Her Dirty Builders (Men at Work #10) - Mika Lane Page 0,28

familiar with the world of commercial real estate. Which was to be expected. I’d never paid any attention to it until I’d met Ty.

“My family is… shall we say, pretty well off. Before my sister died, I’d been following my dream of working with wood like this, rather than going into the family business or becoming a doctor or lawyer. Then when she passed, they pretty much cut me off,” he said.

“How did you get this amazing house?” Esme asked.

Okay. Now, she was getting it.

“I have—well, had—a trust from my grandfather. I’d always used my money pretty wisely. Not so much my sister.”

Shit. He was going there. He didn’t share this part of his story very readily.

He looked down at his hands. “She… was into drugs and stuff. I was out with her the night she OD’d. My father blames me.”

Esme’s hand flew to her mouth. “Oh my god. That’s terrible.”

He nodded. “We’d gone to a concert with a bunch of her friends. She’d sworn to me she wasn’t using, but… well, she passed out and by the time I got her to the hospital… she was gone.”

Ty cleared his throat and stretched his neck as if he could chase the bad memories away.

But we all knew that was impossible.

He forced a small smile. “So that’s why they’re not too interested in that little chair you’re sitting in winning an award.”

The doorbell rang. Thank god. The air in the room was thick with tragedy. And regret.

“Chinese food is here,” he said, jumping to his feet.

Esme stood and took his hand. They headed to the front door, leaning into each other.

Ty might have been through some shit, but I wagered to say things were starting to look up for the man.

20

ESME

“Damn, girl. I can officially say, I am jealous of you.”

Words I never thought I’d hear come out of Charli’s mouth.

I pulled my car into the parking lot at work. “Hey Char, gotta go. I’m late for work as it is. Talk to you later,” I said, swiping my phone closed.

How was I going to focus today? My head was spinning.

The previous night, with all the guys and me over at Ty’s for dinner, was… unexpected to say the least.

I couldn’t stop replaying every last detail.

First, Ty lived in one of the most fucking awesome houses I’d ever seen.

Then, I found out he came from a loaded family, who, unfortunately, had pretty much cast him out. Their loss. He was such a special guy.

Next, the guys wanted to date me. Like, all of them. At once. Together and shit. Which was about the weirdest fucking thing I’d ever heard.

One of the hottest, too.

And last, well, let’s just say I’d never been around so much male beauty.

After we’d stuffed our faces with killer Chinese food, we migrated to Ty’s back deck, where he had a pool and hot tub and views to die for. Jasmine bushes scented the air, and string lights cast a romantic, bistro-type glow.

I felt like a kid in a candy store. Beautiful setting with three freaking gorgeous men. I couldn’t think of anything else in the world I wanted.

And that was only the beginning.

It was a lovely night—perfect, really—and it was just beginning to heat up.

It started after Alden put little Rosie down in Ty’s guest room. He joined us on the deck, alternatively stretching and touching his toes.

“I love carrying around my little girl, but you can only do that for so long,” he said, his body making several cracking sounds.

Case sat back in his chair, sipping the scotch Ty had just poured him. “Why don’t you take a swim, Alden? The pool’s heated.”

Kicking his own shoes off, Case pulled his T-shirt over his head, revealing a glorious tattoo covering half his chest.

Alden stood for a moment, staring at the water, which was glittering under the swaying lights. “Yeah. I think I will.”

And just like that, he dropped his pants, pulled his shirt over his head, and dove in.

But not before taking off his boxer shorts, too.

Okay.

I was getting the picture.

Ty got up from his lounge chair and pulled off the elastic holding his man bun. In seconds, his clothes were off, too.

Holy crap. I’d felt lucky enough sitting around with these gorgeous men. And now they were disrobing in front of me?

While Alden swam the length of the pool under water, Ty walked around to the far side of it, his hard ass flexing with every step. He climbed up on the diving board, and when