Blueprint for Love (11 page)

“
I don’t know, Kent. Don’t
ask me that.”

“
Ronnie is pretty. I’ll
give you that. But Marlowe is hotter.”

“
Don’t you even think
about Marlowe,” Allen warned.

“
Why not? We could both
marry into the family.” Kent chortled. “Have a double
wedding.”

“
Marlowe wouldn’t give you
the time of day. And Ronnie hasn’t agreed to marry me
yet.”

“
Yeah, right. You’re such
a scaredy-cat, you can’t even get up the nuts to ask
her.”

“
Things like this take
time.”

“
Nah, you’re just chicken
shit. Admit it. Always have been. What she needs is a real man’s
touch.”

“
Shut up. I’m warning
you.”

“
I think I’ll hook up with
Marlowe. Better yet, let me have Ronnie. Show her what she’s been
missing.”

“
Don’t go messing this up
for me, boy. You don’t want to tangle with me.”

“
What’s it been? Five, six
years since her man died? I bet she’s real lonely.”

Kent stood and rubbed his crotch for
emphasis. “Yeah, Bro. I wouldn’t mind tapping that a—”

Allen sprang from his chair and tackled his
brother to the floor. He pushed his forearm against Kent’s throat,
cutting off his oxygen.

“
Damn,” Kent
sputtered.

“
Don’t make me hurt you,
fool. Stick to the plan!”

“
Okay,” Kent relented.
“Simmer down.”

Allen loosened the pressure on Kent’s
windpipe. “I’ll simmer down, when you wise up. I’m telling you
again, don’t screw this up for us like you did last time.” Allen
had the advantage right now. He was younger and sober. But if Kent
weren’t liquored up, he could be dangerous—just like his alcoholic
father. Allen would never forget that cruel son-of-a-bitch.

“
Why you gotta body slam
me? All riled up over that woman.”

Allen stood. His chest heaved up and down.
“I’m getting too old for this shit, Kent. This could be my last
chance. And if it’s my last, it’s certainly yours.”

“
Sorry, dude. Chill out.”
Kent rubbed his throat and fumbled for his flask.

Allen knew Kent understood what they were up
against. His brother had ridden Allen’s coattails all his life.
Even after a dishonorable discharge from the military, no one would
hire his sorry ass. Allen had to take care of him, like an invalid.
And now it seemed, his older brother couldn’t even keep the job
Allen bought for him on Ronnie’s crew. Good thing the two of them
had different last names—courtesy of their whorish mother. No one
could connect them.

Allen sat back down. This subterfuge
wouldn’t last long. Each day, he was getting closer to the
prize.

Closer to making Veronica Jones his
woman.

Closer to completing his master plan.

Vic stood in the shower enjoying the hot
needles of water pelting his skin. After a long day at work on the
site, it felt good to finally relax. Thankfully, the small trailer
on the site contained not only a mobile office, but a toilet, a
shower, and a lumpy sofa too. Whoever designed it, must have had a
history of putting in long hours on the jobsite.

Vic took advantage of the facilities to get
cleaned up before meeting Andrea. As crew leader, he had keys to
all of the buildings on the site. Funny how in just six short
weeks, he’d gone from being Public Enemy Number One in Ronnie’s
office to being the head crew leader on one of Three Sisters’ most
important projects. He smiled as he thought about her. It had been
a week since they’d spoken. A week since he’d practically ravished
her on a public bench.

Vic shook his head. He didn’t know what had
gotten into him. One moment, he was eating ice cream. The next, he
was lip-locked with Ronnie. He couldn’t lie. Kissing those luscious
lips was something he’d wanted to do for a long time now. Last
Saturday, he couldn’t stop himself. Nor did he want to. The woman
had no business putting her fingers so close to his mouth. The
seductive way she’d caressed his top lip was too much temptation
for him. And even though she’d abruptly ended the date after the
old couple caught them making out, he wasn’t sorry. Vic didn’t
regret his actions one bit.

