Ruining Mr. Perfect (The McCauley Brothers) Read online

  “Dad, please. The kid is six.”

  “Robbing the damn cradle.” Mike shook his head, enjoying her father’s disbelief.

  “I babysat him once. That’s it. We had fun, until killjoy here returned and jumped my ass.”

  Not the way I’d like to. He cleared his throat. “I don’t think so. I merely pointed out that I didn’t want my son eating so much sugar. But your daughter tried shoving candy Kisses and chocolate down his throat.”

  “Don’t forget the Coke.” She sneered.

  “What?” Liam stared.

  “Not that kind of coke. Jesus, Dad. I’m talking about soda.”

  “What the hell’s going on?” Another mammoth-sized man, this one wearing a sleeveless tank and a huge tribal tattoo over his left shoulder, glared at Mike. He didn’t have hair, looked like he ate small children for breakfast, and glowered.

  “Mike, meet my son, J.T. J.T., meet Mike. Apparently your sister is crushing on his son.”

  “What?” J.T. stared from Mike to Del. “I know you’re hard up for a date lately, but how old can this kid be?”

  “You two are a laugh riot.”

  While she argued with her brother, Mike tried to see the family resemblance but couldn’t. Del had ash-blond hair and gray eyes. Her brother had light brown skin, no hair, and deep brown eyes. He looked a lot like that wrestler turned actor in all the racing movies. One of Colin’s favorite wrestlers, as a matter of fact. Definitely have to keep the boy away from Del’s garage or he’ll never want to leave her side.

  “Anyway, Liam. Thanks again,” Mike said loudly to be heard over the siblings now arguing like cats and dogs.

  “Anytime, Mike. We’ll have to get a beer sometime.”

  “That would be great.” He leaned over the desk and shook Liam’s hand.

  When he turned to move, he found J.T. in his face.

  “You fucking with my sister?”

  Mike didn’t exorcise his inner demons often. He worked out on his heavy bag at home and occasionally hit the gym for rough boxing matches to rid himself of stress. But it had been a while since he’d had a decent opponent in the ring. Even his brothers didn’t know how often he needed to vent his aggressions.

  “Buddy, you might want to back up a pace.”

  “And if I don’t?” J.T. raised a brow.

  “Then I’ll feed your head to your ass one bite at a time.” Mike leaned forward, more than ready to turn his lust for Del into an emotion he understood. Anger.

  Apparently J.T. saw his threat as genuine, for he backed up and held up his hands in surrender. “Easy, guy. Just looking out for my little sister.”

  “Your sister ain’t little. And she sure as hell doesn’t need saving from me.” He took a step forward and found it blocked by Del.

  She didn’t back down as she poked him in the chest. “What does that mean?”

  Tired of dealing with too many Websters, he leveled a threat of his own at the most dangerous of the bunch. He leaned closer to whisper, “It means, princess, that if you touch me again, I’ll give you the kiss you’ve been begging for since day one.”

  Her gray eyes widened, and she took a hesitant step back.

  Mike walked past her quickly, before he gave in to temptation and planted one on her. Then had his ass handed to him by her brother, father, and the now silent mechanics glaring at him through the doorway.

  He’d made it outside, halfway to his truck, when she tracked him down.

  “Hey. I’m not through with you.”

  He swore to himself. “Fine. Where do you want it?”

  “It? What it?”

  “The kiss. In front of everyone, in my truck, your office. Where?”

  She planted her hands on her trim hips. Damn, he liked the muscle tone in her arms. The woman had strength. And that funky way of keeping her hair back in braids, in a kind of retro goth look. Or punk. Hell, something different and sexy and wild. She made him want to toss her against a wall and fuck her silly. Nothing gentle or caring about it.

  And that scared him.

  “I don’t want anything from you,” she spat.

  “Yeah? Then why are you following me?”

  “I… I… You’re an ass, you know that?”

  “Yep. Yet you still want a piece of me.”

  “Fuck off, McCauley. And leave my dad alone.”

