Stone: At Your Service (Carolina Bad Boys #1) (22 page)

“
If anyone can, it’s you.” I heard Ray ringing up a sale and shouting a loud
hello
as the bell over the door chimed.

Damn, I missed that place.
“Is the garage still standing?”

“
Yup.”

“
Everyone still working his ass off for me?”

“’
Course, boss. So long as you don’t come back and try to fuck our asses.” He snorted loud and clear.

“
Keep it up, funny guy, and I got a tire iron with your name on it.” When I looked back over to Leelee’s corner of the room, I still couldn’t get a visual on her. “I’ll see you Monday. Make sure someone brings a box of condoms and a big bottle of lube. Limber up, motherfucker.”

I hung up on him wheezing with laughter.
Yeah. Let’s see what they make of that.

“
Yo, Stone!” Fawn flagged me down from the opposite direction of Leelee’s table.

D
ressed in a chambray shirt, cowboy boots, and a tangle of turquoise jewelry, she reached me with a smile on her tanned face. “Come meet my girlfriend. I told her all about you and Nicky.”

I liked Fawn, I really did, but people needed to get out of my way.
“Can I take a rain check? Maybe meet her at the banquet tonight? I’m trying to get a book signed for my ma before this thing finishes.” I lied through my teeth.

She
prodded me on my way.

Ducking and diving
around the masses between Leelee and me, I slammed my hands over my ears when I heard a shriek attached to my name.

Petite Felicity was flushed to her hairline. Her catwoman glasses slid down her nose as she bounced up and down in excitement.
“You’ve got to see this! I just had my picture taken with Leelee Songchild and I posted it on Twitter.” Hugging my arm, she scrolled through her photos. “She’s such a sweetie. I’m totally following her
on everything
.”

I was tempted to stay long enough to drink in the
picture because, by God, this might be the closest I got to Leelee all day judging by my luck so far. But I had a fucking grand gesture to make.

“
That’s cool, Felicity, but I’m trying to say hi to her myself before the fair closes.”

She slid her glasses back up and gave me a
toothy grin. “Good luck with that. Her readers are like
über
crazy. You’ve got half an hour left.”

H
unching my shoulders, I maneuvered in the right direction, silently cursing every single motherfucker in the hall. Swinging my head to the left, I saw Fred leaning against a table in the Contemporary lane. He sent me two thumbs up, and I saluted him with a one finger wave. He must’ve been sweating his balls off in that tweed jacket.

I
put my head down and motivated until I ran straight into a wall of muscle even bigger than me. Steadied by a pair of dark hands on my arms, I rolled my eyes.

The last of the Widows, Devon
, leaned over me. “Looks like you’ve got yourself some more admirers.”

I followed his stare and thought about diving behind the slightly larger man. I was being targeted by the
LolliPOP Grrrls. Devon loped away with a laugh, leaving me to face the blatant eye-fucking of the book review bloggers. Or, bloggesses, as I’d been informed.

“
Hey, Stone,” Blow Pop sucker simpered.

I
wondered how I was gonna get away from them as they cornered me like I was schoolboy prey to their two-fold sexual attack. “Hi, ladies.”

Hoodie gr
rrl plinked a tongue ring against her teeth. “Do you have plans for tonight?”

“
We saw your dance with Leelee Songchild. You may be a butch gay, but it looks like you’re bi, and we’d like a taste of that.” The blonde tease twirled her tongue around the tip of the glistening red lollipop.

In the old days, pre-Leelee—precisely
four days ago—I might’ve taken them up on their offer. However, no one got my motor revving like Leelee, and I surely wasn’t into easy pussy anymore.

“
Sorry, ladies. I’m not available.”

I left them whispering behind me when an announcement rang out of the loudspeakers stating the book fair would close in fifteen minutes. Jesus Christ. I
’d been here a full hour and a half, cockblocked north, south, east, and west by all the usual suspects. I’d yet to get to Leelee, let alone make my huge fucking gesture that would have her turning into a pile of mush in my arms.

