Mowed Over (Sonoma Book 2) Read online

  The angle is even better like this, letting me claim her mouth as she wraps her bare thighs around my hips. I can feel the heat of her through my shorts and I'm aching to rip her clothes off and taste every fucking inch of her. The ways she moves against me, all soft skin and muffled pleasure, is intoxicating. I could lose myself in her forever.

  Chapter 11: Lilah

  Oh god. So good. Soooo good. Ben picks me up and sets me on the counter like I weigh nothing. His hips press between my thighs, demanding to be closer as he wrestles control of the kiss. His lips are insistent but not frantic. He's all passion and contained power and it is really working for me. He has one hand in my hair, cupping the back of my head. His fingertips send little tingles down my spine as our tongues tangle. The other wraps around my lower back, holding my body flush against his.

  What am I doing?! I shouldn't be doing this. It's too much, but I can't help myself as I wrap my legs around his waist. His steely length rubs against me and I moan. He smells amazing, like fresh ocean air, and he feels... right. He's so big that I feel like he could toss me if he wanted to, but instead he holds me like a treasure he can't stop touching. It's dangerously sexy, and he's ticking every box, including the ones I didn't even realize I had.

  I've never felt chemistry like this. Every nerve in my body lights up when Ben strokes my back with his thumb and when his grip on my hair tightens it sends tingles of pleasure skittering up my spine.

  His phone and watch both start pinging and I'm jarred back to reality. He pulls back, breaking the kiss to silence the phone.

  "Sorry," he says as he looks at me under hooded eyes. His lips are swollen from kissing me and I touch my own lips, wondering if they look the same. His watch doesn't respond to his attempts to silence it, so he undoes the clasp and chucks it into the living room with a muttered, "fuck it."

  I laugh, but the distraction gave me enough time to come to my senses. I can't just jump into bed with my new neighbor. There's a reason I don't date, and when this inevitably goes bad, I'll literally have to sell my house and move to get away from him.

  I have to get out of here before the last pieces of my self control slip away. Seriously, I need to get a grip on my sanity. This is why we have vibrators.

  Pressing my hands to his chest, I unwrap my legs from his body, just trying to get enough room to think straight. "I should go," I say.

  His brow furrows in confusion. "I'm sorry... Did I do something...?" he trails off and I can see that he's worried he pushed me too far.

  "No. No, this was equally my fault." I tell him as I look away. I can't meet his eyes because I'm not sure I'll be able to resist him if I do. I need to get out of here. I can't let this happen again and I know if I'm near him I won't be able to control myself. I press him back a little and he steps back, taking my hand as he helps me off of his counter. Jesus, he's sexy. Every little touch, even just the way he holds my hand in his, sends butterflies careening around in my stomach. Big, aggressive, horny butterflies.

  "Thanks for bandaging me up," I say before trying to pull free and head for the front door. He grips my hand for a second, forcing me to turn around.

  "Lilah, let me take you out for dinner tonight."

  I freeze up like the spaz I am, my mouth hanging open as I try to find the right thing to say.

  "I... I can't." I don't add that I am incapable of trusting anyone outside of my family. That agreeing to date him would be like taking my heart out of my chest and handing it to him, unprotected. Stupid and risky. I don't tell him he terrifies me. Not because of his size or anything he's done, but because the way he makes me feel is addictive.

  I don't look up to see his reaction, just turn and walk out the door.

  I rush home, trying to get my body back under control, but my thoughts are racing, running away from me. I can't shake the feeling that I left a piece of myself in Ben's kitchen. I don't feel quite whole, like there's a tiny little chamber in my soul that's echoing and empty.

  I shut my front door and lean back against it. It has been a fucking morning and my body just betrayed me. One look from Ben and it gave me up. Not that I really blame my body. My head was there too and even though that bitch is usually pretty smart, she was all in. Ben was all smiles and dimples, but his eyes burned into me. I'm tingling everywhere he touched me, like my skin has been marked by his.

  And oh, god, I am so wet. I'm seriously tempted to march back over there and throw myself in his hands just so he can take the ache away. I bet he's magnificent with those hands.

