The other part, namely being business-like and prompt, remained to be seen. The project at the restaurant was still too new for her to tell. Somehow she sensed he wouldn't disappoint her with either the quality of his work or his dedication to the project. His references had all raved about both. Plus Bianca had heard nothing but glowing terms about Rey from her sister-in-law Maya.

In the back of her mind, she suspected that Maya had some ulterior motives in introducing her to Rey, but she wasn't about to complain that Maya had been successful.

Bianca closed her eyes, the effects of the long hard day starting to drag at her. Rolling to the side, she grabbed one of the pillows and tucked it against her side, resting her thigh across it. She breathed in deeply, smelled the faint, lingering scent of Rey's cologne and smiled until sleep claimed her, pulling her into another world.

* * *

"Dream of me," Bianca whispered against his lips as she started to open the door to her apartment, but Rey wasn't about to leave. Not just yet.

He grasped her hand as it rested on the door knob and helped her close the door.

"Can dreams possibly be better than this?" he asked a second before he took her mouth with his and turned her so her back was pressed against the door.

The urgency of his kiss obliterated whatever thoughts she might have had of asking him to leave. He kissed her over and over, plunged his tongue into her mouth, and she answered him, meeting his desire with her tongue and lips and the press of her body.

He was shaking, his body almost painfully hard as he drove her up against the door. She moaned, grasped the back of his neck and lifted her legs around his waist, encircling him.

"Rey," she said huskily against his mouth as he walked with her to the sofa and laid her down.

He broke apart from her only long enough to remove the small tank top that had been tempting him with visions of the wild-patterned bra beneath all night long. With the top gone, the animal print was revealed and awakened the beast inside him.

Without a moment of pause, he undid the zipper of her jeans, pulled them off to reveal a matching set of panties. He covered her body with his and inched his hand down to skim his thumb across her center.

Bianca shook against him, reached down, and cupped his erection through the denim of his jeans. . .

Rey bolted upright in bed, his breathing harsh and his arousal painful. He wiped at the sheen of sweat on his forehead and rolled over, pressing against his mattress in the hopes of quelling his desire. Gritting his teeth, he made a mental list of everything he had to get done the following morning to distract himself from thoughts of Bianca.

Call waste company to empty the Dumpster.

Confirm delivery of the first shipment of lumber.

Set up work areas and crews.

Thought after thought churned through his head, including that he had to call Alex and have a man-to-man with him until finally, the last lingering thought flitted through his brain before sleep claimed him.

Make love to Bianca.

* * *

Rey drove himself hard on Monday morning, suspecting that after yesterday and last night, it would be late morning before Bianca made it back to the restaurant to continue with her work in the kitchen.

By the time John-John, his second-in-command, promptly showed up at nine, Rey was ready to bolt, knowing he had a lot of things to settle before he saw Bianca again after what had happened the night before.

He left John-John detailed instructions on what he wanted accomplished by the end of the day and escaped to the safety of his office where he scheduled everything that needed to be done for Bianca's job. He placed more orders for the necessary supplies, haggling with his various distributors for the lowest possible prices as he had promised Bianca. He finished by late morning and left the office to check on the other jobs he had going on at other locations.

At each site he had a man in charge he trusted to oversee both his men and the independent contractors who did the specialty work like the plumbing and electrical.

By early afternoon he was done, but instead of heading to the restaurant, he ran by his apartment, showered, and then drove down to Edison to see his sister, Daisy.

She was just getting out of a meeting with her newlywed husband, Maya, and TJ, their other partner, when he arrived at their offices.

Brad gave him a brotherly hug before he and TJ left him alone with Maya and Daisy in Daisy's office.

"How's my favorite brother doing? Bianca's place giving you trouble?" his ever sharp sister asked, sensing that there was something bothering him.

He glanced at Maya out of the corner of his eye and caught her equally astute gaze studying him. He experienced a moment of sympathy for the men married to these two women. Neither man stood a chance of sneaking anything past either of the women.

"No termites. No pests to speak of, Daze. How's married life?" he asked, although he could see from the radiance pouring off his sister that her personal life was just fine.

"My love life is just great. How's your's? Bianca giving you a hard time?" Daisy asked. She sat on the sofa in her office and patted the seat next to her, which Maya quickly accepted.

Rey knew he had no choice but to make himself comfortable in the chair opposite them for the inquisition he was sure would follow. Surprisingly, he wasn't going to avoid it.

"My love life. . ." he began and grinned since he could finally say that he had the beginnings of a love life. "Bianca and me. We went out last night."

Daisy eyed him critically and then shot a quick glance at Maya. "I say he has it bad."

Maya chimed in, "Very bad, which is very good."

Rey joined them in the laughter that followed, pleased by Maya's comment. "I hope it can be good between me and Bianca, but we really don't know each other yet. It seems like it's too soon and too fast."

Daisy raised her hand to silence him. "Bro, you know Bianca is not the kind of girl you mess with, right? As for too fast, I hope you took precautions."

"Precautions weren't necessary yet, sis," he confessed.

