6: PROBING

SETH

Delilah looked like any other woman, if a bit winded from the drive, making me wonder what kind of torture Jewel had decided to put her through. She was certainly far from how I had pictured her, considering the things I had read as well as the billboard I had briefly seen her on with much more cleavage. She also was not dressed for the Oregon weather, considering how thin the material seemed to be and the heavy cloud cover. While it wasn’t exactly fall yet, the crisp autumn weather still nipped in the air, alerting us it was around the corner.

It wasn’t until I opened the door for her and she passed by me that I felt the familiar underlying attraction from the back of my mind rearing its ugly head. She smelled like wildflowers, honeysuckle, woman—pure sinful womanly magic that made a man go crazy. Something I wanted to sink my nose into and inhale the fragrance, already doing things to my body I hadn’t felt in months since the last encounter with a woman. The promise of her soft flesh under my fingers, mine to indulge in.

“You can sit over there,” I told her, motioning to the small break area we had in the shop. There were only three chairs available, a computer chair, a lazy boy, and a hard black fold-out with red paint spilled on it. This woman looked frigid enough to take the metal chair but surprised me when she turned the recliner to face the car I was working on, folding her legs up and frowning.

“Will your brother be joining us?” Delilah asked curiously, shifting her small bag beside her in the chair as she made herself more comfortable.

Jewel came out of the bathroom, making a face behind Delilah as she saw which chair she had commandeered. Opting to instead flip out her phone and stand. Though I doubt it would be for long. Either she’d give up trying to talk to me again and go home, or she’d sit in an uncomfortable chair.

I was betting on the former.

I shrugged, pointing at the cameras tucked away in the corners of the room that weren’t made to be readily visible as I set my red aside to pick up a wrench. “He probably already knows. You’ll find that we’re opposites in a lot of ways.”

Delilah was chewing on her inner lip as her eyes flicked around the room. Something that had me distracted enough to look over her again, trying to decipher if she was really any different than any of the other women in the world. Wondering if my glorifying and hyping her up had just been my depression talking for the last few months.

She certainly didn’t look any different, though perhaps a tad more attractive with her doe eyes and fuck-me pouty lips. Delilah didn’t look like the type of woman to melt the moment she was met with a little water, that was for certain. No visible warts or age spots, no strange smells or foul odors—not to mention the most beautiful honey-brown eyes. Creamy sun-kissed skin that made a man want to run his tongue across it. Full plump breasts that even though they were contained by her clothing seemed like they wanted nothing more than to be released to be licked and sucked until her toes curled.

This woman had curves in the right places under that blazer. Something visible now that it was unbuttoned in the middle when she had made herself comfortable. My cock twitching as I made my way over to my project.

“No offense but… isn’t that a little stalkerish?”

I smiled, feeling amused at her question knowing it was far from a professional one from my experience with interviews. That had been a personal one. “Not really, there’s no camera in the bathroom.” She smiled, understanding my joke immediately. “No,” I replied with a smile of my matching hers. “I just know he’s likely watching because the light is red. Normally it just records in the background to keep all of our assets safe. Does it make you uncomfortable that you’re being recorded?”

She shook her head, flipping open her notebook to make a note, her long lashes feathering over her cheeks. “No, that makes sense, especially considering something like this place. I didn’t know it existed but cars tend to cost a bit. It just surprised me a little.”

I wanted to laugh, or shake my head and make a comment about how little a car or several that I worked on in my spare time hobbies impacted my overall wealth these days—but I understood the mindset. Cole and I hadn’t exactly been brought up with silver spoons. I still remembered how to sift through my cereal to make sure there weren’t ants every morning.

The days they were there, we went to school pretty hungry. “Why does it surprise you?” I asked, curious about her thought process.

“I just hadn’t realized there were cameras, especially ones way out here connected to a security system.”

“Smart thieves aren’t surprised, it’s the stupid ones that attempt to break in that go to jail. That’s the point of a security system,” I replied with a grin. “At least a good one, having good insurance helps too.”

Her laugh was almost infectious as I turned away to focus on the vehicle of choice this morning. This one just happened to be a yellow Jeep close enough to Delilah. It certainly made studying her from a distance easier than I had anticipated when I invited her in impulsively. It also had a fairly easy fix considering I was just replacing the radiator so I would be able to hopefully get rid of Jewel sooner rather than later.

The first thing I did was grab the lift to make everything easier to access, trying not to overthink what I had done by playing into my brother’s hand. Cole was dangling a carrot, one I had started dangling first for an entirely different reason. While I did admire Delilah—I hadn’t expected this sort of attraction towards her at the get-go, especially knowing she was so much shorter than me. I wasn’t overly fond of shorter women, but she was a walking beauty. My preferences typically went to tall and strong, not caring about breasts or their ass compared to overall personality.

I wasn’t sure if it was because I felt like part of me knew her already, or because I wanted to know her, that the chemistry between us was already there for me. It was hard to ignore, so much so it had me glancing at Jewel instinctively as I finished with the jack, moving to drain the radiator into a pan before I started disconnecting hoses. Hoping she hadn’t noticed my reactions towards the new woman.

In my experience, Jewel was nasty enough to women she thought we might find attractive. I was certain Cole had already informed her of who Delilah was, so the poor woman had already had a double dose of Jewel’s nasty side. Though these days I was starting to wonder if that was the only side she had. My last experience with her being less than savory was when she tried to prey on me after the last breakup that hadn’t been nearly as bad as the previous.

