Wheeler
I stayed up with Happy all through the night. I didn’t take my eyes off him for a second, a task that was much easier to do without the silent, unassuming temptation that was Poppy Cruz hovering so close yet just out of reach. I was pissed at myself that I got so distracted by her pillowy lips and intoxicating flavor that I forgot about Happy and his penchant for getting into things. I wanted to be the guy that could do it all, juggle all the balls: run a business, romance the girl, train the dog, be a good dad and a supportive coparent, but every time I took my eyes off one ball, they all seemed to fall. It was frustrating and infuriating because there wasn’t a single ball that I was ready to let go of. I needed to learn how to be a better juggler … like one that was good enough to work at a circus or entertain kids at birthday parties.
After spending the night with Happy curled up at my side, dreaming his puppy dreams, which made his tiny paws kick, I knew that he was worth every headache he was inevitably going to cause and every hour of lost sleep that was going to make my workday miserable. He was so fucking cute and cuddly that I didn’t mind the other side of the bed being empty for once. There were honestly no words to describe how relieved I was that he didn’t seem to have any issues from getting into the things he wasn’t supposed to the night before.
I felt the same way about the girl who tasted like honey and moved just as thickly and slowly through my blood.
Everything I did with Poppy was slow and careful. It was thoughtful steps moving toward each other until we met somewhere in the middle. There was no rush. Everything was deliberate and done in a way that meant we could get it exactly right.
I never considered how much of a turn-on it could be to kiss someone while not laying a single finger on them. It had been shy. It had been hesitant. It had been tentative … and then it changed. It got demanding. It got needy. It became desperate and frantic in the best way. Without the use of my hands I had to lure her closer with nothing more than my mouth. I couldn’t feel her, so I had to taste every single bit of her I could. I couldn’t hold her, so I had to keep her in place with passion and the allure of what else was waiting.
I almost lost it when she wrapped her arm around the back of my neck. Everything inside of me was screaming that I should pin her to the counter, that I should put my hands on her pretty honey-colored skin, that I should grind the throbbing flesh behind my zipper into the sweet apex of her thighs, but I didn’t. I kept my hands to myself and gave her the kiss she asked for, the one that I hoped let her know that I was dead serious about being ready for whatever was waiting for us. She was the only thing I really felt like I had a handle on anymore … and I’d barely touched her.
I texted Poppy to let her know both the puppy and I escaped the night unscathed and asked if she wanted me to drop him off at her place or her work. Happy was still too little to come to the garage during the day. I didn’t want to kennel him in the office and I couldn’t have him running around the shop because of all the chemicals he would be able to get into. Poppy agreed that he needed to be a little bit older and definitely better trained before he could spend his days wandering around the garage and the fenced-in lot around the warehouse. She replied that she was home, so I stopped and grabbed some doughnuts on the way over.
She looked as tired as I felt when she opened the door. Some of the sleepiness faded as she took Happy from me, cooing at the puppy while simultaneously looking at the brightly colored box in my hand. I hefted it up. “I brought you breakfast.” I wiggled my eyebrows at her. “Tomato-free.”
A tiny grin tugged at her mouth and I felt like I was seeing the sunshine for the first time. It was beautiful and that itty-bitty hint of happiness from her, that sliver of light that glowed from inside of her, reinforced the fact that she was worth every effort caring for her was going to take.
“I think you’re trying to fatten me up. You’re always telling me to eat and bringing me food.”
I wasn’t trying to fatten her up. I was trying to get her to take care of herself. I had no clue what she looked like before Rowdy and her sister brought her back to Denver to heal, but I doubted she was built like a strong wind could blow her over. The smaller she was, the easier it was for her to disappear, and I didn’t want that for her. I wanted her healthy and strong enough to withstand whatever life was going to throw at her. I wanted her to fight, not fade away.
She put Happy down and took the box as I held it out to her. She looked at it, then up at me. She nibbled nervously on the inside of her lip before asking softly, “Do you want to come in and share these before you have to go to work?”
Hell yes I did. I wanted that more than anything because she was inviting me in without question or hesitation, but I couldn’t. I had an appointment with a buyer for one of my higher-end builds and I couldn’t afford to blow him off or keep him waiting. He was a repeat customer, one that liked to spend money on the especially hard-to-find classics.
“Can’t. Gotta see a man about a car. I’ll give you a call after work, and if you’re up to it I’ll swing by and we can work on getting Happy some much-needed manners.” I chuckled. “He snores and takes up more of the bed than something that small should be able to.”