  I'm exhausted and even though I'd like to go back to bed, I don't know if I could even fall back asleep at this point. I'd just lay in bed and pine after Ben.

  I need a cold shower, and then I'll go to the bakery and help Olive. I'll be a couple hours early, but I might as well do something productive with all this pent-up energy. I take a quick shower, towel dry my hair, throwing on jeans and my favorite soft black t-shirt. I grab a clean chef coat out of my closet and head towards the front door. I only get two steps outside before I realize that my Jeep is still at Blue Ruin. That's just perfect.

  Tapping out a quick message as I step back inside, I ask Olive to come get me so we can jump my car. She's outside my house 15 minutes later, honking, with the top down on her convertible. She has her long hair braided tightly, keeping it out of her face, and she looks like a movie star in her oversized sunglasses.

  She waves at something over my shoulder, and I steal a look at Ben's house. He's back outside weeding the planters and gives her a little wave back. He gives me a wolfish grin, and I can tell even from here that he's thinking about the way I grabbed him and kissed him. I compulsively suck my bottom lip between my teeth because now I'm thinking about it and this is terrible timing for damp panties. He watches me all the way to Olive's car, and there's way too much heat in his eyes for him to be thinking about that rhododendron.

  "Hey," I say to Olive as I sink down into the passenger seat. Ben's eyes are back on his plants, but he's grinning broadly, dimples in full effect. Olive lifts her sunglasses to her forehead and gives me a mischievous grin. She pointedly looks at Ben and back to me, twice, before wiggling her eyebrows.

  "Um, far be it from me to meddle, but what is up with you two?" This bitch isn’t even whispering.

  "Nothing," I say through clenched teeth. "Let's go."

  Olive laughs quietly. "Nice try, Lilah. You’re a shit liar. Do you know that? There is some sizzling tension between you two. I'm kind of afraid to be in the middle lest I get burned."

  I groan quietly and hiss, "Come on, Olive. I mean it. Let's go."

  Olive steps on the clutch and throws the car into reverse as she eyes me, one eyebrow raised, and lips pursed as she tries not to smile. "Why are you blushing like that? That doesn't look like nothing. If something happened with sexy Clark Kent, you are legally obligated to tell me."

  "No, I'm really not. I keep telling you that the sister code isn't legally binding. Besides, nothing is happening." I never should have told her about him. I blame Sally and her tequila slinging. I was weakened by my hangover.

  "How are things at the bakery this morning?" I ask her.

  "Oh, hell no! You are not changing the subject. Nice try, though. Why was he giving you the I-want-to-do-bad-things-to-you eyes? And what the hell did you do to your forehead? I swear, you hurt yourself more than any person I have ever met."

  I know her well enough to know she'll never let up unless I give her something. "Fine, he woke me up with the mower at 8 am after a shitty night. I fell out of bed and hit my head on my nightstand before stomping outside to yell at him. I didn't realize I was bleeding, so he took me inside and he bandaged me up," I say, pointing at my forehead, "because this was his fault. After that we had... a weird moment."

  The light turns red and Olive eyes me hard, dropping her chin, rolling her eyes and making aggressive air quotes as she asks, "What exactly constitutes a weird moment? And side note, you've hit your head on that nightstand like
three times now."

  "Yeah, I kind of want to burn the thing into a pile of ash and melted hardware."

  Olive laughs. "I'll help you. That nightstand is ugly as sin, and it clearly wants you dead. But don't change the subject. What was weird? Did he have a closet full of melted dolls? One of those maps on the wall with a bunch of strings connecting things? A room dedicated to his love of puppets?"

  "Oh my god, no. At least I didn't see anything weird. No, his house is totally normal."

  Olive glares at me over her sunglasses. She's not going to let this go. The sun warms my shoulders as I stare back at her, not wanting to give in to the silent treatment, but I can't stand it when she does that.

  "You're like a dog with a bone, you know that? Fine. We were fighting, and... I kissed him. I lost my head for a minute. That's all."

