NIX (Daring the Kane Brothers) Read online

  “We better get going.” Payton smiles and moves toward the door.

  “Yes.” I agree, and once back into the safety of a moving vehicle, I relax a bit. I don’t usually bring women to my house. It’s not my playground but rather a safe zone for Becca away from my periodic salacious desires. If I need to sate my sexual needs, I make enough money to pay for a room. Besides, I’m not looking for a girlfriend or a mom for Becca. We do okay on our own.

  “So …” Payton’s eyes flash over to me, and I swear, I feel them touching every clothed part of my body. “What do you do for a living?”

  I rub a thumb over the steering wheel, slow and gentle, just as I do a woman’s clitoris. Learned that little trick from my first love. See, that’s a bonus about long relationships; you’re not opposed to getting personal to find out what someone wants or needs to get off. “Computer programming.”

  “And that’s something you can do from home?”

  I nod, flipping on the air-conditioner. The longer her eyes linger on me, the hotter I get. Man, this is some shit. I rush a hand through my hair. I gotta pull it together. Something about this girl has my body acting all irrational. I haven’t reacted to a woman like this since Lexi. Damn, fucking Lexi! Lexi! Lexi! I need to stop comparing her to this woman. I need to get her out of my head and keep moving forward as I have for the past few years.

  “That’s nice. You can be there for your daughter like when she needs a permission slip signed or something.”

  “Yeah.” With a crocked grin, my eyes sway over to hers. “Thanks for being a trooper about all this. Do you have kids?”

  “Me? No,” she says, kind of the same way I answer when people ask if I’m married. “Oh.” She touches my thigh. My very hot thigh that’s very close to my growing dick. This is ridiculous. I’ve seen Britney Blight’s mom naked, and she’s a perfect ten. But something about Payton Tucker is dangerously different. “Not that I don’t want them, I do.” She pulls her hand from my thigh as if she can feel the heat burning beneath it. “I just haven’t … well, it’s just that … I, uh …”

  “I get it. No need to explain.” I park the car in front of the school. Like me and marriage, I just haven’t found the right person yet. Obviously, Lexi wasn’t it for me, or else somewhere along the two or so years we were together, we would’ve gotten hitched. “I’ll be right back,” I say, and within a few minutes, just as promised, I’m back in the car with my cute, heat-producing passenger.

  “Looks like you made it in time.” She nods at the two buses parked in front of us as she pulls her long honey brown hair into a messy bun.

  Fuck! How can such a little change make her that much sexier? What’s wrong with me? I had sex last Wednesday. No, wait! Maybe it was Monday. That’s weird. I can’t remember as if the only thing my dick can concentrate on is her.

  “I did. Thanks, again.” I put the car in drive and try to focus on the road. “Now, let’s get you to where you need to go.” And that’s not a hotel. Nope.

  Now, my little bro Crash doesn’t respond to much, but I can almost guarantee he’d agree with me that fucking this woman probably isn’t a good idea, her being his customer and all. Not to mention, he hasn’t gotten paid for the job yet. But, honestly, what my brothers think about me has never stopped me from doing anything before. They probably think their lives are more exciting than mine, but I beg to differ. Now, granted, I’m not a boxer, stuntman, NASCAR driver, or a rock star who deactivates bomb, but I have one thing none of those fuckers have, and that’s Becca. And she’s way cooler than any of that other shit.

  After twenty minutes in the car, we finally reach our destination. Without me pulling into the two hotels or the park we passed on our way, I might add. I’m not opposed to having sex in a car. Nonetheless, I get us safely into the parking lot with my noncompliant, semi-chub resting uncomfortably against my boxers that are being held in by my straining slacks.

  I turn to Payton with a sealed-tight jar smile. I gotta get this chick out of my car and go do some laundry, vacuuming, dusting … anything that’ll take my mind off her luscious body, her succulent pink lips, and her bashfully audacious blue eyes.

  Fuck. I wonder if she’s nice and tight between her soft …

  “This is good!” She points at a spot away from the front of the building. Huh. Maybe she’s embarrassed to be seen with me? Maybe she doesn’t want to have to explain me. Maybe she’s seeing someone at work? She’s gorgeous. She’s got to be keeping someone awake at night.

