Chapter 3

Chapter Three

I look up to find one of the landscapers sitting at a bar stool, a foaming beer in his hand. It’s Jace, the short one with the baseball cap. Well, shorter than the others, who were all fucking giants. He’s got a shirt on this time, thankfully, not that it’s doing anything to disguise how his bulky chest stretches the fabric to its limits.

“Damn it,” I mutter. I just spent my day trying to forget about these dudes, and now there’s one sitting here next to me. “Seriously? I can’t get rid of you.”

I get up out of my seat, ready to go find a new table elsewhere. I don’t need one of these creeps making a move on me right now. Maybe this is my sign I should’ve gone home already.

“Shit, I’m sorry,” Jace says, standing up and grabbing his beer. He looks deeply apologetic as he backs away. “My bad. I didn’t even see you there until I sat down.” He gestures to the big restaurant behind him. “I’ll go find another place to sit.”

Jace adjusts his baseball cap to hide his eyes and walks away.

Great. Now I feel like a dickhead. This is a neighborhood bar, and he has every right to be here, too.

“Wait,” I call out. Jace pauses, then glances back at me, a tiny spark of hope on his face. “We can both sit at the bar. It’s not like I own it.”

He hovers uncertainly, like he’s trying to be polite by leaving but actually wants to sit.

“It’s fine,” I reiterate. If I’m uncomfortable, I can always go myself.

Finally, he acquiesces and returns to the bar top. As I take a sip of beer, Jace obediently keeps his own eyes straight ahead and doesn’t try to talk to me. He flips over the menu in his hands like he’s not really reading it.

The guy seems nice, if a little awkward. It’s endearing, actually, how much he’s trying to give me space.

Maybe I was too hard on them today.

“Hey,” I say eventually. Startled, Jace turns to me. “You seem, um, normal. Normal-ish. So maybe you can explain to me what happened this morning?”

His dark eyes are wide and bright, like I’ve made his day just by talking to him.

“Oh, yeah! I can try to explain, anyway.” He runs a hand through his hair. “We didn’t realize we were being creeps until you called us out. And Quinn’s the youngest, so he’s impulsive. He didn’t mean anything bad by it.”

“The youngest?” I ask. “Like the youngest guy at your company?”

Jace blinks. “Company? No. The youngest of the brothers.” He taps his chest. “I’m the second oldest. Leon’s the oldest. Eli is right below me, and Quinn is the baby.” With a snort, he adds, “And he acts like it.”

Suddenly, so much more makes sense. They look alike because all four of them are brothers. “So it’s a family business?” I ask, sipping the last of my drink.

“Yeah. We inherited it from our dad when he retired. I’m almost positive my parents had four sons on purpose so he wouldn’t have to keep hiring out for more guys.”

I chuckle at this. Maybe these brothers aren’t so bad. Just... very odd. “So do the four of you, uh, ever interact with women?”

Jace snorts. “Honestly, it’s a fair question after today.” He tilts his head and frowns apologetically. “I’m really, really sorry. I know that doesn’t change things, but I promise, I didn’t mean to be an asshole.”

I arch an eyebrow at him. “You could have just said hello instead of, I don’t know. Howling.” Not to mention all that weird shit about me smelling good .

Jace abruptly straightens, then holds out his hand.

“Hello,” he says. “I’m Jace. It’s good to meet you the way normal people meet each other.”

His expression is very serious, so I take his hand and shake it.

“Hi.” I try to hold in a laugh. “I’m Tiff.”

“Hi, Tiff.” Jace releases me but slides his fingers through mine on the way. “Can I buy you your next beer?”

I finally let out my giggle, because he’s making a sweet attempt. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to talk to him more. Jace is easy to look at, and I like his good humor so far. “All right. I’ll allow it.”

Jace calls over the bartender and I tell her what I want. While it’s being poured, Jace gives me his full attention.

“So, tell me everything,” he says. “I want to know who Tiff is.”

I appreciate that Jace doesn’t ask about the panic attack I had in the back of the Lupine Landscaping truck. We have a surprisingly comfortable chat about our parents and where we grew up. My childhood was very uninteresting, until Dad suddenly moved across the country to live with some woman he’d met online. Oh, and I was bullied in school for being on the bigger side, but I don’t tell him that part.

It sounds like Jace and his brothers come from a pretty average home. They broke a lot of stuff growing up, and they shared two bedrooms among them.

“Not to mention all of our toys, all of our clothes,” he says, rolling his eyes. “Poor Quinn always got the clothes last, and by then they were a mess.”

“It’s cute that you guys shared, though.”

Jace hums thoughtfully as he sips his beer. “What about your job?” he asks after a while. “What do you do for work, Tiff?”

It’s such a benign question, but it disrupts all the happy feelings I’d been having just chatting with him.

“I’m an assistant,” I say, trying to hide my resentment. “Personal assistant. I manage some guy’s appointments. Answer the phone. Bring him coffee. Take care of his finances.” I can’t help but laugh bitterly. “Everything you can think of, I do it.”

Jace is quiet at this. I know my job is boring, but he could at least pretend it’s not.

“Sounds like you don’t particularly love it,” he finally says. His dark eyes are inquisitive, not judgmental. I take another long sip of my beer. It’s my fourth one, so the alcohol’s starting to go to my head. Maybe that’s why I let the truth slip out.

“I hate it,” I admit. “I go home every day and wish I could quit. Then maybe pour some gasoline into Mr. Bosley’s coffee on my way out.”

Jace laughs in the middle of taking a drink and chokes on it. After a few coughs, he smiles at me. “You should quit, then.”

