“We can announce this at the grand opening party, right? I’ll take it to an attorney, so stop frowning, Asa.” Mick flipped through the papers.

“Yeah. If you decide to do this for sure, we’ll announce then. Another reason to celebrate,” Duke said.

“Excellent.” Mick looked from the papers back up to them. “Thank you. I won’t let you down.”

“Dude.” Duke shook his head. “You made a quick, rash choice back then. That’s your business. Naturally we’d like you to tell us what’s up, but we get it if you aren’t ready. But we’re your brothers, right? Whatever happened, it’s not about letting anyone down. Stop going back to that stupid choice and look forward. That’s all Asa and I want for you.”

“Now let’s go back to work. I have a metric faction of work to do before we do the delivery later today,” Asa said.

“Indeed. I have a date I can’t be late for tonight so I need to get to it as well.”

CHAPTER Twenty-six

Carmella had taken one look at Duke up to his elbows in engine and knew he wasn’t going to be going to lunch with her.

She paused at the Chevy he was working on. “Hey, you. I’m going to lunch now, but I can see you’re too busy. Would you like me to bring you back something?”

“That would be great. Thanks, gorgeous.”

She headed out, needing some fresh air and to satisfy her craving for teriyaki. Once she was at her favorite little strip mall place a mile or so up the road, she saw one of the mechanics at Salazar inside at a table.

When he saw her, he boomed out her name and bounded over, giving her a big hug.

She joined him and they caught up. He’d worked for her uncle’s shop for seven years and they’d sort of grown up together. Things were going well for him at his new job, and he and his girlfriend were expecting a baby early the following year.

They talked about Twisted Steel and she told him about Duke, and it was his turn to be happy for her.

She headed back to work with a smile on her face.

Duke wasn’t working on the Chevy so she headed to the break room but he wasn’t in there either.

She didn’t want his food to get cold so she swung by his office. She heard his voice as she approached.

Inside he was having lunch with a woman Carmella had never seen. She had her hand on Duke’s leg as they spoke and they were eating teriyaki. What the fuck?

Duke looked up at her and then down at the bag she had in her hand.

“Some lunch, as promised.” Wow, she was mad. Carmella was surprised at how mad she was.

It wasn’t even the leg. It was the traitor teriyaki when she’d told him she was bringing lunch back. The absurdity of it nearly set one of those crazy woman giggles free. But she thought it extra hard.

She put the bag down on the table in front of him.

“Thanks. Don’t worry, I’m hungry enough to eat that too,” he said and she thought extra hard that he was a dick.

She smiled, totally fake, and headed out.

“Wait, Carmella. Let me introduce you to Lori,” Duke called out.

While her back was turned, she allowed herself the snarl she wouldn’t give herself permission for in front of tall, blond, and stunning with her hand on Duke’s leg.

She pulled it together and smiled again as she turned to find him standing very close. He put a hand on her arm. “Lori, this is Carmella. Carm, this is my friend Lori.”

Carmella shook the blonde’s hand and tried to ignore the way the other woman looked her over.

“He’s been talking about you nonstop,” Lori said.

Huh. He’d never mentioned Lori to her. Instead she said, “I hope it was all good.” Subtly, she tried to move from his grasp. “I need to get back to work. I just wanted to drop off your lunch. It was nice to meet you, Lori.” She stepped backward with a wave, breaking free and heading to her office.

*     *     *

Duke knew she was mad. Like really mad. It wasn’t that she’d been rude, quite the opposite. The face she showed Lori had been friendly enough.

But she’d seen that hand on his knee and how the hell could he have forgotten that she was bringing him back lunch? He’d been hungry and wanted to deal with Lori and get her out of there.

“I should get back to work too. Just tell your brother to come by and fill out an application by Friday.” Her brother needed a job, he wasn’t a bad kid, and they needed a general hand around the shop and were currently looking for someone for that very thing.

“So, that’s her, huh? I’ve heard you’ve gone all domestic.”

“It was going to happen sooner or later.” He kept standing near the door.

“Huh. I just saw her with Porkchop over at the place I got the food at. They looked pretty cozy.”

“What does that mean?” Duke demanded.

“Nothing. I’m just saying I saw her having a cozy lunch with a hot guy. Not here with you. I guess she had lunch first and then brought it back. No big. I’m sure you were busy.” Lori stood. “I’ll tell Gabe to come by tomorrow to bring this back.” She held the application aloft. “Thanks.”

She made sure to brush her entire body against his as she walked through, and of course, once she’d gone past Carmella’s office to leave, Duke saw that from where Carmella stood with PJ, she’d seen the way Lori had walked past him too.

With a sigh, he headed over to deal with this situation.