Steel Lust (14 page)

It did not surprise Joy that Love had noticed those
differences between her and the rest of her family. She was creative, kind and
lived up to her namesake by loving freely and generously, but Joy didn’t know
anyone who was more thoroughly wrapped up in her looks than her youngest
sister.

“Why didn’t you tell me she knows, Mama? It would have saved
everyone so much time and worry.”

Mama smiled a knowing half-smile. “You and Sunny would have
smothered her with trying to overcompensate if you knew she knew, and she
didn’t want that.”

She couldn’t argue with her on that. The drama queen ran
strong through all of them. And while other sisters might have rubbed it in
that they didn’t have the same father, Joy and Sunny would have spoiled her
worse than she was already spoiled.

“Does Daddy know she knows?” she asked tentatively.

“Yes, but only because I told him. She’s never spoken to him
about it.”

Joy closed her eyes and laughed quietly at the irony of it
all. “Can’t we just have a family meeting and get it all out in the air? It
would make life so much easier.”

“Don’t you dare tell either of your sisters about this. Or
your father. It’s over.”

“So we’re all just supposed to go around the rest of our
lives keeping this huge secret—” She stopped and raised her hands when her
mother gave her the face that said she was pushing her luck. “All right. Fine.
I won’t say anything.”

Her mother blew her a kiss across the table, then stood and
started clearing their dishes. “Enough about the past. Tell me about now. I
want to know about that gorgeous man you’re seeing.”

Joy covered her aching eyes with her hands. She hadn’t
talked to him for the past two days for the same reason she hadn’t gotten her
mother’s calls—she was ignoring her phone. They’d talked a couple of times over
the week after he left, but something had changed. Something she hadn’t known
if she should try to fix.

“I don’t know if there’s much to tell, Mama,” she lied.

Mama put the dishes in the sink and came back to the table
frowning.

“I thought he just spent a whole week here. You did nothing
for a week?”

Joy blushed and her mother didn’t miss it.

“Well, maybe you didn’t do anything you can tell your Mama,”
Mama said, collecting the silverware, her expression both coy and knowing.

“We’ve had some fun, but I think it’s going to end soon,”
Joy said, her heart breaking with each word she spoke. “I’m too old for him.”

That earned her a “don’t be ridiculous” eye roll. “I only
met him once at Love’s gallery showing, but it did not seem like he thought you
were too old.”

“We’d only just met that day. What did he know?”

Her mother
tsked
in disapproval. “Does he make you
feel old?”

Joy smoothed her hands over her unkempt ponytail. “No.”

That knowing light was still twinkling brightly. “How does
he make you feel?”

Like she was half her age and still had the world at her
feet and her entire future ahead of her. Like she was the most fascinating
creature on the planet. Like she’d never known passion until that first kiss
they’d shared on the back stairs of the art gallery.

“He makes me feel amazing, Mama.”

Her mother’s wide, beautiful smile brightened. “Then your
age means nothing.”

Joy shook her head. “He’s going on the road with his band
this summer. I’ll lose him to someone else. Or many someone elses.”

Mama sat and took Joy’s hand in hers.

“So you’ve convicted him before he’s committed the crime.”

That made Joy smile, then laugh. “You have a good point.”

“Of course I do.” Mama squeezed her fingers and released
her. “You have to give him a chance. Your father likes him.”

Now that was saying something. He’d never liked anyone she’d
dated before. The only reason he’d liked Sunny’s husband Greg was because he’d
mistakenly judged his formerly geeky appearance and thought he wasn’t a threat
to his daughter’s purity.

Love simply never brought men home to be subjected to his
disapproval.

“Really?” There was no hiding the skepticism in her voice.

“He keeps asking when you’re going to bring him around so
they can jam.”

Knowing that relieved a huge amount of pressure that had
been sitting on her chest.

“I think Leonardo just might die when he hears that.”

Mama tucked a stray lock of Joy’s hair behind her ear. “So
you’ll invite him?”

Joy sighed and nodded.

“Age does not mean anything if he is the right man, and not
all rock stars are unfaithful. What you’re feeling for him might be making you
feel unsure of yourself right now, but if you give him time he will show you
he’s worthy of your love. Trust yourself. You’ll make the right choice because
you are a smart woman.”

