Page 25 of Up In Flames
Before I can open my mouth to put him in his place, Knox beats me to it.
“What did you just say?” he growls…actually growls…like his vocal cords vibrate with fury in his throat, making him sound like an animal.
Annnnnd now my dick is getting hard.
The driver laughs and waves a hand toward me. “I just mean his outfit. I think my girlfriend wore that same shit in high school.” He steps to the side, making a show of looking behind me. “You’ve got the better ass, though.”
“You have ten seconds to get back in your truck and get the fuck out of here before I start throwing punches,” Knox says, moving to step slightly in front of me, placing himself between me and the driver.
I don’t need the protection because I could make this guy lose consciousness in less than those same ten seconds, but it’s a little swoony watching Knox get all possessive. Although at some point, I’ll have to set the record straight.
“The hell?” the driver says. “We just showed up.”
“And now you can leave,” Knox says, looking like he’d honestly enjoy clocking this dude in the face.
“I got a job to do, and I don’t get paid if it don’t get done, so we ain’t goin’ anywhere until this concrete gets poured,” the man says, his terrible grammar making it slightly hard to keep up.
“Should’ve thought about that before you disrespected the homeowner,idiot,” Knox fires back.
“You serious? Dude’s out here in fucking chick shorts and a cropped-top with his ass and nuts hanging out and you’re pissed because I happened to notice?”
“I’mpissedbecause you’re judging him, and you don’t know a damn thing about him. Now get the fuck out of here. I’ve got to go call your boss and explain why he just lost this fifty-six-hundred-dollar job.”
The driver turns to me and holds his hands up. “Look, man, I’m sorry. Okay? We good?”
I’m willing to let it go. Like I said, not my first rodeo, but Knox isn’t having it. He snaps his fingers in the guy’s face to regain his attention.
“No, we’renotgood. Now get the fuck out of here and don’t make me tell you again.”
We watch all three guys argue as they climb back in the truck. The other two are pissed because they won’t get paid now, either. As the truck rumbles away down the street, Knox turns to me.
“I’m sorry you had to hear that.”
I let out a genuine laugh. “Knox, I’ve been dealing with that shit my whole life. If I lost my temper every time someone said something like that, I wouldn’t be able to go to work, the gym, or even the grocery store most days.”
“The fuck is wrong with people?” he mutters more to himself than to me.
I turn into him, letting my right arm graze his left. “People just lash out at things they don’t understand. It’s far easier to cast the stone than to examine why it’s being thrown in the first place. Trust me, his words say way more about him than they do about me.”
Knox turns his head to me, his eyes lazily drifting over my sweaty hair, down to my lips, and over my top, but his gaze becomes laser-focused when he gets to my bare stomach.
“See something you like?” I tease softly, using words from the first night we met, hoping to improve his sour mood. His desire is obvious in the way his pupils are dilated and his nostrils flare with untamed lust. One way or another, I’ll help him figure this out becausefuckdo I want him use me for his pleasure.
Suddenly, and quite unexpectedly, Knox cages me in against the side of his truck, careful to keep our bodies from actually touching…much to my disappointment.
“You’re doing this on purpose,” he says through clenched teeth.
“Says the man wearing the uniform of every porn star playing a construction worker.”
He looks down at his outfit, and his cheeks redden. “Considering Iama construction worker, my attire is appropriate.”
“That would be a fun role play,” I muse, getting drunk off being this close to him.
“We’re not role-playing anything,” he snarls, bringing his face closer to mine.
“You say that now, but I bet I can change your mind,” I taunt again, trying to goad him with a bet. He seems like a betting man.
A summer storm cloud passes overhead, and it matches the one in his eyes. “And then what?” he snarls, his tone low and menacing. “You’ll bring me to my knees as I put you on yours? This is a game to you, isn’t it? Fuck with the old guy because you’re bored. Well, it isn’t going to work, Taylor.” He holds his fist up in front of my face and raises his fingers one at a time for each point he makes. “I don’t fuck guys. I don’t fuck clients. And I don’t fuck kids.”
