First

‘So, you got lucky last night?’

I slam the mop into the bucket and lift it as fast as I can manage, throwing water hard at Nelson. He sputters when it connects, but my childish reaction doesn’t deter his line of questioning.

‘Who’s Maya?’

‘Nobody,’ I growl under my breath and scrub at the bay floor with renewed vigour.

‘One night special, huh?’ Nelson shakes his head admiringly. ‘I knew you got play, Jacobs. And keeping the details to yourself … classy, I guess.’

He watches me hopefully and I keep my mouth shut. When I turn my back on him, he lets out a sigh. The wet swish of his mop signals my freedom from his curiosity.

Too bad I can’t escape my own thoughts.

Nelson’s way off base. I don’t get play. There’s never time. A fumbling prom night in high school is the only thing that’s kept me from being a virgin, but these past few years since Mom and Dad’s deaths … Yeah, sex has been the last thing on my mind.

So why’d you go home with her? You knew what was coming.

I’ve got answers, but none of them are good. The most truthful—and by far worst—reason is because last night, for the first time, Maya actually seemed glad to see me and I liked it.

Maya Rayes. Damn, she’s been a pain in my ass for years. She’s hated my guts since we met. Turns out Maya had taken Catherine on a long weekend to Vegas and Catherine hadn’t called me because she was afraid I was going to freak out. When I found her back at her dorm room, I might have done just that.

Once I figured out she was safe and had wanted to get away to relax and not be a ‘burden’ on me—her words, not mine—we’d made good. It was way too freaking late to make Maya see me as anything but a villain though.

That changed last night. I didn’t even do anything big. I saw her across the bar, saw that drunken asshole Richard treating her like shit, and reacted. I did the same thing I would have done if it had been one of my buddies’ little sisters getting hassled. I dragged Richard outside, sent him home in a cab, and came back in to check on her.

She’s never looked at me like that. Like I’m a good person. Like maybe she’d want to spend some time with me. Her, a woman who makes men turn their heads when she walks into a room, sitting and talking to me. Buying me a drink. Flirting. Laughing. Dancing. Touching me.

And that’s how you ended up in her bed, you idiot.

I shove down the memories of last night and move on to mopping the last section of my side of the bay. My hands shake and my cheeks burn. If I’m not careful, I’m going to end up hitting the wooden pole of the mop against a different type of wood.

What has she done to me?

Throwing myself into work helps. There’s always something to do around the station. I’m more than willing to do more than my share today. I walked in looking like shit, with a hangover worse than any in recent memory, and the guys didn’t say anything. Instead, I got fried eggs, bacon, hash browns and about a gallon of black coffee. Mopping the bays, washing the trucks … whatever they want, they’ve got it.

I may have lost some of my family, but I gained plenty of brothers when I got hired on here.

‘Jacobs!’

I look up at Will’s bellow. He jerks his head toward the living room. ‘Cat’s on the phone. Said she couldn’t get you on your cell.’

That’s because it died sometime between leaving Maya’s house and arriving here.

‘Be right there.’ I finish up the last few feet of concrete and wash out my mop before abandoning Nelson. Cat’s humming to herself when I finally pick up the phone.

‘Hey.’.

‘Guess what?’ She’s excited. Not like that’s anything new for my little sis. She got my mom’s vibrancy and her off-the-charts energy.

‘What?’

‘Remember the presentation I submitted to that business conference like half a year ago?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Well, I got an email today.’

She hates when I tease her. ‘They turned you down, huh?’