Maintenance Required: A small town romance (The Cortell Brothers Book 1) Read online

  Maintenance Required

  A Small Town Romance

  Giulia Lagomarsino

  Copyright © 2020 by Giulia Lagomarsino

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Created with Vellum

  For all the Millennials out there. I really tried to get your lingo down, but it was a LOT of research and I’m not sure how well I pulled it off. Eventually, I had to give up. I hope you appreciate the effort I put in. LOL.

  Contents

  Foreword

  1. Eric

  2. Katherine

  3. Eric

  4. Katherine

  5. Eric

  6. Katherine

  7. Eric

  8. Katherine

  9. Eric

  10. Katherine

  11. Eric

  12. Katherine

  13. Eric

  14. Katherine

  15. Eric

  16. Katherine

  17. Eric

  18. Katherine

  19. Eric

  20. Katherine

  21. Eric

  22. Katherine

  23. Eric

  24. Katherine

  25. Eric

  26. Katherine

  27. Eric

  28. Katherine

  29. Eric

  30. Katherine

  31. Eric

  32. Katherine

  33. Eric

  34. Katherine

  35. Eric

  36. Katherine

  37. Eric

  38. Katherine

  39. Eric

  40. Katherine

  41. Eric

  42. Katherine

  43. Eric

  44. Katherine

  45. Eric

  46. Katherine

  47. Eric

  48. Katherine

  49. Eric

  50. Katherine

  51. Eric

  52. Katherine

  53. Eric

  54. Katherine

  55. Eric

  Also by Giulia Lagomarsino

  Foreword

  This series takes place in Indiana, just across the Illinois border, about sixty miles south of Chicago. Though some of the towns are real, most everything is fictional.

  Eric

  “Eric, I’m telling you man, she’s quiche.”

  I stared at him, wondering what the hell he was saying. My brother had a habit of talking like an idiot. He was part of the millennial generation that spoke in a completely different language. One that I would never understand. And if he wasn’t speaking like an idiot, he had those damn earbuds in, constantly blaring music. And I never even knew he had them in because they were wireless. So, I would be talking to him for minutes before I realized he couldn’t even hear me.

  He rolled his eyes and sighed. “She’s hot and totally perfect for you. Just go out with her.”

  I finished pulling the two by fours out of my pickup truck and slammed the tailgate. “I’m not doing it, Andrew. I’ve had a long day and more work still ahead of me. If you really thought she was so perfect for me, you should have given me her number, not set up a date for us for tonight.”

  Andrew ran behind me, ducking out of the way when I swung the two by fours to the side and almost knocked him in the head. Dumbass. He’d learn to move out of the way.

  “Come on. Don’t do this to me. I told her that you were a stand up guy and completely reliable.”

  “You said that?” I asked, not at all believing him. My brother didn’t say anything unless he said it like a millennial, which basically meant that any normal person wouldn’t understand a word out of his mouth.

  “I’m translating for you. Please, man. Kelsey will be pissed if you stand her friend up, and then she’ll never go out with me.”

  “So, this is really about you getting with the friend.”

  “Well, not totally. Man, don’t be so salty. This chick is totally on fleek. I’m telling you, I can’t even.”

  “Would you just shut the hell up? I can’t talk to you when you get like this. I have no fucking clue what you’re saying.”

  He groaned in frustration. “I’m saying that you need to ‘chill out’,” he said using air quotes. “This woman is…” He scrunched his eyes as if it took all his willpower to come up with an English word. “Stylin’. She dresses nicely. She’s the total package.”

  “See, why can’t you just say that to begin with?”

  “Because I sound stupid when I try to talk like you.”

  “No,” I laughed. “You sound stupid when you don’t finish your sentences because it’s some secret language that you and your friends have. I’m telling you, if you ever get a real job and try to fit in with the rest of society, I’m going to have to send you to finishing school.”

  “I already finished school, you asshole.”

  I laughed again. I loved my youngest brother, but he was so out of touch with the rest of the world. He and his friends all reminded me of grammatically incorrect hippies, out to save the world one incomplete sentence at a time.

  “Andrew, I have no desire to go out with a woman that you think is perfect for me. She’s probably just like you, and I can’t sit through a dinner where I have to decipher every word being said.”

  “Naw, she’s nothing like me. She’s actually more your age, so she’s basic.”

  “Basic.”

  “Boring, like you.”

  “Andrew-”

  “Please?” he pleaded. “I really like this girl. She could totally be my bae. Don’t do this to me.”

  It was his eyes. Those damn eyes that looked so much like Ma’s and every time he looked at me with those puppy dog eyes, I was a goner. I looked to the sky in frustration and yelled.

  “Fine. When am I supposed to meet her?”