I skidded to a stop with Leelee
’s table finally in sight. The pack gathered around her had slimmed down, but the person I saw shining from all the attention didn’t resemble Leelee. In fact, I didn’t recognize her at all until the big apple green of her eyes lifted to the person whose book she was signing.

Dear God. Another wig. I loved her as she was, but when she pulled out the wigs it made me think
about role-playing. Naughty Nurse. Sexy Secretary in my office at Stone’s. She took me from zero to sixty in an instant.

This wig was another black affair
cascading down her back and across her shoulders. Her blouse was sapphire blue, laced together and low cut, giving a prime view of cleavage to anyone who stood over her. Like all of her fans, for instance. I needed to get over there pronto. I wanted to rip her blouse open and tear the wig off. I wanted to stare into her eyes as she climaxed while riding my fingers.

Grand gesture as fucking her on her author table during the book fair?
Probably not a smart move.

Achingly hard, my lips almost chapped from all our kisses last night, I started toward her. I was a yard away when something tall,
dark and sinister slithered up to her behind the table.

Andrew LaForge
. I couldn’t believe he had the
cojones
to corner her at the book fair. No one messed with my woman, not after she’d walked through fire all morning doing the meet and greet with a beautiful smile on her face. I stalked forward. When I saw Leelee swivel around and stand up, her expression undaunted, I stopped.

Holy shit, my girl was
gonna give him what-for.

C
lose enough to read her lips, what came out of her mouth made my blood race. “
Get the fuck away from me, you creep
.”

Sliding
nearer so I could hear, I made myself stay put a little distance away. Leelee needed to do this. Leelee could do this.

She stomped forward and LaForge backed up, hands raised.
“I’ve had enough of your dirty remarks, and this latest attempt at bribery? You’re worse than slime. You have a reputation for being a prowler of new talent. Don’t think for one second all the women you’ve oh-so-innocently fondled during group pictures while giving promises of sweet deals between the sheets and on paper haven’t spread the word. Just because I’m new doesn’t make me naive.” One stabbing finger went to his chest and pointed there. “You might have your cloak of decency, your offers of contracts, your people who play off our complaints and try to make us look like ‘oh-those-silly-women-writers are at it again’, but we’re strong. We’re successful. We are not gonna put up with dickheads like you anymore.”

Surprise melted into shock
on LaFuck’s face. He bowed from the waist, taking his leave to jeers and claps scattered around from those who’d witnessed his beatdown at Leelee’s hands.

Once he
disappeared, her shoulders fell. The smile she gave her remaining fans was shaky. I wanted to kiss her softly. Hold her close. Tell her,
atta girl
.

The final bell ringing, the book fair over, I started my approach.

Leelee looked up. Her gaze hooked mine and didn’t let go. Everything I felt was reflected back at me: hope, want, need. Then her pain and distrust. She dropped her gaze, shaking her head. Because of all she’d been through, me to blame for at least part of it, I remained where I was, several feet away.

She packed her books and materials, exchang
ed goodbyes with her tablemates. I wanted to be right beside her, doing the heavy work, easing her hurt. I wanted to be able to tell her I’d take care of everything. Run her a bath, massage her back, and hold her while she slept off the exhaustion of being on show.

I didn
’t say a word when she swept past me, but I damn sure tagged her heels. The midnight black wig bobbed up and down, her rolling suitcase pulled behind her. At one point the crush of people swallowed her up. I was tempted to pull a Rocky Balboa
Adrian
move, but she was spit out again, just a few yards away.

Shadowing her all the way the elevators, I knew she was aware of me. The protective starch melted from her shoulders. Before she stepped
into the elevator, her eyes dragged back to mine and they were teary.

I planted
a hand on the door, keeping it open. I reached inside to her, cupping her face. “You did so good, babe.”

A single tear dripped over my fingers.

