* * *
I stood in the doorway to my bedroom and leant against the doorjamb watching Nitro put on his boots. He’d woken me an hour earlier with a hard-on that needed taking care of, but we’d been interrupted when King had called asking him to meet in an hour. We’d taken care of that hard-on, but it had been faster than either of us had wanted because, with traffic, he’d be pushing it to meet King on time.
“Here,” I said, pushing off from the doorjamb and shoving a thermos at him.
He stood and closed the distance between us. “Coffee?”
“Yeah, figured I didn’t get time to cook you breakfast so I’d make coffee for your drive.”
Taking the thermos, he said, “Since when do you cook me breakfast, woman?”
Woman.
That word and the way it rolled off his tongue hit every single nerve ending in my body. Before I knew it, my arms were looped around his neck and my body was pressed up against his. “There’s a first time for everything. Maybe tomorrow if you’re lucky.”
A sexy smile made its way across his face and his hand curved over my ass. Slowly. The kind of slow that made my vagina roll over and beg for mercy. But there would be no mercy that morning. He had to get to work. “You a good cook, Vegas?”
I gripped the back of his neck. “You better believe it. You won’t know whether you want me to open my legs or my cookbook.”
Heat flared in his eyes and he moved his mouth to my ear. “Pussy always trumps food.”
I unhooked my hands from around his neck and let him go. This was moving into dangerous territory. “You should leave before I try and stop you.”
“Yeah,” he said gruffly. Grabbing his keys, he made his way to the front door. As he reached for the handle, his phone rang. “What’s up, Dustin?” he answered the call, pulling the door open.
I followed him outside to his ute, catching pieces of the conversation.
“No, I can’t come home right now and help you. I’ve gotta get to work,” he said. I picked up that Dustin was stressing over something and Nitro was attempting to calm him down.
I placed my hand on his forearm to draw his attention. When I had it, I said, “Is he okay? Can I help?”
Nitro stared at me for a beat, contemplating what I said before nodding. “Dustin, give me a sec.” He moved the phone away from his mouth to say to me, “He’s got a job interview this morning and is stressing. Have you got time to go and talk him down?”
I nodded. “Yes.”
“Thanks.” He ended his call with Dustin, promising I’d be there soon. Yanking the door to his ute open, he said, “Thanks for that. He’s always a mess when he has an interview. Usually I’m there to calm him.”
I loved how he was there for his family. Moving into him, my lips found his, lingering there not wanting to let him go. “I’ll talk him through it.”
He watched me for a moment, his arm resting on the top of the door. It seemed like he was mulling something over, but all he ended up saying was, “Appreciate it.” And then he closed the door, kicked over the engine and reversed out of the driveway.
I kept my gaze on his ute until I couldn’t see it anymore. Wrapping my arms around my body, I headed back inside. The fact he trusted me to help his brother didn’t escape my attention. I wondered how many others he allowed into his life in that way?
* * *
“Right, tell me about this interview,” I said to Dustin as I dumped my bag on Nitro’s kitchen table a little while after he’d called for help.
He paced nervously and stared at me with a desperate look of fear. “What do you want to know?”
I smiled, trying to gain his trust. I’d never seen anyone so scared about a job interview before. “What’s the job?”
“It’s for a cleaning job at a school.”
“And have you done that kind of work before?”
He twisted his hands together. “Yes.”
“Great! So you’ve got experience. That will look good for you.” I glanced at the table, looking for a resume. “Have you got a resume?”
His eyes widened. “Shit! Yes… no. Oh, fuck, Tatum….”
I moved to him and placed my hands on his shoulders. “Breathe, Dustin. Deep breath in, then out.”
He nodded and did what I said, taking a deep breath. On an exhale, he said, “I don’t know where it is.”
“What time is the interview?”
“Eleven thirty.”
It was only just after eight. “Okay, this is what we’re gonna do. You’re going to follow me to my work and we’re going to type up a new resume for you. We’ll print it there and then you can drive to your interview.”
His breaths were coming faster, and I wasn’t convinced he would get through this hiccup. But he nodded his agreement.
I brought out my stern voice. The one I often used on my girls when they were having a moment at work. “You’ve made it through the first hurdle, Dustin. Getting an interview is hard these days. So, pull up your panties and let’s get this shit done, because you’re going to kick ass at this interview. And I’m going to make sure you have the best resume to impress them with.”
His eyes widened again, and I thought we might have a problem for sure, but he ended up grinning and moving into action.
As I followed him out of Nitro’s house, I realised it was the second day in a row that I was going to work with a smile on my face.
31
Nitro
“The Story” by Brandi Carlile
I stared at Joseph as he entered King’s office. Bewildered, I turned to King. “You’ve gotta be fucking kidding! He’s who you wanna buy fucking guns off?”
King had called me in early to meet with him, Hyde, and a potential new supplier. The last person I’d expected to see walk through that door was my fucking uncle.
“You two know each other?” King asked, looking between us.
“He’s my fucking uncle, and I’ll be fucked if I work with him,” I thundered.
Joseph’s mouth spread out into a thin line as he regarded me with irritation. “My nephew always was overdramatic.”