Fixer Upper: Contemporary Romance Read online

  I raised an eyebrow. So that's what his goal was. Man, he really was persistent. "I'm the one who did the inspection. That would be a conflict of interest."

  "I didn't offer you the job until the inspection was completed and I'd already made my decision," he said without missing a beat, making it clear he'd already thought about it. "I can't see any conflict there."

  He had a point. Technically, I should’ve still referred it out, but it wasn't any real harm and things were rarely done by the book in Princetown anyway. Everyone knew everyone, so there was never really such a thing as a neutral party.

  Besides, it was a lot of work, and I owed it to my guys to take the job, regardless of how I felt about the client. "Alright," I finally said, shrugging. "I’ll give you my card, and you can call the office tomorrow for a quote."

  He took the card, flipping it over to look at the details on the back. "Can I get your phone number?" he asked, his eyes boring into mine. "In case I have any questions."

  I knew he was just being a sleaze, probably because he was bored in town and had nothing better to do, but I sighed and wrote my cellphone number on the bottom of the card. He was a client, regardless of my suspicions about his intentions. "See you later."

  He smiled, and I couldn't help but feel like the look in his eyes was probably the last thing a gazelle saw before a lion pounced on it. "You certainly will."

  Chapter 2

  Sawyer

  It had been three days since I’d started work on the new house, and it had been blissfully quiet, since Devon had to rush back to the city to deal with some other project. He’d apologized in text, and I didn’t have the heart to tell him it was a lot easier to work without a client breathing down my neck. Especially an overeager alpha.

  All good things had to come to an end, though. I just wished he hadn’t shown up right as my guys left for the day.

  At least they wouldn’t be around if he decided to resume his flirting. I’d never hear the end of that. It was hard enough to get a bunch of alphas and betas to take an omega seriously as their boss. I didn’t need them being reminded of how other alphas saw me.

  Sure, I’d be happy to knock some respect back into their heads, but I didn’t have time for that shit.

  Of course he came in while I had my shirt off, since I was tearing down some drywall and the AC was another thing on the laundry list of repairs that needed to be made. I didn’t do HVAC, so that would have to wait.

  He stopped in the doorway and stared with the same blank look that was probably on my face. The sight of him in the sleek black business suit he was wearing was having a similar effect on me.

  He was hotter than I remembered, and that was saying something.

  “Hey,” he said, letting his gaze travel down over my bare chest. He didn’t even bother to hide it, either. Or his appreciation. “Looking good.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “’Scuse me?”

  “The room, I mean,” he said with a sly grin.

  I rolled my eyes and pulled my shirt on. “I was just about to call it quits for the day, but since you’re here. The AC started rattling as soon as my crew turned it on, so you’re gonna want to get someone out here to look at that.”

  “I see,” he said, sounding less bothered than he should have, considering how expensive those old systems could run. Or maybe he just didn’t know what he was in for. “Do you have any recommendations?”

  “Sure, but you don’t want to shop around?”

  “I’ll take your word,” he answered casually. “Since you’re here, I was going to order in. Care to join me?”

  I couldn’t help but snort. He was relentless. “I’m not exactly dressed for dinner.”

  “Who said anything about being dressed?” he asked, leaning in the doorway.

  I watched him, my arms folded over my chest. “Does that cocky schtick work on all the omegas?”

  “Most of them,” he answered without missing a beat. “But I’ve never been one to shy away from a challenge.”

  I just shook my head and walked past him. He put a hand out to block me, his grin growing wider. It matched the dangerous glimmer in his eyes, and I hated how my body responded so traitorously.

  “Now that I’m back, I’ve been meaning to talk to you about the renovations,” he purred. “It would be a good chance to make sure we’re on the same page. And if you like, you’re free to use the shower upstairs.”

  For a few seconds, I just looked at him, trying to decide whether I was gonna give him a swift kick in the balls for blocking me, or give in to the irrational desire that had been sparked from the moment I’d walked into the room.