  Olive gives me a wide-eyed, surprised smile. "Have you ever made the first move before?"

  "No, and I didn't make a move. I just... I got carried away for a second."

  We pull into the bar parking lot and my sister parks her car facing the front of my Jeep. With the sun shining and spring in the air, this parking lot feels completely different.

  My phone buzzes in my pocket before we can get out. The screen reads "Unknown”, so I throw my phone into my purse with an annoyed huff and step out of the car.

  Olive digs around in her trunk, looking for the jumper cables while I hop out and lift the hood of my Jeep. I throw my key in the ignition and turn it out of habit. The damn thing starts right up.

  Olive pops her head over the top of her trunk with a confused look. "What the hell? I thought you said it was dead last night."

  "It was." I'm just as confused as I stare at the dashboard. There are no warning lights. Nothing is flashing or smoking or looks like it's about to explode.

  "It wasn't even turning over last night. I don't understand." Now I'm annoyed. A dead battery is one thing. I figured I just left the lights on or something. If it's randomly working and then not working, that's probably something worse, like wiring or gremlins.

  "Well shit. Let's just take it to Asher and Lukas. They can sort it out for you."

  She's right. Besides, Asher will peck at me like a hen if he finds out I had car trouble and didn't let him check it out. Olive follows me on the short drive to our brother's auto shop so I can drop it off before we head to the bakery.

  When we pull in, Asher is standing in front of a vintage sports car with the hood popped, holding a thermos of coffee and yelling his head off at our younger brother.

  "It sounds like shit! The throttle isn't right!"

  Lukas is behind the wheel with the door open as he revs the engine.

  "What?" Lukas yells from behind the wheel, still revving. I can tell, even from here, that he's fucking with Asher.

  "I said it sounds like shit! The throttle is off!" Lukas cuts the engine mid-sentence, so Asher is suddenly screaming into the quiet morning air. Lukas chuckles as we walk over. Asher just rolls his eyes.

  Olive’s voice is dripping in playful sarcasm as she says, "You've clearly got the florker misaligned with the rigger."

  "Twerp," Asher says as Lukas pulls her in and gives her an aggressive noogie.

  She screams like a wounded bobcat and fights her way free. "Knock it off, dickbag!"

  "Nah, I've gotta get it out of my system while Brooks isn’t around. He doesn't let me give you noogies anymore."

  "Oh really?" she replies sarcastically. "He doesn't want you giving his fiancée a noogie? How shocking! Maybe it's because we aren't eight years old anymore. Even though you still act like it."

  Asher rolls his eyes again and interrupts before they can get into it some more. "What's up?" he asks me because I'm clearly the voice of reason in this menagerie.

  "My Jeep wouldn't start last night but it fired right up this morning. I didn't even have to jump it. I have no idea what's wrong with it. Can you just take a look at it?"

  Asher gives it a thoughtful look. "That's odd. I put a new battery in it a couple months ago. Maybe a loose cable... I dunno. I'll figure it out. I'll drop it off at the bakery later."

  "You're the best!" I tell him before hugging both my brothers and heading back to Olive's car.

  Chapter 12: Lilah

  We hit the side door of Olive Branch Bakery and a wave of delicious air hits us from the kitchen. The mixed-up aroma of sourdough baguettes, sugary cupcakes, buttery pastries and fresh coffee wash over me. I swear to god, even the air has calories in the bakery.

  We scrub up, put on our chef coats and aprons, and get to work. The bakery is Olive's baby. She's the one who went to culinary school, and she's the one who runs day-to-day operations. Part of me loves working with her and not having to be in charge. I'd rather be the number two (or three) and have the freedom to do whatever else I want.

  We have a light prep list of sugar flowers, baking a few cakes and whipping up a metric shit-ton of vanilla buttercream. We've been working ahead to make sure the bakery is fully stocked now that tourist season is creeping up on us.

  Olive is hyper-focused for most of the morning, but once we get to the sugar flowers, she starts to relax a little. We tag-team them: I roll out the gum paste and cut the petals, Olive ruffles the edges and builds the flowers on their wires, hanging them to dry on the little rack in front of us.

