Jo carried her thermos as she walked toward her garage. It was strange being able to walk to where she would spend her day instead of driving the tow truck that was standing alone in the yard.

Opening the garage, she sat the laptop down on the workbench, opening it and placing it so she could see it easily from most areas of the garage. Opening her thermos, she then poured herself a cup of coffee, reminding herself she should buy a coffeepot the next time she went into town. Now that her business was in the black, she could splurge on necessities, and a coffee pot was definitely a necessity.

Jo glanced at her watch, seeing it was only seven. She was itching to get started on painting Rider’s car.

Withstanding the temptation, she went to the scrambled heap of metal in the corner of the garage, taking a drop cloth with her. Spreading the tarp out, she started removing the parts, placing them on the tarp.

Blowing a tendril of hair off her face that had escaped her ponytail, Jo carried the carburetor to the workbench. She had to talk herself out of ordering a conversion kit to make Cash’s motorcycle fuel injector, knowing Cash would have a heart attack if she suggested it.

She was breaking it down when she glanced up at the laptop and saw Rider entering her driveway. It was only eight. She hadn’t expected him until noon.

Jo kept working on the carburetor, masking her features with a friendly smile as he walked into the garage. She refused to search for signs that he had spent the weekend in bed with a variety of women, one of them being Aly.

Rachel had texted her Saturday morning as she was about to go to the grocery store that Aly’s house had burned down from something that had been thrown on her porch. Knowing Aly had been right about Curt not stopping until he had her parents’ property was terrifying. She only hoped Knox would be able to prove that Curt was the one responsible.

Rachel had also told her that Viper had offered to let Aly stay until she found another place to live, or until she could rebuild her house. Or until she decided she wasn’t going to stay in Treepoint.

Jo hadn’t bothered to call or text Aly after finishing her talk with Rachel. They had never been friends, and after her refusal to help talk Rider into eliminating Curt, they had only talked through letters. One from a lawyer stating she was being sued, and the other one she had sent through certified mail with a check paying off her father’s debt.

“Good morning,” she said as Rider came up behind her to stare down at the carburetor.

“Morning. I see you’re hard at work.” Grimacing, he poked at the metal. “I won’t miss having to work on one of those.”

“I almost ordered him a conversion kit.”

“Bite your tongue. Cash would have fired you on the spot.”

“That’s what I thought, which is why I’m going to try to fix this one or pull one off one in the graveyard.”

Rider hopped up to sit on the bench, watching her. “You have a good weekend?”

“Sure did. You?” She concentrated on what she was doing to keep from looking at his face.

“I’ve had worse, but I’ve had better. We need to get a coffee pot in here.”

“I was thinking the same thing this morning.” Reaching for cup on a shelf above her head, she set it down next to his thigh. “Help yourself to my thermos. When we need more, I can go to the house to make some.

“Miss the good old days when you could go to the diner?”

“Not yet, but I’m sure I will. Old habits are hard to break.”

“That’s for sure. I miss waking up to fix you breakfast and having someone to watch movies with.”

Startled that he had missed her, she looked up, flushing. “I didn’t miss you,” she tried to joke, needing to recover from her embarrassment. “I fixed myself a hamburger last night for dinner and ate two slices of onions. I even ate it with sour cream and onion chips.”

Her joke backfired when he leaned forward, making her stiffen when she felt him run his nose along her neck, stopping at her ear.

“I would have never known if you hadn’t told me. You smell like my perfume.”

Her head flew back like a hot wire had poked her. “I’m not wearing perfume.”

Rider laughed, leaning closer, then leaning back. “Quit shooting those sparks out of those bluebonnet eyes of yours. I’m just joking.”

“You wouldn’t know a good joke if it bit you on the ass.” Fuming that he had succeeded in making her take his joke seriously, she moved her thermos to the other side of the table.

“Try me.”

Her mouth dropped open at the look he was giving her. Blinking at the crazy image that appeared in her mind of her actually biting him on the ass, she grabbed a cloth to wipe her hands off.

“You ready to paint your car? Or do you want to spend the rest of the day bugging me?”

“Do I get a choice?”

“No.” She was already heading toward his car.

Sliding inside, she backed it up slowly, driving to the area she had sectioned off for painting. Getting out, she then went to a locker that held the supplies, giving Rider one of the plastic suits to wear before taking one for herself.

“Suit up.”

“Damn, I’ve been waiting most of my life for someone to say that to me.”

“Today’s your lucky day, then.”

Not able to resist his charming excitement, she unzipped the plastic suit and stepped into it, pulling it up her thighs before it got stuck at her waist.

“Let me.” Rider squatted, helping her lift her heavy boot to get it through the tight opening.

“I’ve got it—”

“You can return the favor in a minute.” Using his shoulder to brace his weight, he maneuvered the boot out then lifted the other foot to do the same. Standing, he then tugged the sides of the suit upward. “Raise your arms.”

“I can—” She gave in, raising her arms when he didn’t move away. When her hands slid into the armholes, he went to the zipper. “I can do that—” The zipper was closed before she could get her hands through the other side.

“My turn.”