  Neither. It took too long to come to the only rational decision.

  You’re a fucking professional, act like it, I scolded myself, meeting his steely gaze.

  “Dinner. That’s it,” I said firmly. “We talk about your plans for the house, and that’s it.”

  “Purely professional,” he said, holding his hands up in surrender.

  His eyes told a different story, but I grunted and walked past him up the stairs. If there was one omega stereotype I held true to, it was the fact that I liked to stay clean, despite a job that frequently broke a sweat. The house was staged, so there were some minimal amenities and comforts, including fresh towels in the bathroom. Supposedly Devon was going to be staying here part time until the renovations were complete, so it was hard to tell what was his and what Sean had set up for the showing.

  At least the hot water worked. I breathed a sigh of relief as the hot water washed away the tension in my muscles. It had been a long, hard day, so it felt good. I didn’t linger like I usually would have. When I turned the water off, there was an immediate knock at the door.

  I guess I should’ve been relieved he had knocked at all. For his sake. I wrapped a towel around my waist and answered the door, my wet hair still dripping down my chest. Devon was standing on the other side, having taken off his blazer so his muscular build was now plain underneath his fitted white shirt.

  He froze and stared at me, his Adam’s apple bobbing slightly as he swallowed. “I thought you’d like a change of clothes,” he said, offering the stack to me.

  I took the clothes reluctantly. “Thanks,” I said, closing the door to get changed. He was downstairs when I came out, and I could hear him at the door, talking to the delivery guy.

  “Chinese?” I asked, looking at the bag in his hands.

  “Thai,” he answered. “I heard the place down the street was good.”

  “Good choice,” I admitted, wandering into the kitchen with him. He set the food on the table and started taking out the various containers. “So, are you really staying here?”

  “Easier than commuting back and forth while I’m here,” he said with a shrug. “I’m scoping out some other properties in town.”

  “What made you decide on Princetown?” I asked, sitting down at the dining room table across from him.

  “The market,” he admitted, sliding a bottle of soda across the table to me. “Like you said, good schools, steadily increasing property values, and a good dose of local charm. Doesn’t get much better from an investor’s standpoint.”

  “I guess it doesn’t.”

  He hesitated, watching me for a moment. “Sorry. I guess that sounds a bit callous.”

  “A bit,” I admitted. “But I don’t blame you. I’ve lived here my whole life, so it’s more than just a town to me, but I know that’s subjective.”

  “I envy you,” he said thoughtfully. “My family is scattered all over the place. I don’t think I’ve lived in one area for more than five years at a time.”

  “I’m sure there are benefits to that, too.” When I realized he was waiting for me to cite them, I took a swig of soda. “Okay, so none I can think of, but different strokes for different folks.”

  He just smiled. “Indeed. You’re quite different yourself.”

  “You mean my job?”

  “That’s part of it,” he sai
d, leaning back. I was used to alphas looking at me with curiosity, but something about the way he looked at me was different. It put me on edge. Why did I even give a shit what he thought, anyway?

  “What?” I asked warily.

  “You’re very…” He paused, like he was searching for the right word. “Independent.”

  I couldn’t help but laugh. “Wouldn’t be the first time I’ve heard that.”

  “I didn’t mean it as a bad thing,” he assured me. “Quite the opposite.”

  “Well, it would be the first time I’ve heard that,” I sighed. “Most alphas don’t like independent.”

  “I’m not most alphas,” he said with a shrug. “I like a man who knows what he wants.”

  “Takes one to know one, I suppose.”

  His lips curved into an entirely too appealing smirk. “And what about you, Sawyer? What is it that you look for in an alpha?”

  “What makes you think I like alphas?” I challenged, taking another sip of my soda.

  He chuckled. “Fair enough. But if you were interested in trying one out, I’d be happy to satisfy your curiosity.”

