The moment the words came out, he regretted them. It reminded them both of the expiration date of their arrangement. The friends with benefits thing was a disaster waiting to happen. He glanced once more over his shoulder.
Errin gazed out of the window. What he wouldn’t give to have a peak inside that magnificent mind of her right now.
“Why did you turn so cold after… after the first time we…” she said.
“When we fucked for the first time?” he raised a brow. It was unlike Errin to not just spit it out. It must still strike a nerve with her, thinking about that day. Shit.
“I didn’t want to be like my dad, baby girl. He fucked everything with a skirt at Lucky. It didn’t matter if they were customers or even young women who worked for him. He had absolutely no self-control. I promised myself, after walking in on him once, that I would never—ever, turn out like Sean Jr.”
She squeezed his thigh, giving him some kind of reassurance. He took a deep breath and said, “I was wrong that day we argued, Errin. The moment we got together, I felt in my gut it meant so much more than I could comprehend at the time. But I let my own damn rules come between us. I hurt you that day, saying we couldn’t be together if you’d work for me. I’m sorry, baby girl.”
She bit her lip and gave him her smile. The smile that made his heart skip a few beats. “Please say something,” he said.
“I needed to hear this, Bren. Thank you,” she whispered in an unlike Errin manner.
“I’m sorry, I guess being brought up in an all male household didn’t teach me much manners. I should’ve said I was sorry a long time ago.”
“Hmmm, you’re right. I think I should teach you some manners, Bren.”
“Do you have something in mind?” He stopped his truck in front of a red light and looked over at Errin. The light catching her light blue eyes drew him in, making them sparkle even more with mischief.
“Sure. I have my ways to punish you, all right.” She winked, and her smile deepened the dimple in her cheeks. He traced a dimple with his thumb and moved over to her plump pink lips.
She opened and sucked his thumb in, warming it with her wet tongue. His dick grew against his zipper. “You’re making me hard, Lips.”
“Hmmm-mmm.” She licked once more and sucked. Her cheeks hollowed, and he imagined how she would lick him there. His painful, raging hard on was weeping at her touch.
She let his thumb go with a plop and said, “Green.”
“What?”
A horn sounded behind his truck, bringing him out of his daze.
“Shit. Can’t wait till you punish me some more, Lips.” He glanced at the time on his dashboard. “ETA is ten minutes.”
She laughed and said, “Such a pilot thing to say. Aren’t you going to comment on the weather on the ground? How we got lucky with the speed of wind that would bring us a few minutes ahead of schedule?” she mocked.
He snorted. “Yeah, yeah. Maybe I should go with you on the plane on Wednesday. Get us in the mile high club.”
“Bren…”
“Just joking.” He playfully nudged her knee with his knuckles, but in the pit of his stomach the knot grew tighter.
“So, Errin, I heard from my brother you’ve got some mad jokes.” Aiden grinned while he rammed his sledgehammer once more against the poor old bar that stood on its last legs after Aiden’s profuse power plays.
She cleared her throat after ogling his tight faded blue jeans and sturdy arms peeping from under a black T-shirt with the Mills Construction logo on the back.
Next to her, Brennan rolled his eyes but surprisinglyenough, held his tongue.
“I would gladly tell you a construction joke, but I’m still working on it,” she said before winking at the very hot younger brother of Keenan, who eyed her over his shoulder. The Mills men laughed at her joke, and Keenan shook his head. “Told ya.”
Damn. The Mills DNA made her mouth water. Like all Mills boys, Aiden was well above six feet tall and he had the same strong build. Perhaps even more muscular because of his profession as a builder.
His dark brown hair stood in a faux mohawk and his thick brown beard made him look like his cousin Ronan. But his twinkling light green eyes matched Brennan’s.
She glanced up at Brennan and couldn’t help but stand on her tiptoes and nibble his bottom lip. He was so beautiful, even now with a big scowl on his face. She giggled against his protruded lip.
They were inseparable these last few days, and she sure wasn’t homesick anymore. Conner had called her yesterday, and the moment he’d talked about Jersey, panic sat in. She actually considered Lucky and now even Brennan her home.