Fast Connection (Cyberlove #2) (5 page)

Ugh. That growled sentence had been in my mind for the past few days. Every time I jacked it, I pictured him holding me down and riding my ass while saying those words. So hot. There’d been something incredible about having a dude pound me that way. Each thrust had turned me into a puddle of pleasure. The bad thing was I’d been so blown away that I couldn’t remember if I’d been a good bottom for him. I didn’t even really know what a guy like him would want me to do.

I definitely needed to do research.

And I definitely needed him inside me again.

And now I had a raging erection while throwing water on the grill.

“Nicky, did I hear your sister’s voice?”

“Huh?”

Duffy exhaled through his nose. He’d come up beside me without me having noticed, and was practically breathing down my neck. “Was Adriana in here a minute ago?”

“What? Yeah, yeah.”

“Why’s she out of school?”

“I dunno. Rosh Hashanah?”

“Rosh Hashanah is in October, you idiot.”

“Oh.” I finished cleaning and wiped my hands on my stained white apron. “Guess she’s skipping.” He stared at me like I’d just suggested she was out sacrificing kittens in Clove Lakes Park. “What? It’s not a big deal. Kids skip.”

“Yeah, Nicky. No big deal. Except school just started two weeks ago, and she’s already doing the same shit she did last year.”

“What happened last year?” I felt clueless. This was my family and I hadn’t even been aware of the fact that my little sister did stuff like lie to my face and cut out of class. “Did she join a biker gang or something? Christ, you look pissed.”

And now he looked even more pissed. “She cut so much school that I had truancy officers doing home visits every couple of months. We’re lucky they didn’t blame us for this shit and call CPS.” Duffy slapped his fist into his palm. “Go look for her.”

“What?”

“Go see if she’s at the house!”

“Man, I’m not—”

“I’ll take over here.”

Now he was talking. Being Adriana’s babysitter was okay if I could ditch my station behind the counter for even fifteen minutes.

I was out the door before I’d even removed my apron. As soon as I stepped onto the pavement, my eyes fell on a bluish gray truck waiting on the red light of Forest and Dubois. More accurately—I focused on the driver.

Luke.

My mouth opened, and I almost called out to him, a knee-jerk reaction gained from years of screaming up to my friends’ windows from the sidewalk, but I snapped it shut just as fast. No way in hell was I letting the big-dicked silver fox see me standing in the doorway of a bagel shop with an apron on. The potential humiliation was enough to make me back into the store, but not before I caught the logo emblazoned on the side of the truck.
Rawlings’ Landscapes.

The bell above the door jingled as I retreated. I hid by the coffee maker until the light changed and Luke took off.

“Nicky, what the hell are you doing?”

“Nothing, Pops.”

I took off out of the store and up the few blocks to our house. I knew I should be making a more valiant effort to search for my truant sister, but my brain was stuck on Luke. Rawlings’ Landscapes, huh? Maybe that was why he was so gung ho over plants.

With Adriana nowhere to be found in the house, I hoped she wasn’t off corrupting Micah since the kid looked like a super nerd. The last thing I wanted was for her to get in trouble, but I was also well-versed on Staten Island high schools, and I knew the one she went to was full of people like me. Which made it a nightmare for kids like her. Not for the first time did I wish she’d gotten into the same school as Micah and his sister. At least then she’d have some allies. Maybe she’d even quit being truant and disappearing to who knew where. With any luck, she was just jamming to music in the park and drawing cartoon versions of characters from
Fallen World Online.

I retreated to my dungeon and pulled out my phone. Googling Luke Rawlings got me as far as his company’s website which didn’t even have the decency to have a picture of his face. Bad business, in my opinion. People would totally want him to go trim their bushes if they got a load of that jawline.

Facebook and Instagram had nothing and neither did Twitter. There was no way he was old enough to be oblivious to the importance of social media. Despite the silver hair, he couldn’t have had more than a decade on me. I put my bets on anywhere between thirty-eight and forty-three.

With no other way to contact him, and having no desire to pop up at his house like a psychotic stalker, I went back to the way we’d met—Grindr. The magical app of cyber hookups.