  Heat flared in my face, and it took a second to realize it was embarrassment and not irritation. I couldn’t even remember the last time I’d blushed. Especially not because of something a random alpha had said.

  Except…he wasn’t random. He was a client, which should have made him completely off limits.

  It did.

  That just didn’t do anything to stop me from wanting him.

  “You definitely don’t mince words, do you?”

  “Never,” he answered, still holding my gaze. It felt like he was looking through me.

  I swallowed the lump in my throat. It had been a long damn time since I’d felt like this. Since I’d felt anything but heartbroken, really. My common sense was telling me to back out now while my dignity and my heart were safe, but my libido had other ideas.

  “If I were going to take you up on that, there would be a few conditions,” I said, unable to believe those words were leaving my mouth.

  “Such as?” he asked, his voice husky and low. It felt like fingers stroking down my spine, and it was all I could do not to shiver.

  “We keep it casual,” I answered, forcing myself to focus. “It’s a one-time thing, and tomorrow, we pretend like it never happened.”

  He didn’t answer right away, and he thought about it for long enough I was sure he’d lost interest. When he finally answered, I was surprised. “Alright. I can do that.”

  Huh. That, I hadn’t been expecting. Though now that he’d agreed, I wasn’t sure what I was getting myself into. Without realizing it, I’d gotten to my feet and so had he. We moved toward each other, magnetized by some unseen force, and the moment my lips met his, all the hesitation disappeared.

  I wanted this. He wanted this. For the moment, that was all that mattered.

  I’d tried serious and committed, and it had left me nothing but heartache. Maybe it was time to stop listening to my heart and start living for the moment like everyone else did.

  This moment was pretty fucking enjoyable. I moaned against Devon’s lips as he backed me toward the stairs, his strong hands roving my body beneath the T-shirt he’d given me. He had it off before we’d even made it halfway up the stairs, and before we made it to the bedroom, I caved to the need to kiss him again. I pushed him up against the wall and while he seemed startled at first, but he soon deepened the kiss.

  My lips parted to receive his tongue and he tasted like mint and frost, as refreshing as his hands digging through my hair. He pinned me against the opposite wall, reaching down between us to unfasten my pants.

  As his hand slipped past my waistband and palmed my cock, I moaned in bliss. His grip was firm and arousing, and I was already hard. So was he, if the stiff bulge in his slacks was any indication.

  I groped for the doorknob behind me, stepping back into the room without breaking contact. My fingers fumbled with the buttons on his shirt, a reminder of why I hated the damn things.

  His body was even more perfect underneath. Well worth the effort. My hands ran down his muscular chest of their own accord and my mouth watered with the need to taste his skin, wondering if it was as sweet as his lips.

  When our eyes met, his were full of the same heat stirring in my core. I gave up the last traces of reservation and decided to enjoy this fully, even if it was only for the night. What could it hurt?

  I hadn’t gone into heat for a while. My doctor had told me that was normal for omegas under extreme stress, and that had certainly been the case after the breakup. It had been long enough that it took me a second to realize what was happening, and there was no room to doubt the physical contact was what had sparked it.

  That was definitely going to inflate his ego.

  “You’re in heat,” he murmured, running a hand down my neck. His touch made me shiver as my body instinctively responded to the touch of an alpha.

  “Yeah, I noticed,” I muttered, pulling him down onto the bed with me. “Less talking, more fucking.”

  He gave a husky laugh and got out of his jeans as I tugged mine off the rest of the way. By the time he was on top of me, the familiar ache of heat had worked its way down my spine and deep into my core. There was only one thing that would satisfy it, and I had an alpha willing to give it with no strings attached, so I wasn’t going to hold back.

  His lips met mine again as he settled between my legs, placing a hand on my outer thigh. My legs were already open for him and I growled in irritation when he reached down to stroke my entrance with his fingers.

  “I don’t want to hurt you,” he said, placing a conciliatory kiss against my neck. I muttered something I didn’t even remember and turned my head, giving him better access.

