All The Way (All Series Book 3) (12 page)

Perfect

“I can’t believe I almost beat you here. What, have a rough night? Stay out partying?”

Alec jumped and turned his head to see Fred climbing out of his truck in front of Brynn’s house. He hadn’t even realized Fred pulled up right after him. “What? What do you mean?” he asked, trying to hide any guilt from his face, looking anywhere but at Fred. The garage door was up, so he knew Brynn was up and moving around at least.

“What’s wrong with you?” Fred asked, causing Alec to fight back the urge to cringe. “I can’t believe you didn’t even know I was behind you, driving into the development.”

“Sorry. Just tired this morning,” Alec said, trying to brush it off.

“I figured. Out celebrating last night?”

The guilt again, creeping up his chest. “No. Why do you keep asking that?”

Fred eyed him strangely. “The babies,” he reminded him. “How is everyone doing?”

“Oh,” Alec rushed out. “Sorry again. My mind is on other things.” Like Brynn and what she was doing right now in the house, and what she might be wearing. He hoped it was still his shirt, but knew it most likely wasn’t. If her garage door was open, then she was up and showered and getting the coffee ready for the guys.

“I’m sure. I heard it got a little dicey there, but everyone is good?” Fred asked again.

Alec’s face softened. “Yeah, everyone was good as of last night. I’m sure Ryan is up by now, but I’ll give him some time before I call. He arranged a private room for Kaitlin, so my guess is he stayed with her last night.”

“Somehow I can’t see Ryan sleeping in a hospital bed next to his wife, or waking up in yesterday’s clothing,” Fred said, chuckling.

“Ryan’s changed. My money is on him staying by her side, easily. I’m sure Lucas is bringing him a change of clothes and he’ll either drive to Jack’s to shower or go down to the gym. He doesn’t stay crumpled for long.”

They both turned their heads when Brynn opened the door leading to the house. She came out carrying the big pot of coffee, causing Alec to rush forward. “I’ve got it.” He took it from her hands and put it on the table. She smiled up at him and he fought the urge to not lean in and give her a kiss. But Fred was there, and Fred was watching.

“You’re late this morning,” she said, chuckling.

“That’s what I told him,” Fred said. “I asked if he was out partying last night.”

Brynn choked and then coughed. She made eye contact with him, and he laughed at her. It was good to see she was looking just as guilty as him.

They needed to get over this. They were two grown adults, single grown adults, and they weren’t doing anything wrong. “And were you?” she asked him, putting him on the spot.

He could play her game. “I was definitely enjoying myself last night. Not sure if I would call it partying though.”

She blushed, just like he knew she would. Clearing her throat, she said, “I’ve got muffins baking. I should go check on them.”

“She is a keeper,” Fred said. “I can’t believe she made muffins for us this morning.” Alec watched Fred move forward and fix himself a cup of coffee. “I’m assuming you didn’t do the walkthrough of the other homes this morning yet?”

“No. Not yet. Why don’t you get started and I’ll meet you there,” Alec suggested.

“I want a muffin,” Fred complained. Alec knew Fred was doing it on purpose—purposely hanging around, wanting to watch him and Brynn together.

“I’ll bring you one over, maybe two, just go,” Alec said, and walked into the house.

“Is the coast clear?” Brynn asked when he walked into the kitchen.

“Yeah, I sent him a few houses down, but just in case…” he added and pulled her into the small pantry out of view, then yanked her into his arms and kissed her the way he’d wanted to when she walked into the garage a few minutes ago.

“Good morning,” she said with a sigh. “That almost made getting up so early worth it.”

“I thought I made it worth it for you already. Which is why I’m so late,” he reminded her. When his alarm had gone off earlier, he rolled over and sat up, intent on leaving and getting back by six to start his day like he normally did. Only she had other ideas and pulled him back to bed. By the time they were done rolling around the bed, he was thirty minutes later than he planned and rushing out the door.

Figures it would be the one day Fred was earlier than normal. At least he had an excuse. Somewhat. Maybe Fred bought it, but he doubted it.

“The muffins are nice. I figured I would have worn you out.”

“I was up anyway. Actually, I felt like I had all the energy in the world, so why not? Maybe I should wake up like that more often,” she said, wiggling her eyebrows at him.