Joy took her mother’s hand back and laid it against her
cheek. “Thank you.”

“So you’re going to keep him a little while longer?”

Hopefully a lot longer than that, but she was going to need
to hurry to make it up to him. “I’m going to try.”

“Good.” Mama winked. “Because I would love some blue-eyed
grandchildren.”

Joy let her head drop to the table with a heavy thunk. “Oh,
Mama.”

Leo hadn’t heard from Joy in three days. In the week since
he’d been home they’d only talked on the phone twice—once after he’d sent her
flowers and another time when she’d called in the middle of the night just to
say good night.

He’d been able to sense she was still put out by what he’d
done at the bar, but he wasn’t sorry. He hadn’t been able to figure out how to
bring it up again to make it right either, so he’d come home with the issue
unresolved.

“Goddamn motherfucking asshole Frenchman.”

Leo hated to admit it, but Eva barging into his office was a
welcome distraction, even if it did look as if she were about to blow a gasket.

“Oz isn’t French. His father was French.”

She fixed him with a wicked glare. “Really?”

He blinked and swallowed a smile. “What did he do now?”

She paced the short length of his small office. “He’s got
that skank-whore Liz Miller in his room. I just know he’s fixing that
stupid-ass rose tattoo she made me put on her, but he threw me out before I
could ask what was going on.”

“Oz the Great and Calm
threw
you out of his room?” he
asked, skeptical.

She slid him a sideways glance. “Well, he didn’t exactly
throw
me out, but he got up and blocked her so I couldn’t see what he was doing
and backed me out of the room. He shut the door in my face and locked it, the
fucker.”

Leo blinked once. Twice. “So, wait…are you angry because he
threw you out or because he’s fixing the tattoo?”

Her eyes narrowed to deadly slits.

“Which you don’t know if that’s what he’s really doing since
he didn’t let you stay in the room.” Pushing her buttons was just too much fun
to resist.

Her nostrils flared. “Are you siding with him?” she asked
with deadly venom.

He wanted to laugh but he knew her roundhouse kick was
faster than his reflexes.

“No, of course not. Asshole Frenchman,” he grumbled
indulgently. “How dare he.”

“That’s more like it.” She flounced into his lap and threw
an arm around his neck. “Why are you so gloomy today?”

He closed his eyes when she tucked his hair behind his ears.

“I think I messed up with Joy.”

She rested her forehead on his and sighed. “Love is such a
pain in the ass, isn’t it? You and I should just forsake all others and get
married. I’m sure I could learn to love you as more than a brother some day.”

He lifted his head and looked at her with renewed interest.
“Have we come full circle to the real reason that Oscar drives you crazy? You
crushin’ on the Oz man?”

She opened her mouth to probably eat his head off, but there
was a soft knock and the unlatched door swung open. Leo watched Joy look from
him to Eva and back.

“Am I interrupting?” she asked.

“Yes,” Eva answered.

“No,” Leo corrected, but Joy was already turning away. He
dumped Eva onto her feet. “That’s Joy you dingbat.”

“Oh shit,” she whispered, getting out of his way.

“No kidding.” He brushed past her and hurried around his
desk.

He stepped into the hallway, but she was already close to
the end, heading at a fast clip for the lobby. He called her name but she
didn’t stop so he jogged toward her, almost taking out a client coming out of
Pete’s room, calling her name a second time.

As he reached the end of the hall Eva issued a battle cry
from behind him.

“I suggest you stop,” she yelled, her voice rising high
above the din. “Now.”

Everyone in the lobby stopped, including Joy, who whipped
around so fast her long ponytail swung around in a wide arc and wrapped around
her neck for a moment. She trained a vicious look on Eva and Leo held Joy by
the shoulders as he put himself bodily between them.

Jamie came out of the hallway that led to his room, peeling
off the black nitrile gloves he wore when he tattooed. Oz stepped up next to
him a split second later. They both knew what it meant when Eva raised her
voice that way.

“Come back in the office with me,” Leo said quietly, aware
that everyone was looking at them. “Please,” he added, turning as he got an arm
around her waist.

