5

CHAPTER

Five

I don’t know if you like racing or not, but Twisted Steel has a team and we’re headed out tonight. I wanted to invite you,” Duke said as he poked his head into her office.

Ginger, who’d been draped over Carmella’s feet under the desk, nearly broke something at the sound of Duke’s voice.

Seeing her, he grinned and knelt. “Hey, gorgeous girl.”

Ginger was so excited she shook, making her little bark growls of joy as he scratched behind her ears.

“Unfortunately I think it might be too noisy and dangerous for you,” Duke told the dog.

Carmella loved racing and had been out to the track a few times to watch the Twisted Steel team. It was pretty nice to be invited in person, though.

“I just might be there.” She needed to check on her mother first, and be sure all was well before being out, but it sounded like just the thing.

Duke gave Carmella a lopsided grin and she got a little faint.

“Ginger, you want to hang out with me awhile? I need to root around out back for some stuff,” Duke asked her dog, and obviously Carmella too.

Ginger barked, wagging her tail so hard her entire rear end vibrated.

“No one compares to you, Duke. You’ve spoiled her.” Carmella winked and Duke blushed.

Blushed.

“Well, I’ll be back shortly¸” Duke said as he left with the dog and she tried to pretend it didn’t make her all fluttery. It wasn’t a date. Carmella had noted the people who worked at Twisted Steel also hung out socially a lot. Duke was just involving her like everyone else.

Her first week there had been mainly about learning the ropes and getting people in line with her way of doing things. Asa and Duke left the office stuff to her, which she approved of. The other guys quickly adopted her system of what invoices went where and of what they needed to call to her attention so it wasn’t as hard as it could have been.

The work was something she knew. Her first real job at the age of sixteen had been helping out in the office at her uncle’s shop. He’d pushed her to go on, attend college, go out and be something more than his accounts person.

But that wasn’t what she wanted. Some people had a calling or whatever, but she liked her job. It was a way to get money to pay her bills and that was fine. She didn’t need to be fulfilled by her job.

Though she did need to be fulfilled by her life and that part was a work in progress. Which was one of the reasons she planned to head out to the track that night.

PJ strolled in as Carmella was in the break room grabbing some iced tea.

“Hey you,” PJ said as she came over to hug Carmella. “What’s up today?”

“Just grabbing something to drink. How are you? Down here working or dropping something off?”

“Doing some detail stuff for a motorcycle build.”

“The bike with the hand-tooled leather accents?”

“One and the same. I put in little bits and pieces from the seats and other leather work. If I do say so myself, it’s pretty cool.”

PJ was an artist with her work in much the same way Asa was. They both loved cars and clearly loved one another and it made Carmella happy to see her friend doing so well in every way.

“Excellent. I’ll need to go look at it later before I leave for the day.”

“You going to the track tonight?” PJ asked with faux casualness.

“I was thinking about it. Duke just told me about it a few minutes ago.”

“Oh, he did?”

Carmella rolled her eyes. “You’re so transparent.”

“Please. He’s ridiculously adorable. And the track is full of hot guys if you’re inclined otherwise. Plus Asa will be all involved with his car and stuff so it’ll be nice to have you there.”

“I’ve been before,” Carmella said. “Craig and I have seen you a few times.”

PJ waved a hand at that and the mention of Carmella’s cousin, who was part of PJ’s crowd. “That’s different. Now you’re there with Twisted Steel. There’s food and beer and soda for everyone.”

“Like a cool club?”

PJ leaned closer. “They now have ice cream too. They’re making root beer floats at our tent.”

“Oh, really cool club.” Carmella laughed. “You don’t have to sell me. I love the track and I love ice cream so I’m delighted to combine those while I look at hot men.”

“Well now.” Duke stepped back into the room, the skitter of Ginger’s nails sounding quickly as she came over to check on Carmella.

Her face heated and she wanted to apologize and hide under the desk and burst out laughing. Maybe she could fake something medical and run out of the room.

Instead she squared her shoulders. “Thank you for returning the dog.”

“She’s always happy. Being around her makes you happy too. She’s an excellent dog.”

