Mr. Dark 4 (Tamed #4)(19)

"Well, the people I can talk about all day." Pressman grinned and looked over at his son. "He's the reason I asked for investment. Him and my son Scott. A single shop with four trucks is enough for me. I raised a family and I set up a good retirement for myself in about a decade. But it's not enough for two sons. So I want to spend this next decade expanding, setting everything up so that Scott and Mike can be set up in a better place than I am."

I nodded, drawing out the conversation. Pressman continued to blather on, and I could see that while part of him was trying to tell the truth, he was far to well off to be worried. I didn't know any other air conditioning repair shop owners who wore thousand dollar dive watches while at the same time trying to put himself off as only upper middle class. Eventually, I saw Marcus pat Mike on the shoulder and come over. "Sorry about that Mr. Pressman. You have a remarkable son."

"Thank you, Mr. Smiley," Pressman said. He tilted his head for a moment before shaking it. "Sorry, you just reminded me of someone for a moment."

"I get that a lot," Marcus replied. "I just seem to have one of those familiar faces to some people, I guess."





Chapter 9





Tabby





I could barely contain my trembling fingers as I reached for my cell phone. It was exactly twelve fifteen, and I'd already been up since five in the morning, after a night of tossing and turning.

Scott had never left my thoughts the entire night. I'd even gotten up at about two to take an Ambien, which I hadn't done since my college days to try and reset my body clock after a weekend long party. It took a bit of the edge off, but I didn't get more than two hours of sleep all night.

I knew what Scott was asking for. And I knew what I wanted. That was all there was to it. I needed him, and I needed him like I needed air or water.

Growling in frustration, I cleared my phone's dial for the third time. My fingers were trembling so much that I was double typing numbers all the time. Finally, I took a deep breath, and tried for the fourth time. The call went through, and I prayed to whatever deities listened to women like me that I had the right number. "Hello?"

Relief and desire washed over me in alternating waves as I heard Scott's voice in my ear. "Scott, hi. This is Tabby."

I could hear a bit of a chuckle in his voice. "You waited all the way until twelve fifteen. I was beginning to think that I had guessed wrong."

"No, you guessed right," I said, feeling my heart swell and tears come to my eyes. "You don't know just how right."

"I can bet," he said, his words like honeyed potion in my ear. "And because I only got about four hours of sleep myself."

"Twice what I got," I replied. "Scott, I need you. I want you. Please, come over."

The delay while Scott formulated his answer was almost torturous. "Okay. I'm at work right now, I'll need to call my little brother to cover the rest of my shift. Can you give me an hour?"

"It'll feel like a hundred years," I said honestly, aware I sounded like a melodramatic teenager. "Can you do it any faster?"

"I'll try, but I had another idea," he said, his voice soft in my ear. "You must be exhausted. Use the hour I'm not there to lay down on your couch and take a nap. I promise, when I get there I'll wake you gently, and we'll see what happens from there, okay?"

His suggestion hit me like a ton of bricks, and my body cried out in exhaustion as well. "I think that could work," I said, stifling a sudden yawn. "One thing though, promise me."

"What's that?"

"Bring a Rockstar with you when you come. An hour only nap is going to need a jolt to get me awake, and I want to be very, very awake when you get here."

"Deal. One Rockstar, as fast as I can get there. And Tabby?"

"Yes, Scott?"

"Thank you." The phone went dead in my ear, and I collapsed back on my sofa. I was asleep before my head hit the cushion I think.

The next thing I knew, I felt a gentle shaking of my shoulder. I opened my eyes to see Scott kneeling next to me, a smile on his face. "Don't freak out, I just remembered where you left your key last night," he whispered, brushing a lock of hair out of my eyes. I looked at the sunlight on the wall behind him, and was surprised at how orange it looked. "I let you sleep some more."

"How long?" I asked, sitting up. I should have been weirded out, I mean, the guy just more or less broke into my house and sat there watching me sleep for what had to be an hour or more, based off of the sunlight. Then again, it wasn't the strangest thing to happen in my love life.

"It's three thirty," Scott replied, standing up and heading into my kitchen. He came back a second later with a familiar looking black can. "Here. They didn't have any Rockstars, but I was able to grab you a Monster Zero. Hope that works?"

"Yeah, I can do that," I said, popping the tab and chugging half the can in one long draught. I finished with a burp that would have impressed Homer Simpson, before covering my mouth and blushing. "Sorry, I guess that wasn't the sexiest thing I've done."

Scott shook his head and smiled, taking another can out from behind his back. "Tell you what, let's share in the disgusting bodily functions," he said, popping his own tab before chugging the entire can in a performance that would have left any frat boy I dated in college envious, and then letting loose a burp that sounded like a cross between Chewbacca and a fog horn. "There, we're even."