“Not now, Josh. Please. You are everything I want and nothing I can have.” She stepped back with a gasp.

I withdrew my hand. The door closed.
With my forehead thunking against the wall, I swallowed hard. What the hell had I been thinking anyway? What could I have done during the book fair, besides screw up an important event for her? My grand gesture was an asinine idea and I was an ass, straight up.

And it wasn
’t that I wanted her to need me to look out for her. But goddammit, I wanted her to need me, full stop.

Saturday: Sex Shop and Write-Offs

LIFTING MY HEAD FROM my head-butt move against the wall, I glanced at my watch. It was only one o’clock in the afternoon, too early to drown my sorrows in bourbon or dunk my head in a barrel of beer. In my room, I stripped off, hauled on my shorts, and yanked on a pair of sneakers. I grabbed a towel, a bottle of water, and pounded to the basement-level workout room.

Work it out, that
’s what I needed to do. Work Leelee out of my system . . . what a joke. One delusional part of me hoped I’d find her stretching out on the blue mats in the gym. No such luck and just as well.

Pouring with sw
eat through the punishing CrossFit reps, I cursed myself to infinity . . . and beyond. Dumbass. Asshole. Fuckhead. Jerk off. That was me. I finished with two sets of fifty crunches, squats, and pull-ups each. Only when my mind shut down and my lungs inflated for O2 intake did I stop. I downed my water, crushed the plastic, and tossed it into the recycling bin. I wiped off in front of the mirror. The muscles on my chest flexed, giving life to the chrome pipes, the stylized heart, and my little anchor in life: JJ.

A harsh laugh cut
out of my throat. I’d already pictured a beautiful scroll of
Leelee
wrapping around the tattoo, maybe even going flowery and shit with small, colorful songbirds and vines until the tat spread into a sleeve over my biceps.

Dumb
shit, asshat, fuckwit—maybe I’d have those inked instead.

Upstairs, I shoved everything off, including
the boohoos, and slipped under the hot shower spray. My muscles loosened. My cock did not. We were at a standoff. Every-fucking-time I gave in to the urge to whack it, somebody interrupted, so I wasn’t even going to tempt fate. I gingerly toweled dry, avoiding my dick. It could misfire with a mere touch, and I already had enough messes to deal with. My last clean pair of jeans pulled on, I left the fly undone for breathing room. I ordered room service on Nicky’s tab, slipped a Benjamin into his shaving kit for damages done, and studiously avoided all social networking outlets.

As soon as
my cock subsided, I buttoned up. Breathing a gargantuan sigh of relief, I dialed Ma.

“
Joshy!”

“
Hey, Ma. The kid around?” Christ, I wanted to hear his little pipsqueak voice.

She returned with a whisper,
“He’s snug as a bug beside Viper. It’s naptime.”

I looked at the clock, two-thirty on the dot. All routine, one I was used to. I swallowed
past the large lump in my throat. “Okay, that’s good.” He didn’t even need me to sing him to sleep anymore.

“
He’s adjusting.” The sliders whooshed as Ma stepped out onto the deck.

“
Well, damn, Ma.” Not that I wanted the kid tied in knots about me being gone, but it would’ve been nice to know someone missed me.

“
Oh shoot, don’t be all glum like that. What’s crawled up your behind and made a nest there?” A clink of ice against glass came from over the phone—Ma was enjoying her afternoon refresher of bourbon and water. 

“
It’s this girl.”

“
Speakin’ of girls, I just couldn’t wait. Now, you got me that signed book from Leelee Songchild, right?”

Yeah, she
’d autographed it all right, and I’d scrawled my name in come all over her body several times since then.

Nicky walked in mid-conversation. He dumped his stuff on the floor
, mouthing, “Gigi?”

I nodded.

Shoving off his boots, toeing off his socks, he padded over on bare feet. “Viper and JJ okay?”

