Got the Life (A Nicki Sosebee Novel) (9 page)

“Ah, Nicki,
mi dulzura.
  I wanted to tell you goodbye.”

“Are you leaving
Winchester
now?”

“Yes.  I’m already a day behind, but thanks to your friend, I can leave today.”  He paused.  “I plan to call you next time I’m in town.”

Nicki smiled.  “I’d expect nothing less.”  She inhaled.  “Maybe I can catch up on my sleep before you come back.”

She heard him laugh.  “I’m in trouble then, because
if what we did last night was you tired,
I
won’t be able to handle you well rested
,
chica.
”

She giggled.  “You know what I mean.”

“I do.”  She heard the rev of a motorcycle.  “Take care of yourself.”

“You too, Carlos.”  She hung up the phone, feeling sadder than she would have expected.  Of course, Carlos was meant to be one night only and he
’d
wound up performing an intense encore.  Ah, well, he’d been enough fun to take her mind off Sean for a while, and maybe that would be enough
to tide her over until
she found her next boyfriend.  But the poor
suckers who played her BFs
never stood a chance.

She arrived at Sean’s garage, glad that she’d changed out of the hot suit.  It was blazing out again, and even though it was about ten degrees cooler in Sean’s garage, it was still
fucking hot.
  Sean had Godsmack blaring out of the stereo, so she knew he was in full-on work mode.

She saw him working on a bike in the back
of the shop
and
goddamn.
  The boy had his shirt off.  How the
fuck
could she maintain eye contact and have a normal conversation with him if he had his shirt off?  As she got closer, she saw that he had a tattoo on his
lower
back that she’d never seen before.  She couldn’t tell what it was
and wouldn’t have a chance
, because he
stood and
turned around just as she got closer.

And the sight of his naked chest took her breath away.  He was pure, sweet man, through and through, the ideal for Nicki.  Sean might have only been
four
inches taller than Nicki, but height didn’t make the man.  Solid, lean muscle, lovingly cared for, with just a little bit of hair
on the chest
, dark brown nipples, and a six-pack.  Mmmm.
  That was the ticket.
  And to think she’d actually caressed that hunk of man there before.  But she’d blown it
eight long years ago
.  And she was about to make a total fucking ass of herself
now
if she couldn’t concentrate.  So she forced her silly licentious grin to
become a friendly, warm smile.
  It was one of the hardest things she’d had to do in a while.
  “Well, you sure impressed the shit out of Carlos today.”

“He should be.”  Why did Sean look so…
pissed?
  He walked over to the stereo and turned the music down.  Probably a good idea, since
“Re-Align” was
ending
and
the next song, “I Fucking Hate You
,
” wouldn’t make the rest of the businesses on the block very happy.  As he turned back around, Nicki noticed it
for the first time
—his bike…his
obsession
…
was gone.

“What the fuck, Sean?  Where’s
your
bike?”

A puff of air escaped his open lips.  “Why do you think Carlos is so goddamn
ed
impressed?”

Nicki felt her eyes widen.  “You
gave
him your bike?”

Sean gritted his teeth.  “No.  I sold it to him.”

“Why the hell did you do that?”

Sean turned around, walking back to the bike he’d been working on
when she’d
come
in
.  “He was in a hurry.”

Nicki thought of Carlos holding her in front of her door last night
bringing her to sweet orgasm
and forced back a grin.  “He wasn’t in
that
big a hurry.  Trust me
—I
w
ould
know
.”

“That’s what you think.”  He picked up a wrench from off the bench beside the bike.  “This is his bike here, and it’s got a fucked up tranny.  I had too many other things to do, so I couldn’t get his bike fixed as fast as he wanted.”  He paused.  “But he paid me my asking price
for my bike
, so I guess I shouldn’t complain.”

Sean knelt over again and began loosening a bolt on the bike
, his back to her again
.  Nicki’s eyes started to drift to the new tattoo just above his waistband when it hit her.  Sean
wanted
Carlos gone.  That was the only explanation she could find.  She stormed over to stand on the other side of the bike.  “No, Sean, that’s what you
want
me to think.  But
y
ou
wanted him out of here.”

He stopped working the wrench but he didn’t look up.  “What
the hell
makes you think that?”

“You just decided—as a
supposed
‘
convenience
’
—to let Carlos buy the bike you’ve been working on for three years?”

Sean stood, dropping the wrench back on the bench.
  He looked angry.
  He was wiping his hands on a rag and then his eyes locked on hers.  “What the fuck are you doing hanging with that guy, Nicki?”

She felt her blood grow warm.  “What’s wrong with him?”

Sean walked around the bike and got closer.  “Jesus.  Seriously?  He’s in a
gang
, Nicki, a big one out of
New Mexico
.  Do you really want to be involved in that kind of thing?”

She huffed.  “He didn’t
act
like a gang member.”

Sean smiled
and shook his head as he
continued
closing the gap between them.  “
W
hat
exactly
does a gang member act like?”

She took a deep breath.  He was getting too close, too close for her to concentrate.  She could smell him…Sean always smelled like sandalwood and
—w
ell, Sean
—a
nd he was more potent today
than usual
.  Maybe it was the thin sheen of sweat on his chest that also made his pecs look so fucking gorgeous?  She gulped. 
Shit
.
  She had no idea what to say.  “Not like Carlos.”  Sean chuckled, stopping about a foot away
from her
.  Enough
at least
so that Nicki could get her bearings.  “Why do you care anyway?”