He turned off the water,
grabbed a folded towel from the back of the commode, and wrapped it
around his midsection. He had an hour to get across town to pick up
Andrea. His sister told him how much she enjoyed their outings. His
mom never let her go anywhere since ‘the incident’. That was how
Maria referred to it. Andrea was a prisoner in her own home. Vic
knew the feeling. He hated being caged like an animal. He never
wanted Andrea to feel that way. That’s why he took her out as much
as possible. Vic guessed in her own way, Maria was trying to make
up for being such a horrible mother.

Before Andrea’s birth,
she’d neglected him and his father, staying out until all hours of
the night. Gambling away the mortgage payment. Drinking heavily. It
seemed no matter what Vic’s father did, his mother could never be
happy.

When she started using
what she called recreational cocaine, Vic’s father tried to put her
in rehab, but she assured him she had control of her new habit. The
last straw was when Maria ended up pregnant by another man. His
father filed for divorce. It was the ultimate betrayal. The
fifty-two year old accountant didn’t feel like fighting for an
ungrateful PTA mom he’d fallen out of love with. Unfortunately,
Vic’s father’s rejection of his mother was also a rejection of him.
The man wanted nothing to do with either of them.

When Andrea was born deaf,
Maria swore it was God’s way of punishing her. She never took
another drink or snorted another line after that. But the damage
was done. Vic suffered because of his parents’ indifference toward
him. He developed a short fuse. He would fight anyone, anywhere.
Even as he grew into adulthood, he fought to control his constant
anger. That anger proved to be his undoing. His father passed away
last year. Vic was in prison and couldn’t attend the funeral. Now,
their unresolved issues would never be addressed.

Vic walked barefoot from
the bathroom to the office. Steam fogged up the tiny room. After
hours, the window unit of the A/C was shut off. He flipped the
switch on a metal fan perched on a nearby desk. He put his face in
front of the metal blades, letting warm gusts of air blow at him.
Much better. When he reached for the pants he’d left discarded on a
chair, the hem of his
towel got hooked on
the fan’s cord. The metal fan crashed to the ground with enough
noise to wake the dead.

Shit!

Made a hell of a lot of noise, but at least
it hadn’t broken. He unplugged the fan and picked up the bent metal
face. They didn’t make these old school fans anymore. Thankfully,
he wouldn’t have to replace it.

Ronnie froze when she
heard the noise inside the trailer. She’d decided to stop by the
site and take a look at the progress the men were making. She
hadn’t gotten out much in the past week. When she drove past the
mobile office, and saw a light on, but no cars parked outside, she
figured somebody must be breaking in. Didn’t the fool know they
didn’t keep any money in there? She’d heard of robberies at
construction sites. Petty thieves looking for supplies, lumber, and
other stuff.

She pulled her stun gun
from her purse and flicked the setting to stun. She probably should
call 9-1-1. But the guy inside might hear her. At least she assumed
it was a ‘he.’ Women didn’t rob construction sites, did they?
Whoever it was, would be in for a surprise. Nobody stole from the
Jones family. She and her sisters worked too hard for this
business. She wasn’t about to let some criminal take anything of
theirs!

Not thinking, she jerked
the door open and shoved the stun gun at a man who loomed in the
doorway. The electric blue spark of the gun snapped and crackled in
the air, hitting him in the middle of his bare chest.

“
Aahh!” the man
yelled.

Ronnie slapped a palm over
her gaped mouth when she realized who her victim was.

Vic!

He staggered backward. It
was then that Ronnie noticed his state of undress. He was naked,
except for a fluffy, white towel unraveling at his waist, slipping
dangerously low. Her heart slammed in her chest. Vic’s bare
chiseled chest held her eyes captive. Lord, but he was gorgeous. So
many muscles! Her gaze roamed the top of his sculpted shoulders
past his six-pack, down toward his ripped thighs and sinewy calves.
She repeated the motion, just in case she’d missed anything. She
was torn between helping him and covering her eyes. If he moved
another inch, that towel was coming off. She’d get to see
everything Mother Nature had given him.