I gave the A-okay sign. Th
e kid was probably snuggled side-by-side with the badass bitch in her dog bed.

Ma said
, “I downloaded it to my Nookie thingy, and mah Lord, that girl can write! Her book’s hotter than my kitchen on a ninety-degree day.”

“
It’s called a Nook. And you can follow Leelee on Facebook, Twitter . . . everywhere.” I planned to do exactly that once I got home if she still wasn’t speaking to me.

As
I rummaged through my bag, searching for the paperback I’d gotten for Ma, I thought about the clothing explosion from Leelee’s suitcases. I imagined her napping the morning off, cuddled between all those dresses and wigs and books. The idea of her sleeping amid her mountain of stuff made me smile. The Princess and The Pea. Goddamn, she’d wreck my house, turn it inside out just as she’d flipped my heart upside-down.

“
I already Googled her, so don’t treat me like I don’t know anything about The Machine, sonny.”

“
Sorry, ma’am. And yes, I got your book right here.” I unearthed her copy of
Ride
from my duffel.

Ma added more ice to her glass with a chink-chink.
“Why, she’s just as pretty as a picture, could’ve been a starlet back in the day.”

Turning the book
over in my hands, I studied Leelee’s headshot. “Yeah, she’s gorgeous.”

“Oh my. Are you blue over this Leelee?” I heard her hissing away from the receiver, “Shoo now. I said scat! I don’t have nothin’ for you vermin.”

“
Did that family of coons come back?” I held the phone out, speaker on, and Nicky heard her telling off the latest round of scavengers that came from the woods surrounding her house. We both kept our laughter quiet.

“
This time it’s that damn garden snake, Mr. Bojangles. Now I don’t care if he comes around and eats the moles and mice, but I will not have him in my rafters.” Mr. Bojangles had once been found hanging from the support beams in the garage area beneath the house. She’d named him Mr. Bojangles because she liked to tell folks she had a real live boa constrictor on the property. “I just threw my glass at him from the balcony, almost hit him too. And you didn’t answer my question.”

“
Nah, I’m not blue.” I was worse than blue. I was goddamn inconsolable.

“
That’s right, because Stone men don’t piss and moan about what could be. They make it happen.” She smooched into the phone and sent extras for Nicky, because, “I heard him chuckling in the background. Y’all can’t fool me.”

She was right. Stone men didn
’t sit around and mope. We took action and asked questions later.

****

Unfortunately, the big Alpha Male Saves the Day moment had to wait once again. Figured.
Half an hour later, I stood outside the hotel with the Hens, waiting while they boarded the bus.

“
Field trip!” Janice clapped. Today she was back in her Steampunk gear, and I still hadn’t managed to figure out what the genre entailed except maybe
Gunsmoke
meets
Doctor Who
.

Jacquelin
e winked. “Road trip.”

Head trip
, more like.

Pushing right up to me, Missy the Mistress licked her lips.
“Research.”

“
Yeah, yeah. You keep trying to scare me, lady, and I’ll be forced to show you who wields the bigger stick.”

“
I sure hope so.” Her gaze flicked to my groin.

I adjusted, just because, and she threw her head back with a
raucous laugh. “Touché.”

Damn right.

I waited another few minutes, watching the carousel doors of the Ramada for a glimpse of high heels and red hair.

Nicky reappeared at the top of the bus steps.
“She just texted Janice, she’s not gonna make it, baby.”

Climbing on board, I ducked down the aisle
. I settled in next to Nicky and let him pull me into the lee of his shoulder. Swear to fuck, if we ended up back at The Golden Banana strip joint, I was going to lose my mind. This sitting around, stuck-on-repeat socializing wasn’t my style. I missed getting my hands dirty. I missed the kid. I missed the garage. I fucking missed Leelee and she was only staying a couple floors above me—that just wasn’t right.