He dropped his forehead to hers. “You’re killing me, Brynn. And there is the timer on your muffins. I’ll help you.”

Together they brought out the three dozen she’d made. He grabbed three from the last batch that were still piping hot, one for him and two for Fred, and then wrapped them in a paper towel. Brynn shoved a coffee in his hand and pushed him out the door. “I’ll be in the office all day.”

“I’ll touch base with you later.”

***

Brynn was cleaning up her kitchen when she heard voices in the garage. The men were arriving to work. She still had thirty minutes before she would normally leave, so plenty enough time to clean up and put together a quick lunch for later.

She was unlocking the door to the garage to take out the trash when she heard a few guys talking outside. “What a fine piece of ass she is, and she cooks for us. Can you believe it? How the hell did I get so lucky to get this job and have someone like her serving me breakfast?”

“You better watch your mouth, Kyle.” Brynn recognized Eric’s voice, one of the young college kids that Alec had hired for summer labor. Kyle was one of the new guys recently hired. He never bothered her, never said much to her, but there was something about him she didn’t trust either. Now she knew why. She’d learned the hard way to go with her gut regardless of having a cause.

“Why? What are they going to do, fire me for saying she’s a looker? Hell, I’d love to do more than look, most of the guys here would, and I’m just biding my time. I think she’s single. Besides, she’s used to being around men on a construction site, what’s the big deal? I bet she gets around.” It was words like that that caused her to overreact with Alec weeks ago.

“I don’t think she’s like that,” Eric said, defending her. Brynn smiled slightly over that. She was used to the Kyles of the construction world; she’d been around plenty of them. She could handle herself just fine, and she would if it came down to it. She didn’t need someone to fight her battles, not anymore, but it was sweet that Eric was defending her. Either way, she would keep her distance from Kyle just the same.

Their voices started to trail off as they made their way to whatever house they were working on that day, and Brynn put the trash in the garage bin. She’d have to keep an eye on things around the men. Pay better attention to who was around when Alec was.

At one time it wouldn’t have bothered her that Kyle felt the way he did, except the past changed her. And since she had slept with the boss, it bothered her a great deal.

She didn’t get around. Never. Ever. But she knew no one ever believed it before. Why would they? It was a natural assumption, like she couldn’t help herself being around all of these men.

Shaking her head, she went back into the house. It wasn’t a big deal, and she shouldn’t let it affect her. Unfortunately, it brought up bad memories of her last job, and bad situations. She would be damned if she was going to be driven from this job because of people’s narrow-mindedness. It was all in the past. She’d learned to put it behind her and she had to keep it there. She took a stand, moving here to start over, and she wasn’t going to let parochialism pull her back down or make her run again.

She was just getting into her SUV to go to the office when her phone chimed. Grabbing it fast, she read Alec’s text and grinned, then typed back.
Dinner tonight sounds great.

I’ll pick you up at 7.

She thought for a second, then responded.
Let’s stay in and I’ll cook. I want you to myself.
She knew the last part would get him easily.

The perfect woman.

Her heart fluttered in her chest, but she kept it light.
Perfect and special. Wow, you are full of romantic words.

I’ll give you romance. You can count on it.

And that flutter just turned into a stampede in her chest.
I’m holding you to it.

Putting her phone back in her purse, she started her SUV and pulled away. Now she just needed to figure out what to make for dinner.

He said she was special and perfect. She never felt that way before. She’d always been just Brynn, the pretty girl who liked to hang out with the guys, the one that was always thought of as “one of the guys” most of the time.

It wasn’t until college that she started to dress more like a woman, not that anyone looking at her wouldn’t have known she was a woman. She always wore fitted clothing, and always had long hair, but she never bothered much with makeup. She would have rather been throwing a football around with her brother and his friends than hanging out and doing her hair and nails with other girls.

Carly wore her down though. Carly made her believe she could be the best of both worlds, and she was right. Brynn managed to perfect it—a feminine lady when it was called for, or one of the guys when need be. She was comfortable in both positions, actually.

Alec seemed to be the first person that liked that about her; no one else ever did. She’d been accused of being someone she wasn’t at times, or trying to be someone else, even called a tease. That was never the case though. She was who she was.