  “Or what? You’ll sic your brother on me?” He got into his truck, started it, and rolled down the window. “Now leave my kid alone. He’s attached to you, and he doesn’t need to be.”

  “Why? Afraid he might like me?”

  “Yes,” he answered truthfully.

  She frowned. “What?”

  “Look. I’m sorry we got off on the wrong foot before. Colin likes you a little too much. He’s attached and has no right to be. You did Abby a favor, and she likes you. Fine. But I don’t want Colin getting hurt when you decide to cut ties. So just keep your distance.”

  She frowned as he pulled away.

  That went well. So why do I feel like I only made things worse?

  ***

  “You don’t want Colin getting hurt? What the hell does that mean?” Del watched him leave with a frown.

  “Yo, D. You good?”

  She turned to see her brother and father standing outside the garage, watching her. Oh boy. She sure hoped they weren’t taking that kiss nonsense to heart. Not that she was. Guys like Mike McCauley weren’t her type, for one. The build, the face, yeah. But the baggage… A dead wife, a kid, too many brothers, and a connection to her new friends, Abby and Maddie. And hell, Vanessa too.

  Del didn’t do baggage. She had enough of her own to last a lifetime.

  “I’m fine,” she informed her brother. “Now tell me again why you’re here badgering me when I have a job to do? And why you feel it necessary to bring up my dating life in front of complete strangers?”

  “Strangers, huh? Seemed to me like you knew the guy.” J.T. crossed his arms over his chest.

  So much sheer strength in her brother, yet Mike hadn’t blinked when he’d issued his threat.

  Her heart raced and she clenched her fists. Nope. Mike McCauley definitely wasn’t her type. Mr. Wonder Bread and his cute kid belonged to a nice house and family in the suburbs. Not her scene. At all.

  Even if she did wonder what a kiss from him might have been like. If he’d been her type. Which he so clearly wasn’t.

  Pre-order Marie Hart’s next book

  in the McCauley Brothers series

  What to Do with a Bad Boy

  On sale November 2014

  Click here!

  Enjoy a sneak peek at book 4 in the McCauley Brothers series,

  What to Do with a Bad Boy

  Finally. All was as it should be. Michael McCauley nodded to himself as he glanced around his parents’ dining room table.

  James and Beth McCauley—his parents—were back together again. Happy, smiling, and doting on Colin, Mike’s pride and joy. Or, as his brothers called the boy, Mike’s little clone.

  Colin grinned and exposed a missing front tooth. One that had cost Mike five friggin’ bucks. The tooth fairy had definitely succumbed to inflation. Then again, it was a first tooth. With any luck, he could get away with leaving quarters under his six-year-old’s pillow in the near future. That bottom tooth looked suspiciously loose.

  “Thank you, Grandma.” Colin took the extra roll from Mike’s mother and smothered it in butter and jelly, ignoring his vegetables in favor of bad carbs and sugar.

  Terrific. “Mom, no more. Okay? Colin needs to finish his broccoli.”

  She frowned at him. So of course, his father frowned at him as well. In an attempt to suck up to his wife, James would do anything and everything to stay out of the doghouse.

  “Jesus, boy. It’s just a roll. Ease up.�
�

  “Yeah, Dad. Ease up.” Colin smirked.

  James winked at his grandson.

  “Colin. Dad,” Mike growled. When his mother turned to help Colin cut his steak, Mike leaned closer to his dad and whispered, “Laying it on a bit thick, aren’t you, old man?”

  James shrugged. “Hey, I learned my lesson. When your mother’s happy, I’m happy.”

  Nice that his father had learned that after thirty-six years of marriage. Mike considered himself a fast learner. After three dates with Lea, he’d known how to please his girl.

  Pressure balled in his chest at the thought of her name.

  He coughed to hide the pain building inside him and drank his water. Shit. He hated being like this, an emotional basket case. But he turned a little nutty this time of year, no matter how much he tried not to. Thank God he’d learned to hide his feelings, or his mother would be all over his ass to share.

  “Del said hi,” Colin said around a mouthful of dough. “Her daddy’s really big. Just like Grandpa.”

  Mike started. “Del?”