Except Luke didn’t show up as online. Frowning with disappointment, I shot him a message.

Luke

Honestly, if I could run the business by myself, I’d do it. But there was no way for me to handle the frequent landscaping jobs alone, so I had to hire employees.

Who talked to me.

And asked me questions.

And… stood near me.

Today it was Kat, a college student with a pixie haircut who stood about five-foot-two. When she’d applied, I’d figured I’d put her on lawnmower duty, but then she showed surprising strength and monkey-like climbing abilities. Now she did everything from trimming trees to digging up bushes. I suspected the other college student I’d hired, Jesse, was trying to get into her pants. But whenever he got near her, I growled like a Grade-A cock-blocker. I didn’t want drama among my employees, but now I was thinking I’d made the wrong decision because watching him make moony eyes at her all day was worse.

Kat wiped her wrist across her cheek, leaving a streak of dirt behind, and leaned on her shovel. We were clearing out a client’s backyard to put down a flagstone patio.

“Did you have a good weekend?”

Yes, I spent it fucking some kid who might be your age.
“Sure.”

She waited, like she expected me to return the question. Unfortunately, I didn’t give a damn about her weekend. I gave a damn about her putting the shovel to the dirt again.

Finally, she sighed. “Guess I’ll get back to work.”

Jesse came trotting over, his gaze darting between me and Kat. “Hey, what do you need me to do next?”

I glanced around. There was some cleaning up to do, but these kids had busted ass all day clearing out the nightmare of a yard, and I was tired of looking at them. “Nah, both of you can head out.”

Kat’s head went up. “Really?”

“I’m happy with how hard you both worked today, so I’m in a mood to reward you. Don’t test it. Go home.”

She handed me the shovel. “Wow. Awesome. Thanks, Luke.”

“Yeah, thanks,” Jesse echoed.

I waved them off. As soon as they started down the driveway, I heard Jesse whispering to her.

Poor bastard. Maybe I should quit being a cock-blocker.

George Murdoch, my right-hand man, ambled over to me. He took off his dirty ball cap and swiped his arm over his bald head, then plopped it back on. “Sent the kids home?”

I loved that he said as few words as possible. It was why we’d worked together for ten years with no issues. The crew changed often, but not George. “Yep, just gotta clean up. You can head out early too if you want.”

He walked away while I was still talking and began to clean up. I smiled to myself. I loved the old grumpy bastard. I didn’t really have friends, but George was the closest I had. Sometimes we’d grab a beer together after completing a big job, which worked since George didn’t try to fill silences with useless chatter.

After cleaning the area and stowing my tools, I headed back to my truck and found George standing there. He held out a Tupperware container.

“I almost forgot Cyn made cookies for you.”

He’d been married to Cynthia for thirty years and they had five girls. I was convinced they all thought I was pathetic. But pathetic got me the best chocolate chip cookies I’d ever tasted, and sometimes meatloaf leftovers if I was lucky, so I didn’t correct the assumption. I took the container.

“You two are good to me.”

George grunted. “Want to grab a beer?”

“Not tonight. Need to get home. Isn’t Stella living with you again?”

“Why you think I want out of the house? Fucking loud. The whole house is like screaming cats right now.”

I pressed my lips together to hide my grin. George didn’t look amused.

“Rain check,” I said.

“Fine. I should probably go home to make sure they haven’t all killed each other.”

“Might be good.”

George sighed heavily, and I waved to him as he pulled away in his old Chevy.

After loading my tools in the back of my truck, I eased into the driver’s seat, wincing as a muscle in my back protested. I popped a couple of dry ibuprofen from a bottle I kept in the center console and started up the engine.

Most of my jobs were on the south shore, and this one hadn’t been any different. It took over an hour to drive back to my side of the island, but it was hard to complain. My wealthy clients dotting the many neighborhoods of the south and east shores were the ones keeping my savings account stacked, while the Average Joes in the many blue-collar neighborhoods paid my bills. I needed both for this small business to work.

When I got home, I left my dirt-covered boots on the front porch and stepped inside. I waited for a chorus of “Hi, Dad,” usually initiated by Micah, but instead I heard silence. I frowned as I walked into the living room. Empty. Kitchen? Empty.

