Redemption Hills: The Complete Collection

8. Jud

EIGHT

JUD

It was early Monday morning when I was down in the lobby searching for some paperwork that probably didn’t exist.

The place was a fuckin’ disaster, stacks of forms and receipts and shit piled for days.

Okay.

Months.

It was no secret I’d let this shit get out of hand.

Suffice it to say I wasn’t paying much mind when the black pickup truck rolled into the lot. It was early, yeah. Just after seven. But I figured Darius was getting a jump on his day.

Except it pulled into a spot on the opposite side of the lot from where he normally parked, the truck facing away, and it was a hot second before the driver’s door finally opened.

A very hot second.

Because it wasn’t Darius climbing out.

It was Salem.

That girl straight devastation.

A gift wrapped in a black, seductive bow.

I froze, watching her through the bank of dark-tinted windows that fronted the lobby.

That ebony hair was curled into these fat waves that danced all over her shoulders, and there was no missing the way nerves scattered around her as she hesitated for a beat. She glanced around like she was hoping this little visit was covert, girl inhaling deep before she seemed to get it together and started walking across the parking lot toward the building.

“Fuck me.”

Today she was wearing these fitted black dress pants that hit her just above the ankles, the waist high with a silky, baby blue blouse tucked into it. Sky-high heels and red lipstick and fuck…my dick stirred, guts tangling at the sight.

This girl was a motherfuckin’ knockout.

A fantasy.

A dream.

Everything that I knew better than to want but was thirsting for, anyway.

Wanting her went directly against every commitment I’d made for myself.

Went against the grain of what I was striving for.

Against everything Darius had asked of me.

But I couldn’t seem to find it in myself to give a shit about either of those things.

Definitely problematic.

Figured she was there to argue about her car, which kind of sucked, but she was just going to have to accept I wanted to do the favor.

Didn’t mean she owed me.

It just meant I was offering something easy. Something that wasn’t going to hurt me a bit but clearly would give her a leg up.

Searching, she lifted her face to the building. Her lips puckered in confusion as she changed directions. She started toward the row of bays that ran the opposite side that were currently all locked up tight.

When she disappeared from view of the lobby windows, I pushed out from behind the counter and moved for the main door. Pushing it open, I stepped out into the warmth of the breaking day.

I looked to the right in the direction she’d gone, and the girl was strutting in those heels down the row of garage doors.

“You lost?” I leaned an arm against the wall, grinning that way as she whirled around on a sharp gasp, her face curdled in surprise before she blew out in relief.

Thunderbolt eyes narrowed.

“Didn’t anyone ever tell you not to sneak up on someone like that?” Her voice was doing that low, seductive thing, and need was grappling around for a place to take root in my belly.

Growling for a fill.

Rough laughter scraped free. “Sneak up on you? I’m fifty feet away. Would hardly call that sneaking up. I saw you out here rambling around and figured I’d come put you out of your misery.”

“I was looking for your door.” She waved a flustered hand at the massive building.

I quirked a brow. “To my loft?”

Reluctantly, she nodded, like standing there she was rethinking her purpose. “Yeah.”

I angled my head. “Around to the side of the building. There’s a separate exterior entrance. For next time.”

I let the smirk take hold, as clear as the suggestion.

She huffed with a slight tug at the edges of her delicious mouth, and she started my way. “Right. Okay.”

She moved closer.

Each step sent a shockwave of that electricity vibrating the ground.

Zinging my flesh and stoking my senses.

“Listen, I know it’s early, and I figured you’d still be upstairs which was why I was looking for another door, and I’m sorry I showed up here without an appointment so long before opening, but I needed to use Darius’ truck before he needs it for work and I?—”

She clipped off the avalanche of words that had started rolling from her mouth, her lips thinning as if she’d just realized she’d been rambling faster than one of those old-school auctioneers.

Could feel the amusement twitching through my expression, and she stumbled to a stop ten feet away.

She blew out a sigh, then turned her phone to me with a hint of desperation tinting her voice. “Is this you?”

I pushed from the wall, squinting as I took a step forward to see what was on her screen.

An ad.

An ad that I’d been running but had been ignoring the calls for interviews for over the last four weeks because I just didn’t have time to see it through. Not exactly the most prudent of business decisions, but it was what it was.

“Yeah?” I answered it like a question.

