Miller's Time (Southern Charmers 2)

There was one rule, and apparently, she ignored it.

“I told you not to get on that ladder without me here.”

“I must have missed that.” Her coy smirk tells me all I need to know.

“Dammit, Ashlyn, you could have hurt yourself.”

“But I didn’t, so why are we talking about it?”

“Because if you’re going to be working here alone, you have to take safety precautions.” I cross my arms and glare at her. “You need to understand that.”

“Okay,” she states dismissively.

“I’m serious.”

“I’m sure you are.”

She places the steamer on the side of the sink and comes to stand in front of me. “I think it’s cute you’re trying to use the pushy, bad boss attitude on me. But you need to learn I have over thirty years of practice with a dad and two brothers.”

My arm jets out, wrapping around her waist and yanking her to me. Her breath hitches when her chest hits mine. Before she can argue, I brush my lips across hers and press our foreheads together. “Think twice about comparing me to your family, Princess, because I promise the outcome will be different. I’m finding your sass a huge fucking turn on.”

Her eyes grow wide, flicks of green burning darker. The warmth of her breath coats my lips, sending a message straight to my dick. “Miller.” My name comes out winded, and I know she feels my cock against her thigh.

“Say my name like that again, and I’ll prove to you exactly what—”

“Miller! You around?” a voice booms from somewhere in the house.

“Fuck,” I hiss, and she jerks out of her daze.

“Yeah, Rod. Kitchen’s straight back. Be right there,” I call over my shoulder.

“Who’s Rod?” Ashlyn tries to wiggle free, but I only give her a few inches. “And why did he walk into my house without knocking?”

“Most likely, he saw my truck out front and knew I was already working. He’s here to look over the plans for the kitchen.”

“But I sent you the email this morning to finalize.”

“Got your email, made the call, wanted a workup, and now he’s here.”

She chews the corner of her lip, holding my gaze. “Do you always get what you want?”

“Usually. People work hard to please me. Although I don’t recall you having to work hard at it.”

“Stop.”

“Thought about it, but made that mistake once.”

“Mistake?”

“The one time in my life I let a woman call the shots, I was left naked in a hotel room without even a phone number. This time, I’m calling the shots.”

“There are no shots to call! We are not going over this again.”

“You can keep telling yourself that.”

She huffs, squirming again. “Will you let me go so we can meet him?”

“I’m gonna meet him while you put on a different shirt.”

“What’s wrong with this?” she snips.

“Not a goddamned thing if it’s the two of us. But your nipples are poking through, and I’d hate to fire one of my best guys because I catch him staring at your tits.”

Her jaw drops, and she shoves at me; this time I let her go. “You and I are definitely setting boundaries.” She stomps past me, and I adjust my cock to hide the bulge.

“Something to look forward to,” I call to her back, my eyes on her ass.

Her grumbling sounds through the house until her door clicks shut. I grab all the paper off the floor, using the time for my dick to relax, and take it to the dumpster outside. Rod is already working with his measuring tape.

“Be right back,” I tell him on the way through the kitchen out back.

My phone rings with Pierce’s name on the screen. “Hey,” I answer, walking further into the yard, surveying what needs yanking out.

“I need a favor,” he clips coldly.

“What’s wrong?”

“I just dropped the kids at their schools and am headed to the bakery.”

“Something up?”

“Darby’s hiding something. She left the house so damn early the kids weren’t up yet. I tried to fast track getting them ready for school. Now she isn’t answering her phone, which is pissing me off.”

“She may be busy.”

“Too busy to answer the fucking phone? That shit will not fly. She’s avoiding me until she can pull herself together and pretend nothing is wrong.”

“Are you always this unreasonable?” This is a rhetorical question because everyone who knows Pierce is aware of his obsession with Darby. If she shows the slightest sign of distress, he is out of his mind.

“Not the morning to fuck with me, Miller.”

“What do you need from me?”

“I’ll message you a list of things that need attention this morning.”

“You think your shit will take all morning to handle?”

“Hell if I know, but my wife’s upset, and I’m going to do whatever it takes to fix it.”

“All right, send it over.”

“Thanks.”

I end the call and head back into the house. When I hit the kitchen, my entire body tenses at the scene. Ashlyn and Rod are huddled close over the small table in the middle of the room, and she’s walking him through her design drawing. Her hair hangs in loose waves, her face is made up, and she’s covered the tank with an oversized t-shirt that hangs off one shoulder.