And Alec seemed to enjoy that about her. Guess you couldn’t get any more perfect than that.

Secret

Close to six, Brynn pulled into her driveway with groceries. She made sure she got out of work on time, then ran to the store for the makings for dinner. She still had an hour before Alec arrived, but looking at all the vehicles still in the development, maybe not.

Three of the nine houses were getting the attention right now. The other six were only having small things done to them, they would be winter projects. She scanned the ones being worked on as best she could as she slowly pulled into her garage. She was looking for Alec’s truck but didn’t see it. Maybe he left already.

After dropping her bags of groceries on the counter, she put away what needed to be kept cool and ran upstairs for a quick shower. Twenty minutes later she was downstairs in comfortable shorts and a shirt, barefoot, her damp hair tucked behind her ears. She thought about dressing up more, drying and styling her hair and putting some makeup on, then changed her mind.

She’d bet Alec would appreciate the casualness of this more, she hoped so at least. They were still feeling their way around each other right now. In her eyes, this was their first relationship night.

She really hadn’t considered them dating for the last thirty days, but maybe they were. There had been plenty of flirting, kissing…and petting. Though honestly, she was on the receiving end of all the petting. Anytime she initiated anything more than kissing, he’d always stopped her. She wasn’t sure why, but she could guess. He often made comments that once he got to a certain point it would be harder to walk away, so she figured he knew his limit.

That was in the past now; they were beyond that. No more holding back and no more stopping at a few touches.

Only, that wasn’t really true. Technically no one knew about them, so there was still some holding back, and she was fine with that. They would address that situation at another time, but not yet, and not now.

She heard her phone chiming so she wiped her hands on a dish towel and grabbed it off the counter.
Going to be late, too many eyes.

Looking at the clock, she took note it was still twenty minutes before seven. She wondered if he was nearby. She swore she didn’t see his truck and she had been glancing out the windows she passed by in the house.

Walking to the side window in the front room, she pulled back a curtain and searched around. Yep, a few vehicles still next door. None of them Alec’s truck, but one of them being Fred’s. She typed back.
Problem on site?

A few minutes passed and she imagined him cursing while he texted. He’d said plenty of times his hands were too big for the phone.
No, but running behind on something. Fred has it under control.

She typed back fast.
Want me to let you know when the coast is clear?

Fred will let me know when he is done. I’ll check with you first before heading over. Are you waiting anxiously for me?

She laughed. She actually was but didn’t realize it until he asked.
I guess you will have to wait to find out.

Tease.

Instead of being offended as she had been in the past, she laughed again and responded back fast.
And you like it that way. Now let me finish dinner, see you soon.

***

Alec grinned. She was right—he did like it. He liked just about everything about her. The way she looked, the way she smiled, the way she laughed and flirted, and even teased. Most of all, he like the way she made him feel. She held nothing back, put it all out there and left it up to him to decide if he wanted it all or not. He did, more than anything.

He’d been getting ready to walk out the door when Fred called to tell him they were running behind at one house. Figures. The one day he had plans and wanted everyone gone on time. So he had to sit back down and wait them out.

He and Brynn would have to discuss things soon. He didn’t want to be sneaking around. It wasn’t like him to be secretive about things in his life, least of all dating a woman, but this was different and he needed to tread carefully. For once, this was a serious relationship for him. Not just because she was his employee, but because what he felt for her was deeper than anything he’d felt before.

A little after seven, Fred called to say they were done and packing up, and he didn’t hesitate to throw out there that one of the men was talking to Brynn while she was on the back deck. He had all he could do to not ask who and what they were talking about, but he held it back. Barely. Mainly because Fred laughed when Alec went silent.

The coast is clear.
He read on his phone.

On my way.

He pulled into her driveway in record time. Thankfully she’d left the garage door open for him, so he pulled in next to her SUV, climbed out and hit the button to close the door behind him.

The minute he opened the door to the house he was assaulted with the smell of bacon. It was just like walking into his parents’ house. Every time you opened the door, the smell of food hit you.

He didn’t realize it, but this morning he’d noticed the same thing when he returned to Brynn’s. He’d opened the door and smelled the muffins she was cooking. At that time he was just too focused on getting his hands on her again to think about what she had been up to.

“Something smells good.”