Her head bounced at the confirmation, and she was looking out to the forest that hugged the lot before she was returning that gorgeous face to me. “Let me help…temporarily…until I pay off the car.”

Could feel the frown curling my brow. “Told you not to worry about it.”

“And I told you I would find a way to pay you back.”

Tension stretched between us.

Taut and tight.

“Please, Jud. I can’t just accept a handout from you.”

Air wheezed from my nose.

This girl definitely didn’t want to accept help.

Truth was, her car was so old, it was hardly worth fixing.

Thing was a pile.

Unsafe and unreliable.

What she needed was a new one. But I doubted much that was an option considering she was standing there begging me to let her work to pay off the repairs.

“Are you asking me for an interview, Salem?”

Her brows spiked. “You want me to interview?”

“You wanna work here…temporarily…?” I let the question hang.

“Ugh.” She pressed the heel of her hand to her forehead, peeking at me around it. “Fine.”

A low chuckle flooded the air, and I shifted so I could open the lobby door. “Come on in, darlin’.”

Salem blew out the strain, and she straightened her shoulders and waltzed that fine ass past me and through the door.

It wasn’t like I was going to turn her away. Hell, I didn’t need her to repay me at all, but since she was insisting, figured I at least needed to know what she could do. Truth be told, I needed the help.

It didn’t hurt that I kind of relished the idea of her strutting around here in those heels all day long, either.

I stepped in behind her, and she stood there in the foyer of my lobby.

A storm.

Sweet, sweet ferocity.

There was something about her that was so compelling.

The girl was a fucking cocktail of toasted coconut and sultry sin.

Wanted to take a long, satisfying drink.

A smirk kept tugging at the corner of my mouth as I edged by her and rounded the counter. I started shuffling through paperwork again.

“So, tell me, gorgeous,” I mumbled as I foraged around, “why do you want to work here?”

From where she stood five feet away, she sighed out in defiance. “To repay a debt, Mr. Lawson. Obviously. And I’m pretty sure you should probably stop calling me gorgeous if I’m going to work here.”

I tossed a glance at her from over the high counter. “Impossible. Not when it’s true.”

Thunderbolt eyes struck.

A lash of lust.

A stroke of greed.

I slowed, pressed my hands to the counter as I looked her up and down.

I should lock it up.

Stop this fall before I hit rock bottom.

But there I went, tossing my ass right over the side. “You didn’t text me back.”

Her cheeks flamed.

Yup.

The girl was affected.

Could feel it thicken the atmosphere.

Tighten the cord.

The connection keened in the space between us.

Air suddenly shot from her nose, a burst of reservation and determination. “Because that would be inappropriate.”

“If you think that’s inappropriate, I think we should rethink our boundaries.”

Her head shook. “This can’t happen.”

“What’s that?”

She frantically gestured between us. “This.”

Her rebuttal didn’t even feel like an obstacle to hold us back. Not when it was clear she wanted it every bit as much as me.

I let the feigned confusion climb into the twist of my brow, unable to stop from teasing her. Not when she was so damned hot when she got all feisty. “This?”

“This,” she hissed in frustration.

A roll of low laughter tumbled out, and I was leaning closer. “You’re going to have to be clearer, darlin’.”

Frustration shot from her mouth, and the girl sauntered the rest of the way over to me.

The ripple of her hitched the air in my throat.

“Don’t toy with me, Jud. You know exactly what I’m talking about. I get it. I’m sure you’re more than accustomed to getting what you want, and I’m sure women jump into your bed whenever you flash them that smile. You’re charming and handsome and—” She bit down on the word she was about to let go. “But I’m here because I want to do what’s right, not because I find you attractive. When I saw the listing, it felt like a sign…a way to repay a debt. So please, if I can help, let me help.”

Damn.

This woman.

This fierce little wildcat who didn’t hesitate to put me in my place.

“Not tryin’ to disrespect you, Salem. I’m only making it clear how you make me feel.”

For a minute, she stared, two of us tied, before she shook herself out of it. “I don’t think it would be a good idea for either of us to explore that.”

She was right. The problem was how fuckin’ bad I was aching for her to be wrong.

She dropped her gaze, inhaling before she peered over at me. She tied me up all over again with the way that striking face deepened with loss and hope. “But I think we could try that friend thing.”

Something fluttered through my chest. Something hard and soft squeezing at my heart. “Okay, then, darlin’, but I’m not going to pretend like I haven’t been imagining more.”

