You Are the Reason (15 page)

“See,” Lee crowed. “Now Davo’s talking about saddles. Saddles, stirrups—it’s all horse riding.”

Howard and I burst out laughing.

I got to my feet. “I’ll educate you over dinner, Lee.”

“I’ve tried for years,” Howard muttered into the vegetables he was chopping. “And his brother. Not a lick of Brennan blood in either of them. I swear.”

I could tell it was only in jest, due to the twinkle in his eye and the fact that Lee poked his tongue out at his father. “Not true. Mum is always saying I’m exactly like you. Stubborn, hardheaded, thick as a plank, and that I don’t listen to anyone else’s advice. Sounds
exactly
like you, doesn’t it?”

“Well….”

“And I seem to recall Grandad Brennan upset about you not joining the family business?”

That got a rise out of Howard. His head came up, and he pointed the knife in Lee’s direction. “Don’t talk to me about that old fool. He was stupid when I said that running after gold was just pointless. He wouldn’t listen to me when I told him….”

He trailed off when Lee cocked one eyebrow in his direction. I think he picked up the irony immediately because he harrumphed and went back to chopping his carrots and celery.

I chuckled. I knew that I would enjoy that family.

I
ASKED
Lee about Howard while we ate dinner. We had been seated in a dark corner where there was plenty of privacy, and I was grateful for that. Lee looked
mighty
fine in that shirt, and I was having trouble keeping my mind off how good he looked. The lighting was dim. We were scarcely illuminated by fake candles in glass bulbs that graced each table and recessed lighting on the walls. The flicker from the simulated candlelight made Lee’s hair shine like a beacon. He’d brushed it back and added gel, so it looked more masculine, and I wondered how I had ever been confused over his gender. He dithered over my question about Howard, until he finally sighed and admitted. “Dad is Bannan Steel.”

My eyebrows rose skyward. Anyone who was involved in the mining industry—which I was—recognized Bannan Steel. It was a small but strong player in the iron-ore mining field. A lot of our product came from them. We fabricated it into struts, supports, and piping that are needed for mining. We had a few small contracts with them, which I knew that our senior salesman, Lou Jackson, was responsible for. So I’d never bothered to research the background of the company.

“What do you mean he
is
Bannan Steel?”

“He’s the major shareholder,” Lee explained. “My dad started the company with Teddy Banks. Banks—Brennan. The combination of their names makes Bannan. Then Uncle Teddy wanted to move on to something else. This was in the late ’90s. So Dad bought out 40 percent of his share, so that he had 90 percent and was the major shareholder. Dad built the company up to where it is today. Of course, it’s so big now we have shareholders, but Dad still has the majority.”

“Wow,” I said, impressed. I had just been chatting with the owner and creator of Bannan Steel. “And how did he get into that?”

“Grandad,” Lee explained and took another bite of his steak dinner. “Grandad’s a gold prospector. He’s got his own mine, out Laverton way. GB Gold. My dad’s brother now runs the company, but Grandad still goes out and does some of the manual work. I hate it. I can’t be dirty and dusty like they want to be. And the flies.”

I agreed. “Hang on, but I thought your grandad was a coach for Sydney Swans?”

He shook his head. “That’s my mum’s side. My grandpa. And he was only assistant coach.”

I chuckled with disbelief. “So you’re telling me that your grandad and uncle are gold miners, your grandpa was the assistant coach for the Swans, your dad’s an iron ore miner, and your sister’s a world-famous actor?” I stopped. “Have I missed anything?”

“Well…. Not that I can think of,” he conceded.

“And you’re a dental assistant?”

He laughed at that. “Yeah. A bit of a letdown, I know. I obviously didn’t get the gene that causes greatness.”

“I’m not sure about that,” I murmured before I could stop myself. There was an awkward silence over that while we both blushed but probably for different reasons. I tried to cover it up by asking, “And you have a brother? Your father said something about him? What does he do?”