She jumped from the crouch she’d been in, in front of the open refrigerator, when he walked in and made that statement. “Just bacon to start.” Walking over, she handed him a beer, then pulled it back. “Payment first,” she said.

“How much is this going to cost me?” he asked, his lips twitching.

She ran the tip of her tongue around her upper lip in a slow precise move. It was going to cost him everything in the end—he realized it at that moment. Something about her pulled him in so far and so fast. He was beyond caring and definitely beyond fighting it. He moved forward and placed his lips over hers in a kiss meant to be light and welcoming.

“Payment is higher when you’re late,” she said, laughing.

So he pulled her forward by her hips and kissed her the way he really wanted to do when he saw her standing there looking like she was welcoming him home for the day, all soft, comfortable and inviting.

A timer going off pulled him out of the sexual haze the kiss had yanked him into. “Does that cover the cost?”

“For now,” she said, sashaying past him to look in the oven after she handed his beer over.

“What’s for dinner?” He figured he needed to get his mind on something else right now or they would be having a burned dinner, whatever it was.

“My mother’s special burgers with roasted red potatoes, a pretty simple dinner. I like to cook, but I’m not a gourmet cook by any means.”

“Simple works for me and burgers are always a hit. What makes them so special?”

She finished stirring the potatoes in the oven, then turned to him after she set the timer again. “Secret recipe,” she said, her eyes twinkling.

“I didn’t know burgers had secret recipes.”

“Guess you are going to find out.” She pulled a cookie sheet off the counter that had been covered with a towel and he now noticed big juicy burgers that looked to have been handmade.

“Those are huge.”

“What’s the point of a homemade burger if it’s small?”

She had a point. “Okay. So what is so special then?” He followed her out to the back deck where he could see the grill was ready to go.

After placing the large burgers on the grill and shutting the top, she turned to sit in a chair. “Aside from the spices I mixed in with the beef, they are stuffed with pieces of bacon and blue cheese crumbles in the center. Then I’ll top them with more bacon and more cheese.”

“Sounds awesome.”

“It is. It was my mom’s specialty, like I said. My father always wanted these burgers for his birthday or Father’s Day. He was a simple man, but it’s a nice hearty meal. You remind me of my father, so I thought it was an appropriate choice.”

He wasn’t sure if that was good or bad, that he reminded her of her father. He guessed good. Why else make her father’s favorite meal? He was touched, whether she meant for him to be or not, so he asked, “How do I remind you of him?”

“He’s a good man,” she said. “He cares about his crew and his family, and always does the right thing. That’s you, isn’t it? You always look out for other people first.”

No one had ever said those things to him before. It
was
him. It was who he was, and how he was raised. Those that were close to him knew that, but those he dated never did. For some reason, no one ever got that. He was always putting others first. Half the time the women just took it for granted.

Until this moment, he never realized how it would feel to have someone recognize that about him, and so soon.

“Anyway,” she continued. “I wanted to do something for you. You’ve done so much for me, even if you don’t realize it. I know dinner is a simple thing, but I wanted to cook a dinner for you. Just to let you come over and relax and enjoy something that I did for you.”

He was speechless for the moment. He watched her face flush after she explained that, almost like she was embarrassed, but she didn’t say another word. “I haven’t done that much,” he argued.

“Yes, you have. Letting me live here for free. Giving me so much freedom and responsibility in my job right away. That might not seem like a lot to you, but it’s
huge
to me. Mainly for the reason that it means you believe in me and my ability. Too many times I’ve been pushed aside for being a woman. You don’t see me as a woman, you see me as an equal. Alec, that alone is enough.”

His heart was pounding in his chest. All those thoughts about her being the one magnified. No one ever made him feel a need to protect as much as she did. No one ever made him feel as much of a man as he felt right now. Her simple words—from actions he did that he didn’t even know were important to her—resulted in something that obviously meant a great deal to her.

Now more than anything he understood why she didn’t want what they had to affect her job, and he wouldn’t let that happen.

He needed to change the subject and fast. He smiled, trying to wipe away the deep emotional turmoil he felt. He was nowhere close to letting on what he felt. “I most definitely see you as a woman.”

She laughed at him, her eyes lighting up a fraction, more carefree now. “I expect you to show me how much later tonight.”