“Can’t,” he grunts. “Hold on.”
He throws his head back, showing me a gorgeous corded neck, and bellows my name as everything comes to a standstill and he thrusts deeply, then stops. I can feel his cock pulsing inside me, and color rises to my cheeks when I realize he’s coming. He’s coming inside me, because of me. That feeling makes everything inside my body feel warm. I can’t take my eyes off him as I watch his face go through all the motions of pleasure, from his jaw tightening to it suddenly going slack.
God. Yes.
He finally looks down at me, and his eyes are flaring with something intense. He pulls out slowly and reaches down, cupping my cheek in his rugged, rough hand. “I’m going to get something to clean you up, okay?”
I nod, unable to find my words after that amazing sex.
He pulls his jeans up and disappears out of the office. A moment later he returns with a clean, damp towel. He cleans me up and my heart falls a little more in love with this man.
Love?
I blink. Love. Why would I say love? I don’t love Tazen Watts … do I? No, of course not. I barely even like him. Yes, I’m infatuated by him, but it’s against my better judgment, and I certainly don’t love him. If I’m being honest, I know that I could love him and that scares the hell out of me.
“Hey.”
I jerk and look over to see Tazen staring at me.
“You okay?”
I nod, biting my bottom lip. His eyes drop to that and his jaw gets tense again. “Keep biting that lip and I might just have to see how many rounds I can go before the guys get here.”
My cheeks grow pink and he smiles. “Angel is blushing, that surprises me.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re always so tough.”
“Yeah,” I say, pushing up off the desk. “Well, don’t get used to it.”
He chuckles.
Stepping closer he takes my hands and helps me stand. “How’s your head?”
“It feels fine now,” I say honestly, because it does. I have a slight burn in my forehead but there’s no pounding.
“Do you want me to take you to the hospital?”
“Do I need to be stitched?”
He shakes his head. “No, it looked worse than it is. It’s just a small split, but nothing that won’t heal normally.”
I nod. “Then I’ll be fine.”
He narrows his eyes. “If you have any problems at all, you tell me, yeah?”
“Yeah, Tazen.”
He reaches out, curling his fingers around the back of my neck, forcing me to step closer to him. He keeps his big, warm hand there as he speaks. “I’ve wanted that since I first laid eyes on you, Quinn. I know I fucked up taking this garage from you, and since then we’ve done nothing but taunt each other, but I truly am fucking sorry for hurting you.”
“I know you are,” I say in a soft voice.
“It’s time for it to stop. If you’re still interested, I’ll let you step in more with the cars, but no more pranks.”
“I agree.”
He nods, leaning down and kissing my lips softly. “I got a car to get cracking on. You good?”
I nod, staring into his beautiful eyes. “Yeah.”
“Get dressed and I’ll make sure no one comes in here. Come out when you’re ready.”
He turns and walks out of the office and I quickly pull my clothes back on. I find a spare pair of coveralls, pull them on and then tie my hair up. My body is still alive and so every movement reminds me of the intense pleasure I just experienced with Tazen. I’m sure I will feel that all day, it was that good.
When I’m ready, I head out into the garage. All the guys are there, starting their day. Kellan and Rick both stare at me as I go past, and their eyes widen. “What the hell happened to your head?” Rick asks.
I give him an ugly glare. “Like you don’t already know.”
He narrows his eyes. “I don’t know.”
So Tazen worked alone? I find that hard to believe.
“It was a prank that went wrong.”
Kellan’s eyes go big. “Shit, are you hurt?”
“I was. Where’s Tazen?”
“He had to go out to pick up some bits for this car, he’ll be a few hours.”
Great.
He does a runner as soon as he’s fucked me. That makes my chest feel tight, but I shove it aside and turn to Rick. “What am I on today?”
“Tazen said you can help me out today, you up for it?”
My chest swells. He’s giving me a chance to work on something bigger. Maybe things aren’t as bad as I first thought. He’s putting some faith in me.
And for that, I swear I will make Tazen Watts proud of me.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
“Fuck!” Rick barks, throwing his spanner down.
I lift my head from the engine I’m helping piece together, and see Rick storming across the workshop.
“What’s going on?” I ask as he passes me.
“That piece of shit is refusing to start. I fucking give up.”
He charges outside and I can’t help myself. I stand and walk over to the engine that Kellan, Toby and Drasco are all standing around, studying. Rick has let me help on it all day, but he hasn’t let me do any hard work. I guess he’s afraid I’ll stuff it up.
“You connect everything right?” Drasco asks.
“Yeah,” Toby says, scratching his head.
“Maybe one of the lines isn’t connecting properly,” Kellan adds.
I stare at all of them and then I stare at the engine. “Have you checked the gas lines?”
Their heads swivel to me. “You’re not allowed to work on these cars, you can help out but Tazen only lets Rick work on them when he’s not here,” Toby points out rudely.
“Well, I’m not touching it, I’m just asking a question.”
“We know what we’re doing,” he snaps.
“Listen, buddy,” I growl, stepping up into his space. “I get it, you don’t want me here, but you don’t get to speak to me like I’m trash. Do it again and you’ll find your balls in a place you really don’t want them to be.”
Drasco snorts and Kellan chuckles. Rick comes charging back in with a phone pressed to his ear. “Yeah, we can’t figure it out and they want to see it running by close of business. Where the fuck are you?”
He’s talking to Tazen.
“Yeah, well, get in here.”
Silence.
“Of course I fucking checked that.”
More silence.
“Whatever, just get back here.”
Rick slams the phone down and glares at me. “You got any ideas?”
His question stuns me, and surprises me so much I open my mouth to answer but nothing comes out. Impatient, Rick shakes his head, clearly too frustrated to wait. Instead, he barks at the guys. “Toby, go and get the plans for this engine. Kellan, check everything again.”
“Give me a minute, I might be able to help,” I say, thinking hard about what the problem might be.
Rick is obviously finished giving me my chance. This pisses me off. Toby and Kellan rush off and Rick starts talking to Drasco, so I slip in behind him and study the engine. I run my fingers over all the pieces, checking to see if they’re connected right. I check the gas lines, and they seem to be correct. I look at all the fuses, and they seem fine. While Rick and Drasco are chatting, I slide underneath the engine, and mess around with the battery. Then, clear as day, I see the problem.
The starter connection is broken. With a snort, I slide out to see Drasco and Rick bickering about something, still not having noticed I’m under the engine. I find the correct tooling I need and slide back under the car to fix what is quite simple. I tinker carefully, not wanting to cause any more problems. I’m just about finished when I hear, “What the fuck?”
I ignore that and do the last adjustments on the connections, and then slide out to see Tazen, Rick, Drasco, Toby and Kellan all staring down at me. I stand up, slap my spanner into Tazen’s hand and then turn, flicking the engine over. It roars to life. I face them again with a smile. “You’re welcome.”