“I’ve got this,” Leo assured Jamie and Oz, giving Eva a
narrow-eyed look as he passed her on the way back to his office.

She gave him a lopsided smile and a wink. “She stopped,
didn’t she?”

He tightened the hold he had on Joy when she moved to break
free, possibly to kill Eva, and looked at Agnes. “Make sure no one else comes
back?”

She gave him a wide-eyed but amused nod.

“I’m so stupid,” Joy whispered the moment the door was
closed.

He locked it for good measure. “That was not what you’re
thinking.”

She turned slowly, but instead of the fire he was expecting,
he only saw sadness in her eyes. “I’m sorry I showed up out of the blue,” she
told him. “I should have known better than to think that maybe this thing of
ours had become exclusive.”

“There’s no ‘become’ about it. I’ve been straight with you
from day one, Joy. I was not seeing anyone when we got involved and there
hasn’t been anyone else since.”

She crossed her arms and took a step back when he moved
toward her.

“I know I was a bitch to you the last time you were there.
This is my fault.”

One more step back in the small space of the room and she’d
be trapped against a filing cabinet in the corner. Since he was blocking access
to the door the only other place to go was behind his desk, and she’d really be
stuck if she wedged herself back there.

“You’re not listening to me. That was Eva. I’ve told you
about Eva.”

“Jamie’s sister?” Her eyes got a little wide as her back
touched the wooden filing cabinet. “The one you’ve said is one of your best
friends?”

He nodded and took another step. Her spicy clover scent was
going to his head.

“Then what was she doing sitting in your lap?”

“She’s been sitting in my lap since she was a baby—to play,
to tell me stories, to cry when she needs to cry. It’s what she does.”

Her nostrils flared. “I don’t like it.”

He pressed his lips together to keep from smiling. “Well
that’s going to be a problem because I’m not going to ask her to stop.” He put
his hands against the front of the cabinet on either side of her head. “I’ve
missed you.”

She braced her hands on his chest, stopping him as he leaned
in close.

“I owe you an apology about that,” she whispered.

That caught his attention. “Say again?”

She sighed and turned away, her cheeks going a little rosy.
“It turns out Love knows about her father. Bruce never had anything on me.”

If he hadn’t already had himself braced upright, the rush of
elation would have sent him staggering.

“It never mattered whether or not you called his bluff, he
wouldn’t have been telling anyone in my family anything they don’t already
know.”

“Joy,” he whispered, feeling her relax slightly. “There’s no
way you could have known that at the time. You were right to be afraid and
angry with me. I’ve been killing myself trying to figure out how to make things
right between us again.”

She shook her head. “I still don’t know if he’s going to let
this go.” She looked away and drew in a deep breath. “He knows things about my
past. He might tell you.”

He touched a finger under her chin and she looked up.

“Do the things you know about my past affect the way you
feel about me?”

She took another deep breath, her eyes damp. “No.”

“Do you want to tell me before he does?”

She hesitated.

“I’ll listen if you do, but I’m okay with not knowing if you
don’t.” He touched the tip of his thumb to her bottom lip. “Joy, as far as I’m
concerned the slate was wiped clean for both of us the day we met. You and I
started the moment you walked through the shop doors. No sooner. No later.”

Her gorgeous, multicolored eyes were wide open and
vulnerable as they searched his. “I’m afraid of you going on the road this
summer.” She spoke so quietly his heart ached with every word. “For the first
time in my life I’m worried about whether or not the man I’m seeing is seeing
other people when he’s not with me.”

He tested her by leaning in a little closer and she let him.

“I’ve already told you there is no one else,” he said,
angling his head for a kiss.

“You don’t want to be free to play with all the young,
nubile girls that are going to throw themselves at you this summer?”

God, he was so in love with her he could have floated to the
ceiling.

He drew back and met her eyes.

“Why would I want nubile girls when I have access to the
goddess herself?”

She slid her hands up his chest and laced her fingers
together at the back of his neck. “You say the damndest things, Leonardo
Jones.”

“Come on the road with me. Work on your book while I’m
working, sleep next to me at night.” He touched his mouth to hers lightly. “I
want you with me.”

