Carnal Compromise (4 page)

“Make yourself at home, Joe,” Tim grumbled.

“Don’t mind if I do.” He looked around at the three paper placemats. “What are we having?”

“
We
already ordered,” Seth told him with a facefull of belligerent. “Don’t know what you’re having.”

Joe eyed him with amusement. “What’s your problem, Junior?”

“AJ’s all worked up over something this morning, and judging by the look on her face when you walked in, I gotta figure that something is you.”

AJ slouched even lower in the booth and kept her eyes on the table. “Seth, don’t,” she said, twisting her water glass in circles with both hands. “Really, it’s nothing. It was my own stupid fault.”

“That may be, but I don’t care for the way he’s lookin’ at you.”

“Why don’t you two scram,” Joe invited with a friendly look that didn’t match the steel in his tone. “Brent’ll be right behind me, and this booth ain’t big enough for all of us.”

Seth leaned forward on his elbows. “Why don’t you make us?”

“Hey, now, let’s not get too excited here,” Tim injected, raising his palms to both of them in a cautionary gesture. “We’re all friends, after all.”

“You’d do well to listen to your little brother, Junior.”

“Chicken-fried steak and eggs, sunny side up?”

A well-padded waitress stood beside the table, her arms loaded with plates, a question in her eyes.

“These two knuckleheads’ll take theirs over there,” Joe told her, pointing at the empty table by the restrooms. “Hers stays right here.”

“Now just a damn minute—”

“Dietz.”

“Boss.” Seth acknowledged Brent’s greeting without taking his furious eyes off Joe.

“Joe and I had a little misunderstanding with AJ last night,” Brent said in a deceptively casual tone, “one that needs to be straightened out before we can get back to work, so I’d be obliged if you’d give up your seats and let us have breakfast with her this morning.”

Seth stared back at Brent for a long moment, his jaw tight with resentment, before he grudgingly stood up. Joe stood too, never taking his eyes of the angry young buck as Tim slid out of the booth.

“Enjoy your breakfast, boys,” he said as they walked away.

Brent thumped him on the back of the head. “Joe, sit down and shut up.”

Chapter Three

“You guys are unbelievable,” AJ breathed as Brent slid in beside her. “Didn’t you embarrass me enough last night?”

He waited until the waitress had set a plate of French toast in front of her and handed him and Joe menus before he said in an amused tone, “Nobody ever died of a little embarrassment, AJ.”

“Yeah, well, there’s a first time for everything.” Happy to have something to do with her hands, she picked up the maple syrup and drizzled it over the toast.

Then she set it down with a snort. “And a
little
embarrassment, my left foot. Getting caught doing—” she lowered her voice as heat flooded her cheeks again, “—
that
is every girl’s worst nightmare. Getting caught by you two...”

Brent bumped his shoulder against hers. “Better us than the Dietz boys.”

“I don’t know about that,” she said, picking up her knife and fork to slice up her breakfast. “Their respect isn’t as important to me as yours.”

Neither man answered right away, and she steeled herself to look at them. They were both frowning at her, but before anyone could speak, the waitress returned for their orders.

“Sorry, but you caught me off guard,” Brent finally said after she took their menus and walked off.

“Why?”

“Well, because respect isn’t an issue here. We all have bodily needs, and living in such close quarters makes it hard to take care of them without someone intruding once in a while. Do you respect me any less for all the times you’ve caught me on the john?”

She blushed again, dammit. “There
is
a lock on the bathroom door,” she reminded him again. Neither of them had ever caught her using the toilet or showering because she
always
locked the door.

“There’s a lock on the bunkroom door,” he returned evenly.

“Yes, but that’s different. The bunkroom is Joe’s room, too, and I don’t feel right locking him out of it.” Not to mention that locking the door would feel like she was making a formal announcement:
Do not disturb—masturbation in progress.

“Let me tell you something, AJ,” he said. “You know your machinery, you’re meticulous and your work ethic is second to none. You don’t whine about getting stuck with low-man jobs, you ask questions when you don’t know what to do and you accept responsibility when you make a mistake instead of pointing the finger at someone else. In short, you’re an excellent hand and I’m hoping we’ll get you back next spring.”

“I agree,” Joe interjected with a steady look.

