Chrome: With a Heart Forged in Steele (Carolina Bad #4) (4 page)

The noise escalated, growing louder and louder.

All the mechanics silenced. Even Rayce looked faintly alarmed.

“What are you schmucks staring at?” Josh had to yell to be heard over the piercing, wailing shriek. “It’s just little Jolie here.”

He deftly flipped her down to the big cradle of one arm, dug in the pocket of his coveralls, and quickly popped a bright pink pacifier into her mouth.

That was when I noticed her miniature all-in-one outfit: Daddy’s Little Monkey Wrench.

Jolie started sucking, instantly quiet. Josh grinned down at her, gently bouncing her in his arms.

Big macho mechanic with an oil cloth hanging out of one pocket, a burp cloth over his shoulder, and absolute love written all over his face.

I cleared my throat. “Family day at work?”

Josh’s head popped up. He looked from me to beside him, behind him, and around the interior of the garage bay until he located JJ, his eyes widening in panic.

“Jesus Christ, kid. Don’t climb the frigging car lift! This ain’t a jungle gym!” Josh bellowed.

JJ clung to the pole beneath a car raised on high struts, waving with one hand as Josh went heart attack mode.

Jolie’s sweet baby face scrunched up when her dad yelled. Looked like she was about ready to go off again.

Gerald swooped in and saved the day, piggybacking JJ to Josh, who looked poleaxed.

Deposited on the floor, JJ jumped up and down. “Daddy! I almost flew!”

Josh breathed out in relief and started rocking Jolie again all the while patting her on the rump. “Someone has to make sure the kid doesn’t break his arms and legs.” He swept his hands across the baby’s bright red curls. “As for this l’il darlin’, I’m breakin’ her into the garage scene early.”

“Well, shit. She’s damn cute. Got Leelee’s hair, huh?”

“And her temper.” He winked at me.

“Can I hold her?”

“Yeah, man.” Josh handed her over. “Be careful. She bites too.”

I wrapped Jolie in one arm. “Bullshit. C’mere, little lady.” I cooed down at her. “Uncle Boom’s just gonna walk you around. Show you some of this South Carolina perfection.”

I ambled around the garage, careful to stay out of the guys’ way even though they all stopped and made baby noises at Jolie in their deep gruff voices.

Shit, she already had the whole crew eating out of her hand.

The smell of motor oil, the sound of air guns . . . her momma might’ve been a bestselling writer, but this little girl was destined to be a gearhead.

She was goddamn perfect, and so tiny even at three months old she fit along the length of my forearm.

Jolie popped out the pacifier, and I caught it in my hand. I braced myself for the screeching to begin but instead of howling, she gurgled and made sweet faces at me.

I felt Rayce watching intently. I knew she was staring. I glanced at her and winked.

Her big eyes rounded before she narrowed them.

She stalked off, a flush on her cheeks, grumbling, “Sexy as hell. Knight in shining armor. And good with babies. Hate.”

Got It Bad

RAYCE’S WORDS MADE MY chest expand. Yup, sure sounded like she hated me.

Then I smelled something that made my eyes water, and it sure as hell wasn’t car oil.

I located Josh in a jiffy. “Hand off.”

“
Huh
?”

“She ripped one out.” Passing Jolie quickly into his arms, I pinched my nose closed. “If I’m not actually related to it, I’m not changing it. Sorry, dude. Find another chump.”

“Yeah. That’s my girl. She’s a master shitter. Worse than the kid ever was.”

“Worse than I was what, Daddy?” JJ skidded to a stop beside us, a mini version of Josh right down to the cleft chin.

“
Uh
, nuthin’.” He ruffled the boy’s dark blond hair. “Hey, speaking of. You need to use the potty yet?”

“
Nuh unh
. I made poopies before we left the house.” He scratched his boyish belly. “How come I don’t get M&Ms no more for poopies?”

“You think I’m gonna put an M&M dispenser in the john?”

“Yes, Daddy! That would be cool!”

I smothered a laugh.

Taking JJ by the hand, Josh disappeared into the interior of the garage, trailing hazardous waste fumes in his wake.

I had no real reason to hang around, other than to salivate over Rayce while she set to work on a car. So I made small talk with Gerald for a while and did just that—drooled over Rayce—knowing full well the knuckle draggers would be tearing up the text messages talking about it later.

Couldn’t help it. I had a crush on the woman in a major way.

About the time she bent over the classic Bonneville, stretching her dark blue coveralls to the max with her nice round ass, my cock went as hard as the tool she was wielding.

I groaned low in my throat.

Her eyes swung to me, and she wiggled a little bit more.

Damn tease.