  He did some kind of happy dance and then jumped into my arms hugging me. I shoved him back, uncomfortable with his weird version of a man hug. “Six o’clock at The End Zone.”

  “The End Zone? That’s the place where I’m supposed to take this woman on a date? A dive bar?”

  “Live a little, bro.” He shook his head as he smiled. “You’re totally going to slay it.”

  “Slay what? What the fuck are you saying?”

  He pointed a finger at me, his head bobbing around as he laughed. “Don’t do that, Hunty. You know! Alright,” he said turning around. “I have to hit it. Just remember, pics or it didn’t happen.”

  I stared at his retreating form, still trying to figure out what he said. “What was her name again?”

  “Sandy or Mandy. Something like that.”

  He got in his car and drove away, leaving me standing there completely dumbfounded. What the hell had I just agreed to?

  I walked into the bar dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. I figured that if we were meeting in a dive bar, I didn’t need to get dressed up, which went against everything I believed about dating. However, since my brother set this up and basically coerced me into doing it, I wasn’t too concerned how this whole thing turned out.

  I glanced around the bar, seeing mostly scantily clad women and men dressed in biker gear with tattoos covering their bodies. I didn’t care much for tattoos. I liked my body to be as natural as possible. Plus, I had seen way too many people that regretted things they had tattooed on their bodies.

  The ligh
ts were dim and the bar was smoky. No one in this town cared about smoking bans in public spaces and nobody bothered to call the cops about it. I coughed from the stench in the air and waved my hand in front of my face to clear the smoke. I stepped toward the bar and gave a nod to the bartender, Jake. I knew him well from high school and still hung out with him occasionally.

  “Eric, never thought I’d see you in here. What can I get you?”

  “Just a beer. I’m supposed to be meeting someone here.”

  He pulled a glass and filled it from the tap, his eyes going to the corner table. “That woman came in alone. Keeps looking around like she’s expecting someone.”

  “Thanks, man.” I put some money on the bar and walked over to the table. She was about thirty, maybe thirty-two at most. She dressed nicely, I supposed, but definitely a little more…wild than I was used to. She had on short shorts and a plaid shirt that was tied at the waist. Her cowboy boots had splashes of teal in them and she had a cowboy hat that looked like it had seen a few rodeos. Compared to the other women in the bar, she was fully clothed.

  As I got closer, I saw that her hair was brown and hung in loose waves down her back. Her large, green eyes flicked to mine and danced with a light I had never seen before. Her smile stretched wide across her face, shining so bright that it took my breath away.

  She stood up and walked over to me, jumping into my arms and wrapping her legs around my waist. “Hey there, good looking. You must be my date.”

  I swallowed hard and cleared my throat, setting her down on the floor and taking a step back. “Eric, and you are?”

  “Kiki.”

  Figures. Andrew couldn’t remember her name and I get stuck with a Kiki.

  “Kiki?”

  “Well, it’s Katherine, but that’s so boring and I wanted something that was full of life.”

  I was already regretting stepping out of the house tonight. This woman was nothing like me. What the hell had Andrew been thinking setting me up with a woman that went by Kiki?

  “Well, Katherine, how about we take a seat and I’ll buy you a drink?”

  “Sure. Let’s get some food too. The nachos are amazing,” she said, biting her lip as she rolled her eyes heavenward.

  “I’m not sure I want to eat anything that comes from here.”

  “Oh, live a little. What’s a little salmonella between friends,” she grinned.

  “I have a business to run and I can’t afford time off because of food poisoning.”

  She threw her head back in laughter while I stared at her like she had a third head. What the hell was so funny about that? “You are so funny, Eric. Chrissy was right. You are definitely going to be a good time.”

  Was I in some alternate universe? What the hell was she talking about? I was probably the last person on the face of the earth that anyone would say was funny. In fact, my brothers always referred to me as a wet blanket. The only time I really let loose was when it was just the seven of us.

  “Anyway, what is it you do, Katherine?”

  “I work over at the Children’s Hospital in Kankakee.”

  She signaled to Jake and he nodded back to her. “What do you do there?”

  “I’m a nurse.”

  “Oh, I didn’t expect that from you.”

  “Why? Because I’m out having a good time? Did you think all nurses were boring and stayed in on Friday nights?”

  “Not at all, but when my brother set this up, I didn’t know what to expect. He doesn’t exactly have the same taste in women as me.”

  “I’ll try not to take offense to that.”

  “Please don’t. I’m sure you’re lovely. I just don’t think we’ll have anything in common.”

  “Well, let’s see, shall we? We can make a bit of a game out of it.”

  “And what would the game be?”

  “How about every time we don’t have a common interest, we take a drink.”

  “I think we’ll end up very drunk by the end of the night,” I muttered under my breath.