His eyes stayed on hers.  “Because you’re my friend, Nicki, and I
know what these guys do.”  Then h
is eyes dropped to her lips.

She intended to call his bluff.

“Bullshit.  You wouldn’t
just
give your bike away for that.  You know I can take care of myself.”

His voice was low.  “You’re right.”  His eyes locked on hers again as he placed his hands on
both
side
s
of her face, drawing her into a kiss.  Nicki thought her heart
had
stopped beating until she felt it thudding against her chest, as though she were a rabbit being chased by a fox.  Her hands cupped his pecs, and she felt the damp
warm
sweat,
felt
the hard muscle respond to her hands.  Tasting Sean and smelling him up close made the effects of the venti caramel macchiato this morning
seem like drinking mother’s milk
.
  God, he tasted good.

The kiss ended and Sean pulled back.  Nicki’s eyes stayed closed, her hands now touching only air.  She couldn’t catch her breath, and she didn’t want the moment to end.  She heard Sean say, “
Shit. 
That didn’t happen.”

Nicki’s eyes popped open.  She was speechless.  “Uh, yeah, I think it did.”
  She had a pair of dripping wet panties to prove it.

Sean’s face
was stone
.  “No, it didn’t.”

Nicki’s tongue played with a molar on the left side of her mouth.  She wa
s getting ready to speak
, trying to think up a good retort,
when she heard a
click click
at the other end of the garage.  Sean looked in Nicki’s eyes again, sending her some
coded
message,
something she couldn’t quite register,
and then his eyes darted back to his visitor. 
That’s when
Nicki figured it out.

She turned around for confirmation and saw Kayla, wearing tight jeans and a yellow halter top, her tiny B-cup failing to fill its form.  Kayla’s long red hair bounced as she clicked toward Sean, extending a brown paper bag.  “Lunch.”

Se
an smiled at her.  “Thanks, babe
.”

Nicki tried not to puke.  Sean’s arms wrapped around Kayla’s waist as Kayla’s arms wound around his neck.  Nicki saw Kayla’s white thong string above her jeans, accenting her tramp stamp.  God, Kayla was such a stereotype.  Nicki couldn’t figure out what
Sean
saw in the girl.  But she was nice enough
, more than she could say about some of the women Sean had dated in the past
.  Kayla turned around, long enough that Nicki had wiped the disgusted look off her face.  “Hi, Nicki.”

“Hey, Kayla.  How’ve you been?” 
Did you taste my lips on your boyfriend?
  Oh, that was cruel, even for Nicki.  Thank goodness she didn’t say it out loud.
  Nicki made sure to leave just as Sean was biting into the sandwich.  There was no way they could resume their conversation
now
.  It would just have to wait.

Chapter Eleven

NICKI WAS SCRATCHING
her head, trying to wake up to the phone ringing.  It was Friday, one of two days she tried to sleep late
on purpose
, because she had to work until midnight
or later on Friday nights
.  But leave it to mom to not pay attention
to the time of day
or day of the week when calling her daughter
or
even
remember that
Nicki
worked nights
.
  When she saw her mom’s number on her cell phone, she thought some of ignoring it.  But then she’d get the two-minute message followed by “Call me.”  It was better to just deal with it now.

Nicki’s
voice sounded like
S
elma
and Patty, Marge Simpson’s sisters, until she cleared her throat
.  “Hi, mom.”

“Hi, honey.”  There was a pause.  “Are you not feeling well?”

Nicki shook her head, a gesture her mother couldn’t appreciate.  “No, mom, I just woke up.”

“Oh, for heaven’s sake, Nicki.”

“
Mother,
I didn’t get home from work until
after eleven.  And then I was up till after midnight because I was so wound up from
closing the restaurant
.”  She pinched the bridge of her nose between her eyes.  “What time is it anyway?”

“Nine.”

Christ.
  She couldn’t exactly chew her mom’s ass
, no matter how tempting
.  “So, anyway, mom, what’s up?”  Might as well get her to the point.  Maybe Nicki could grab another hour (or five) of sleep if mom could wind it down quickly.

“Well, Will is coming home tomorrow, and we’re having dinner Sunday afternoon.  Can you make it?”

Will was Nicki’s younger brother.  He was more intelligent, more driven, and more on the ball than Nicki had ever dreamed of being.  And she loved him dearly.  “Of course.  What time?”

“Two sound okay?  I’ll probably make pot roast, mashed potatoes, green beans, and maybe lemon bars for dessert.”

“No problem, mom.  You had me at Will.”  She missed him more than she’d ever thought she would
have
, but
that’s because
Will had been going to school
forever
.  He went off to college right before he turned
nineteen
.  Since then, he’d graduated from two schools, one with a bachelor’s degree, the other with a master’s.  He was still at the school
he’d earned his master’s degree from
, now working on his doctorate.  He was majoring in economics. 
He had just started working on the PhD last fall, but Nicki thought—even once he could graduate—
Will would
never live close by
Winchester
again.  With all those smarts (and student loans to pay back), he’d certainly find a killer job teaching at some Ivy League university.  So anytime he was back home, she wanted to spend some quality time with him.