  Before I can park the car, she has the door partially opened. “Thanks.”

  “Wait!” I grab her arm, and her naked flesh melts into my palm like warm silk sheets lying over two naked bodies. I’m not sure if I should let go or pull her closer. My cock has an opinion, but it’s best to leave him out of this. She glances at my hand like I poked her with a hot stick and not the one being held back by my pants. “Sorry.” I let go, and my nerves simmer when she smiles. Apparently, my touch must’ve caught her off guard. Fuck, I know it did me. “Do you want to take my number? Ya know, in case you need a ride when your car is ready?” I drop my hands in my lap to cover the evidence of my arousal or, should I say, my response to the mere touch of her fucking arm. Man, I’m like a pimpled-face sixteen-year-old around her. Usually, it takes all clothes removed, some stroking, and a few naughty words spoken before my dick responds to anything.

  She glances at the building, nibbling her bottom lip. The action killing my command. “No.” Her bright blue eyes advance to me. “I’m thinking someone will be here who can give me a lift after work.”

  “Are you sure?” I lean back against the headrest, holding her eyes, not ready to let her go. “Why don’t you just put my number in your phone? Ya know, just in case?”

  “Now …” Her head tilts, and her eyes drop to my mouth. My dick thumps from the explicit regard. “We both know what’ll happen if I take your number.” She looks back up at me.

  “We do?” I slowly smile, paying the same respect to her mouth as she had mine.

  “Yes. I’ll call you …” She pauses until our eyes make contact again. “We’ll meet up somewhere, spend half the night flirting and the other half fucking, and then, I’ll leave, and ya know what’ll happen next?”

  Not hearing much after the comment about us fucking, I shake my head. “What?”

  “You’ll think about me. And you won’t stop.” She pauses, and like a three-year-old cranking a jack-in-the-box, I sit and wait for the top to pop. I fall deeper into the seduction of her eyes, surprisingly curious as to what’s going to come out from her perfectly plump pink lips next. “You’ll convince yourself that you need to see me just one more time, but after that one more time, you’ll want another and another until you fall madly in love with me, and oh, what a mess that’ll be.” A smile tugs on her quirking lips.

  “Wait.” I give my head a little wiggle, the image of us fucking still alive in my mind. “I’ll fall madly in love with you?” I laugh at the ridiculous statement. Obviously, she doesn’t know who she’s dealing with here.

  “You will.” She nods with a poised, confident grimace now resting comfortably on her face as she pats the top of my hand. “Thanks for the ride, Nix.” She climbs out of my car, and without a backward glance, she walks toward the tall corporate buildings. I sit, wait, and watch as I convince myself I will not be the one she keeps up at night …

  CHAPTER THREE

  “Dad!” Becca walks into the kitchen waving something small and red in her hand. “Who is …” She looks at the flat object that’s about the size of her hand. “Pa-Pay-d-din Tu-Tuck—?”

  Shit! I jump from the chair, and just before she pulls her hand away, I grab the credit card from her. I lift it and read the card. Sure as shit, it’s Payton’s. I squint down at Becca, and as not to leave room for her to lie, I ask in my sternest dad voice, “Where’d you find this?”

  She points at the living room. “Under the chair. I-I was looking for the remote.”

/>   Shit! It must’ve fallen out of Payton’s purse yesterday. I slip the card in my pocket.

  “Who is she?” Becca’s eyebrows draw together.

  “No one for you to be concerned about.” I tap her on the head. “Now, finish getting ready for school.”

  Her hands slam on her hips. “Dad! She was in my house. Of course, she’s someone I need to worry ’bout! I wanna know what she was doin’ here!”

  “Becca.” I peer down at her from the corner of my eye.

  “Dad!” Her neck stretches and eyes widen. Just like her mama, the little hellion never knows when to back down.