  She smiled at me with a twinkle in her eyes. “Maybe this night won’t be such a bust after all.”

  Jake brought over a bottle of vodka and two shot glasses. I raised an eyebrow at her. I definitely was not a shot guy. I hadn’t had a shot in years. Beer was the most lethal drink I consumed at the end of the day.

  “Live a little, Eric.”

  If there was one thing I never did, it was back down from a challenge. “Fine, I’ll go first. Favorite color?”

  “That’s easy. Blue.

  “Me too.”

  “Damn, I was so hoping you would say pink.”

  I shook my head and chuckled. The woman did have a sense of humor.

  “Alright, my turn. Favorite sexual position?”

  “Wow,” I chuckled. “You really go right for the hard questions.”

  “I like the hard ones. In fact, the harder they are, the better.”

  I ran a hand across my jaw, scratching at the scruff I had forgotten to shave off after my shower. “Anything?” I asked.

  “Anything,” she whispered seductively.

  “Doggy style.”

  She took a drink. “Damn, I like that one too, but not as much as the cowgirl.”

  My eyes dropped to her breasts that were peeking out from where her shirt was unbuttoned. I wondered what her breasts looked like as they bounced up and down while she rode my dick. My eyes flicked back to hers and she grinned at me.

  “That’s why I like it.”

  I drank my shot and cringed at the burn. “My turn. Favorite time of year?”

  “Summer. Gotta love those men walking around with their shirts off.” I watched as her eyes roamed over my body, taking in my muscles bulging from my arms. I worked hard, not at working out, but working with my hands and the rest of my body got a workout along with it.

  I took a drink of my own. “Fall.”

  “It’s a shame,” she said as she drank her shot. “Swallow or spit?”

  “Spit.” I had never been one to go down on a woman. I didn’t enjoy it and I didn’t see what was so appealing about swallowing another person’s bodily fluids.

  “Swallow,” she said before pouring another shot and drinking it down. I followed her lead and did the same.

  The alcohol was going to my head already and at this rate, I wouldn’t be able to drive home. I wracked my brain for something we might have in common. I had to slow this down.

  “Pickup or car?”

  “Pickup.”

  “Thank fuck. Me too,” I said with a smile.

  “Favorite feature of the opposite sex?”

  “That’s not a fair question,” I countered. “There are too many different body parts.”

  “Such as?”

  “Well, I’m pretty sure if I said that I was a breast man, your answer would not be the same.”

  “Okay, excluding obvious body parts, what’s your favorite feature of the opposite sex?”

  “On you? Your eyes. Definitely your eyes.”

  “Hmmm. That’s a tough call for me.” She looked at the alcohol as if she was weighing the alcohol into her answer. “I would say it’s fair to say that your eyes are definitely my favorite feature.”

  We stared at each other for a minute, electricity zapping between us. I hadn’t come here for anything more than a disappointing date, but this was fast becoming the most interesting date I had ever been on.

  “Coffee drinker?”

  “Tea.”

  I poured us more shots and we both took one.

  “One night stand or relationship?”

  “Relationship,” I said, thinking that would be her answer.

  She raised an eyebrow. “One night stand.”

  We both took a drink.

  “Stay here and talk or go to my place and fuck?”

  Did I just seriously say that? The alcohol must really be going to my head. She didn’t answer, but picked up her purse and walked toward the exit, glancing over her shoulder an
d winking at me. I sat there for a few seconds, completely stunned that that had actually worked and quickly threw down some money. She was waiting for me outside and I grabbed her hand, dragging her over to my truck. She wasted no time crawling across the seat and licking my ear. I had to tighten my hold on the steering wheel to keep from driving us off the road.

  When her hand snaked down to my package and latched on, my hips bucked in the seat, but not out of desire.

  “Whoa! Hold on there, tiger. Wait until we get home.”

  She licked the shell of my ear and nipped at the lobe. “Why? Learn to loosen up and have a little fun.”

  “That-That’s not safe. Distracted driving kills approximately nine people and injures at least a thousand every day in the United States.”

  “Then you’re lucky no one’s on the road with us.”

  Her hand moved down to my jeans and grasped at me again. I quickly pulled her hand away and set it on her lap, patting it gently. “Most accidents occur within fifteen miles of your home. We are well within that range, so let’s just wait until we get to my place and then I’ll let you have your way with me.”

  “Is that a promise?”

  “If you let me drive us home without any more shenanigans? I swear it.”

  “I’m gonna hold you to that.”

  I recited the alphabet over and over in my head, but when that didn’t work, I started listing all the states in alphabetical order. By the time we got back to my place, my manhood was a little more under control and I didn’t feel like we would end this date in my pickup truck.