Page 18 of Dusty

“You’ll be staying for the grand opening tonight, won’t you? I mean, people will be here from all over the state just to have a good look at what you’ve done for us here. And it’s a damned good job too. Everything about this place, from the building to the lawns, is top shelf.” He told the man that he and two of his brothers were coming. “Good. Hey, if you wanted to know anything about Jack, she’s single. Pretty too. If you go for that kind of pretty. But she’s hard on a man. I’ve never tried, but I’massuming from others that she doesn’t date many men. Perhaps that’s the trouble with her. She doesn’t particularly care for men. I can’t think of another reason why she’d be turned off by the boss like I am.”

“What do you mean?” When he didn’t get an answer, he had to drag his focus from Jack to the man beside him to get an answer. “Why would you say that? I think that all women are beautiful.”

“Jack is one of those natural women. You know what I mean, I’m sure. A wealthy man like you gets around, I’m betting.” Again, he had to ask him what he meant. “You know. No makeup. Hair hanging down past her ass. She’s in good shape, I’ll give her that but I’m not into that sort of female. I’d like for mine to put up a fuss about what she’s wearing and has make up on. You know? Stylish women that I can sink my teeth into when I need a blowjob or something. Not that kind of woman that would take over sex like it’s their thing.”

“No, actually, I haven’t any idea what you’re talking about. And I don’t think that it’s very smart of you to be talking about someone who is in your employment. Especially with that tone.” He put up his hands and backed away, telling him that he was only making an observation. “Perhaps this Jack person would like to know what you think about her ass and lack of makeup. I have a feeling that she’d either slap you or tell you to fuck off.”

“I was only making conversation, Mr. Erickson. I’m sorry if I offended you. I guess you go for that kind of woman, then. One that tells you what they like and how you’re to move. Bossy bitches.” He told him that he hadn’t offended him but women in general. “Christ, who shit in your cereal? I was just making conversation and to find out if you’re coming to this thing tonight. If you ask me, I’d rather you stay at home than be a stick in the mud about a woman who is too dense to get herself a real job and to dress up once in a while before she becomes as old as my grandmama and still not plucked.” He turned and punched the man in the face before he could say another word.

August had no idea why he’d hit the man. Well, he had an idea, but it was still messing with his mind that he’d care enough about a woman that he didn’t even know to come to her aide. If his sisters-in-law were here, they’d take him to task after they’d hit the man, too. He needed to get out of here before he decided to defend the janitorial service. There had been a few women in that department as well. There was something wrong with him, he decided. Something so wrong with him that he was beating up men that were not worth the effort of getting his hands dirty for.

Getting in his car to head back to his hotel room, he drove slowly by Jack as she was talking to a group of men. He waved at them when they turned to look in his direction. He told himself several times that he wasn’t just waving at the woman but at the group of them as they stood there. He wondered what his family would say to him if they found out that he had a passing interest in a stranger. They’d have his head on a pike if he said one word about her.

After tearing his tie off, August decided that he needed to do something physical. He was going to change into something loose fitting—he was going to be dressed up enough tonight as the affair was black tie tonight. He decided that he’d hit up the gym and have some downtime.

Demitrius and Zander were going to be joining him tonight, and he hoped the fuck that they kept their mouths shut about— Thinking about where his mind had been going, August stopped on the treadmill, nearly killing himself when it kept moving.

He’d been thinking about defending her against his brothers. Not so much defending her but keeping them away from her so that…so that he could what, he asked himself. He couldn’t even pick her out of a crowd, much less talk to her when they were at the dinner tonight. Then he had to wonder if she’d be there.

By the time his brothers showed up, he had decided not to go for about the hundredth time. He had too much on his mind to get himself into a situation not of his doing. August just knew that he was going to be in trouble for hitting the man from earlier and didn’t want to have to deal with the consequences of that or the man. Of course, that didn’t sit well with either of his brothers. They’d been looking forward to this thing all month, so they were able to bully him into going anyway.

“I want to say right now that I’m not going to be looking at any women.” Zander laughed at him and asked him since when was he going to be doing that. “I’m just putting it out there that I’m in nomood to find myself a woman tonight, and I want to get an early start back home in the morning, so I want you two to behave as well.”

Looking at himself in the mirrored wall in the elevator, he thought that he pulled off his disinterested face quite well. The three of them together, all of them in black ties and tails, took on an air of going to the prom, he thought. Not that he’d ever been to a prom, none of them had but he did feel like he was embarking on something that was going to have him in trouble. How? He didn’t know, but again, he was baffled by where his train of thought was going and decided that he wasn’t going to drink either. That’s all he needed was to add alcohol to his already fucked up head.