“Carmella is coming tonight. To the track, I mean. I finished the bike if you want to take a look.” PJ looked around Duke’s body. “See you tonight!”

“She’s happy a lot too.” Duke propped his butt on the edge of her desk so she was unable to pretend away the snowy white spots on his jeans where the denim had worn thin.

He had fantastic legs. Long and lean, like a swimmer or a runner.

“Where’d you go?” he asked softly, almost a tease.

She flicked her gaze from his thigh to his face and got caught up there. The bits of gray mixed in the darker caramel at his temples and a bit in his beard. His eyes, gracious, it was the way the lashes fringed the pale green that made them so gorgeous.

Currently his mouth was working a cocky grin and it worked because he was hot as fuck and he had every reason to be cocky.

“I haven’t gone anywhere,” Carmella answered, though she knew that wasn’t really what he’d been asking.

“You were thinking. Arguing with yourself maybe?”

Well, she’d been thinking about his thigh and his cock and she should have been arguing with herself to stop that but she didn’t bother.

“I bet it was about sex given that blush.”

This was bad. So stupid. Bad. Wrong. All those things, but man, he smelled really good and he made her feel … lighter. As if he saw her without all the baggage she carried around. It was nice he didn’t know Carmella in that context.

Freeing.

And it was really fucking cool to have a man this handsome and charismatic clearly find her attractive and engaging enough to flirt with. They had some major chemistry between them, and while she knew she needed to run screaming, she let herself breathe in a little deeper to sniff him.

“Could be. Or it could be about laundry or grocery shopping.” She smiled and he laughed, standing once more.

“I’ll see you tonight. Since you’ll be looking at hot men, I expect you’ll find me.”

He sauntered out, whistling.

Damn, that ass.

PJ had been right. It was different going to the track now. It had hit her as she’d gotten dressed after work. Tonight she changed into an entire new outfit, whereas when she’d gone before with her cousin, they’d just headed out in whatever they’d worn to work that day.

She wanted to look nice for the people she worked with. Probably Duke more than everyone else. Carmella rolled her eyes at herself in the mirror after she checked her lipstick.

It was just flirting. She could flirt and enjoy herself and not end up like her mom. She was twenty-six years old, far from dead so why live like it?

Carmella had written all that down in a journal and needed to look at it from time to time. But it was true.

A lifetime of caretaking her mother as her mother had deteriorated had kept Carmella wary of most personal relationships. Which had only been underlined when she’d realized her ex was pretty much a carbon copy of every dick her mother had ever been dumped on by.

But it was lonely either having one-night stands or time with her hand and showerhead. Working at Twisted Steel made her happy and she’d decided it was all right to live like a young woman and let herself enjoy herself.

Within moderation, of course. But Duke was attractive and sexy and they had a nice back-and-forth and it made her feel alive and something more than a caregiver.

So she took off, glad for the warm, dry evening, and when she’d pulled into the lot at the track, she’d parked where the other people who worked at Twisted Steel had.

PJ had just been getting out of her car when she caught sight of Carmella.

She gave Carmella a hug and tugged her toward the covered area the Twisted Steel folks hung out at. “So glad you’re here. Asa and Duke came together so I don’t expect to see him for a while.”

“I’m here for root beer floats.”

“Me too. And rings.”

Both women were greeted happily, and before too long they both had a root beer float and a basket of freshly made onion rings on the bench between them as the first racing heats began on the track.

Duke raced in their fastback. Carmella loved the sound of the engine and bet Duke did too.

“I met Duke before I met Asa and I remember thinking how gorgeous he was. He’s a ridiculous flirt and women seem to swoon and sigh in his wake. But he’s not a jerk or a pig,” PJ said to Carmella.

“He’s the kind of gorgeous that makes a girl forget everything else.” He really knew how to flirt. “I feel like a total amateur around him,” Carmella admitted.

“But you’re having fun.” PJ’s brow—the one with the piercing—rose.

“God yes, it’s fun. Still, on a scale of one to ten, being here and letting myself flirt with him is a bad idea in the eleven or twelve range,” Carmella admitted to PJ.