Heat flamed, a rush of red to her skin, and it was clear she’d been imagining it, too.

I blew out the strain and went for a little of that pretending I’d just promised her I couldn’t do, while I searched around for the form I was looking for. “So, have you ever worked as a receptionist before?”

“I worked at the front desk of a dental office for a while.”

“Perfect. Honestly, if you can just answer the phone, that would take a huge burden off my shoulders.”

I felt her frown. “I’m pretty sure I’m capable of handling more.”

“Well, this office is a fuckin’ mess. Not gonna lie. My last office manager left five months ago for maternity leave and never came back. Not that I can blame her.”

Salem popped onto her toes and peered over the counter at the disaster hidden on the other side.

Horror filled her gasp.

“Having second thoughts?” I asked, quirking a brow.

So yeah, there were five months of incomplete contracts and receipts and shit piled everywhere.

You couldn’t see the desk with the stacks of files and papers covering it, so many that I’d taken to piling them on the floor.

“You can’t run a business like this.” Her tone filled with disbelief.

I snorted an incredulous sound. “Obviously.”

I finally found the folder I was looking for, and I lifted it victoriously. “Ah. Here it is.”

I pulled out an application and passed it across the counter in her direction.

If she wanted a job, figured I’d give her one. Clearly, the woman needed some cash, and I needed the help. Seemed like a win-win.

She fingered the paper, her breaths coming short, dread swelling and coming off her in waves.

“What is it, darlin’?”

She dropped her head, but not far enough that I couldn’t see that she was chewing on her lip in worried contemplation. Finally, she lifted her gaze, that chin lifted high, but there was no missing the tremble in her voice. “This can’t be on the books.”

I thought her dread must have burst and jumped directly into my veins.

All while she remained there, fierce and hard and determined. A challenge on her face.

I’d lived a seedy enough life to know people did things under the table for one of two reasons—they were either crooked or they were hiding.

I would bet my ass it was the latter.

There was nothing I could do. My rationale was smashed to dust. Particles that no longer existed.

Every wall she kept trying to toss between us obliterated in that single confession.

Or maybe it was just that my conscience had decided to scale right over the top of them.

Because protectiveness swelled.

Brutal.

Severe.

Violent.

Somehow, I managed to keep my hand steady when I reached out and set my palm on her cheek. My thumb went to stroking the scar on her jaw.

Just fuckin’ knowing.

Seeing the trauma written there.

Her body rocked like an earthquake, and her hands came out to support herself on the counter, her breath gone and her eyes squeezing tight.

I wanted to demand a thousand things, but a name and an address would do. That demon screamed, thrashed and wailed from the darkest place where I kept him chained.

But I reined it.

I knew that wasn’t what this girl needed right then, and I gave her what I was sure she’d been missing.

This time, when I uttered the words, they were a promise. “I have you, Salem.”

She remained there for the longest time, her breaths shallow, barely contained panic vibrating through her body, though she leaned deeper into my touch.

“I have you,” I reiterated, words coarse and raw.

Finally, she opened those eyes, their depths a tormented sea that I recognized too clearly.

Understanding burned between us.

She’d just offered me something she didn’t offer many.

A tiny spec of her trust.

Stepping back, she broke the bubble that’d held us, adjusting her shirt and her breaths and the beat of her heart.

She gestured to the door. “I should get Darius’ truck back to him before he notices I’m gone.”

A surprised bolt of laughter ripped from me. “Sweet Enchantress, you are somethin’, aren’t you?”

She almost smiled as she backed away. “I’ll be back with him, and I’ll start getting this place in order.”

I rested back on the filing cabinet behind me, arms over my chest as I gazed at the girl who got lit in the streak of sunlight blazing through the window.

Black hair and gorgeous body and this spirit that was hard to ignore. “Thank you for saving me.”

A grin spread to her mouth. “I’m pretty sure it’s the other way around.”

She opened the door, then hesitated before she looked back. “Darius is going to be pissed.”

Anger curled in my chest. Apparently, he hadn’t just had words with me.

I hiked an indifferent shoulder. “I can handle it if you can.”

“I can.”

“Good.”

Her expression softened. This fierce, unrelenting girl going sweet.

“I’ll see you in a bit,” I told her.

“Thank you, Jud.”

Every part of me turned tender. “It’s my pleasure, darlin’.”

My fuckin’ pleasure.