Page 11 of Never Kiss the Bad Boy

I chuckle, nodding. The faster we can get this basic prep work done, the better. “I understand. Just promise me, no swinging upside down from the bucket. You’d give her a heart attack.” I cut my eyes toward Kathy’s house, only half-opposed to giving her the little pearl-clutching shock of her life of seeing one of the guys hanging from his feet in the straps over the bucket while Wayne spins them around. Wayne nods but looks a bit disappointed too. “Friday, huh? Good speed.”

“Yup, unless Frog fucks Zeus over,” Wayne says.

Frogger’s been on my crew for a while now. He earned his name for two reasons. One, he’s a jack of all trades and can hop from task to task like a fucking frog, usually doing pretty well on all of them. Two, he does the same in his personal life, going through girlfriends like most men do napkins. And considering the majesty of his permed, golden blonde mullet that makes him look like either a pro wrestler from the eighties or a country music star from the nineties, it takes a hell of a lot of hopping for him to not simply be called Mullet.

On the other hand, Zeus is the youngest, skinniest, and tallest guy on my crew. He looks like he might be underage, but his documents all put him solidly at twenty-one. I actually had my brother do a background check on him, just to be sure. And his name’s not actually Zeus, though who knows with weird baby names these days. But his given name is Preston.

His parents must’ve been hoping he’d end up in a corner office, wearing a suit and tie every day. Instead, he’s the best machinery operator I’ve ever seen, and believe me, I’ve seen a lot over the last few years.

But someone always has to keep an eye on Zeus. He’s too much like his namesake Greek deity, Zero Effort Unless Supervised. He’ll kick ass and take names if Wayne or me is onsite and paying attention. If not, he’ll do nothing but listen to music on the radio and swing his boom around like it’s a giant schlong. So I keep an eye out so he does work, like now.

It’s a lot of appearing to be supervising, though, because as much as I’m watching Zeus on the excavator, my attention is mostly next door. Dani’s already working hard, her back door opening and closing every few minutes as she stirs food on the grill and places it into boxes or wraps something up in foil. From the smell of things, she’s making some sort of brisket today, or at least something beef based. My mouth waters… at the thought of the food, which smells delicious, and mostly at the thought of the cook who prepares it. Dani Becerra.

Selfishly, I want to go over and talk to her, maybe tell her that I tried to get Kathy to see reason. But she’s busy, as always, and I value my life too much to interrupt her work. Thankfully, Joshua seems to have listened to my lunch privilege revocation and stayed away today. Though there’s a tiny little sliver of my imagination that wishes he would show up, because it’d give me a chance to see Dani handle things, and then I’d also have an excuse to go talk to her afterward. I’m a quick learner and would let her do things her way like she said… unless it wasn’t going well. Then, I’d be forced to step in.

But that doesn’t happen, so I focus on the pool, pitching in and working side-by-side with the guys. The work is tiring and hard, and by mid-afternoon, we’re all sweaty and exhausted. Not thinking, I pull my T-shirt over my head, tucking a bit of it into my back pocket and letting it hang down the back of my leg the way I have a hundred times before. The thin cotton will dry quickly if I’m not actively sweating on it.

But this time, there’s a clanging noise next door as I do the familiar move. I jerk my eyes up to find Dani at her grill, metal fork in hand as she stares openly at me. Her jaw is dropped, and I can see the heat in her eyes from here. A blast of adrenaline shoots through me and I grin, adding a little wave to let her know I see her and her reaction. She quickly clamps her mouth shut, and her eyes narrow into a glare, her lips moving, and I can imagine she’s cursing me.

But it feels good to get cursed at by her. It shows me that as much as I’ve been watching her, Dani’s been watching me too. And when she saw me take my shirt off, she lost control of the grill lid because she liked what she saw.

I’m not vain, but I know I’m good-looking. I work out, work hard on job sites, and won the genetic lottery with the Harrington DNA.

I laugh to myself. Maybe the raven-haired beauty is not so unaffected by me, after all. Good to know.

Good to know.

CHAPTER 5

DANI

You have to come over, Nessa. He has nipple piercings. Nipple. Piercings. Oh, my God.

I can’t help sending the text, and moments later, Nessa replies, first with a raised eyebrow emoji before adding, You like nipple piercings? Never would’ve thought you were that type.

I didn’t have an opinion one way or the other until three minutes ago when Kyle took his shirt off. And now, I’m suddenly thinking they’re hot as fuck. Help!

Nessa hits me with a laughing emoji. She’s a big, big believer in them and says, I can’t come over. You know that. I’m already home with Mom. But send me a picture!

Whooo, if only, but… I can’t do that! He’ll see me. He already saw me gawking at him like I’ve never seen a half-naked man before.

Well, it has been awhile, thirsty girl. She adds a GIF of a woman chugging water like she’s dying of dehydration, the liquid running out of her mouth, down her chin, and dripping all over her chest.

She’s a hundred percent correct, unfortunately. It has been a long time since I’ve had sex, which didn’t bother me in the slightest until a few minutes ago. I’ve been very good at taking care of my own needs, thank you very much. Now? I’m feeling a bit tense, but still, Not helping.

Nessa sends me another emoji, this one a motion emoji, rolling back and forth and laughing. Picture. You might be living a life of celibacy, but your girl needs a lil sumpthin’, sumpthin’ to get through the long, dark, lonely nights.

I roll my eyes. Nessa doesn’t date any more than I do, given that she’s focused on taking care of her mom, but she does have a friends-with-benefits situation that keeps her satisfied. I don’t know all the details about the guy, but he’s apparently well hung, no headaches, and has a tongue that’s powered by an F1 engine. She might sleep alone peacefully at night, but it’s only because she gets all her naughtiest dreams fulfilled during the day.

Not that it totally stops her. I’m waiting…

Those three little dots on her repeat text stare me in the face, tempting me, taunting me. Maybe I could just…

I can’t get the temptation out of my head, glancing out the window over my sink, chewing on my thumb as I debate with myself. It’s darker in here than the sunny afternoon outside, so maybe I could snap a quick shot? For Nessa, of course, not for me. No way, it’s totally not for me.

I mean, Kyle is annoying… with his big truck in my way, his stupid smile, and charm that probably gets him whatever he wants. He probably thinks that with a grin, a wink, and maybe crooking a finger, he can get any woman in the world to drop her panties for him.

He’s such an asshole.

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