Again, that barely-there smile danced around her mouth. “Okay. I guess I’ll see you later.”
I was going to be dead on my feet, a walking zombie, but I would play through the pain if it meant I got to spend time with her. I tilted my chin down at her and turned to go but stopped short when her fingers wrapped around my elbow. She was reaching out to touch me more and more. I wondered if she even realized that she no longer hesitated to lay her fingers lightly on me when she wanted my attention. I felt that gentle touch all the way through my body. My dick took instant notice and I bit back a groan as her eyes heated and got soft and warm. She balanced the box in one hand and reached in and pulled out a decadent-looking chocolate doughnut with the other. I brought her a full dozen because I had no clue what kind she preferred, so I covered all the bases.
“Take one with you. You can’t go to work without some kind of boost since you were up all night.” I took the sugary confection from her hand and my gaze landed on her fingers, where some of the chocolate frosting still clung.
The simple gesture of offering me something because she wanted to take care of me in return meant more to me than Poppy would ever know.
Keeping my eyes on hers, I took a step closer to her, and slowly, so slowly, so that she would have plenty of time to move her hand away, I lowered my head to where it was still hanging in the air in front of mine. I heard her suck in a breath, watched the way it made her breasts rise and fall under the too-big thermal she was wearing, but she didn’t tell me to stop and she didn’t pull away as I carefully and deliberately slicked my tongue over and around her finger. The frosting was a burst of sweetness in my mouth, but her creamy, velvety skin was even sweeter. She exhaled slowly as I ran the tip of my tongue across her knuckle and down into the sensitive vee between her fingers. I flicked it back and forth and gave the innocent space a very dirty kind of kiss. The frosting was long gone but I wanted the image of what I could do to her, do for her when she was ready for it, to linger in her mind for the rest of the day. If I could make her pant and sway on her feet by simply playing her fingers, she had to know that kind of pleasure I could bring her when I got my fingers on the good stuff would be well worth the risk she was going to have to take by letting me in.
When I was done, I brushed a kiss across the back of her hand like some kind of cheeseball. It might have been ridiculous and antiquated but the gesture made her sigh and had her looking at me like she might drop the bakery box and pull me inside the apartment so she could have her way with me.
As awesome as that daydream was, I really did have to get to work, so pushing Poppy and letting her figure out how far she was willing to go with me was going to have to wait. “Have a good day, honey.”
She stared at me silently for a drawn-out moment, then she shook her head quickly like she was trying to shake off whatever sexual haze I had wrapped her up in and blinked those stunning eyes at me. “You too, Wheeler.”
I would, because it started out with her.
I got stuck in traffic, so I ended up being late for my meeting but it didn’t matter. The car collector still picked up the ’67 Ford Fairlane and made a ridiculous offer on the Wayfarer even though it wasn’t close to being done. I was on my way to the office to mainline a gallon of coffee when I got waylaid by another visitor who was obviously from out of town but knew his shit when it came to classic muscle cars. He mentioned he was in town visiting a friend that had recently relocated and that one of the guys at the tattoo shop where I went for my work gave him my name and told him if he was a car guy he needed to see my setup. The dude was big, looked like a felon, but talked engines and horsepower as well as I did. He was driving a shitty rental but his pretty redheaded girlfriend wasted no time in telling me that she inherited a ’69 Super Bee when she and the bruiser got together. When I asked what kind of ride he rolled around in, they both cringed and he grumbled something about a bad accident totaling his car but didn’t elaborate. I was smart enough not to pry.
The guy might have secretly scared the piss out of me but the hour and a half I spent showing him all my pride-and-joy projects was really enjoyable. It wasn’t often I met someone that was as committed to bringing the old beasts back to life the same way I was. I felt like he was a kindred spirit and his girlfriend was sweet. She didn’t say much but when she did the monster of a man smiled and answered her questions thoughtfully and patiently. It was pretty clear he loved two things with equal passion, muscle cars and the girl standing by his side. He was careful with her in the same way I was careful with Poppy.
After they left I once again went in search of coffee, the sugar rush from my doughnut starting to wear off, but was interrupted in my quest by another unexpected visitor. I spotted the Hudson long before it pulled into the lot. I paused in front of one of the bays and waited while the beautiful machine coasted to a smooth stop in front of me. Whoever took care of making the motor run was good … really good. There wasn’t a single knock or whine, which was rare for a car that still had so many of its original parts.