I jogged upstairs, finding Micah’s door open but no Micah inside.

Faint music sounded from Chelle’s room. I almost barged in, then remembered the riot act she’d read me last time I’d walked in unannounced. I knocked. “Chelle?”

There was a thumping sound from inside, then the music shut off. She opened the door, eating a Twizzlers and wearing a pair of leggings and a crop top. I frowned at her outfit, but Nadia had told me not to make comments about Chelle’s clothes, so I shut my trap. “Hey, everything all right?”

“Yeah, just doing homework.”

“Where’s your brother?”

Chelle rolled her eyes. “With Adriana.”

Adriana Costigan was not my daughter, and yet she was the biggest pain in my ass. Admittedly, her dad sounded like an asshole, but didn’t most teenagers hate their parents? Her opinion was biased. All I knew was that this girl had my son wrapped around her finger with a toss of her blond hair. They didn’t go to the same school, but had met online in some chatroom for a video game or something. Micah swore they were just friends, but I wasn’t an idiot. Judging by how much he talked about her, he was half in love.

“What’s going on with her now?”

“I dunno. She’s being all emo as usual. They’re at the park.”

I did not need stress from a kid that wasn’t mine. “Fine, thanks for letting me know.”

Chelle raised her eyebrows. “We done? Got economics to macro.”

I shot out a hand and tickled her right along the ribs. She shrieked a laugh then smacked my hand. “Go away, Dad!” Her door slammed in my face.

Snorting, I made my way down the hall to my bedroom. In thirty seconds, I was in the shower, face tilted into the spray, washing the dirt and grime of the day away.

I ran a soapy cloth over my chest and across the back of my neck. As the years went by, I was starting to feel the whole damn day by the time I crawled into bed. Today was no exception. Everything ached, I was tired as fuck, and hungry. As the hot water warmed my skin, I braced my hands on the wall of the shower and let my mind go blank.

My brain didn’t want to stop working, though. No, it conjured images of Dominic, just like it had every goddamn day this week.

Every once in awhile, some guy intrigued me enough to think about him for longer than our one encounter, but with Dominic, I worried it was becoming an obsession. I’d managed two days before I’d signed onto Grindr to look at his Chris Evans face. And I’d looked at it every day since.

My hand slipped down my abs as I remembered the sight of him on his knees in front of me. He’d stared up with bright blue eyes through damp strands of his blond hair.

A soft moan escaped my lips as I wrapped my hand around my shaft and stroked.

Dominic had been fucking gorgeous with that cocky grin of his, especially since he hadn’t been able to climb into bed fast enough to show me his ass. I’d been with a lot of men, but none of them seemed like they were made to take my dick like Dominic.

My hand sped up as I pumped my dick. After spending the whole week in a state of perpetual sexual frustration and lust over this damn guy, I was already about to shoot.

I leaned forward and bit my fist as I heard his voice panting,
Fuck yes
and
Harder.
My balls tightened and my hips jerked as I stifled a gasp with a clench of my teeth and shot all over the shower wall.

When the buzzing in my ears dulled, I opened my eyes, blinking through the water dripping down my face. Shit, now I was fantasizing and getting off to memories of him. God fucking damn it.

I turned off the shower with a frustrated sigh. After drying off, I pulled on a pair of sweatpants and laid down with my phone. A nap would have done some good, but I had dinner to make. The thought reminded me of my missing son, and I texted him.
Be home in one hour. Your homework better be done.

I was not fucking around. I didn’t love micromanaging my kids, and Micah had always been self-sufficient, but I worried his infatuation with this girl would get him off track.

He wrote back,
It’s done. Be home in an hour.

I told myself to put the phone down and get out of bed. I said it really sternly in my head and everything, but instead my fingers opened Grindr so I could stare at the picture of Dominic.

Except… there was a new message, which was the last thing I’d expected given how abruptly I’d tossed him out the door. I debated pretending I hadn’t seen it, but the beginning of the message said,
Hey good looking.…

Fuck it. I opened up the message.