I really liked the show, and thank fuck the dudes here thought of her as just one of the guys, because if anyone else ogled her the way I did I would not be held responsible for my actions.

Approaching her from behind, I growled, “You like what you do to me, princess?”

She straightened, and for one brief moment her ass slid against my erection.

Turning around, she half-smiled at me in a sultry fashion. “Maybe.”

“I think you’d like what I’d do to you.” My gaze slid down the front of her body, settling on the twin globes of her tits pressed against the tight black tank top.

She’d tied the top of her coveralls around her waist, showcasing the width of her hips, the slimness of her waist, the sexiness of her dynamite figure.

She had a streak of grease on one arm, another stripe across her chin. And make no mistake about it, Rayce had just as much ink as me. Sleeves from shoulders to wrist curled up her arms. Dark tattoos—large showy designs of flowers and hearts outlined against shadowy black that flowed up her skin. One small flower—the only color—a buttercup in soft yellow trailed up the back of her neck.

“
Maybe
.” She shrugged.

Fuck
.
Her workplace was not
the place
to put some serious moves on her.

Stepping back from her, I tried to will my hard-on away. No dice, because Rayce reached out and squeezed my hand.

My eyes flipped to hers.

“Thanks for this morning. For sticking up for me. For not believing what my dad said.” She withdrew her hand and glanced away.

I tilted her chin to capture her gaze again. The soft hazel of her eyes only seemed to shimmer more close up.

“No thanks necessary. Anytime you need me, I’m there.”

She nodded. Her lips trembled a little.

The moment was intense, and I wanted to say more, so much more.

“Hang on a sec.” Bending over, she fished inside the backpack I’d noticed she carried everywhere.

She pulled out my well-worn leather jacket, shaking it out. “You should have this back. From last night.”

“Keep it.” Did I like the idea of her wearing it?

Affirmative yes.

Rayce crinkled it in her arms and pressed her nose to the collar.

Then she ruined it all by saying, “This thing? What is it? A millennium old?”

Growl.

“I’m only thirty-one.”

“Oh. So
Stone
Age, then?” She rolled her eyes.

Wrangling her to me with an arm around her waist, I jerked her against me where there was no mistaking how much I wanted her. “Something’s sure stony hard around you.”

“It’s like that, is it?”

I brushed my fingertips across the crest of her cheek. “And you, princess? How old are you?”

“Twenty-four . . .” Her voice was breathy as she swayed against me. At the sound of an air compressor starting up with a shrill whine, she pulled back. “I . . .
uh
. . . I need to get back to work.”

And I figured I probably better do something productive with my day other than mooning over her. “So I’ll pick up your bike from JB’s and bring it over here later.”

“You don’t have to do that. I can get—”

Pressing a fingertip to her mouth, I silenced her.

I leaned over, whispering, “I’m doing it. And I’ll see you later.”

My hand lowered and curled around her neck as my mouth hovered near the corner of her lips. I kissed her, just there, with a quick lick of my tongue.

She sucked in a breath.

“Later, princess.” I ambled away, scorched by that one small taste of her.

I didn’t leave right away. Instead I found Josh in his office where I clued him in to a few details about Rayce’s home life. I might’ve been sticking my nose in her business, but I wanted to know someone had an eye out for her when I couldn’t.

“Yeah. Yeah,” he assured me. “You got it. I figured something was up. Found her sleeping here a couple times.”

“She sleeps here?” I raked my fingers through my hair. “Fucking hell. Have you ever seen any bruises on her?”

I thought about heading back out to her place and wrecking her dad’s face with my fist.

“No. Nothing unusual.” Josh eyed me with caution. “Dude. Try to relax.” He patted me on the shoulder. “You got it bad, huh?”

I frowned, blowing out some of the tension. “Something like that, yeah.”

“I told you, didn’t I? That time at your house, for Miss Myra.”

“Yeah, yeah. You told me. Great.”

He patted me on the shoulder again. “Good luck to you. Now get the fuck out of here and stop distracting my employees.”

Instead of tempting myself even further by cutting through the garage, I hit the parking lot. Didn’t stop me from peering inside to Rayce’s workstation though. She stood with the dudes, riffing with them. I heard the tail end of her joke and watched all the men double over, laughing.

I walked to my truck, smiling. This was her real family.

I wanted to be part of it, too.

****

At JB’s house, I loaded Rayce’s street legal KTM EXC 500 onto the flat bed of my TopKick and strapped it all down nice and secure. The enduro bike had to have taken a lot of savings because it was nothing short of hot-as-fuck and high spec. The make was Austrian, and this particular model was accented with chrome, bright orange, and dense black on a white, lightweight body.