  His mother talked over him. “Isn’t he, though? Liam is just a big sweetie.” Beth smiled, prompting James to scowl. “Oh, stop, James. So we had coffee a few times. Liam is a very nice man. He said encouraging things about you, you know.”

  His father’s scowl faded. “Oh?”

  “Yep. Said you were so in love with me, you couldn’t help acting like a fool.”

  Back when his father had been separated from his mother, Mike had worried they might never get their acts together. He breathed a sigh of relief when his mother’s sly grin soon appeared on his father’s face. Mike didn’t have the energy to go to work day after day and watch his father turn back into a shell of a man. And having seen his mother cry… He never wanted to witness that again either.

  “Well, Liam was smart about one thing. He knew better than to lay his hands on my woman.” James pulled her close for a kiss.

  “Ew, Grandpa. Gross.” Colin made a face.

  “Yeah, Dad. Really? I’m trying to eat here.” Secretly, Mike reveled in his parents acting lovesick. It had been too long since they’d engaged in playful banter. Yet the clear affection showed him how much he was missing as a single dad. It didn’t help that his brothers had all recently found love, either, making Mike the odd man out. Everything was changing, and he didn’t like it. At all.

  He pushed around his mashed potatoes and focused on what mattered—the here and now. Turning to Colin, he asked, “Since when are you and Del hanging out?”

  Delilah Webster. His sexy nemesis and constant headache, though she’d captured Colin’s admiration easily enough. Mike didn’t like the woman. Not her sexy tattoos, her brow ring, the stud in her nose, the funky way she wore her ash-blond hair, or those wolf-gray eyes that seemed to stare through him. So not my type. The woman and her mouthy attitude totally put his back up.

  Colin frowned. “When Uncle Cam watched me, we went bowling. And Vanessa and Del were there.”

  He could see Vanessa ignoring his wishes to keep the woman away from Colin. Now pregnant and engaged to his youngest brother, she had a way about her that didn’t invite question. But Cam knew better.

  “Vanessa shouldn’t have—”

  “Ahem.” His father frowned at Mike and shook his head. Then he turned to Colin. “Did you have fun?”

  Colin grinned. “Yeah. Del has big muscles and her arms are so cool. I want arms like that.”

  Sleeves of tattoos. On a woman. Mike did his best to convince himself she turned him off.

  “J.T. came too, and he’s huge.” Colin had stars in his eyes. Damn Del. “As big as Daddy.”

  “J.T.?” Beth asked.

  “Her brother,” Mike muttered, not pleased at all. He’d known as soon as he’d met the guy that Colin would idolize him. The resemblance to a certain celebrity, one of Colin’s favorite people, didn’t help matters.

  “I’ll bet he might be as big as your dad, but he’s not as strong,” Beth said gently. For his sake or Colin’s?

  “He’s a wrestler, Grandma.”

  Mike sighed. “No, son. That’s the Rock you’re thinking of. Del’s brother is someone else.” J.T.—the big bastard—had tried screwing with Mike not long ago. Unfortunately, Mike hadn’t gotten the fight he was still itching to finish. With J.T. or Del.

  “He’s fuckin’ awesome.” Colin beamed.

  The table fell silent.

  Mike met his mother’s stunned gaze, but his father continued to eat and question the boy, so he figured he hadn’t heard what he thought he had. She shrugged and returned to her dinner as well.

  After a few moments, he chimed in. “Colin, tell us about your field trip coming up. You’re not going to the zoo, are you?” Seattle’s Woodland Park Zoo had always been one of Colin’s favorite places to go.

  “Nope. We’re visiting the Reptile Pit.” Colin waxed on about his upcoming visit to the Pit, a popular place that taught kids about reptiles.

  Enthused that his son liked school and showed signs of being as gifted with academia as his grandma, Mike encouraged him with questions.

  “Yeah, Dad. I’m going to sit next to Brian when they bring the snakes out. He likes them too. Maybe you can come. They need chaperones.”

  “I’ll try.” But the timing would be tough. He was right in the middle of a massive remodel that was behind schedule due to some screwups courtesy of the homeowners. He hated being behind.