Then the text I found on her phone in the morning after nothing had happened.

Jewel

Did you do it? Think you’re going to be + this time? Don’t sleep with anyone else! Txt me l8r.

Forgiveness was not in my nature after a stunt like that, and unsurprising in the fact she often chased her own desires. That was Jewel in a nutshell. Making her oblivious to ~my~ underlying desires. Stuck within herself and her wants as she typed away on her phone waiting for me to be done with the vehicle I was working on to likely corner me to “ask what to do with Delilah”. Probably and ultimately leading to a fight of some kind.

It had been months and she never gave up, though to be fair she was more of a pain in the ass to Cole than she was to me since he worked in the office with her daily. She knew Cole was a done deal, and that door shut forever. Unfortunately, she knew depending on my mood I was a little easier. Since it was hard for me to connect with a woman, I had a lot more pent-up sexual frustration.

So these days it felt like I was in the Sahara.

Delilah was easy to look at. So easy I could feel myself starting to grow a little hard as her lips parted ever so slightly as she watched me. Our eyes met briefly.

Turning back to the task at hand, I tried to shake off my wandering eyes as I began to disconnect each hose and moved on to the brackets and the bolts holding them into place. Feeling busy with my hands to distract from her inviting presence.

“So was the security system you, or your brother’s idea?”

“Coles, he’s the paranoid one with all the tech. He’s also what made everything go so viral and Seth was the face. They’re an amazing duo.”

I frowned, disliking Jewel’s answer not only out of the fact that she answered for me, but because it was entirely inaccurate. I had been the one to suggest security systems and what features would be best. Cole had just been the brains behind installing and purchasing the correct model. If anyone was paranoid, it had been me. Unlike Cole, I had been afraid of our business venture at every point until we had grown more comfortable. Financially, I knew I wouldn’t have been as well off as Cole. I didn’t have as many talents.

“I’m sorry, I was asking Mr. Harris.”

~Whoah~.

My cock twitched at her sudden shift in tone, impressed with her candor.

~Apparently, Cole isn’t the only one that can handle Jewel. How long had she been grating at Delilah’s nerves?~

I looked up at Delilah through some of the metal, now on a board under the Jeep. Delilah’s eyes glanced down towards me, her look still full of questions. Where Jewel seemed to be jittery, Delilah was still. Serious. Like the air before a storm.

It was sexy as fuck, making me grow harder by the second as I shifted slightly to be better behind the wheel—though it made it harder to work on a bolt I was already having a difficult time focusing on. Not that I minded to pretend to work if I kept getting to look at her discreetly. “It was actually my idea, though Cole was the one that put it into place. I wanted one that could be expanded on no matter what property we ended up having so we had some sort of central hub and never had to spend money upgrading to another system—but still cost-effective and in our control.”

“That’s smart, I wouldn’t know the first thing about a system like that but it sounds highly effective.”

“Believe me neither did I, that’s why Cole was the brains that made it happen.”

“You sound like you admire him for that.”

“I do, it’s what’s made us work effectively as a team for so many years. I tend to brainstorm and he helps us execute it into a reality.”

“Until women are involved like Haley.” Jewel noted in a snide tone. She was referring to my last romantic interest, immediately killing my arousal and pissing me off as I rolled out from under the Jeep.

That had been too personal. On a lot of levels. Something Delilah seemed to pick up on immediately with the deep crease forming on her forehead and the way her jaw was set. It was almost a little endearing, seeing that she wanted to come to my defense without knowing me. “Business and pleasure never mix, you should know that, Jewel. Speaking of, don’t you need to get back to the office? You know Cole likes to send you out on these missions so he can yell at you about missing a meeting later.”

Jewel opened her mouth, a look of surprise and then fury coming over her face as she flipped over her phone. Sure enough… “Fuck.” Even though she was a bit of a harpy, Jewel was pretty predictable, especially when it came to the way Cole tormented her in the office.

“Don’t worry, I’m parked in the back. I got our guest. Go deal with the tyrant.”

Jewel’s eyes flicked over to Delilah, a sour look crossing her face before she let out a frustrated groan. “Can’t you just make an excuse and tell him you needed me?”

“You know it doesn’t work like that,” I replied, shutting her down, even though I knew full well that Cole wouldn’t give a damn if he had her out of the office for another two hours, let alone two seconds. As long as she was out of his hair and in mine. The pure irritating fact that I would send her back alone without Delilah might just be enough to get him to drive down here himself.

Especially once he realized I had cut the audio feeds for the shop about eight months ago when Haley and I had still been fucking. I wasn’t about to let him get off on the sounds of her moans. Not that it hardly mattered in the end.

Like Jewel, she had sought him out. Only unlike Jewel—Cole hadn’t wanted to fess up to it. For months. Neither had Haley. We still hadn’t talked about what exactly happened, but it had left a bad taste in my mouth when it came to my brother and other women.

Deflated, Jewel shoved her phone in her breasts, giving Delilah and me a half wave. “Alright, fine. Duty calls. Whatever. I’ll talk to you tomorrow, Seth. I still want to have that conversation.”

I gave her a half wave, hardly acknowledging her departure, as I turned my back to the door to continue working.