They surged to their feet as Duke raced over the finish line.

“I hear you. So much.” PJ’s gaze roved over the crew at the fastback, looking for Asa, who stood out with his hard-edged good looks.

Once she found him and he’d looked up to wave their way, PJ turned back to Carmella. “But what’s the worst that could happen? It’s just flirting. Even if it was more, it’s not the end of the world, right?”

Carmella couldn’t nurse any grand notions for anything happening with Duke beyond harmless flirting. She knew the score. Knew what Duke was. “I know you and Asa have this amazing thing so you’re love’s cheerleader. But I’m Duke’s employee. If things go wrong, I could lose my job.” Her healthcare, her benefits. Her freedom to make her own choices on her own terms. “I can’t afford it.”

PJ cocked her head. “Do you really think Duke would fire you if you two made out and then moved on? He only looks like a bad boy but he’s truly a nice guy.”

“I think it’s dangerous territory. Regardless of what he is or isn’t.”

“Sounds like you’ve been there,” PJ said. “I’m here if you want to talk about it. Or anything else.”

“Thanks.” Carmella realized how much she’d missed having close friends. “For the record, I don’t think he’s a bad guy. Or that he’d misuse his power to hurt me. But I can’t rely on that. People depend on me.”

PJ thought about it for a bit. “Fair enough. It’s still early days with all of us. You’ll come to trust what you think in time. In any case, if you lost your job, know I’d snatch you up in a hot minute to work for me at Colman Enterprises.”

Carmella goggled at her. “What?”

“What yourself, Carmella. You have the magic. Lottie was good at her job but it was a little loosey-goosey in the office. She let stuff slide. They were all used to that and you came in and you’re tightening things up, organizing. It’s two steps instead of four to do things now. You have a way with the guys at the shop. I have a thriving business and you’d be the perfect person to keep it that way. So. I’m just saying that if you wanted to go a little further than flirting, and if Duke was terrible and fired you, you’d still have a job.”

Carmella let herself relax just a little. Options were always a plus. Not that she planned on flipping on the red light and having Duke over for several bouts of enthusiastic sex at the suggestion she had a job somewhere else.

“Thanks. It’s never a bad thing to be wanted.” Carmella’s gaze slid from PJ to where Duke had just gotten out of the fastback and was talking to Asa.

His helmet was under his arm and he stood in that lanky way of his, all loose and warm. It was deceptive.

She’d seen a glimpse here and there of what lay beneath. He didn’t miss much and she had her doubts he was more than two seconds away from springing into action at any given moment if he needed to be.

“No lie.” PJ patted her arm. “Now, I’m going to head down to the pit when Asa races. Because it’s really hot. You should wander over to where Duke is staring at you. Say hey. Be neighborly.”

Neighborly. Right. Well, he was her neighbor. But she wanted to ride him, not take over a cake. Maybe she could take over a cake and ride him.

Hm.

Or she could feed him cake as she rode him. He would be so inventive. The way women he was involved with had looked at him over the time she’d known him told her the man had to be a champ at sexytimes.

So of course now all Carmella could think, as she locked her attention on him and she found herself headed his way, was of Duke, naked and covered in sweat. And some frosting.

“Nicely done. Congratulations,” Carmella said as she reached him.

“Thank you kindly.” They began to walk toward the crowd. “Not too many people get to drive cars really fast and call it work. Turns out I’m pretty lucky.”

They hadn’t gotten very far before his friends had started to gather around him, plenty of them women looking at his marvelous ass, just waiting for his attention.

But instead of going with them, Duke took Carmella’s elbow. “Walk with me.”

She nodded and let him steer her away from the crowd and toward the quieter area on the other side of the tents housing food and beer.

“Now then.” They paused at a bale of hay with some fabric on it. “I can hear myself think back here.” He’d had a light jacket under an arm and he spread it over the hay and the cloth. “That’ll be easier and probably warmer.”

“Thanks.” It was such a gentlemanly, old-school thing and perfectly Duke.

Duke sat close enough that their thighs touched. “I didn’t expect to see you in the stands tonight,” he said.