  “She’s no one, really.” I cave into her persistent, big green eyes. My shoulders drop. She’s right, I need to tell her the truth. This is her house, and if I found out a strange boy was in our house while I wasn’t around, well, I’d want to know about that shit too. “When I was at Uncle Crash’s shop yesterday, he was working on her car, and she needed a ride to work, so I offered. And on the way to her work, my absentminded daughter called, remember, about a permission slip she forgot to have me sign. When we stopped here, Payton’s purse fell, and the card must’ve slipped under the chair.”

  “Is she smart?”

  My head jerks back. “What does that matter?”

  “Pretty?” Her eyebrow rises.

  “Yes, to both questions. Why?”

  “We talked about this, Dad. You need a girlfriend.”

  “Yes. We did talk about it, Becca, and right now, I’m not looking for a girlfriend. Now, do as you’re told. Get your butt upstairs and finish getting ready for school.”

  “But Dad—” She stomps her foot.

  “No buts, Becca. Upstairs, now!”

  “But today is—”

  “Now!” I cut her off with a quick gesture of the hand to the stairs. A few tears well up in her eyes, but if I always gave in to that shit, she’d own a miniature pony and have purple hair right now. She clenches her tiny fists and pouts all the way up the stairs.

  Shaking my head, I grab the credit card from my pocket and stare down at it. Hell, I was up half the night, thinking about the owner of this piece of plastic, thinking about her smile, eyes, and the feel of her flesh under my hold.

  Shit!

  Now I got a legitimate excuse to see her again. I’m not sure if that’s a good or a bad thing.

  I grab my cell and dial Crash’s number. He picks up on the second ring. “Yeah.”

  “Hey, bro. What’s up?”

  “Not me. It’s six thirty, dickhead. What the fuck do you want?”

  “Shit, dude, shop opens at eight. What time do you get up?”

  “Not at this time,” he grumbles.

  “Well, remember that woman I drove to work yesterday? The one who was at your shop, Payton Tucker?”

  He grunts somewhat of a resemblance of a yes into the phone.

  “Do you have her number or anything?”

  “Fuck you, asshole, I’m not giving you a customer’s number so you can hook up. You should’ve gotten her number yesterday if you really wanted it.”

  “No, it’s not for that. I found her credit card at my house and—”

  “What the fuck, Nix!” I get the sense he’s fully awake now. “All you were supposed to do was give her a damn ride to work. What the hell? I can’t believe you—”

  “No! No! Crash! It wasn’t like that, listen!” I pull out my dad voice for the second time this morning. “We had to stop by the house to pick up something for Becca and drop it off at her school. That was it, nothing happened. Her purse dropped when she was here, shit fell out, and the credit card must’ve slipped under the chair. Becca found it this morning. I was just going to drop it off at your shop if she hasn’t picked up her car yet.”

  “Oh.” I hear a shift in his tone. “She got it last night. I’ll have to check the shop when I get in to see if I still have her number, but I might’ve tossed it.”

  “Yeah, okay. Thanks, and Crash, sorry I woke you.”

  “Whatever.” He sighs. “But, dude, ain’t it kinda fucked up?”

  “What?”

  “I don’t know. Didn’t she need a ride ’cause she claimed she didn’t have any money on her?” His comment renders me a bit dumbfounded and speechless. “Well, at least she paid her bill in full with cash, and no one pays in cash anymore. She must’ve stopped at the bank or something. Anyway, I’ll look for her number and call ya later,” he says before the line goes dead.

  “Dad!” I finally hear Becca calling for me.

  Shoving the card back into my pocket, I don’t have any time to think about what Crash said, but he’s right. Payton’s excuse for a ride was that she didn’t have anything on her to pay an Uber bill. Maybe she didn’t know the card was in her purse, or maybe she’s just cheap and didn’t want to pay for an Uber. I turn to find Becca standing in a ripped, dirty-looking dress. “What the hell are you wearing?”

  “I was trying to tell you before.” She grimaces. “We’re having Halloween in April at school today, and Harley is coming over to do my makeup, remember?” Her eyes bulge like I’m the idiot who apparently forgot about it.

  “Halloween in April?”

  “Yes. Ms. Christy loves Halloween, and she says it needs to be celebrated twice a year, not once. Isn’t that cool?”

