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“You’re the best man for the job. That’s why you were given the job.”
“Loyal of you to say, but business is business, and nobody gets a gold star for doing things right. You know that.”
“I do know that. But you had powerful people in your corner.”
“Like you?” I teased Max.
“Like Nicole. She was the one who insisted time and again that something worth doing was worth doing well. That she didn’t bust her ass through three rounds of grant reviews to let someone cheap and careless finish the job.”
“So she’s smart. I knew that. She’s still annoying,” I said, taking another drink.
“Look who’s here,” Max said.
My eyes flicked to the door. A group of women was entering, talking and laughing. I recognized them, of course. Small town, and we know each other. Trixie. Michelle. And speak of the devil herself.
If I looked longer than I needed to, if I raked her with my gaze, jeans and a silky top that was open at the shoulders, red lipstick, long silver earrings, then it was because she looked different when she was dressed to go out, I guess. She looked like I should ask her to dance just to put my hands on the curve of her hips and feel her move against me. I’d just had a drink, but my mouth was dry. I grabbed my beer and took a pull off of it, swallowed hard.
“You done?” Max chuckled.
“With what?”
“With staring at Nicole like you could burn her clothes off with your eyes.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. You’re the one that noticed they walked in. I just looked where you told me to look.” I shrugged.
“Yeah, I made you stare at your new boss like your heart was gonna beat out of your chest,” Max said. “You’re sweating.”
“I worked outside all day. It’s normal.”
“It’s not hot in here and you have a cold drink,” he pointed out reasonably.
“Fine, she’s beautiful. And a pain in the ass.”
“Whatever you say, man.” Max looked amused.
“Shut up,” I said.
“Noah, you have to—” he began. My phone rang and cut him off. I looked at the screen, ready to push ignore on the call, but it was Damon’s number.
“Hello?” I said, pressing the green button.
“You need to get down to the site now, man,” Damon said, sounding breathless, and hung up.
I got to my feet as I saw Nicole striding toward me, her dark hair loose and sort of blowing back because she was moving so fast. She was on a mission, and had her phone to her ear, purse over her shoulder.
“He’s right here. We’re on our way,” she said, and hung up.
Her hand closed over my arm, “Let’s go,” she said. By the time I registered her touch, we were on our way to the door. I was following her closely. I reached around her and opened the door. She slid past me in the tight space, “Thanks,” she said.
I touched her back, down low, feeling I was allowed to in this emergency, and guided her toward my truck.
“What do you know?” I asked.
“That we have to get down to the build site now. The fire department is there.” She heaved a breath, “We don’t need anything else going wrong and—shit.” She broke off as her phone rang.
10
Nicole
In Noah’s truck, his face lit by the glow of the dashboard, I was worried and pissed about the problem at the job site, and I was distracted by the planes of his face, the lines bracketing his tight mouth, the sharp cheekbones and the furrowed brow. I wanted to touch his face, smooth those lines with my fingers. I couldn’t help thinking that he followed me when I told him we needed to go. He didn’t give me any shit or argue, didn’t shrug my hand off his arm or tell me he’d take care of it by himself and don’t worry my pretty little head. He gave me no pushback, led me to his truck, didn’t act like he was the only one with any business going to see what the hell the fire department was doing at the community center building site. I felt for the first time that he was working with me, not against me. That we were in a way united by whatever was going wrong on a project we both cared about. It was almost like we understood each other, almost like we could be friends.
I got to enjoy that feeling for about twenty seconds before my phone rang. It was the mayor.
“Hello,” I said. “Yes, sir, I’m on my way there now. I don’t know anything yet. I’ll let you know as soon as I have a handle on what’s going on.” I said, sounding assured and calm, calmer than I felt with Noah cussing under his breath as we pulled into the lot.