“I’m sorry,” Carmella said automatically.

“Hey.” He took her hand. “What for? It’s a good surprise. I knew you were coming, but it was cool to see you up there watching me race. You apologize a lot.”

It kept the peace.

She shrugged. “I’d say I’m sorry, but, uh …”

He laughed and kept her hand. “If you step on my toe, or scratch my door, you can apologize. But not for being there looking so damned good when I got out of the car after winning a race.”

“Oh. Okay.” Carmella clamped her lips against another automatic apology and he noticed, grinning.

“They have burgers here and all, but I’m all out of patience for people and fried food at the moment. Want to escape the madness and grab dinner? I’ve had this totally weird craving for some pancakes and eggs. You in for breakfast for dinner?”

She should say something about how this was odd because they worked together. But he went out with people at the shop all the time, right? So it was cool.

Plus, breakfast sounded really good.

“All right. I’m pretty hungry.”

“I rode in with Asa, you got room for me in your car?”

Boy oh boy, how she went from zero to totally over her head with this man in such a short period of time she wasn’t sure other than his near-perfect charm.

And she guessed she’d get to know him better as they drove to breakfast in her truck. “If you don’t mind dog hair.”

It was like watching this all happening on-screen as he helped her to her feet, called out his good-byes, and steered her to the parking lot.

“Thing is, Carmella.” He paused like he needed to taste his words, savor them even after he’d given them to her. She found herself leaning toward him, wanting more.

One corner of his mouth tipped up and she walked past her truck and had to backtrack. She knew her blush was bright pink. “Oops. I guess I wasn’t paying attention.”

“’ Seventy-seven Ford F150. I’ve been flirting with your truck for the last year.”

“It was my first car,” Carmella told him as he took the keys, and unlocked her door.

He slid in on the passenger side and handed her keys back. “Just like I was about to say back there. There’s no dog hair in this truck. You’re too fastidious for that.”

“There’s a blanket behind the seat where Ginger hangs out.”

He hummed what was probably agreement. But it sounded a little like a come-on. A tiny bit like a sex sound.

She turned the engine over and pulled slowly out of the lot.

“So this was your first car, you said?” Duke continued once she got on the road.

“Yeah. Craig and my uncle bought it for next to nothing and then they cleaned her up and gave her to me for my sixteenth birthday.” It enabled her to get to a job. A job she could keep and pay the rent. If her mother went into one of her dark times, Carmella would have a way to earn a living. Or as her cousin had told her, to come to their house, where she was always welcome.

“It’s handy having lots of mechanics around, huh?”

Headlights shone around him, casting him in shadows that only made him more attractive. More mysterious.

“It’s very handy.” A car meant everything and it was the one thing she always knew she’d have access to once she started working for her uncle’s shop. “I was assuming you meant Beth’s to grab a bite?”

“Sounds perfect.” He leaned back. “You’re pretty close with Craig, huh?”

“Craig is three years older than I am and the youngest of four brothers. I was like the little sister in the group. He’s always been my protector.”

“Right on.”

“You have to tell me where you’re from,” Carmella said. “The accent is killing me.”

“New Hampshire until I was fifteen. Then California. Then Iraq for longer than I cared to be there. When I got out, I ended up out here.”

Duke’s family, newly upper middle class, had ended up in a four-bedroom house with a pool, just three miles from the beach. He’d found a community with the kids he greeted at the beach every morning. There were girls to kiss, waves to surf, and beer to drink.

After the isolation of his life in New Hampshire, Southern California had embraced him and given him a place to fit.

And then, like a dumbass, he’d enlisted and it had all gone in a totally unexpected direction for about ten years.

“I’m glad you made it back here safe and sound. I hear you saved Asa’s life more than once,” Carmella said.

Asa needed to stop sharing those stories.

Duke grunted to give an answer and then wanted to change the subject. He liked the way Carmella drove. Liked, too, the way this truck was taken care of and kept up. So many people threw things away long before they were worn out. This truck was a perfect example.

“We can hook you up with snow tires when winter hits.”

“Random. You’re very random.” She whipped into a space with the ease of the Zen parker.