  “I guess. It’s better than Christmas, at least. I don’t have to buy Ms. Christy another Christmas present, right?” I laugh, and Becca scowls at me.

  “Hey, I like Ms. Christy!”

  “So do I.” I hold my smile. She’s one of the single teachers I haven’t slept with … yet. But she’ll be fair game once she’s no longer Becca’s teacher.

  “And don’t forget, Friday I’m going to the theater to help Harley. She’s picking me up from school. I talked to her last night, and she wanted me to remind you.”

  I look down at her. My brother’s girlfriend and my daughter have bonded, and with my sister, Lulu, in another state, it’s kinda nice to have a woman paying attention to Becca. My mom does a lot for us, but she’s the grandma.

  I scrunch my nose. “How old are you?”

  She giggles, and the sound seeps straight into my heart. “You had me when you were twenty-three, so you do the math!” She sticks her tongue out at me before running to answer the knock on the door.

  She started that little comeback a year ago when she found out how old I was and learned how to count. That’s the awesome part of being a parent, seeing those awe-inspiring moments, like when they find their nose, the first time they eat something inedible, and when they realize their mommy is never coming back from the store. That was the hardest to explain. I’m not sure I did a good job, but last year, Becca stopped asking about her mom. She’s on a new kick now of finding me a girlfriend, or maybe she’s looking for a new mom. I’m just not sure I can give her that. I’m not sure anyone’s worthy of my daughter, so I keep it casual, but to be honest, I haven’t run into any potentials yet.

  I nudge my head, and mouth, “Thanks,” to Harley as she and Becca walk by me into the kitchen. She’s awesome, and the shit she can do with makeup is amazing. Token got lucky when he found her. Steele’s got himself a good girl as well, and now with Maggie back in town, it looks like at least three of the Kane brothers might be settling down … a little. Well, that’s if Crash can stop being an asshole long enough to realize Maggie’s in love with him. Anyway, I’m glad Harley’s around. Becca thinks it’s cool that she’s a makeup artist, and it gives her someone to look up to.

  Crash called me right after I dropped Becca off at school. We made it on time this morning, which is always a feat. Anyway, he said he couldn’t find Payton’s number. When I asked if he checked the trash and shit, he told me I was more than welcome to come over and look for it myself. Considering I was bringing Becca by there after school to show off her costume, I might just have to do a little dumpster diving.

  “Wow.” Token brushes off a few pieces of paper from my sleeve. “You look about as dirty
as your daughter.” He nudges his head at Becca standing in her zombie costume, looking as believable as hell. Harley did a great job on her makeup, again, and it held up all day at school. “What were you doing out there?”

  “He’s looking”—Crash glances at Becca to be sure she’s not in earshot—“for a chick’s number in my garbage.”

  “Come on!” Token’s head jerks back.

  Jaggs, Crash’s employee and friend, heads over to us. She nudges her purple-black spiky hair at Becca, who’s doing a stiff-legged walk around the shop. “Didn’t she wear that for Halloween?”

  “Yeah, her teacher likes Halloween and thought they should celebrate it again today.”

  “Hmm.” Jaggs looks at her thoughtfully. “That’s cool. I used to have a teacher who would say ‘I have your testies in my hands.’ It was weird.”

  We all look at her, and I shake my head. “Oh, yeah.” I hit Token in the chest. “Tell Harley thanks for coming over this morning and let her know I’ll be at the theater around eight thirty on Friday to pick up Becca. It’s nice of her to bring her along to work. Becca loves that shit.”

  “No problem.” He shoves his hands into his hoodie. “So what about this thing with the garbage?”

  “Dad!” Becca runs over to us, saving me from having to explain myself. “Can we go to Grandma’s before we go home? I want to show her my costume!”

  “Sure.” I smile down at her. After making the pit stop at my parents’, we don’t make it home until nine. Becca takes a bath, and she’s sound asleep by nine fifteen with me following not too far behind.

  Only to be abruptly woken two hours later.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Like an invisible bug crawling on your skin, I feel it. The insect bites, and the quick sting snaps my eyes open to a shadowy figure moving across my room.