Frustrated and feeling foolish, I decided I needed to approach this situation with the stark honesty and surprising fearlessness that only he brought out in me. I stopped by Dixie’s since she was back home for a few days and asked her to watch Happy for me. She asked what was going on and when I would be back to pick up the furry handful, and when I stammered and turned neon pink, she had her answer before I got the words out. It was super awkward considering Wheeler had put a ring on her sister’s finger not too long ago, but Dixie, being the bighearted, smart woman that she was, didn’t seem fazed by my request or the conclusions she drew from it.

It only took a few minutes to get to LoDo and a few more for me to screw up my courage to tell him what I wanted to say. I took a minute to brace myself and wished that I had taken the time to put more effort into my appearance before showing up to proposition him like some kind of crazy woman. I was asking him to put the protective armor down but I felt like I needed a little bit of my own to get through this.

Fluffing my loose hair and slicking on a coat of the clear ChapStick that was in the bottom of my purse was the best I could do. It didn’t make me feel invincible by any stretch of the imagination but it helped.

I climbed out of the car and made my way to the steps and the heavy metal door that led to the inside of the garage. Several of the bays were open out into the street, so I knew Wheeler still had a full crew at work for the day. The noise inside the building was almost deafening. Grinders, air hoses, engines revving, and loud music blaring over hidden speakers. The chaos was actually calming and so was the smile that lit up Wheeler’s face and the light that brightened his pale eyes when he caught sight of me hovering uncertainly by the door. One of his guys put his fingers in his mouth and let out a shrill whistle that had all heads turning in my direction as he hollered out, “Boss, your lady is here!”

I’d been by the garage several times to pick up the dog and to drop food off when Wheeler had to work late, but I didn’t stop to think that the guys would pick up on my presence in their boss’s life. I was a little shocked that other people realized I was his when I had only recently come to that conclusion myself.

“I can see that, Derek. Take it down a notch so you don’t scare her off before I can kiss her hello.” He walked toward me with that easy swagger that was all Wheeler, like he knew exactly where he was headed and he had all the time in the world to get there. Nothing and no one would rush him. He was cleaning his hands off on a red rag that he tucked into his back pocket and he had a smudge of something black across the bridge of his nose. He also had on a faded black baseball hat that covered up his reddish hair and forced him to tilt his head to the side when he bent down to brush his mouth over mine. “This is a nice surprise. Is everything okay? Where’s Happy?”

I should have called to tell him I was coming. He was worried, which was the opposite of how I wanted him to feel.

Taking a deep breath, I reached up and put both my hands on the center of his chest so I could feel his heart beating and breathing change when I blurted out, “Everything is fine but I wanted to ask you something and I didn’t want to wait until tonight.”

His hands raised and his fingers circled my wrists, his thumbs rubbing my thundering pulse. “Must be important. You have my undivided attention, honey.”

I fucking loved it when he called me that. I never asked him where the endearment came from but every time he said it my insides quivered and heart skipped a few beats. I grabbed each side of his coveralls in my hands and pulled him down so that we were almost nose to nose. His eyes looked like a winter sky but there was warmth shining out of them between every single blink.

“Will you have sex with me?” The words tumbled out fast and frantic, but there was no wavering or uncertainty in them anywhere. I meant them. I was all in.

“Dammit. Why don’t my customers ever say shit like that to me? And how come none of them look like her?” The mechanic that was closest to us muttered the words loud enough for us to hear as Wheeler stood there staring at me like I’d suddenly grown a second head, eyes wide and mouth hanging open.

“Shut up, Hunter. One more word and I’ll fire you, which will make you cry because the Hudson is supposed to show up this week.” Wheeler grabbed my hand without looking at the mouthy mechanic and pulled me toward the part of the building where his office was located. I asked him where we were going but he didn’t respond. His hold on my hand tightened and he squeezed my fingers. He paused briefly to tell his receptionist that he was taking the rest of the day off and that he wouldn’t be in until late tomorrow. He also ordered her to get him a room at the Crawford Hotel, which was really nice and located in Union Station. It was within walking distance of the garage, and by the woman’s knowing grin and the thumbs-up sign she flashed at me as Wheeler hauled me into his office, she knew exactly why he was suddenly ditching work.

As soon as the door to his office was closed, he whipped his hat around so the bill was at the back and his hands were on my face. He backed me into the door he’d just kicked shut and tunneled his fingers through my hair. He forced my head back and attacked my mouth.

It wasn’t a nice kiss.

It wasn’t a soft and searching kiss.

It wasn’t tender or tame.

It was a kiss that seared my soul and set my skin on fire. It was wet and messy. It was teeth and tongues clashing. It was hungry and hot. He devoured me and then pulled back and came at me from another direction so he could overwhelm me from a different angle. His thigh pressed between my legs and his chest pinned me to the door. Every jagged breath he took rubbed the rough material of his uniform against my sensitive breasts, and every time I whimpered into his mouth, he shifted his weight so that the pressure of his leg hit me high and in exactly the right spot.

He pulled back and looked at me. Eyes on fire with every dirty, sexy thing he’d been holding off on doing to me. “You know how many times you’ve said those words to me in my dreams, Poppy?” I opened my mouth to answer but he stopped me with a kiss. “Thousands. I hear them and I wake up with my hand on my dick and balls so tight they hurt.”

I ran my hands up and down the line of his ribs and shifted against the erection that was pressed tightly into the cleft at the top of my legs. “I can make those dreams come true.” I couldn’t believe that I was able to say that to a man and mean it. His dreams once again weren’t that far off base from mine.