“He’s a high school teacher. English literature. He has no idea about welding either. Or iron ore.” Then he turned the tables on me. “What about you? Siblings? Parents?”

“Nope,” I told him. “No parents. I was dug out of the slime like the Orcs of Middle-earth.” He threw a chip at me from his plate, and it bounced off my shirt and onto my lap. I happily snatched it up and popped it in my mouth.

“Dad’s a public servant,” I said, still smiling at his silliness. “Mum works in a florist shop. I have a sister and two brothers, all younger than me. My sister’s married to a horse trainer. One brother’s in the army and is over in Queensland. And my youngest brother’s in his final year at high school. He wants to be an engineer.”

“What’s his name?” Lee asked.

And our date went on like that. It was nice. And a lot less stressful than I thought. I was relaxed with Lee, like I would be with Jake or Thor or Harry. I paid the bill at the end of the night like I promised to—Maxine owed me now—and we walked back to my van. With each step that brought us closer to the vehicle, the sexual tension rose. By the time we were inside with our seatbelts on, it was so thick, I was considering investing in butter knives.

“Where to?” I asked. It was cowardly, but I put the decision in his court. And he knew it. There was a long pause.

“Will you be offended if I tell you I don’t want us to have sex tonight, Dave?”

“Davo,” I reminded him. “And of course I won’t be offended. Disappointed beyond the maximum, but not offended.” I started the car and reversed out. “So do you want to find a club? Or shall I take you home?”

“Beyond the maximum, huh?” he chuckled.

“Oh, yeah. I’ve yet to make out with you sober, so I was looking forward to it.” Just the thought of it was making me hard in my pants. Not enough for Lee to notice in the dark interior of the car, but enough for me to be thinking with the two brain cells in my dick, instead of the two in my head.

I heard him swallow in the silence. Then he murmured, “A little make out can be arranged. But no sex. I’ve had a lot of fun tonight, and I want you to come back for more.”

My voice came out in a growl. “Oh, I’ll be back for more, Lee. Count on that.”

His laughter filled the van, and he directed me toward his home. But we turned one street early. The road took us down to the river’s edge, and he pointed out the marked parking bays and told me to pick one.

“This is where all the richest people live,” he told me. “They don’t like the bright lights intruding on their privacy, so the lighting down here is dark.”

This part of the river was surrounded by short paperbark trees, instead of the white sandy beaches and inlet bays farther up. It wasn’t popular with the public, and there were only a handful of parking bays.

Which added up to privacy.

Hell, yeah.

I turned off the engine and killed the lights. For endless moments, we sat in the darkness, not moving but savoring the anticipation. I unclicked my belt and watched as he did the same. I was hard, but if Lee wanted to take sex off the menu for the sake of a second date, then I could go with that. In a way, what he said made sense. I wasn’t one for sticking around once I’d had my fun. He was a smart man to figure that out.

“Come in the back with me,” I offered. “There’s no mattress tonight, so we won’t be tempted.”

Not that I couldn’t fuck the man on concrete if I needed to. But comfort while fucking Lee was something I looked forward to. Besides, the bucket seats in the van would only be conducive to making out if we were giraffes.

I didn’t wait for his consent. He’d agreed to a make out, and it wasn’t happening in the front of the van.

There were a couple of boxes in the rear that I pushed against the back door. Then I took a seat on the floor and rested my shoulders against the side of the vehicle. Lee followed me, and I patted my lap with a grin. His answering grin was delicious. He straddled me in the darkness.

“This is familiar,” I whispered as I leaned in and snatched a quick kiss from his lips. “But there’s no dress tonight. I liked that dress.”

Lee shifted on my thighs and scooted forward until our groins were barely inches apart. He placed his hands on my chest and pushed me back, peppering light kisses along my jawline. “You liked that one? Why?”

I growled and brought both hands up to cup his arse. “Access,” I whispered.

