On the Rocks (Last Call #1)(32)

She walks back to her work area and, as she reaches for the saw, I grab the cord and yank it back out again.

Her head snaps up and flames shoot out of her eyes. God, she’s f*cking gorgeous when she’s mad. She opens her mouth to lay into me, but I hold my hand up. Surprisingly, her lips snap together, although her glare is no less ferocious.

In a calm voice, I say, “Just tell me why you feel the need to work these hours?”

She takes a deep breath, closing her eyes. When she opens them, the heat has died down a little. “I need to stay on schedule to meet the deadlines we set. Since we added this project for the hanging wall for your trophies, I just need to put some extra hours in to stay on track. It’s no biggie.”

My heart flops over, and my pride and respect for her increases tenfold. I walk up to her and pull her into a hug, which she halfheartedly returns. Kissing her on the head, I tell her, “We can extend the deadline, Gabs. It’s not that big of a deal. Besides… I miss you in bed at night.”

I expect her to go all gooey and melt over my proclamation, so imagine my surprise when she pushes angrily out of my embrace. “Wrong! It is a big deal. It’s my reputation.”

I laugh, trying to ease the tension. “Seriously… no one is going to know if we extend the deadline by a few days.”

“Wrong again, doofus,” she says angrily. “When I make a bid for another project, they call you for a reference, and they ask if I stayed on schedule, are you going to lie for me?”

“Yes,” I tell her simply, because I have no qualms about doing that.

“No,” she says in frustration and stomps her foot. “This is important to me. A General Contractor staying on budget and on schedule is paramount to making it in this business.”

Okay, I’m starting to have a newfound appreciation for the lengths that Gabby will go to make it in this world. My mind searches frantically for a solution, and then it comes to me.

“Let me make sure I got this right. You had a set schedule based on the original bid, right?”

“Yes,” she says in a humoring tone.

“And we decided to do the additional wall after you started the project, right?”

“Right.”

“Then we should have re-done the original contract. The fact that I added on additional work should have included an extension of the deadline.”

“That’s true, but—”

“But, nothing. It never crossed my mind the importance of a set deadline. I had no clue. So the easy solution is we redo the contract and budget in the extra time you’ll need.”

“Yeah, but in about another week, I could have it finished.”

“At what price?” I ask gently. “You’re killing yourself and for no good reason. It’s an easy solution.”

Gabby pulls that bottom lip in between her teeth and starts nibbling, a sure sign she’s considering my solution.

“So we just redo the contract?” she asks skeptically.

“Duh,” I tell her. “Isn’t that what would happen on any other project?”

“Yes,” she says, sounding defeated and a little embarrassed.

“Good. It’s settled then. Now let’s get you back to my place so you can get a few more hours of sleep.”

She looks at me with a smile that’s somewhat feral and a whole lot of hot. “I’m not tired.”

My eyebrows raise at the husky tone to her voice. “You’re not?” I tease. “Want to do something else when we get back home?”

She shakes her head and lowers her eyes shyly. “I want to do something here.”

“Here?” I rasp out and, all of a sudden, a million dirty things I want to do to her come to mind. I eye the pool table, and I know that’s exactly where we’ll get started.

We step toward each other and her hands come up behind my head, pulling me down for a kiss. I engage her for just a moment and then pull away, grabbing her hand and leading her toward the pool table. She pulls back against me though, so I stop and turn to look at her in question.

“Thank you,” she says.

“For what?”

“For looking out for me.”

Then she stuns me by dropping to her knees in front of me, undoing my pants. She pulls them down past my hips and, since I went commando, my erection that had built quickly once I looked at the pool table pops free.

She takes me in her hands and starts stroking me, eliciting a heavy groan from deep within my chest. I look down at her and drag my finger across her cheek. “Is this the way you thank me for looking out for you?”

Smiling, she looks up at me, never once missing a stroke against my dick. “No, this is just because I want you in my mouth.”

Holy. Fuck.

Her words alone practically have my legs giving way, but then her mouth is on me and I have to lean my hand against the sawhorse to keep steady.

“Shit, Gabby. That feels good.”

She hums against my dick as she moves her mouth up and down my length, reaching between my legs and gently squeezing my balls. It feels so f*cking good, and I know exactly how it’s going to feel shooting down her throat because she gave me the best damn blow job the other night.

But I find myself still thinking of the pool table, so I bend down to slide my hands under her arms and lift her from the ground. She makes a sound of dismay as I slip free from her mouth, and it takes all of my willpower not to put my hand on top of her head and push her back down.