Gossip about what went down during the book fair between Leelee and
LaForge started up. I dropped my head down and shut my eyes. I’d had a ringside seat, but I wasn’t going to join in and fuel the fire. Trying not to pay attention to their secondhand stories, I remembered Leelee’s fierce expression when she’d told LaForge where he could pack his fudge. She’d been so damn glorious.

But afterward . . . the night spent with me, her shout-out with LaForge, her morning being in the limelight had taken their toll. It occurred to me her wig
s weren’t sexy disguises at all. They were her shield, a way to protect herself in public, to project the persona she had to. A barrier between everyone who wanted a piece of her and the real person she was inside.

I made a disgusted noise. I was beyond
numero uno
asshole ranking now. Shrugging off Nicky’s arm, I turned around to Janice. She was hacking away on her phone, muttering about skanky agents and
hashtag predators
.

“
Why isn’t Leelee here?”

“
Packing.” Everyone chimed in without lifting their heads from their technological lifelines.

“
She’s leaving tonight?” My voice raised several octaves higher.

All eyes lifted to me.

I schooled my face into an unconcerned mask.

Jacqueline
piped up. “Have you
seen
her room?”

Yes.
“No.”

“
That girl blew . . . it . . . up! If she didn’t start packing today, she’d have to hire a moving crew to get it done in the morning.”

“
Amen to that.” Janice high-fived Jackée.

The shuttle stopped in front of a nondescript strip mall. Everyone hopped off. The store looked innocent enough
on the outside, but one step through the door and I was thrown into a deep, dark cavern of forbidden delights.

A sex shop.

Of course.

Nicky wrapped an arm around my waist.
“Are you gonna be okay?”

Like I was a virgin or something. I knew my way around cock
rings, thank you very much. “Yeah, lover. I reckon I’ll find something here we can make use of in the bedroom. Or in my office. Probably with you bent over my desk.”

Janice dashed out a quick
#overheard #LitLuv
tweet.

The gaggle got over their
swooning moment and scattered in different directions. Left to my own devices, I detailed the interior of The Gee Spot from corner to corner and back to front.

Double-pronged and plain dongs in every color from flesh to fluorescent
.

Vinyl chaps: I made a note for Fawn
.

Handcuffs, collars,
the aforementioned cock rings.

Dog leashes, and pony tails . . .

There was a wall of butt plugs and ball gags—because I’d have to be gagged to get a plug up my ass.

A case of vibrators ranged from rabbits to butterflies, we-vibes, and sleek, silver bullets
, as well as the notorious
it’s really a back massager
heavy-duty variety that took 9-volt batteries.

Lube sold by econo-two-for-one bottle
s, by the gotta-hide-it mini bottle, or the single-use sachet: edible, flavorful, for him, for her, for
us . . .

Porn flicks arranged by: mainstream, XXX, Extra X
XX, ménage, boy-boy, girl-girl, and spoofs.

In short
, nothing suitable to take home to the kid as a souvenir.

Nicky
roamed up to me, his hand falling to my ass to goose me.

Mindful we were in public and surrounded by the social savvy Hens who could tweet, Facebook, or
Instagram in an instant, I pushed him into a corner. “One more day, dude.”

“
Then you go after the girl?” The handsome motherfucker slanted a smile at me. Jesus, for a second I could even see what Stone might see in him. Too bad I knew everything about him, from how he liked his coffee, his favorite frigging USC sweats to write in, and which side he dressed to
and
slept on.

“
It might be too late.”

“
Don’t be so fatalistic.” His chin jerked up. “You know what Gigi would say about that.”

“
Bullshit.” We grinned at each other.

Mistress Peachtree sidled up beside us.
“Lover’s tiff?”

“
As if.” Beckoning out to the hazy, red-lit depths, I dared, “Why don’t you show me your piece of this playground.”

I didn
’t know a Domme from a Doberman Pinscher. Both were brutal in my mind. But when Missy stepped ahead of me, she slipped into a different persona just as surely as Leelee donned her wigs to protect herself.