  “Do you get to handle the snakes?” James asked.

  “Ew. How about lizards instead? Maybe some cute little frogs,” Beth suggested.

  Colin smirked. “Grandma, don’t be such a girl.”

  For all that Colin loved his grandmother and crushed on Del, he still had a bias against girls. Not that Mike could blame him. His mother’s recent matchmaking efforts had nearly driven him insane with the opposite sex. Now that she had her hands full dealing with his father, he could ease back into—

  “Pass the fucking potatoes, Dad.” Colin waited.

  “What?”

  His mother dropped her fork. His father choked on his drink.

  Colin blinked innocently. “Pass the potatoes?” The mischief in his blue-eyed gaze was straight-up Brody—another troublesome brother too busy playing house with his girlfriend to come to Sunday night dinner. “Did I say something wrong, Dad?”

  “Oh hell no. We’re not playing Ubie’s game.” Ubie—Colin’s nickname for his Uncle Brody.

  “Mike,” Beth warned.

  “Where did you hear that word? The F-word.” Mike had said his share of choice phrases. He worked in construction with his father, for God’s sake. Swearing was a McCauley way of life. But the F-bomb… From his six-year-old?

  “Um, well…”

  “It was Del. Wasn’t it?” The woman plagued him, even on a Sunday with his family.

  “No.”

  Mike knew that tone. “Tell the truth.”

  A mulish frown settled over his son’s face. “J.T. said he wanted some fucking nachos. So Del told him to get his own. Then she told him to ‘mind his damn mouth because of the kid.’ She nodded at me. I’m the kid, Dad.” Colin glowed.

  “I get that.”

  “So it wasn’t Del. I told you.”

  The little smart-ass. “Watch your tone, boy. And your mouth.”

  “Well, if that ain’t familiar,” James said in a low voice. “Déjà vu, eh, son?”

  His mother coughed to hide a laugh.

  Mike narrowed his eyes at his old man. “You know, I remember getting my butt handed to me the first time I said ‘damn’ at this very table.” Trust his folks to turn on him when they’d been the ones hammering him with manners for the first eighteen years of his life.

  “Pass the damn potatoes, please.” Colin held out his plate.

  “Co
lin.” Mike glared. “We don’t curse, and we don’t use bad words at the table. Especially when you don’t even know half of what you’re saying. One more smart remark and you’re going to bed early tonight. Understand?”

  Colin heeded the warning. Finally. “Yes, Dad.”

  “Try again. How do you ask for the potatoes?”

  In an exceedingly polite voice, Colin asked, “Dad, would you please pass the mashed potatoes?”

  “Sure thing.” Mike pushed them next to the boy and knew he couldn’t avoid it any longer. Time to talk to Del again. He squelched any sense of anticipation, knowing the time had come to put a stop to his son’s growing attraction to the female mechanic draped in piercings and tattoos.

  And this time, Mike wasn’t going to play nice.

  Pre-order Marie Hart’s next book

  in the McCauley Brothers series

  What to Do with a Bad Boy

  On sale November 2014

  Click here!

  Acknowledgments

  I can’t thank Hilary Craig, of HWC (Tax and Business Consulting), enough. Your vast knowledge of accounting and your help in defining several areas of Seattle were priceless. Thank you!

  To Bonnie, for letting me stay in the nicest place in Seattle during my research trip and any other time I’m in town. You’re wonderful! Bill P., you are a wealth of information and one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met. You answer all my questions and have limitless patience. Thank you!

  To Cat C., you really make the work stand out. I’m so glad you’re my editor.

  About the Author

  Caffeine addict, boy referee, and romance aficionado, USA Today bestselling author Marie Harte is a confessed bibliophile and devotee of action movies. Whether hiking in Central Oregon, biking around town, or hanging at the local tea shop, she’s constantly plotting to give everyone a happily ever after. Visit marieharte.com and fall in love.

  The Troublemaker Next Door

  The McCauley Brothers—Book 1

  by Marie Harte

  USA Today Bestselling Author