He saw the man that he’d hit earlier as he stood at the bar and flirted. He was going on about how he’d gotten the black eye and busted lip in the gym. He said that he was playing pickle with some buddies. All he did was walk up to the bar and had the man, he couldn’t remember his name, walk away. The bartender thanked him.

“He’s been pestering me since I was setting up here. I thought that there was some kind of rule about staff and employers, but apparently, he didn’t get the memo.” He told her that he’d hang out with her so that he got the message. “Thanks, but I have my pepper spray. He’ll either get it or not. I hope he doesn’t, in a way.”

Asking for a glass of water, determined that he was going to stay sober, he nearly swallowed his tongue when a woman walked into the room. He couldn’t think of a single thing to compare her to other than the sun setting or even the most beautiful rose. She was dressed for sex, and that was all he could think about.

The woman was dressed head to toe in red. It even sparkled when she moved, and she was so lovely in it. There was nothing left for him to imagine, either. As he’d thought before, she was sex in a tight-fitting red dress, and he wanted to make sure that she wasn’t wearing anything beneath the dress as he could imagine him touching her.

He looked at the bartender when she said his name. Looking at her, his mind fuzzy again. She had to repeat herself twice before he understood what she was telling him. Christ, he thought, he was a dead man.

“Her name is Jacklynn Blackham. She goes by Jack. To see her working, you’d never know that she was one of the workers on this project just today.” He asked her how she knew her. “She’s my Aunt, my mom’s much younger sister. She told me about this job so I could make some money for college. She didn’t tell me that every man here would be hitting on me, but I guess that’s par for the course.”

Jack moved to the bar where he was and started talking to the younger woman behind the setup. If they were speaking English, he didn’t understand a word they were saying. All he could think about was the small part of a tattoo that he saw coming out of the back of her dress as it made its way lazily down her arm to just under her breast.

“Do I have something in my teeth?” He moved his eyes along her body to her mouth and moaned. She grabbed his chin and pulled it up so that he was looking into her furious eyes. “What is the matter with you? Are you stupid?”

“No. I’m not…” He looked at the woman behind the bar again, then at Jack. “I’m not sure what is wrong with me. To be honest with you, all I can think about is where that tattoo leads and if there is any way that I can convince you to allow me to see it.”

She stared at him for several minutes. He didn’t dare glance around, fearful that if he did, she’d knock him on his ass. When she asked him if he was August Erickson, he couldn’t speak but he did nod.

“Did anyone ever teach you manners where you’re from?” He said that he didn’t know what was wrong with him and that he had indeed been taught that what he was thinking and feeling wasn’t right. “I don’t even want to know what you’re talking about. I’m just here because my mother told me that if I didn’t come that I’d be blacklisted for other jobs. Now I have the main man of the night ogling me like I’m some sort of plaything that he’d like to get in a dark corner.”

“Don’t.” She asked him what he said. “Don’t talk about dark corners. My mind is centeredenough on figuring out where I can take you to kiss you out of that dress. Christ, and I heard that you were pretty. You’re everything but pretty. You’re the most gorgeous woman that I’ve ever laid eyes on. And that dress? I had no idea that black tie meant that I’d be barely able to control myself. I might well have gone to these a good deal sooner. No, that wouldn’t have worked. You wouldn’t have been there when I was.”

“Are you hitting on me?” He smiled and laughed a little, telling her that he was indeed. “Why? I mean, you’ve gone on about my dress. You can have it if you want to. I don’t particularly care for it or the color. It’s very red.”

“It is at that. And let me be as honest with you as you are to me. I’d rather see you out of the dress than anything that I’ve ever done.” She stared at him and then threw back her head and laughed. He wasn’t sure but he thought that bells were the only thing to come to mind when she laughed again. “You’re very beautiful. I hope you are aware of that. Every man in here is drooling over you. Women, too, I would imagine.”

They talked the entire night. He saw the man that he’d hit, Bill Ward she told him try to avoid him. But feeling the way that he was, he headed toward the man with Jack on his arm. He asked him if his face hurt.

“Not at all.” He touched his finger to his nose and winced a bit. “I hurt it today. I was just about to come and see who this lovely creature is that is looking about as bored as I was this afternoon when we were talking.”

“It’s Jack.” He took a sip of his water while watching Bill. “You remember her from this afternoon. You were telling me what you think about her ass and lack of makeup. You might not have said the words, but I had a feeling that you found her to be lacking.”

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