  We work quietly, and I can tell Olive is turning something over and over in her head. She drops a flower and swears as she throws it in the trash. She clears her throat. "In the spirit of honesty, I feel like I should tell you to give this Ben guy a chance."

  I give her a quelling look. "He's all emotion-y. If it was just sex, I would have jumped his bones already, but he wants to date. He keeps trying to get to know me."

  "Oh, heaven forbid!" Olive mocks me. "You know that I don't think most guys are worth the time or energy they require. But... I can tell you like him. You always assume things will go to shit, but maybe this guy is worth giving a shot. Not all men are deadbeats like Dad."

  I snort derisively. "I know that. I just think it's stupid to date my neighbor. How can I avoid him when things go wrong?"

  "Aha! See! You're doing it right now! Maybe just this once you can try dating someone without planning for the worst."

  I want to be mad at my sister. I want to argue with her and tell her she's wrong, but there's a tiny niggling thought in the back of my brain when I think about the way Ben touched me. He kissed me like I was the air he needed to breathe. I can still feel his massive hand sliding up my bare thigh.

  If I hadn't bolted out of his house, I could have spent the morning exploring his abs with my tongue instead of dealing with car trouble. But then I remember the way he made me tremble with need; the desperation he brought out in me. Ultimately, isn't that what makes him dangerous? Everything about him is addictive, and I have the distinct feeling that he would be nearly impossible to walk away from.

  Olive waves a hand in front of my face. "Oh my god, don't fantasize about him right now! We were having a conversation!"

  "I'm not!"

  "You're a terrible liar. Anyway, Brooks and I want you to invite Ben to dinner at your house next week. You're already making us dinner, what's one more person?"

  "Excuse me? You invited yourselves over for a housewarming dinner and I agreed to cook for the two of you, but I did not agree to host a double date in my new house. You can't just demand I invite Ben."

  "It's more of a request than a demand," Olive says with a grin.

  "No." I tell her. "Hard pass." I will not voluntarily create a situation where I have to fight down my unbearable sexual attraction to Ben while my sister and future brother-in-law watch.

  "Lilah," a soft voice comes from the front of the kitchen. Allison, the barista, is poking her head around the corner. "Lukas is up front." She disappears and I sigh with relief as I strip off my gloves and toss them in the trash. I hate being without my Jeep.

  Lukas is hanging out in the dining room of the cafe.
It's late afternoon and the tables are mostly empty. I expect the big smiles Lukas usually has for me, but he's got a tight, worried look on his face and he's fidgeting with my keys. He tries to smile, but it just makes him look more pinched than before.

  "That is not a good face," I try to tease him. I'm used to that look on Asher. He's the worrier, not Lukas.

  "Hey Ladybug, can you come outside with me? I need you to look at this real quick."

  Now I'm really worried. My brothers only use my nice nickname when something is really wrong. I follow him out front where he already has the hood up on my car.

  "Look at this," he says, pointing at the battery posts and the cables connecting to them.

  I put my hands on my hips and look at the battery like I know anything about cars. One of the benefits of having two mechanics for brothers is that I've never actually needed to learn anything about cars. I'm sure I'm capable and could learn but they've been happy to do every oil change, brake job and car repair I've needed. It also serves to fulfill Asher's need to look out for the rest of us. Who am I to take that away from him?

  "Yes, I see," I say seriously. "Unless I'm mistaken, that appears to be a car battery."

  Lukas rolls his eyes. "Don't be a smart ass," he says and points at the cables again. "Look right here. I replaced these last year because the old ones were corroded. Remember?" I nod, because it sounds familiar. "Did you mess with these cables at all?" he asks.

  I am super confused. "No... we didn't even attach the jumper cables. It started up before we connected anything. Why?"

  Lukas runs a hand through his long hair, his brows drawn together so hard it looks uncomfortable.

  "You're stressing me out," I tell him. I give him a smack on the chest just to make my point.

  "We use socket wrenches on these at the shop. Always. But there are gouges here that look like someone used a wrench or pliers or something on the bolts."