8. 🔧 Horse Power

**JUSTICE**

“Sssh, Cameron, let her sleep.” Seth glares at his baby brother and tries to pull him away from the door.
Cam isn’t having it. He nimbly dodges his brother’s outstretched hand and complains for the hundredth time that his Aunt Keke, “should be up by now.”
Blake had dropped the kids off over an hour ago. As soon as they came into the bar, I let them know Keke was asleep in the back room. Their faces lit up like stars and the questions and comments haven’t stopped.
At least they *know* her. It worried me they wouldn’t. Lilli had never spoken about her friend and the kids hadn’t either. I won’t question them as to why not... *yet.* I want to see how they interact with her first. If the kids give me a sign their Aunt Keke doesn’t have their best interests at heart...
*What would you do?*
Well... nothing drastic. Although, I had been ready to lay into Keke when she questioned me about Pippa. For some reason Keke asking who Pip was, made me feel... *weird.*
Like a girlfriend questioning me about an ex.
*That is some dumb-ass thinking there, Justice.*
*Too right.*
Neither of those scenarios happened, or will happen.
Pippa is happily married and Keke... well, I like her.
Correction: I like the *look* of her.
That is about as far as it will go.
Although, I wouldn’t say no to a quick hookup.
*Don’t go there, Justice…*
True. I shouldn’t entertain thoughts of hot and heavy sex for many reasons. Number one, the kids, and number sixty-nine—the complications that may arise. I tell women from the start how it is. One night, maybe a week if we are both agreeable to it. Most are cool, others make trouble.
*Keke wouldn’t make trouble.*
*But what I feel might.*
If I am in a car, I want to be the one driving. That way, I have my own destiny in my hands. I can count on one hand the people I can relax with when I am in the passenger seat, and Keke has become one of them. She drove with caution and expertise, despite her rapid-fire questions about the Mustang’s restoration.
What I intended to be a quick ride around the block turned into a forty-five-minute drive around Brooklyn. I had to end it when I reluctantly told her I had to get back to the bar.
Keke didn’t make a stink, she just turned the car around and headed the way we came. All I had to do was sit back and admire the way her full lips moved as she talked. The smile she gave me when her gaze turned my way. How her eyes lit up when I told her I had more classics like these in a warehouse outside the borough.
Yeah, she is a car enthusiast like me. Make that a *classic* car enthusiast.
When she asked if she could see them before she left to visit her family in Oakland, I was surprised that her mention of leaving sparked a stab of pain in my stomach.
Must have been the burrito I consumed after working out. Still, I told her I would take her to see my cars one day.
She was so happy, she had bounced in the seat along with the rhythm of the song on the radio. Her metallic-blue nails had sparkled in the sunlight as she tapped them on a juicy thigh.
Back at the bar, I took her to the room just beyond my office. Before we’d left, I pretended to go back inside to get my jacket so I could tell Sam to change the sheets and freshen the place up a bit. His mouth had fallen open in surprise. “Sure Justice,” he had said when he managed to recover. “I will get right to it.”
Yeah, I know he was shocked. I normally didn’t care what anyone thought of how the room looked. I did this time. I wanted Keke to be able to rest and not wonder if she was sleeping on used sheets because they smelled musty.
In truth, I hadn’t used the bed for fucking since the kids became my priority. Even the restoration of the Mustang had to take a back seat.
Restoring old cars is my one true relaxation, other than sweating in the gym. Very few people know of my hobby and why I included Keke in that circle is beyond me.
*Is it due to the fact that she’s not staying, and she won’t be here to criticize? To say I am wasting my time?*
*Yeah, that is probably it.*
I don’t like when people pick apart what I do and how I do it. That is the main reason I am single. A girlfriend would nag me—wondering where I am going, what I am doing, who I am with.
*Keke likes cars. I could share your hobby with her.*
*No, Stone, you can’t. Keke is here for the kids, not to satisfy your urges. She is their guest.*
*A guest I would like to—*
My thoughts scatter like startled birds when the door opens. With my mouth opened wide enough to catch a fly or two, this woman, dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, tempts me like a sexy siren wearing red stilettos, a thong, and nothing else.
*So damn hot.*
Her dark eyes shine with the love she has for the kids and her full lips part in a wide smile.
And damn if her radiance is truly making me second-guess my self-imposed abstinence.
The only thing saving me from pushing her down on the bed she just vacated is the kids jumping from their chairs and running to engulf her.
*She is theirs. Not yours.*
“Okay. Okay. I am glad to see you, too,” she says, hugging all three of them at once despite their height differences. Given how they don’t let go, they are obviously comfortable with her.
All at once, the tender scene makes me feel awkward. I am torn between wanting to watch her or letting her have this private moment with the kids.
The last thought gets my feet moving. Their needs come before mine.
Pushing back my office chair, I stand and say, “I’ll leave you guys to catch up.”
Keke sends me a look which I interpret as a silent “thank you.”
As I gently close the office door, my last look is of her gorgeous smile while the guys pepper her with questions.