Page 7 of You're All I Need

He also slept with socks on, which was another big red flag.

I watch some of the action on the television, but I don’t really comprehend it. My brain is still actively focused on the man who gave me a ride home. I wasn’t kidding when I said I was surprised to find him climbing into an SUV. Sure, it was new and sleek and sexy in its own right, but I honestly thought he’d have some fancy sports car. He just strikes me as the fast, reckless, and dangerous type.

Probably why I’m so attracted to him.

He’s the exact opposite of everything I’ve ever known in my life.

And I know our time is coming. I can feel it simmering on the back burner.

Until then, I just need to keep doin’ me, because my happiness and my peace come first for a change. From here on out, I don’t care what a man says. I won’t conform or bend. I won’t let someone else tell me how I feel or what I want. I won’t stand there, giving someone else control over my future. I’m plenty old enough to do that on my own.

And one thing’s for certain.

I want Caden in my bed.

Once, twice, three times is yet to be determined, but as soon as that happens and I’ve worked him out of my system, I’ll move on, just the way I’ve done the last year.

I don’t need a man in my life.

I don’t need anyone but me.

Period.

Chapter Three

Caden

“Hey, I’m meeting Stevie at the restaurant for lunch. Wanna go?”

I turn around and nod, my stomach growling as I restock my truck following this morning’s job. “Sure. Give me fifteen to finish this up. I want to make sure I’m ready for this afternoon’s appointment at the grocery store.”

Jack nods. “Sounds good. Stevie and Adrienne are leaving the house now. I’ll let them know we’ll meet them there.”

My ears perk up at hearing her name. Adrienne. The woman I can’t stop thinking about. She’s as mysterious as she is beautiful. An enigma. She’s lived here for about four or five months, and in that time, I’ve only gotten to see that hard, exterior shell of hers. She’s fun and sassy and sexy as fuck. I’ll admit, I’ve always had a “type,” but I’m all sorts of attracted to this woman. Her curves, her dark, curly hair, her wit. It’s all one huge turn-on I can’t seem to pull away from.

Not to mention she gives just as good as she gets. Verbal sparring with her seems to be my new favorite hobby. Every time she’s near, I want to push her buttons and watch the fire dance in those light-brown eyes. I want to witness her skin flushing with desire and her body come alive beneath my touch. I don’t know what it is about her, but this cat and mouse game we seem to be engaged in has me on edge.

The crazy part is, I’m not sure exactly who’s the cat.

I think that’s part of her allure.

I push Adrienne out of my head long enough to make sure I’m set for work this afternoon. The last thing I want orneed is to be distracted enough to forget to restock something. There’s nothing worse than getting to a jobsite and not having what you need. Sure, that happens plenty of times—parts have to be ordered and whatnot—but the basics are things we keep in our trucks. Tools, wire, fuses, electric panels, ballasts, boxes, conduits, and more. There’s a ton of small parts that piece together your electrical for your home or business, and we make sure to have the products we need to complete the job.

When I’m satisfied I have everything, I head off into the office to find my partner. He’s working on his computer and glances up when he sees me walk in. “Ready?”

“Yep,” I reply, dropping off my completed work order from this morning so the job can be invoiced.

“Good, me too. I didn’t have time to grab anything to eat this morning, so all I’ve had is coffee,” he informs me, standing up and stretching.

“If you’d stop staying up all night, having sex with your live-in girlfriend, you’d be able to get up at a decent time for work,” I quip.

He grins from ear to ear. “It’s not all night, but I do admit, having her in my bed every night is pretty fucking incredible.”

Jack and Stevie have been living together for just a short period of time and are currently in the honeymoon phase. Everything is sex and flowers right now. We moved her in a few weeks ago, almost immediately after Jack and his kids asked her at the end of May. Now, they’re one big happy family, and while that shit isn’t for me, I would never begrudge my oldest friend his happiness. His first marriage crashed and burned, and while they’ve settled into an easy routine of co-parenting, it wasn’t always sunshine and roses. It took time to figure out what worked for both Jack and Mya, not to mention their two very young kids.

I have to hand it to my friend to give the whole love thing another try, but he’s been smitten with Stevie from the first moment he saw her. She was a new server at Burgers and Brew, and as it turned out, was BJ and Jameson’s half-sister. She and Jack hit it off well, despite a pretty healthy age gap. He’s ten years older than she is, having just turned thirty-one last month, but they haven’t let that stop them. They’re nauseatingly cute, I admit, even if that level of commitment isn’t for me.

“Hey, before we go, I wanted to run something by you,” Jack says as he locks the front door to the office.

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