Whatever It Takes (Second Chances #2) (8 page)

Until Tess came back into my life.

And now that she was here, I didn’t know how I would be able to let her go.

A
fter I missed the nail and pounded my thumb for the third time in the last half hour, I chucked my hammer and stormed out of the house. I was acting like a wuss and knew it. I just . . . wanted to see Tess again.

Usually work was the perfect antidote for whatever was bugging me, helping me to refocus and get over whatever was on my mind. But not today. Oh, no, not today.

Spending Saturday with Tess, watching her face light up, hearing her laugh—it was as if a heaviness had been lifted off her shoulders. I hadn’t seen her look like that before. That Tess reminded me of the girl I used to love.

Except she was a woman now and she hit all my hot buttons without even knowing it. Not only was she amazingly beautiful, but she was damned strong too. I’d seen her bending more than once now, yet she never broke. Somehow she kept going, and it impressed the hell out of me.

I knew what it was like to have responsibility that weighed you down, sometimes more than you ever expected. It wasn’t easy to keep going some days, but she did it.

Then she had to go and gush about my work.

How impressed, how
proud
she was of me.

And now I couldn’t get her out of my head. Trying to work on the same house where I’d taken her and Noah wasn’t helping much either.

“Everything okay, boss?” Stan, one of my workers, stood on the edge of the veranda.

“Just getting my head out of my ass,” I said back.

He chuckled and mumbled something about needing a lot more time for that, before disappearing back inside. Smart-ass. I exhaled and pulled off my cap. This was fucked-up. I needed to do what I said I was going to do and just forget about Tess. She would have called if she was interested in picking up where we left off.

Take a fucking hint, Mullany.

But then I made the mistake of looking at the play set and I could almost see Noah on the swing, with Tess behind him. They both laughed so much when they were playing that I could have watched them all day.

I’d almost groaned along with Noah when Tess had said it was time to go.

What if they didn’t leave? What if it was our house and Tess came inside and we made dinner together while Noah played in his room? I could see myself backing her against the counter and stealing kisses while she tried to chop stuff for a salad.

I shook my head. What the hell?

I shouldn’t have brought them here, because now I would have to relive that every time I looked outside, at least until this job was done. Another few months of torture. Great.

I pulled my cap back on and went inside.

This house wasn’t going to remodel itself.

“Hey, boss, why don’t you come out with the guys tonight?” Stan said. “I guarantee you will forget anything that’s bothering you. Hell, you won’t even remember your own name by the time we’re done with you.” Stan nudged one of the electricians working near him, and they both chuckled.

With this bunch, they could be doing just about anything.

“We won’t take no for an answer. Boys, the boss is coming with us tonight,” Stan shouted. Half the guys working hollered their approval.

“So where are you idiots hitting up?”

“Oh, don’t you worry your pretty little head. I’ll personally pick you up. Be ready at seven, sunshine.” Stan walked over and clapped me on the shoulder. “Don’t puss out on us now. A boss man needs to bond with his crew.”

His laughter echoed in the gutted space.

I rolled my eyes and muttered obscenities toward Stan’s back as he retreated, but a smile tugged at the corners of my mouth. Stan could be an ass, but he was a good guy at heart. The whole crew was, really, and I couldn’t remember the last time I’d just shot the shit with everyone outside of work.

Maybe a night out with them was just what I needed to forget everything that had happened this past fucked-up week.

“
A
strip club. Seriously?” I asked a few hours later. I should have known better. “This is what you knuckleheads do with all your money?”

Stan had pulled his Prius into the parking lot of Girls! Girls! Girls! and killed the engine. Like it wasn’t bad enough he’d picked me up in a fucking two-door mini-car, he had to lay on the horn, making sure everyone within a mile radius saw us.

I struggled out of the car and felt the blood rushing back to my legs. No way was I getting into that thing again. Either I’d catch a ride with one of the other guys, or I’d take a cab, or even walk if I had to.

“Every Wednesday night, bossman.” Stan grinned and headed to the entrance. A huge guy in a black T-shirt stood just inside the door. He looked like he could rip apart Arnold Schwarzenegger.