I lifted my chin as the guy from before climbed out and made his way over to where I was waiting. “You’re back.”
Once again he had mirrored aviators on, so I couldn’t read his expression but he did give a little nod. “I am. I actually have a lead on a car that I thought you might be interested in.”
I crossed my arms over my chest and narrowed my eyes. I didn’t take on special projects for profit. I wanted to sink my time and my money into cars that I felt really needed me. I didn’t want to build any kind of flashy hot rod for a weekend warrior, not that this guy gave off the entitled vibes those wannabe gearheads had.
“I usually track down my own builds. I’m picky about what I want to take on. I usually have to work on them on the side because it’s the regular maintenance and customer cars that pay the bills. I tend to only invest my time and money into one car at a time. I’ve been babying that Wayfarer for six months.”
No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t put my finger on why I was so sure I knew him from somewhere. I figured it had to be my imagination because this was the second time he’d sought me out and he hadn’t indicated that our paths might have crossed before. I could see my own puzzled expression in the reflection of the mirrored sunglasses he didn’t bother to take off.
“I understand that, but this is an opportunity I doubt you’ll want to pass up. I know someone that’s getting rid of a ’52 Hudson convertible. The original body and chassis are intact but the motor is all tore to hell and patchworked together from different years and different makes and models. It’s scrap. I don’t have the space or the time to take it on since I’m sort of in limbo at the moment, but I thought you might.” His dark eyebrows lifted and his teeth flashed as he gave me a knowing grin. “I mean a guy named Hudson should own one … it only seems right.”
I blew out a whistle and rocked back on my heels. That was an offer that was practically impossible to say no to. “That’s quite a score. Why would you want to pass it on to a guy you don’t know?”
He lifted a silver-and-black eyebrow as he told me, “I have eyes and I know my shit, kid. You take care of your cars regardless if they are a classic or a daily driver. You’re putting out beautiful work, and honestly, I’m dying to see what you could do with the ’52. I know the seller really well, so I can probably get a few grand knocked off the asking price.”
I watched him, still trying to place where I could know him from, when it occurred to me I didn’t even know his name. He’d taken off after I told him I was named after his car the last time he visited.
“I didn’t catch your name the last time you stopped by. Seems like I should know it if you’re offering me a score and a deal.” I cocked my head to the side and considered him through narrowed eyes. “Are you famous or something? I can’t shake this feeling that I’ve seen you somewhere before. You look very familiar.”
The man let out a rusty-sounding laugh and shook his head. He offered a hand and his grip when we shook was firm and confident. I wasn’t sure if it was my overly tired mind playing tricks on me or not but I could have sworn the guy gave my hand an extra squeeze there at the end before letting go.
“Name’s Zak Brady.” He waited a second to see if I would have any reaction to the name and when I didn’t he sighed and shifted his weight uneasily on his booted feet. “I’m not famous but I’ve made a decent name for myself in certain circles where horsepower is king. I’m not sure anyone would be familiar with it outside of California, but if you ever head out to the West Coast, people will point you in the direction of my garage the same way they pointed me toward yours.” He grinned at me and I found myself staring stupidly because I knew that face was one that I was familiar with. It was making me bonkers that I couldn’t place him. “I must have one of those faces, the kind that reminds someone of someone they think they know.”
He pulled his wallet out of his back pocket and handed over a business card that had a bunch of shiny silver car parts embossed on it. His name was stamped in black and there was contact information as well as the address for a garage in Orange County. “You can reach me at the number on there and the website is up-to-date if you want to check it out so you know I’m not trying to scam you. Figure out what your bottom line on the Hudson is and if it’s reasonable I’ll see what I can work out. If you decide to pass, no hard feelings. We both know that kind of car will find a buyer in a hot second. I’d like to see it go to a guy who appreciates what he’s got and what it could be, but I learned early on in my career that I can’t save every beauty that comes my way.”
He looked away and I had the distinct feeling we weren’t talking about cars anymore. Every time this guy showed up at my shop it got weird and I wasn’t really sure what to do with that. I tucked the card in my pocket and told him, “Let me look at some things. I’m not going to tell you that I’m not tempted but I also have my first kid on the way so anything that’s going to cost a mint has to be carefully considered. I’ll give you a call in a few days after I crunch some numbers.” Before Kallie had dropped the bomb that we were going to be parents I would have snapped up the Hudson without a second thought, but now I had someone else I was responsible for making good choices for, even if that someone wasn’t quite here yet.