She shook her head, took his face in her hands and made him
look at her.

Her eyes were still so sad. “I might be able to tag along
now and then, but I can’t come with you for the whole tour.”

“Well then that’s the way it’s going to have to be.” He
wrapped his arms around her waist and drew her body against his. “Think of how
much fun it’s going to be, seeing each other again after being apart so long.”

She arched an eyebrow at him and the sadness slipped away.

“You mean the way things are now?”

He backed up a little and stroked her silky cheek with the
backs of his fingers. “I talked to the guys today about possibly opening a
second Lust for Life in Chicago.”

She dropped her arms and stilled and her expression went
unreadable.

“Nothing has been decided,” he added before she could
respond, “but we’re staffed to capacity and getting calls all the time from
tattoo artists who want to work with Jamie and Oz. We could easily open a
second store, especially in a bigger city.”

She swallowed hard. “What about Grind? What about your
house?”

“If touring this summer turns out to be our big break
that’ll be amazing, but the store and the band and the house are beside the
point, Joy. I want to be where you are.” He took her face in his hands.
“Whether I’m out on the road or piercing nubile girls’ bellybuttons all day, I
want to go home to you when it’s time to go home.”

Her eyes went soft and her hands drifted up to rest on his
hips.

“I love you, Joy. I love your strength and your fight and
your fire. I love every soft, devastatingly feminine thing about you. You are
the only woman I know who has the power to make me feel like a god of man one
moment and vulnerable without you the next.” He touched his lips to hers
lightly. “I love all of it.”

She slipped her trembling fingertips under the hem of his
shirt.

“How solid is the lock on that door?” she asked.

His blood went hot and his cock, which had admittedly been
half-hard since he’d had to chase her down and drag her back to his office,
went completely stiff and aching.

“It’s solid. Even if someone got past Agnes, they wouldn’t
make it past Eva.”

She arched an eyebrow at him even as her hands slid higher
up his chest.

“Eva who was just so lovely to me?”

He grinned and attempted to look sheepish. “I’m sure she’s
sorry.”

But Leo didn’t want to talk about Eva. He covered Joy’s
mouth with his, pressed her body into the filing cabinet behind her with a
force that sent the stack of papers on top sliding off the side. Her hands were
all over him—stroking his chest, running over his back, sliding between them to
cradle his cock through his jeans.

They parted long enough for her to push his shirt off over
his head.

“Tell me the walls are soundproof.” Her tongue came out and
touched her upper lip and he nearly lost his footing.

“I have no idea,” he said with a grin. “I’ve never fucked in
my office before.”

She shoved both of them away from the cabinet and steered
him backward toward his desk chair, her hands unfastening his belt.

“So I get to christen your place of business the way you
christened mine?”

She pulled all the buttons of his fly open and shoved his
jeans down to midthigh.

His breath came out in a rush as his hard cock fell free.

“Seems like a fair trade to me,” he said and fell into his
desk chair when she gave him a gentle push.

She hiked up her skirt and slipped her panties down her legs
and he shoved his hands in his pants pocket, praying like hell he had a condom.
He did. He rolled it on and reached under the chair to drop the seat down so
she could straddle him easily.

“I love you,” she breathed as she directed the head of his
cock to her cunt and slid over him—hot, tight and soaking wet with arousal.

Leo just about choked on his next breath.

“I love you,” she repeated, raising and lowering to take him
deeper.

He was beyond words, beyond speaking when she seated herself
all the way onto him. Her back arched and she swiveled her hips in a tight
circle.

She gasped and her pussy squeezed him tight. Leo could tell
this wasn’t going to take long for either of them. He held her ass in both
hands to support her as she rode him, careful not to come down too hard or fast
so the sound of their bodies coming together wouldn’t give them away, just in
case someone was listening outside the door.

He started to push into her from below in quick thrusts and
she covered her mouth with one hand to stifle the gasp that tried to escape her
throat. Part of him wanted her to scream. A bigger part of him wanted her to
scream his name so the entire fucking shop would know how wild his woman could
be when she came. Another part was enjoying the stolen moment way too much.