Free Reckless (Blue Collar Boyfriends Book 1) by Jessi Gage Page B

dark, quiet blocks to go before he reached the pub. Two sets of traffic lights glowed green in the distance. Apartment buildings and unlit signs for closed businesses crowded the sidewalk. Electricity hummed in the wires overhead. A lone car drove by, headlights on. It had to be near eighty degrees, but he had goose bumps.
    I’m dreaming, he’d said earlier.
    Nope, she’d said. She’d smiled, and that one expression had held so much emotion, he knew he couldn’t have invented it all. Joy, excitement, insecurity, passion.
    She’d insisted he was awake one other time. His skin went from clammy to overheated as he thought about it. His room had been utterly dark. He hadn’t been able to see a thing, but his other senses had snapped to attention to make up for the deficit. The scent of honeydew melon filled his nostrils and made him lightheaded. The sound of her palm rasping the hairs of his chest and the soft wind of her breath in his ear blended in a sensual symphony.
    And the fire of her touch… She’d handled him with an irresistible blend of tentativeness and confidence. She’d been asking permission and insisting on his pleasure all at once. No one had ever touched and kissed him like that before, like their entire purpose was to show him love. The tenderness of it had undone him.
    Could it have all been real? The possibility thrilled him and terrified him.
    He reached Brick and Mortar’s lot at 6:02. Closer to a main artery now, he saw more traffic. Early birds like him getting to work before the rest of Redding got out of bed. His truck hunkered all alone in the lot, white as a ghost in the darkness. His boots crunched on loose pebbles as he strode to it.
    When he climbed in, his stomach did an uncomfortable flop at the memory of the woman’s expression when he’d refused to believe she was real. She’d looked hurt, embarrassed. Disappointment had snuffed the joy in her eyes.
    “Shit,” he muttered as he turned the key in the ignition. Before reversing out of the lot, he wiggled his cell phone out of his pocket and texted Deidre. Pls call me when u get this.
    He needed to see Haley after work today, not to admit he might have a ghost —he still wasn’t sure he believed it himself—but to apologize for last night. And the only way he’d be likely to get any face time with her would be to make nice with the ex. God give him strength.
                 
    * * * *
     
    By the time Derek arrived at the job site, the crew was already in full swing. He slapped on his hard hat and made the rounds before heading for the trailer to slog through his inbox. Sometimes he missed being out there with the crew, getting his hands dirty and using his muscles. He sure could have used a physical outlet for anger at himself today.
    He was such a shithead. Destined to disappoint every woman in his life, even his Haley-girl, whom he’d hoped to protect from his anger. Even the dream girl he may or may not have made up.
    Thoughts of tears in Haley’s eyes and the hurt on his dream girl’s face kept pulling his focus away from what he needed to get done. To top it all off, he felt bad about going off on Deidre last night when she’d only been trying to help.
    His cell phone rang at 9:15. He glanced at the display. Deidre.
    “Hey,” he said.
    “Hey,” she said.
    “I’m a dick.”
    “Yup.” The p popped.
    He sighed and leaned back in his squeaky chair. He stared at the acoustic ceiling tiles while he tried to figure out the magic combination of words that would get her to let him see Haley tonight. Thinking he’d come up with something pretty good, he said, “I should have kept my temper in check with Haley in the house.” He waited for her to say something. “You still there?”
    A bitter laugh. “Would it kill you to say the words?”
    He knew the words she meant. How many fights had gone on for days when he could have ended them within minutes by simply saying those two little words? He hated when