Both women breathed a sigh of relief which pissed him off a little. "Thanks for the vote of confidence, you two."

"Rey, it's not that we don't have confidence in you, we do," Daisy began and glanced at Maya for her confirmation. When her friend nodded, Daisy continued. "Once you decide Bianca's what you want, we both know it’ll be really hard for her to turn you down."

Rey leaned his elbows on his knees and grasped his hands, looking down at them as he considered his sister's words for a moment before asking, "Even if I tell her about my past? About the time I spent in prison? What if I decide not to tell her?"

There was silence for a second before Maya replied. "You owe it to yourself and to Bianca to tell her and let her make her own decisions. You can't start a relationship based on a lie."

"It's already started and I haven’t told her, Maya. So what do I do now?" he questioned, although he knew the answer even before his sister answered.

"You tell her before it goes any farther."

* * *

By the time Rey returned to the restaurant, Bianca had left for the day. He regretted missing her for a number of reasons, chief amongst them that he had worked up the courage to tell her about his past.

After checking that all was going well at the site, he headed home and tried to reach Bianca on the phone, hoping that he could drop by her place and they could talk. Unfortunately, there was no answer on her phone and all he could do was leave a short voice message.

“I missed you today. I hope we can see each other soon. There's something we need to talk about.”

* * *

Bianca returned from her meeting with Anthony and finally noticed the red icon on her smartphone warning that she had a message. She'd had it on silent during her meeting.

She listened to Rey's short message, taking heart from his words that he missed her, but a little worried about his almost curt comment that they had to have a talk.

She hadn't thought it possible that she could miss him after only a day apart, but she did and it was a scary thought.

She knew so little about him and again she sensed that there was something Rey seemed worried about. She couldn't imagine that if Maya thought Rey was a bad guy, she would have recommended him.

But then again, Maya had been talking on a contractor level, not as a lover. She had no doubt that was where they were headed. And she liked and trusted Daisy, Maya's best friend and partner. But then again, Daisy was Rey's sister and would have a soft spot in her heart for her brother.

Bianca was confused, and as she had done so many times in her life before, she knew there was one person she could count on: her brother Alex. She was supposed to be meeting Daisy and him tomorrow to help plan a surprise baby shower for Maya. Dialing her smartphone, she arranged to meet him an hour earlier for lunch so they would have time to talk.

When she arrived at Alex's office the next day, he was just finishing up with his last patient of the morning, an adorable little girl, close to about two Bianca guessed. The little girl was hugging Alex and giving him a kiss as he handed her a lollipop under the watchful gaze of her mother.

Bianca couldn't help but notice that the mom made a point of giving her brother the once over and seemed disappointed when she noticed the wedding band on Alex's finger.

"Hey, bro! How's my favorite newlywed brother," she made a point of saying within earshot of the apparently single mom, who turned away quickly and hurried her daughter out of the office's lobby.

Alex laughed and slipped his arm through hers. "That wasn't too obvious, now was it?"

"No more obvious than the eyeball she was giving you," she explained in her defense.

Chuckling, Alex led Bianca to his private office where he grabbed his coat and then ushered her out the back door to the parking lot. "So, sis. Where are we headed for our quick bite and long talk?"

"Harold's isn't all that far away, right?" she asked, remembering the excellent deli where they had eaten several months ago.

Alex glanced at his watch and nodded. "We should be able to avoid the worst of the lunch time crowd. But only if you agree to share one of their ginormous sandwiches."

“I couldn't eat one on my own even if I wanted to,” she said, recalling the overstuffed and oversized items for which the restaurant was known.

He unlocked his Jeep and Bianca slipped into the passenger's side. Alex buckled into the driver's side and pulled out of the lot. Within a few minutes, they were at the restaurant, but they had also driven past a couple of places they could have walked to.

"Doesn't anyone walk in the ‘burbs?"

"I normally do walk to one of the local places, but since we have to meet Daisy by noon, we couldn't take the time." Alex went on to explain that Maya and Brad were at a morning meeting with a client. Brad had volunteered to keep Maya out of the office until at least one thirty so that they would have time to talk about the shower without her finding out.

"That's really nice of Brad. He and Daisy seem dependable and steady," Bianca replied as they walked into the restaurant and were quickly seated.

"Marriage agrees with the two of them, not that they were very different before," Alex said. "They were just busy trying to avoid the fact that they were in love with one another. It was interesting at times." He finished with a chuckle.

"Not like you and Maya," Bianca said, but it was clearly part question.

Alex's full grin and laugh let her know just how wrong she was. "Even dull, old responsible me and sensible reasonable Maya had our share of interesting times," he replied, and a flush worked over his cheeks. He quickly hid it by picking up the menu and feigning undo interest in the selections.

Bianca made her choice in record time, more interested in continuing the discussion with her brother than what they’d eat for lunch. She hoped to steer it in the direction of Rey and what Alex knew about him.

The waitress helped by efficiently coming over.

Alex agreed to share the large brisket sandwich with her, but added a regular order of fries, not that there was anything regular about the humongous size of their orders.

"Okay, so tell me how interesting it was, but leave out the TMI, please," she said.