Jo had to restrain herself from knocking him on his ass, regretting that she hadn’t painted the car before he had arrived.

“What’s the holdup?” he asked, shaking a foot to get her to help him the way he had done for her.

“I was waiting to be asked. Unlike you, I prefer to be asked for help before I get all touchy-feely with someone else’s body.”

“Bluebonnet, you don’t have to ask for permission to get all touchy-feely with my body.”

Jo went to her haunches, nearly ripping the thin plastic of the suit as she jerked his big foot through the opening before jerking herself back to her feet.

“You can do the rest yourself. I wouldn’t want to catch any cooties from your weekend activities.”

Disdainfully raising her nose in the air, she unrolled the thick plastic sheets that fell from the ceiling to keep the other vehicles from getting accidentally sprayed with paint.

“Aly told you about the parties?” He raised a brow as he zipped up his suit.

“She did. Not that I wanted to listen,” she hastened to add, turning on the ventilator before going back to the locker, where she took out two masks, handing him one. “I found it too disturbing to listen to, so I told her she could keep that to herself.”

She had already prepped the sprayers, so she was able to simply aim the long wand at his car and pull the trigger.

“What did you find disturbing? That women want to get laid? Or that they waited to be fucked by me in particular?”

At his question, she was startled into turning toward him at the same time she pulled the trigger. Horrified, it took a couple seconds to pull her finger away.

He was covered in candy apple red, even his goggles.

Jo covered her mouth, unable to prevent the gurgling laughter that had Rider rising the goggles to stare at her wrathfully.

“That was just mean.”

Laughing harder behind her hand, she shook her head in denial. “It was an acc—”

She stopped trying to explain to drop the wand and take off at a run. She would apologize when he calmed down and she could stop laughing.

Jo slapped at the heavy plastic, trying to get away from him, then found herself entangled within the folds.

“You need some help?” Rider plucked her from the floor, shouldering his way through the thick curtain and lifting her to his shoulder.

“You’re getting paint on me.” She squealed in laughter. “Hey, go back. I missed your back.”

“Hardy har har … You’re just full of it today, aren’t you?”

Jo found her ass on the worktable with Rider glowering down at her.

“Seriously, it was an accident—”

“You want to know what I did this weekend? All you have to do is ask.”

“I don’t want to know.” Her amusement vanished in a heartbeat.

When his mouth opened, she pressed her palms over her ears so she couldn’t hear what he was saying. Undeterred, he took her wrists, lowering them to her sides.

“I spent the weekend monitoring security footage. Someone tried to break into Viper’s house the same night that someone torched Aly’s house.”

“It had to be Curt.”

“Knox paid a visit to Curt, bright and early Saturday morning. He had spent the night with Carly. She said he didn’t leave her apartment the whole night.”

“Then it had to be Justin or Tanner.”

“That was who Knox visited next. They said they spent the night in, getting drunk.”

“They alibied each other? How convenient.”

“Maybe, but Knox can’t arrest them without proof.”

“Of course, they’re going to get away with it again.”

“Sooner or later, they’ll screw up.”

“Just not last weekend.”

Rider shrugged. “It is what it is.”

“I hate that answer.”

“I’m a realist. Sometimes, there isn’t an easy solution. Like you and me.”

“There isn’t a you and me.”

Jo tried to hop off the bench, but Rider placed his hands on the table on either side of her thighs, keeping her from jumping off.

“Okay, we’re friends,” she conceded.

“We’re more than friends. I feel more than friendship for you, and I think you feel the same for me.”

“No, I don’t. You’re too arrogant. You have women lined by the day.”

“I have several days open.”

“You jerk—”

Rider lowered his head, covering her mouth. “You can have Monday,” he said, raising his lips a hairsbreadth away. Then he lowered them again to kiss her longer the second time while she refused to open her mouth, even when he nipped on her bottom lip. “And Tuesday,” he whispered, his breath stealing hers. “Wednesday is yours, too.” With one hand on her jaw, he lifted her gaze to his, drowning her in his depths. “I already penciled you in on Thursdays.”

“What about Fridays?” Jo asked with a shudder, gripping the front of his plastic suit, trying to keep herself from being swept away. She gripped him harder when he moved his mouth to the side of her neck, running the tip of his tongue up to her ear.

“That one is definitely yours. Saturdays, too,” he whispered seductively.

“And Sundays?”

“I might need Sundays off.”

“To be with other women?” She twisted her neck from his reach.

“I watch football on Sundays.”

“I like football.” She allowed him to turn her face back to his.

“Then you can have Sundays, too.”

Jo let him have her mouth back, let his tongue enter her mouth in a rush of sensations that she had read about but had never believed possible for herself.

She inched her hands up his chest to twine around his neck, nervously following his lead. When he parted her lips wider, her burgeoning arousal disappeared. She pressed her lips firmer against his, trying to bring it back.

“Jo, stop. You’re trying too hard.”

She pulled her mouth back, trying not to cry. “I told you I’m no good at this—”

“If you get any better, you’ll be scraping me off the ceiling.”

Tantalizing her with whispers and touches, Rider unzipped the plastic suit and pulled her arms out. Then he unzipped his and shrugged out of the top half before removing his T-shirt.