“I wish, but I don’t have a choice. I’m doing the only thing I’m good at: filing, keeping things organized, tracking vendors—you know, boring stuff.”

“Those are all pretty useful skills,” Jace says, brow furrowing. “You should see how we run our office. It’s a fucking disaster. None of us has any idea about filing or billing or whatever. We do everything in cash.”

My eyes bulge out of my head. “Do you record your payments? Are you even paying taxes on them?”

He looks at me blankly. Oh, no.

“This is what I’m saying,” Jace goes on. “People like you, who know how to run things, are really valuable.” He offers me a sympathetic smile. “I’m sorry you feel that way about your job.”

I shrug. “That’s life. I didn’t have these, um, attacks , until I started working for Mr. Bosley.”

I shiver at exposing this part of myself to a relative stranger. But talking with Jace tonight, well, he doesn’t feel like one.

“Like this morning?” There’s a dark frown on his face. “That’s messed up, Tiff. You shouldn’t have to feel that way about a job.”

I pull my shoulders protectively up to my neck. It’s not like I have a choice in the matter. I have no education, like Mom is always reminding me, and I get good healthcare. So I steer the conversation back to the landscaping company and ask Jace how he likes working outside all day.

“I love it,” he confesses. “The fresh air, the sun and the sweat? I could never function in an office.”

I have to admit the rest of my evening is enjoyable, and I stay much too late at the bar getting to know Jace better. He’s never inappropriate—not even his hand wanders when I pick up my purse and move to the barstool next to him.

Strangely, though, I wish he would make a move. He’s thick and stocky, like he could pick me up without trying too hard. His dark hair has a cute wave to it. When the bartender tells us it’s last call, Jace pays the bill, even for my wings earlier.

“It’s the least I can do for the way we all treated you. Plus, that job on Work Street is paying well enough.”

A warm feeling bubbles up inside me. “Thank you.”

When we get up, I almost expect him to invite me back to his place. Would I want that if he did?

I call an Uber, and Jace insists on waiting with me for it to show up. I think I like him. I think I’m disappointed he didn’t try to do more tonight. But maybe he’s not interested in me like that, and this was just a very kind apology.

Still, I can’t help but feel there’s more to it. Am I imagining that electric energy between us, something that feels bigger than just politeness?

The Uber finally pulls up, but I signal to the driver to hold on. I want to know if Jace is vibing with me the way I am with him.

“Jace?” I ask.

A grin lights up his face. “Yeah?”

“Do you want to, um... do this again?”

He has a hopeful look that reminds me of a puppy. “Yes! I mean, yes, if you do.” He takes my hand in his. “Tiff, would you go out on a date with me?”

A pulse of excitement radiates out from the place he’s holding my hand. “I would love to.”

There’s plenty of beer coursing through my veins right now, so I don’t think twice before I rise on my toes and kiss him. I probably should have asked first, but it suddenly doesn’t seem like a problem when Jace wraps his arms fiercely around my waist, pulling me against him.

He doesn’t try to stick his tongue down my throat like the last guy I went out with. Instead, he tastes my lower lip, taunting it, savoring it. His thick body, with that strong chest and taut belly, presses against mine, and it triggers a mountain of filthy thoughts. I wonder what he would feel like without clothes between us?

His hand travels down my back, pausing just above my ass, and I wish he’d venture even lower. Heat bubbles up inside me, ready to boil over the top. It feels like both forever and only a second passes before he pulls away. I’m breathing heavily, and I can feel the impatience rolling off my Uber driver.

Eventually, I slide into the car, but Jace takes out his phone.

“Number?” he asks. I hastily list it off to him through the open window, and he gives me his before the car drives off.

When I finally make it home, my whole body is buzzing. That was only a taste, a hint, of what could happen between us, and I’m intoxicated by the idea of what might happen next. I’d love to breathe in even more of that wonderful scent of his, to feel those hands wander over the rest of my body.

I wonder whether he’ll make an advance next time we go out. Would a guy as sweet, sexy, and smart as Jace want to go all the way with me?

By the time I get in bed, I can’t think about anything but Jace shirtless and sweating under the morning sun. I wonder what it would be like if he were on top of me, how his bare skin would feel under my hands. If his kiss was any indication, he knows what to do with his mouth and tongue—and that triggers even filthier daydreams. I imagine his lips wrapped around my nipple or, even better, around my clit.

My hips rock at the thought, and I know what I have to do if I’m going to get any sleep tonight. When I pull out my vibrator, I imagine the long shaft is Jace’s instead. What would his cock look like? While picturing him kneeling between my legs, I lube up the vibrator and gently work it through my swollen, wet folds. All it takes is closing my eyes to see Jace there, sliding inside me.

I’m halfway to my orgasm before I can blink, ripples of pleasure echoing across my body. In my fantasy, Jace leans down to kiss me, just like he did tonight. I push the vibrator deeper and stroke it in and out, just like I imagine Jace would fuck me. But where the toy is hard and unforgiving, he would be soft and thick in all the right ways.

Fuck. All my muscles go tight as a drawn string as I climb higher and higher until finally, I break. I’m glad I have my apartment to myself as I can’t hold in a sharp cry. This is better than any orgasm I’ve had in a long time.

I withdraw the vibrator, panting, and lie there boneless for a good few minutes. Jeez, I only kissed Jace and I’m already thinking about him like this? I’m hopeless. And maybe desperate.

Feeling a shadow of shame that I just masturbated while thinking about a guy I barely know, I clean the toy in the sink and put it away, then climb into bed, wondering what it would feel like to curl up next to him under the blankets after he fucked me silly.

I hope I get to find out.