Brent nodded. “So, why would we lose an ounce of respect for you because you take care of your own needs in the privacy of your own room?”

Their assessment of her performance added heat to AJ’s blush, though now it was pleasure rather than humiliation. As one of the few women in the male-dominated field of agribusiness, she’d always had to give 110% every single day to prove herself worthy of being called a farmer. Her own father had expected her to work twice as hard and be twice as stoic before he’d show her even a tenth the respect he showered on her brother. Being the only woman on this crew, she constantly had to walk a fine line between going the extra mile to prove herself and acting like just another one of the guys, and it was nice to know she’d accomplished what she set out to do.

Unfortunately, she couldn’t let herself relax and enjoy their company just yet. There was still one more issue, the main one really, to be confronted.

“Why should you respect me when I didn’t respect Joe’s privacy?” she finally asked. She looked Joe squarely in the eye. “I apologize. I shouldn’t have…used your stuff.”

“You’re talking about my shirt.”

“Yes.” Her cheeks got hot again remembering it.

“No harm done.” Then he grinned. “You can use my stuff any time you want to, darlin’, as long as I get to watch.”

She froze with her fork hovering over the plate, and her heart skipped a couple of beats. Surely he wasn’t…flirting…

Cutting another big bite, she stuffed it into her mouth, feeling even more heat run up into her cheeks. Just when she thought they might be easing into her one of those gay-guys-plus-gal-pal friendships she’d always read about, one of them had to go and say something to throw her off-kilter again.

Fortunately, their food arrived, and while they ate, the two men talked about crop conditions and machinery issues as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened, giving her a chance to study them from under her lashes. Dammit, there was no way she’d read them wrong. Even now, the sexual tension between them was palpable. Were they fighting? Was Joe using her as some kind of rebound or revenge tool to get Brent’s goat?

She scowled. If that was the case, she’d have to kick his very fine, very gay ass.

“So last night kind of changes things,” Brent said, wiping his lips with a paper napkin.

Although they’d ordered at least twenty minutes after AJ, they’d all finished their breakfasts at about the same time, and now she sat there, looking torn between nerves and suspicion. What in the world was going on in that cute little blonde head?

“How so?” she asked warily.

“As I see it, we have three options here. One, we can all pretend it never happened and try to carry on with business as usual, though I think that might be difficult for all of us. Two, I can move you in with Seth and Tim, and if you want, you can even switch to the other crew when we meet up in Fargo.”

AJ wasn’t very good at hiding her emotions. Dismay flashed in her eyes and she bit her lip before asking, “And the other option?”

“Well now,” he said, dropping the napkin in his plate. “That’s where things get interesting.”

“Interesting how?”

He studied her for a moment and then glanced over at the Dietz boys, who still hadn’t left even though they’d finished inhaling their food fifteen minutes ago. No way could he have this conversation with those two breathing down his neck. “Let’s get out of here. We can talk on the way to the field.”

Waving their waitress over, he handed her a couple of fifties. “I’ll take care of theirs, too,” he told her, gesturing Seth and Tim. “Sorry about the confusion with the tables. Keep the change.”

“Hey, you can confuse my tables any time,” she assured him with a big smile.

After she breezed by the other table and picked up their check, Seth nodded grudging thanks but made no move to leave until Brent and Joe stood up. Brent sighed. With his luck, they’d probably ride his bumper all the way to the field. Seth Dietz had picked a hell of a day to go all responsible and protective.

As luck would have it, Seth’s pickup was right in front of the diner while Brent’s was parked on the next block, so the boys drove past while the three of them were still walking down the street. Once they got to the truck, Brent climbed into the driver’s seat and flipped the wide console up off the bench seat before fastening his seat belt. Joe opened the passenger door and then stepped back directly into AJ’s path to keep her from opening the rear door.

“Excuse me,” she said, trying to reach around him. She let out a squeak when he picked her up and set her on the front seat. “Hey!”

“Slide over, honey. You’re riding up front today.”

Sending a confused look over her shoulder into the backseat, she did as she was told and scooted over beside Brent on the bench seat.

“Buckle up,” Joe ordered as they pulled away from the curb, doing the same himself.