The older guy made a noise that sounded a little like he was choking and rubbed his hand over his mouth.
“You’re going to be a dad?” The words wheezed out and he loudly cleared his throat to cover the obvious strain in his words. “Congratulations, kid. That’s great.”
His reaction was so bizarre that I decided I’d enough of the conversation. There was something about this dude that was a little too intense for me. “Well, it wasn’t exactly planned and the circumstances could be better but I’m gonna do my best by the kid.” I snorted a little bit and looked down at the worn toes of my boots. “I had a shit example set for me by my own parents, so if anything, I know what not to do.” The guy made that choking noise again and I hooked a thumb over my shoulder at one of the open bays. “Thanks for stopping by and for having faith in my ability to handle the Hudson but I gotta go pay the bills. The minivans and SUVs are what keeps the lights on, and the guys who work for me paid. There’s no shortage of them waiting to be fixed.” I patted the pocket where I stashed his card and assured him, “I’ll let you know which way I’m gonna go in a few days.”
The guy seemed to shake himself out of a stupor and flashed me that friendly and familiar grin. “Sounds good, kid.” He ambled back to his car.
I roughly scraped a hand down my face and tilted my head back so I was looking up at the clear Denver sky. “I’m too tired for this. All I wanted was a cup of coffee.” The sky didn’t offer any kind of sympathy but Molly had a fresh pot of coffee in the office when I finally made my way inside. If I wasn’t so wrapped up in pretty Poppy and wasn’t too smart to court a sexual harassment lawsuit, I could have kissed the girl in gratitude.
The rest of the day dragged on much as I expected it to. I was chugging Red Bull at two in a desperate bid to keep going, with lackluster results. I wanted to cry when I called it a day for the rest of the crew at the end of regular working hours but knew I still had to stay to make up for my wasted hours during the morning. All I wanted was a beer and a soft bed … well, a softer woman wouldn’t hurt anything, but I didn’t want to be greedy.
I was shoulders-deep in the engine of a Jeep Cherokee when my phone started ringing. I knew it was Poppy by the bright, cheery ring tone I’d assigned to her. I was always the one that reached out to her, so the fact she was calling me, especially when I told her I would be in touch after work, had everything inside of me going on alert.
“Poppy?” I couldn’t hear what she was saying because she was crying and her voice was so shrill and high I was pretty sure only dogs could understand her. She was incoherent and I could practically feel the way she was sobbing through the phone line. “Honey, I need you to slow down and tell me what’s wrong. I can’t understand you.”
She wailed again but I heard her take a calming breath, and even though her voice cracked, she managed to get out, “I dropped Happy’s leash when we were out walking. He’s gone! He’s going to get hit by a car or attacked by a bigger dog! I can’t find him anywhere!” She started sobbing again and I pictured her collapsing in on herself in the middle of the sidewalk, falling apart with no one there to hold her together. I wiped my dirty hands on the legs of my coveralls and started shutting down the garage before I was really aware of the fact I was moving. The task usually took an hour but I didn’t bother to sweep the floors or shut off the lights. I made sure all the machines were shut off and that there was nothing left on that could burn the place down as I raced out to my car.
“Give me twenty minutes and I’ll come find him.” I kept my voice calm but on the inside I was just as scared as she was. Happy might be a pit but he was still a baby and he had no idea what was out there in the big bad world. He was so small that I didn’t want to start thinking about all the bad things that could befall him if I couldn’t find him.
“It’s too late. I ruin everything.” She sounded heartbroken … no strike that … she sounded broken period. It made everything inside of me tie itself in knots and had my heart kicking double time with worry and in fear.
I almost dropped my keys getting into the Eldorado and swore loudly, which made her cry even harder. “Poppy where are you?”
She didn’t reply for so long that I strongly considered hanging up and calling 911. She sounded like she needed help and I was still too far away to offer it to her. I was terrified of what I was going to find when I finally made it to her.
“Poppy?” I barked her name with more force and that seemed to get through.
She wheezed through the line and told me she was walking up and down the blocks near her apartment complex off Downing. She was looking in the decorative bushes that lined the walkways leading up to most of the converted Victorians in that part of Capitol Hill. She said she was also checking under cars and in the alleys that passed between buildings, which led me to scolding her to be careful. I was worried about her wandering the streets in her obviously hysterical state. She was as much at risk as the puppy was.