  A breath hissed through my teeth as he slipped two fingers into me. The pain barely even registered. I arched into him, begging him to fuck me harder, and he did. Even though it was only with his fingers, the force of him driving into my prostate rhythmically was magic.

  My head fell back, and I released a moan of pleasure as he worked another finger into me. I clutched the sheets on the bed, my spine arching as I contented my mind with images of him buried knot-deep in me.

  I wasn’t sure he was going to go there, though. Knotting was kind of intimate, and there were alphas who were wary of omegas getting attached since we were supposedly more prone to that. And maybe they were right, but I was too desperate to care.

  “Damn, you’re tight,” he muttered under his breath. I kissed him again, digging my nails into his broad shoulders and hoping he’d get the message.

  He smiled infuriatingly against my lips. “Patience.”

  He pulled his fingers out before I could protest, and when I felt his thick cock brush my inner thigh, my own pulsed with need. He was huge, but I was already lubricated and ready for him. I bit down on my bottom lip and shifted a bit in preparation for him to enter me. The moment I felt his crown against my tight hole, the breath escaped my lips.

  Relief washed over me. Relief that I was finally getting what I craved, even though it couldn’t have possibly been as long as it felt like it had. The look of intensity and focus on his face as he eased into me was turning me on even more, rendering the pain meaningless.

  I’d done this enough times to know the pleasure that followed was worth it. Even the pain felt good. I gritted my teeth and bore through it as he worked his monster cock inside of me. It wasn’t even halfway, but it felt like he was going to split me open.

  My muscles tensed and my body went rigid as I realized maybe I’d bitten off more than I could chew. He put a hand on the side of my neck, a gesture that automatically soothed. Alphas instinctively knew the places to touch and caress to elicit both arousal and calm in our kind, the way only they could. It had once infuriated me, but I didn’t care. It felt too good.

  It served the purpose of relaxing me enough so that he could sheath himself inside me. I gasped sharply as
my body adjusted to the invasion.

  “You alright?” he asked, his voice gruff with restraint. “It’s easier all at once.”

  I nodded, my fingertips biting into his biceps. I braced myself against him as he started to rock his hips gently into mine. My eyes rolled back into my head as his cock hit the spot his fingers were working a moment ago.

  “Fuck,” I panted as he came down on me, his abs grinding against my stiff shaft. Every movement was pleasure bordering on madness, and as much as I wanted release, I didn’t want it to end, either.

  “You feel so good,” he growled, his forehead pressed to mine, sweat beading down his skin as his thrusts grew more intense.

  I slipped my fingers into his hair and kissed him again because the conversation was veering too close to intimacy. Either he didn’t notice, or he didn’t care, because he returned the kiss, plunging his tongue down my throat with the same forcefulness with which his cock had pierced my ass.

  Our movements grew in sync and I clung to him shamelessly, my hips bucking for more. He was so deep inside I could feel the swell of his knot stretching me open. For the first time since we’d begun, he stopped and looked down at me in hesitation. He didn’t need to speak for me to understand the question in his gaze.

  I nodded shakily, almost too breathless to speak. “Do it,” I said, more of a plea than permission. I just needed it. I needed him inside me, all the way, his knot filling me beyond what I should even be able to bear. His cock was huge enough, but it was a kind of pleasure and pain I hadn’t even realized I was starving for.

  Despite his earlier hesitation, he took me up on the offer with abandon. One moment I was aching for his knot and the next, it was filling me whole. A cry of pain and surprise escaped me, but it was nothing compared to the bliss and the surge of satisfaction I felt as his knot swelled up fully inside me.

  For a few seconds, I forgot how to breathe, and he seemed to be having the same trouble as he looked down at me. We were both panting, both mesmerized by the connection we’d stumbled into, and I kissed him because I needed more. More of his scent, his taste, his body pressed to mine.