It took some digging, but she finally came up with the lap belt and buckle for the middle seat and strapped herself in. Then she went straight to the point. “So what’s the other option?”

“Well, let me back up a little bit and tell you why we were home earlier than you expected last night.”

The wary look was back. “Okay.”

“We were going to proposition you.”

“You…” She shook her head. “What?”

“You heard me.”

She blinked rapidly. “But I thought you were…”

“You thought we were what?”

“Well…gay.”

“Gay!” Brent slammed on the brakes and swore when he nearly swerved into a parked car.

“Take it easy!” Joe barked.

“Relax, Grandma. I haven’t killed anyone yet and I don’t intend to start today.”

“No one ever intends to.”

Brent grinned. “Believe me, Joe, if I ever kill you, it’ll be intentional.” Then AJ’s bemused face caught his eye and he frowned at her. “So what the hell made you think we were gay?”

She squirmed, looking as if she’d rather be anywhere else. “Um, well, it’s hard to pinpoint any one thing. Mostly the way you look at each other, I guess.” Whatever she saw in his face made her quickly tack on, “But it’s only in the camper, not around the crew.”

“We’re bi,” Joe said in a confidential tone.

Brent shot him a stern look. “He’s bi. I’m not.”

“The day is young.”

“Unlike you.”

Joe just smirked, and Brent sighed. It was a bad sign when he resorted to cheap shots, especially lame ones like that. He had to stop letting Joe get to him.

AJ stared back and forth between them before saying, “Okay, now I’m really confused.”

Brent’s gaze slid from Joe to her. “Nothing confusing about it. Joe wants to sleep with me, I said no. Happens all the time.”

So she hadn’t been imagining the sexual tension between them. Even now it crackled in the air like static electricity on a dry winter day. If they touched their fingertips together, they’d probably both get a shock.

But their relationship was puzzle she’d have to work out later.

“Why me?” she asked. “Why now?”

“Well, it didn’t hurt that we caught you in a…revealing position,” Brent said, his eyes twinkling. When she groaned, he continued. “And it doesn’t hurt that you’re pretty conveniently located.”

Crossing her arms over her chest, she rolled her eyes. “God forbid you should be inconvenienced.”

“Dammit!” Brent hit the brake again, though not quite as hard. Glancing into the rearview mirror, he pulled over onto the shoulder of the highway and put the truck in park. “That’s not what I meant and you know it. Hell, Joe’s been convenient for years and I haven’t taken advantage of him.”

“Yet,” Joe added.

Brent sent him a quelling look.

“The real clincher,” he continued, focusing on her again, “was finding out that you read Amanda Garrity’s books. It made us think you had a few naughty fantasies that might be right up our alley. Fulfilling naughty fantasies happens to be something we both enjoy a great deal.”

AJ stiffened. God, and she’d thought his first two reasons sucked!

Feeling too exposed and humiliated to even blush, she smiled tightly. “Gee, that’s a lovely offer, but I can’t say that I’ve ever really fantasized about being anyone’s mercy lay.”

“AJ, no! That’s not it at all.”

Joe leaned forward and stared at Brent. “You do know you’re really screwing this up, right?”

“You think you can do better?”

“I sure as hell couldn’t do worse.” Joe turned to her. “Sweetheart, if anyone’s getting a mercy lay here, it’s me. I’ve wanted to fuck you since the minute you signed on, but you seemed like the type who’d expect a ring, so until now I’ve left you alone.”

She didn’t know whether to be flattered or offended. “I’m thirty-four years old, guys. Credit me with a little sophistication.”

“That’s exactly what we were trying to do by propositioning you,” Brent pointed out.

He had her there.

“Well good,” she said grudgingly, “because believe me, a ring is the last thing I’d ask any man for.”

“Glad to hear it.” Joe leaned even closer to nuzzle her ear, and the tendril of warm, humid breath snaking down her neck made her shiver and scrunch up her shoulder. “Now that I’ve seen you come, I’ll never be able to keep my hands off you. I don’t want to let you out of this truck until I’ve felt you come on my cock.”

AJ swallowed breathlessly. Maybe they were crediting her with a little more sophistication than she deserved because she felt compelled to offer every objection she could think of. “Just because a woman’s not looking for a ring doesn’t mean she wants to get it on with two guys.”