I found a spot on the street to leave the Caddy and bolted up and down the side streets calling both the dog’s name and the woman’s. I was out of breath by the time I found Poppy. She was walking up the opposite side of the street from where I was jogging, looking lost. She still had on the lightweight sleepwear she was wearing this morning with no coat and nothing but a pair of flip-flops on her feet. Obviously, she hadn’t been planning on keeping the dog out long and whatever had distracted her into letting go of that leash must have been pretty serious. I hoped like hell it wasn’t something as simple as someone crossing her path on the sidewalk, because if that was the case, she had much further to go on her path to recovering from her trauma than I thought.
I rushed across the street and wrapped my arms around her as she immediately threw herself into my chest. She tucked her head under my chin and against the front of my T-shirt where my coveralls were opened, and the shirt immediately got soaked through from her tears. I palmed the back of her head as her lithe frame shuddered uncontrollably against mine, and whispered that everything would be okay in her ear. I needed to get her somewhere safe and then I needed to find our dog.
“Let’s get you inside so you can warm up. I’ll look for Happy until the sun comes up if I have to. He’s tiny, he couldn’t have made it very far.”
She shook her head back and forth, her entire body moving as sobs ripped from her chest. “I can’t believe I let him go. Everything that loves me, I let go.”
I didn’t understand what that meant but I didn’t think she was in the right frame of mind to have a heart-to-heart about it. “Honey, you’re freezing. You have to go inside.”
She pulled her head back from where it was burrowed into me and blinked up at me. “I have to find Happy.”
“You will, but you won’t do him any good if you freeze to death.” We stood there staring at each other for a long time and I realized she wasn’t going to move. She was stuck on the spot, lost in her own grief and trapped by whatever had started this mess in the first place. I didn’t have a coat since I was still wearing my coveralls from the garage, so I decided the next best thing I could do to warm her up and get her to move was to hold her close and cradle her in my arms like she was a baby. I knew if she hadn’t been lost in the throes of her meltdown, she would protest because there was no part of her that wasn’t touching me, but since she was numb and practically catatonic, I swung her thin legs up into my arms and marched with her back to her apartment like she was my bride and I was carrying her across the threshold on our wedding night. She was so light, barely any kind of burden in my grasp. I vowed to bring her doughnuts every single morning until the day I died if it would give her the sustenance she obviously needed.
When I rounded the corner of the block where her apartment building was located, I almost dropped her when I saw a furry little blur dart around the side of her building. There was no mistaking that brindled coat or the excited way the puppy moved. Even though he was just a baby, he obviously knew where home was. He’d found his way back to love and shelter. Smart dog.
I put Poppy on her feet by the front door and told her I would be right back. I hated to leave her in the state she was in but I figured the best way to snap her out of it was to get the puppy back in her arms, whole and healthy.
Happy thought we were playing a game. Every time I got close enough to grab him he darted the opposite way. He barked and yipped, having a grand old time. Finally, I figured out if I crouched down on my haunches and just stayed still, the goofy little guy would come over to me looking for his head pats and tummy rubs. When I scooped him up I couldn’t believe the wave of relief that washed over me. I had to take a second to pull myself together because I didn’t want Poppy to see how upset I had been. She was already a mess, I wasn’t going to add any more to it.
When I got back to the front of the building she predictably lost her mind when she saw I had the dog safely in my grasp. She started crying in earnest again and couldn’t seem to make her words work. I handed the dog over without a fight, waved her off as she babbled her thanks over and over again, and felt my heart squeeze as Happy tried to burrow into her chest the way she had burrowed into mine.
Now more than dead on my feet, I decided I was done for the day. I needed a few hours of shut-eye and I needed to know both my dog and my girl were safe. The only way to accomplish all of that was to pile all of us into the same bed. I didn’t know if Poppy was ready for that yet, but I was too tired to ask. I picked her up, Happy delighted to be in her arms again, snuggled close. I made my way down the hallway into her apartment, and trudged along until I found her bedroom with no help or protest from her.
I set her on the bed, pulled off her flip-flops, and bent to tug off my boots. I didn’t want to crawl into her bed with my dirty coveralls but I didn’t have the mental fortitude to deal with another emotional breakdown once she realized she was in bed with a half-naked man.
I pulled her to me so that her back was plastered to my chest. I rested my arm around her thin waist as she continued to cuddle against me and coo at the dog. My eyes drifted shut as I felt her press more fully into me. I tightened my hold on her and inhaled the floral scent that clung to her hair. It had been a long day but I would do it all over a hundred more times without a single complaint if it ended me up exactly where I was right now.