Then our mouths met, opened wide and hot for each other. Desire arced through me, making me harder than I already was. Lee cupped my face and controlled the pressure. He seemed to like it hard—so hard that I knew that both of us would have swollen and bruised lips by the end of tonight. He pressed in, grinding down with his whole body, pushing me to the floor while he continued to kiss me. I sucked hard at his lower lip. He groaned with pleasure as he pulled away to enhance the sting and then crashed back for another go.

We used tongues, licking and tasting the other. Our breathing was harsh in the darkness, and I used my hands on his arse to pull him up until our cocks met—separated by cloth and zippers, but both hard.

We paused our kissing for a moment to savor the sensation, and Lee groaned madly. “Oh, yes.”

He licked my neck as I pushed upward, increasing the pressure and sensation. My hands roamed his back and arse. I found the curves and enjoyed the feel of them. I turned my head and captured his mouth again. We continued to kiss as Lee’s hands became bolder. He slid them down my chest, moved them under my jacket, and explored until he found my nipples through the material of my white dress shirt. He circled them once, twice, then gave a hard pinch. I jumped with the pain, but it heightened my arousal.

I wrapped both arms around his body and buried my face in the curve of his neck. His hard cock was rubbing against my stomach as I sucked openmouthed on his neck and clavicle—anywhere I could reach with my lips.

“Please,” he whispered to me.

“What?” I asked. “Tell me. I’ll do anything.”

“I want to come,” he whispered back.

Was that all?
I bit down once on his neck, then fumbled for his waist. Button, zipper, pull down. The mechanics of it were familiar to me, but I couldn’t get my fingers working properly. It didn’t help that Lee couldn’t stop moving and grinding on my cock. It was distracting me. Oh, yeah. And those lips on mine were distracting too. And those hands that had unbuttoned my shirt and were scratching through the hair on my chest. And those breathy moans. Definitely all distracting.

Finally I had the zipper open, and I snaked my hand inside Lee’s underwear. No tucking and taping that night. I pulled him out and squeezed him hard. I drew back from our kiss, meaning to scoot down and take him in my mouth, but he wouldn’t let me. He pushed into the kiss until my head thumped against the side of the car.

“Lee… mate…,” I muttered against his mouth, but he didn’t seem to hear me. His hips were bucking into my hand, creating the friction he wanted. “Lee?”

I wanted to tell him it would be so much better with me having a full range of movement, but his head dropped to my shoulder as he thrust strongly. I could’ve just let him find his own pleasure, but this was
Lee
, and he wasn’t the only one who wanted a second date.

With a surge of power, I came up off the floor. I surprised him by tipping him backward and forcing him down. I didn’t give him a chance to question what I was doing. I just thrust him onto his back, yanked his trousers down, and took his cock in my mouth.

I took him as deep as I could, then pulled back with a long, hard sucking motion. I loved it when guys did that to me. I hollowed my cheeks and pulled strongly, allowing my saliva to wet the area, then I licked all around the head of his cock, showing my appreciation, before I pulled him back in once again.

His fingers gripped my skull and helped me to find the rhythm he wanted. I concentrated on breathing through my nose and using my tongue for pressure. He was thrusting up into my mouth, his body twisting frantically. Not losing the grip of my mouth on his cock, I pushed my hands up under his green shirt. I traced up over his stomach and ribs until I found his nipples and pressed down.

“Oh, yes. Oh, yeah. Dave.”

Davo,
I would’ve reminded him if my mouth wasn’t so occupied. I could feel him getting closer, his fingers scratching my skull, looking for some traction. My hair was too short to grip, so he ended up pushing me aside when he needed me off his dick, and with rapid movements began to jerk himself. I knew what was about to happen, so I buried my face in his groin and lapped at the base of his cock so I could feel with my tongue the pulses of him coming. His balls drew up, and I felt the contractions as he ejaculated hard. I didn’t know where he was splattering, but I had a feeling it was my jacket.