I made it to the compound—Chrome and Steele with Retribution right next door—and decided to check out the MC before hitting the paperwork.

Inside, the few who were still there from last night’s debacle looked hungover. Not from liquor but from the fact we’d laid down the law the night before. I knew not a single one of us would do anything differently. Hunter was a brother, and that meant helping him keep his woman safe from threats, just like we’d done for Brodie and Ashe before that.

Hard hugs were given and received from Tail, Tuck, and Cole. I was just glad our latest Probie, Kinkaid, hadn’t witnessed the MC mayhem.

Wind hit me like a frigid slap in the face as I walked the few steps over to the business side of things. Even the chilly winter weather and the events of the night before couldn’t dampen my spirits. I was making headway with Rayce.

Whistling when I entered Chrome and Steele, I immediately zipped that shit up when Lucy and Brodie—who was sitting on the edge of her desk—stared at me in open astonishment.

“Who’d you fuck?” That was Brodie. No subtlety whatso-fucking-ever.

“Fuck you. Why aren’t you rebuilding that engine for the Softail that came in yesterday?” I took off my jacket, hung it beside the door.

“And I ask again: whose
tail
did you tap? Because you were whistling and you never whistle.”

Brodie. Pain in my ass. Almost worse than me when nosing out information.

We’d never been able to keep secrets from one another.

“
Aaand
how the hell did you manage to get boned after
last night
?” His eyebrows rose in expectation.

“I did not get boned. Now shut it. And what are you guys doing instead of working . . . again?”

“Not each other.” Lucy giggled.

“You two are fucking impossible.” I rolled up my shirtsleeves.

“Yup.” Brodie shamelessly confirmed.

Just for that, I took up the whistling as I moseyed to my office.

“By the way, we’re downloading Candy Crush Saga 1.57!” Brodie. Annoying shit.

I silently flipped up two middle fingers.

Yep. We were totally professional. Good thing Chrome and Steele Auto Parts was a family-run operation and we could pretty much do what we wanted.
Good thing
we actually knew what we were doing and had built an excellent reputation.

The business my dad had started now belonged to the three of us siblings. Cat was the salesperson, being the most professional among us. Brodie was a master of custom and detailed work. He was relegated to the garage because he wasn’t suitable to be around other people.

I was the numbers dude. I liked the neatness and the consistency of math and accounting. Nothing to surprise me. Nothing to shock me. Nothing to unbalance me.

That was how my life had been for a very long time. Until Rayce. She’d done more than surprise and unbalance me.

She’d fucking shocked me back to life.

I wanted her more than I’d ever wanted any other woman.

By the end of the day that seemed to go on and on, I couldn’t look at another goddamn spreadsheet without feeling like I was gonna crawl right out of my skin. Numbers danced in front of my eyes, making no sense whatsoever.

I just wanted to get out of there and head back to Rayce.

I even thought about keeping her dirt bike hostage just so she’d have to continue to rely on me for transportation.

Maybe I could tie her up to my bed until she openly admitted her attraction to me.

That idea had some merit. It also made me painfully hard in my pants, imagining her naked body with those ridiculously ripe curves all mine for the taking. Mine to lick and suck and bite until she came all over my face and fingers. Mine to fuck deep and hard and fast until she shattered apart all over my cock.

I slammed the laptop shut then gripped my dick through my pants. Lucy and Brodie did not need Boomer’s boner bonus material to keep up their running
hahaha
commentary at my expense.

The thick stick in my pants finally going half-mast, I made a quick dash to the john to clean up before leaving.

A splash of water on my face.

A rinse of mouthwash from the bottle stashed in the cupboard.

A quick check of my appearance. My shoulders filled out the seams of my blue dress shirt like my dick wanted to fill out my gray-colored pants. Short stubble created a black shadow on my jaw.

I wished I had some of that nice cologne I’d used for Cat’s beachside reception.

Then I dropped my hands to the edge of the sink and groaned.

Here I was,
thirty-one, and standing in a bathroom worrying about what I looked like.

Christ. I knew it. I’d grown ovaries overnight to go with the new vagina.

Out in the front room I put on my jacket in stiff silence while the hecklers grinned conspiratorially at me.

Brodie’s parting comment, “Go get her, tiger!” earned him an exaggerated stroking motion of my fist.

“Yeah.” He snickered. “You’ve had enough practice doing that.”

Douchebreath.

Must’ve been about quitting time at Stone’s when I showed up again. The parking lot was mostly empty, and all but one of the bay doors had been closed down for the night. I unloaded Rayce’s bike and sat her helmet and goggles on the seat, listening to the soft sound filtering outside from the garage.