Taking her hands, Rider placed them on his bare chest.

“I feel like I’m in a Dexter tv show.”

Seductively, he brought his mouth back to the base of her throat. “That reminds me of something.” He shut down the cameras from the laptop before closing it.

“Did anyone see?” Aghast, Jo tried again to jump down.

“No, security gets off at seven.”

“That’s a relief,” she said, seeing Rider reach for the remote control, sending the garage door down.

“Yes, it is, since I’m the one who worked it all weekend.”

“Who usually does it?”

“Depends on who Viper puts on the list. All the brothers take turns.”

“That’s fair.”

“We think so. Jo, you mind if we stop talking for a few minutes?”

“Do we have to?”

“No, but I would rather be kissing you.”

“I’d rather talk.”

“Let’s compromise. You can listen, and I’ll talk.”

“I’d rather be the one tal …” She trailed off at the words that came out of his mouth.

The foreign words and the way he said them were like a blowtorch thawing out frozen pipes to get the water running again. She couldn’t understand and would die of embarrassment if she did, but it forced her not to concentrate on his words and what his hands were doing, but to just feel the emotions behind them.

Since Curt, Tanner, and Justin had touched her, she had never been able to bear the thought of a man’s hands on her. However, she was now unconsciously scooting closer to the edge of the worktable, trying to get closer to Rider.

“Say that again,” she demanded, burying her hands in his thick hair.

When he did, with the same thick, nasally accent, she felt herself dampen in her jeans, as her legs went around his waist, as her mouth reached for his.

His sensuous words sank deep within her soul, removing the traces of the other men’s touch, replacing their ugly comments with the beauty of his words. She didn’t feel self-conscious or belittled; she felt wanted and needed as he took off her T-shirt, finding a lacy bra cupping her breasts.

Each syllable of his words soothed her raw nerves, creating a newfound world she hadn’t known existed. Each of his hands neither crushed or grabbed, merely moving the bra away from her heated flesh until he could take a nipple into his mouth.

A gasp escaped her at the gentleness he used to tempt and provoke the nub to tauten and beg for each swirl of his tongue.

“Do you like it when I lick your nipples?”

It took a second for her mind to realize she could understand what he was saying.

“Yes,” she mumbled, tugging his hair so he would kiss her again.

“I know something you’ll like better.”

She felt the air move as he lifted her off the table before turning her so her back was to him and her belly was pressed again the cold metal of the tool bench. Then Rider took her hands, placing them at each end, stretching her out until her bra-covered chest lay flat on the table.

“Rider …”

He went back to speaking in words she couldn’t understand and didn’t want to, trusting his actions wouldn’t hurt but give her a pleasure she never wanted to end.

Jo laid her cheek down on the table, listening to his movements. Her stomach fluttered when he slid his hand around her waist and dipped into her jeans, inching his fingers inside her panties to find her damp flesh.

Jo bit her lips when he found her clit, rubbing it in a circular pattern that had her squirming in his grasp.

“Oh …” Jo panted, then moaned when he burrowed his face under her hair to kiss her neck, pulling her flesh into his mouth to bite down. “Rider … please.”

“More?”

She could only nod as she licked her dry lips.

When he parted her flesh, sliding a slippery finger inside her, Jo closed her eyes tightly, nearly seeing stars he felt so good. When her butt pushed back at him, wanting more, Rider gave a sultry laugh, pulling his hand away to unbutton her jeans.

She felt the heated air hit her body as he tugged down the plastic suit, her jeans, and her panties, leaving her lower body bare to his gaze.

Thankfully, she couldn’t see his face, even if she opened her eyes. She made no move to raise herself from the table, giving him the access he wanted.

When she felt him release the patch of skin he had left his mark on and lifted his chest off her back, she held her breath, waiting for what he would do next.

Then hands parted her ass, and she jumped, her breasts rising off the bench.

“Don’t move.”

His order had another rush of heat spiraling toward her core, making her ache for something she had never dreamed was possible to want.

“Can we …?” Jo couldn’t bring herself to say the word.

“Fuck?” Rider cupped one of her ass cheeks, spreading her farther apart.

Jo nodded, holding the table so hard her knuckles showed white.

“We’re going to when I’m sure you’re ready.”

“I’m ready,” she whispered.

“Let me be the judge of that. I may not be your boss at work, but when we fuck, I’m the one in charge.”

Jo gave a small scream when she felt his tongue slide through her fleshy lips, finding her clit and sucking it into his mouth.

“You can be in charge.”

He clenched his fingers on her ass, raising her to her toes to give himself better access.

“Oh, my God … I can’t believe it feels so good.”

She cried out again when he slid his tongue inside her opening, the sensations so exquisitely sensuous she felt new and stronger cravings for Rider to fulfill.

He finally released her ass, sliding his hands up to the curve of her waist as he used her body to lever himself back to standing.

“You know what, Jo?” Satisfaction dripped from his voice, sending chills up her spine.

“What?” She nervously waited for his answer. Was he about to change his mind and not have sex with her?

“You’re ready.”