“I am. I’m also impressed with your parallel parking.”

“I used to deliver pizzas in the summer and over holiday breaks. You gotta be good or it takes too long.” She gathered her things, neatly avoiding his compliment as he had her comments about the war.

Inside, they settled in at a scarred table and ordered.

“What about you? I know your uncle’s shop had been open a long time. Did you grow up here too?” Duke asked.

“Seattle born and bred. Went to Ballard High School. I grew up about three miles from my aunt and uncle. They still live in the same house.”

His chocolate shake arrived, along with her cranberry juice, and shortly thereafter, the food.

“I don’t need snow tires, by the way. I have a set. I just show up and my uncle or Craig puts them on. The guy who bought the shop from my uncle promised my family we’d all still be able to get our work done there.”

Duke frowned. Inwardly, of course. This was her family. Naturally they’d put on her snow tires.

“Okay. Well, remember Twisted Steel does that for all our employees too. Might be more convenient to come to work and have it done while you’re there. I’ll even volunteer to load them into the back of your truck so you won’t get your clothes dirty.”

“What about your clothes?” One of her brows slid up. Every time she did that, he wanted to lean in and press his lips to it.

She tucked into her heaping plate of food and he followed. “My clothes are made for moving tires into the back of pickup trucks,” Duke said.

“Fine with me. I like to watch you all heft stuff. It makes all those tattoos and muscles flex.”

He grinned but found himself annoyed that she’d look at anyone’s ink and muscles but his.

“Right on. I’ll remind you come winter.”

“It’s not like it snows that much.”

“You do realize you even eat neatly?”

“What is your fascination with my neatness?” Her expression was teasing, amused so he knew she wasn’t offended.

He was fascinated by everything about her.

“I like precision. You’re precise. It’s good to be around.” That wasn’t a lie. Duke found deep comfort in people and things that worked as they should. She exuded an effortless sense of being utterly capable. She’d taken over Lottie’s job but Carmella had tightened everything up, put everything where it should be. Demanded they all do the same.

She made a sound, one of those women things that’s sort of a hum but not quite so you didn’t know if it was good or bad.

It made his cock hard in either case.

“I like that.” She nodded. “Precise is a good thing. Hang on a second. I need hot sauce.”

Carmella turned to the group sitting next to them. A rowdy bunch of dudes making lots of noise, eating lots of food.

She cleared her throat and Duke watched, amazed as to a one, they all gave their attention to her.

Her smile—the one she gave the guys at the shop—said good, boys in that tough fifth grade teacher way. And they all wanted to help her.

“Can I borrow your hot sauce for a few shakes?”

Two bottles were thrust her way and they all waited, watching her as she chose one and shook it over her food before recapping it and handing them both back.

“Thank you.”

Christ. She’d made them so happy, like big goofy dogs she’d played ball with a few times. It wasn’t that she used her sexuality or even her gender to manipulate anyone. She had this authority that guys like him seemed to snap to attention at the sight of.

She was efficient. Orderly. And yet he knew she had a sensual side. He’d seen glimpses of it living next door to her over the last two years. That was the side he wanted more of.

Not that he had any complaints about this side of her either. Duke liked Carmella. Liked being around her. Wanted a hell of a lot more of her.

That pleased him, and as he liked pleasure a whole lot, he couldn’t figure out why he should deny himself.

They finished up and the table of dudes waved and called out their good nights.

“You’re magic,” Duke said as they got back to her truck.

“I am?”

“You’re really good with people.”

Carmella waved it away. “Do you want me to take you home or back to the shop?” she said, changing the subject once she got the car started.

“My bike’s at the shop so there is best.”

There was more small talk on the way over to Twisted Steel, but before too long he found himself having to get out of her truck and leave her.

“Thanks for dinner. I’m planning on sleeping the moment my head hits the pillow and dream sweet, carby dreams.”

It was one of the silliest things he’d ever heard her say. He really dug that.

“Right on. I’ll be doing the same. See you tomorrow.”

“You too. Drive safe.”

She pulled away as he watched, waiting until her lights had faded off until he turned to head inside.