Page 18 of Borrowing My Bestie's Brothers

I pulled up outside the garage with a minute until starting time, feeling tired and wired. I hadn’t had time to grab a coffee on the way, so I’d need to throw down a mug of the gross instant stuff in the break room before I got to work, the thought of that preoccupying me as I walked in the door.

Only to find Brock standing there with a takeaway cup in hand. It smelled freaking amazing, and Clinton grinned at the sight of it.

“Got me a coffee, boss? Thanks!”

He went to reach for it, earning him a growl from Brock, but right as I came to a standstill, those pale-brown eyes swung my way.

Shit.

Shit, shit, shit.

He went to give it to me instead, everything happening in slow motion. I caught Clinton’s gleeful look, as he whacked Ken in the guts and gestured. All the guys were turning around to watch the moment when Brock handed me the coffee like a relay racer would a baton. Eyes went wide, fingers pointed, elbows went into ribs, but all that was blocked out as Brock came to stand in front of me. Reality snapped back abruptly as his hands went around mine, forcing me to clasp the coffee.

“I figured you might need this to get through the day,” he said, his voice a low rumble.

“Mouse gets a coffee?” Clinton complained. “Where’s mine?”

“In the bloody coffee pot, where it always is,” Brock snapped.

Clinton shouldered forward, looking the two of us up and down. I was forced to jerk my hands back, bringing the cup with me.

“What, no special coffee for me?” Clinton asked. “What do I need to do to have you standing by the door with a drink for me when I arrive?”

“Do some fucking work for a change?” Brock replied, shooting him a withering look, but it’d take more than that to keep Clinton down. “That’d be real special.”

“So what did Mousey do that was special?”

Clinton sounded like a teenager, all ooh, Jamie’s talking to a boy shit, so I pushed forward.

“Turn up to work on time.” I poked him in the chest, forcing him back. “Get my jobs done.” Another poke. “Not spend half the day outside on a ‘smoke break.’ Keep my mouth shut and?—”

“Date me.” You could’ve heard a pin drop in that moment, the rough industrial sounds of the warehouses near us fading away, replaced by the thudding of my heart. Each of the men I worked with came to attention like a hound on the hunt. I swallowed, went to say something, to deny this, argue, explain, but no words came out. “Isn’t that right, babe?”

Damn Millie and her plots, I thought dimly, as Brock’s arm snaked around me, unable to avoid the satisfying sensation of having its heavy presence around my waist. That feeling of pleasure, of being sheltered and protected from the world only intensified as my back hit his chest. It was the feel of his nose nuzzling in my hair that had me stiffening, that move far too personal for this situation.

This man.

Clinton’s lips twitched, his eyes dancing with a manic light, right before he turned to Ken and Gary.

“Told you! Pay up, bitches.”

I frowned as I watched the two older men grumble and drag out their wallets, twenty bucks each handed over. “I knew they were into each other. There’s no other way Jamie could resist my charms.”

“Oh my god, I’m going to throw up,” I mumbled.

“Now, fifty bucks they’re banging before the end of the week,” Clinton continued. “Any takers? Anyone?”

Thankfully the other guys just shook their heads, obviously not wanting to get involved in this, but Clinton was too stupid to know when he was crossing a line. The only warning I got was the tensing of Brock’s arms, right before he snapped.

“You’d do well to never mention the word sex and my girl in the same sentence.” Brock sounded more animal than man. “Everyone’s got work to do. Let me know if you don’t.”

All the humour was sucked from the air and the guys nodded and turned to wander off into the workshop. I went to do the same, but Brock’s grip on me tightened.

“If I could have a quick word?” I said between gritted teeth. “Babe?”

“Anything you want,” he said with a grin.

This was a terrible, terrible plan. The warmth in his voice seeped into me like the heat from the coffee cup, driving the morning chill from my bones, but once we were upstairs and in his office, I turned to face him.

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