“Hey, man.” He and Stan did some kind of secret handshake and then the guy stepped back and opened the inside door. A wash of music poured out. “Have fun tonight.”

“Always do,” Stan threw back over his shoulder.

He made his way to a table of guys sitting center stage. I knew some of them from the construction site, but there were a few others I didn’t know. After the introductions were made, Stan headed for the bar. I definitely needed a beer, so I followed.

It wasn’t like I’d never been to a strip club. Hell, Seth and I used to hit up a couple on the other side of town quite a bit before he got sent to prison. Went home with a couple of strippers more than once too.

So they held some fond memories, but on a Wednesday night? When half these guys had to be at work at six the next morning? It sucked always being the responsible one. I looked around. Onstage a pretty brunette had her legs wrapped around a steel pole coming out of the ceiling. I had to admit it was damned impressive how she could hold herself parallel with the floor with just her thighs.

“Two longnecks, sweetheart,” Stan said to the bartender.

When I turned around to face the bar, the bartender had her back to us. She had on the same black corset that all the waitresses wore, but instead of the short shorts, she had on skintight jeans that hugged her very nice ass. Maybe tonight wasn’t such a bad idea after all. Her brown hair was pulled into two low ponytails that should have looked immature but just added to her overall appeal.

She turned with two longnecks dangling from her fingers. It took a few more seconds of appreciation for me to make it back up to her face. And when I did, I froze. Holy fuck. No way. Even under the layers of makeup and the ponytails, I knew that face.

“Tess?”

“Ryan?” A slight widening of her eyes was all that gave her surprise away as she deftly slid the bottles onto the bar.

“You guys know each other?” Stan interrupted. “Dude, I thought you told me you’d never been here before.” He gave me a grin like he thought he knew what was going on.

“No, I haven’t.”

“Get you boys anything else?” She leaned forward and it made her corset tighten; her tits looked like they were about to spill over. I wasn’t the only one who noticed, judging by Stan’s throaty chuckle. I swiftly elbowed him in the gut.

“He’s good. Feel free to head back to the table,” I growled at him.

Stan saluted me with his beer and a grin, then sauntered off to join the other guys.

“So, you work here?” I lifted an eyebrow and scanned the room before coming back to Tess. God, she looked good, in a very bad girl way. I’d never seen her like this. Her name tag said her name was Darla.

“Nah,” she said, leaning in closer to be heard over the steady music blaring through the speakers next to the stage. “I just come in when I have the insane urge to mix up a few drinks and be ogled by horny men.”

A girl hollered out “Order up,” and Tess spun around and shook her ass over to where one of the waitresses was standing, waving a white slip of paper.

I couldn’t take my eyes off Tess. It wasn’t that she looked so different but that she had a totally different vibe going on. She seemed more like her old self tonight; flirty and confident as I watched her move around mixing drinks. She smiled a lot and I saw her wink at a couple of guys who were waiting.

I slid onto one of the stools and took a long drink from the bottle. I didn’t need to be in front of the stage to watch something that interested me. Not tonight. After she loaded up the waitress’s tray and took care of the guys waiting, she made her way back over.

“Shouldn’t you be sitting with your friends over there, watching the show?”

I tipped the bottle back again and settled in. “Nah. There’s nothing over there that beats the view from over here.”

Finally I got a reaction. Even under the makeup I saw the red rush to her cheeks.

“So how long you worked here?” I asked.

“About a year and a half. Pays the bills.” She shrugged and the tips of her ponytails bounced over her bare shoulders. She didn’t need to explain anything to me. The fact that she did whatever she had to do to take care of Noah was damned impressive in my book. I doubted that the father helped out at all, judging by where she lived.

“So what are
you
doing here?” she asked. One brow lifted over a heavily made-up eye.

I jerked my thumb over my shoulder. “The guys thought I needed a night out.”

“On a Wednesday? Don’t you have to get up early to work? I mean, I thought construction guys were on the job super early.” She held up a finger, then walked a little ways down the bar to take care of another of the waitress’s orders. There were three girls working the floor and they moved among a few tables near the stage.