At the last moment, Vic
gripped the terry cloth tight and tucked a loose end into a snug
opening near one of his obliques.

He rubbed a red spot near
one of his pectoral muscles. Then, he gritted through his teeth,
“What are you doing here, woman? You coulda killed me.”

“
I’m sorry. I didn’t know
you were in here.”

Ronnie couldn’t keep her
eyes off his bronzed skin. He smelled of aftershave and soap.
Freshly washed. His damp hair hung to his shoulders. The effect was
primal, sending a rush of heat between her legs.

“
How was I to know you
were here?” she continued. “There were no cars out
front.”

“
I parked my Explorer in
back.”

“
Oh.”

“
Why’d you come rushing in
like a banshee?”

“
I heard a noise. I
thought someone was breaking in.”

His green eyes narrowed.
“So you were just gonna confront the intruder? With a stun
gun?”

“
Yes. I realize now it was
foolish.”

“
Foolish is an
understatement, woman. I’ll give you points for bravery, but you
coulda been seriously hurt. What would you have done if someone had
turned that gun on you?”

“
I said it was
foolish.”

“
More like stupid. Promise
me you won’t ever do anything like that again.”

Her eyes kept wandering
down to the towel. “Yes,” she finally answered.

Vic smirked. “See
something you like, Ronnie?”

She didn’t trust herself
to speak.

In one swift movement, Vic
backed her into a corner, trapping her between his half-naked body
and the wall. His nearness was overwhelming. She placed her hands
on his chest, trying to put distance between them. It was a
mistake. The minute her fingertips touched the solid wall of
muscle, her hands absently caressed one of his flat
nipples.

Without warning, Vic
grabbed her wrists and pulled her against his chest.

“
What are you doing?” she
demanded.

“
Giving you what you
want.”

Her heartbeat hadn’t
slowed since she’d burst through the door two minutes ago. She’d
attacked him with a stun gun, but here Vic was, ready to fulfill
her every desire.

“
Tell me you don’t want
this, Ronnie, and I’ll stop. Right now.”

Her mouth parted, but no
sound came out. She couldn’t think with Vic so close to her. His
manly scent filled her nostrils. His minty breath fanned her cheek.
Yes, she wanted it. She wanted it so bad she could taste
it.

Taking her silence for acquiesce, Vic’s
mouth descended on hers.

The word
heavenly
came to mind.
Vic started out with soft strokes, but it didn’t take him long to
ravish her mouth. His tongue pulled and sucked hers, making her
whimper beneath his touch. She melted into his embrace as his
tongue invaded every corner, every crevice, and every fold of her
mouth. Heat flooded her from head to toe and back again, setting
the space between her legs on fire. Dear God, she should have never
stoked the flames of this fire. What started out as a spark of
attraction had erupted into an inferno!

Vic was lost in Ronnie’s
hot kisses. The more he plundered, the more he fell victim to her
spell. She was all-feminine, the way a woman should be. He dragged
his mouth from hers and trailed kisses along her neck and
collarbone. A coil of raw emotion slowly winded in the pit of his
belly. Ronnie had him so hot, he couldn’t think
straight.

He fumbled with the tiny
pearl buttons holding her red silk blouse together. His thumbs were
too large to be bothered with this shit. Frustrated, he ripped the
delicate material, sending the buttons scattering to the floor.
Ronnie’s surprised yelp turned him on. His cock swelled at the
sight of her lush breasts. He bent his head and greedily sucked a
dark nipple through the white lacey bra she wore. The bud hardened
in his mouth. He rolled it between his tongue and teeth, savoring
the taste and texture.

Ronnie writhed beneath him
as he generously devoured one breast then the next, lavishing them
with equal attention. Her tiny gasps floated through the air as she
clung to him for support. He didn’t mind when her short nails dug
into his shoulder blades. The pain was pleasurable, sending jolts
of excitement through him.

So, the Ice Queen could be
melted after all.