The place was about half full, not bad for midweek, though I’d only ever been to places like this on a weekend night when they’re bound to be packed. When Tess came back over, she had another beer for me.

“That one’s from Sheila. She said if you weren’t busy later to look her up.”

I glanced over at the blonde who was leaned over a table, passing out drinks. She definitely looked good from this angle, and I appreciated it just like any guy would, but I wasn’t interested. Which should have freaked me out more.

Considering the object of my earlier fantasy was standing right across from me. I vowed to never settle down, yet here I was dreaming up a fucking fairy tale about Tess and me and our life together.

I pushed the full beer back across the bar and grabbed my almost empty one. “Tell her thanks but no thanks.”

“What if I bought it for you?” Tess asked with a flirty grin, sliding the bottle back.

I nearly choked on the last swallow from my own bottle. Jesus, was she saying what I thought she was? I’d spent half a week driving myself crazy about her and now . . . “Hell yeah I’d take it.”

“Good to know,” she said with a smirk.

She disappeared to the other end of the bar again and I finished off the first beer and took the one she’d given me back. I needed to give Stan a raise for dragging me here tonight. Even if all I did was watch Tess work.

She flirted and winked and laughed and every time she did, it was like someone kicked me in the gut. God, I missed seeing her like that. Her confidence was there and it was sexy as hell. Before I knew it, I heard the waitresses giving last-call warnings.

“You need a cab?” Tess asked.

“I got those guys . . .” When I turned, the table that Stan had been sitting at was empty. “What the hell?”

Tess leaned forward. “They took off about a half hour ago. I thought they told you.”

“Shit. Yeah, I guess I do need that cab then.”

Tess pulled her bottom lip between her teeth and stared at me. “I can give you a ride.”

My buzzed brain went there and holy fuck was it a glorious image. I must have smiled because Tess knocked my arm.

“A ride home, you drunk perv.” I was far from drunk, but there was laughter in her voice, so I played it off and wiggled my eyebrows. “I need to clean up here. Give me about ten minutes after the music dies down.”

As if on cue, the music wrapped up and the lights got a little brighter. There was grumbling among the last few guys, but they shuffled out when burly bouncer guy crossed his arms. It took a second to notice that he was staring at me.

“I’m with her,” I said.

He lifted one eyebrow.

“I have no idea what he’s talking about,” Tess said.

Big bouncer guy started toward me and I swung around, my jaw hanging open.

Her eyes were bright and she was smiling like crazy. “On second thought, Jesse, I think I just might take him home.”

Bouncer guy stopped a few feet away from me. Holy fuck, he was huge.

“You sure?” The bouncer seemed surprised. Maybe that was a sign Tess didn’t do things like this often, I thought with an unexpected jolt of relief. Then I gave myself a mental kick. She wasn’t mine to be territorial over.

“He’s an old friend,” she said. “We’re good.”

With a nod, Jesse ambled off toward the front doors.

“Jesus, I thought you were going to throw me under the bus. That dude is fucking scary as shit. I think he must bench-press cars or something.”

Tess laughed again. “He’s good at what he does. Always looking out for the girls. Walks all of us to our cars every night.”

“But first he bench-presses them, right? You can tell me; I won’t give away his secrets.”

Tess shook her head. “You had three beers. Didn’t take you for such a lightweight.”

“I am drunk on you,” I said before I could think.

Her expression sobered, and she stared at me without blinking. “Ten minutes,” she said softly.

I got up to use the bathroom and when I got back out, she was waiting. I took all of her in, from her ponytails to that damned corset that hugged her like second skin to her tight jeans. I wasn’t drunk, not even close, but I wanted to pretend and stumble into her just so I could touch her.

How pathetic is that?

“This way. We park out back.” She led the way and I didn’t complain, given the mouthwatering view I got to enjoy.

The cool night air hit me and I inhaled a deep breath. The lot wasn’t as lit up as the front, and I moved into step next to her without having to think about it. There was a chain-link fence around the small parking lot, but there were too many shadowy places for my liking.