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“So, here’s how I suggest we get out of this. First of all, fix your belt,” I said, indicating that the buckle was flapping open. He laughed and fixed it.
“We go out there, clearly still pissed at each other, and you get back to work and I’ll stand around and make a couple of calls out there like I have my eye on you. You go ahead and tell the crew what a bitch I am, and all that. The usual.”
“I don’t say that,” he said suddenly. “I don’t tell them you’re a bitch. I’ve said you’re bossy, which is true. You’re the bossiest person I’ve ever worked for. But you’re used to being in charge. And if you were a guy, I’d just say you were overbearing and needed a hobby.”
“Instead of saying I was a bitch who needed to get laid?” I challenged.
“You’re not a bitch. But I’ll be glad to lay you anytime,” he said, crowding me again, kissing me, “do you really think we can act normal when you look like you’ve just spent a week in paradise?”
“Paradise?” I smirked. “A week?”
“Your cheeks are flushed, your lips are swollen. Your eyes are bright and the way you’re standing is, let’s say, relaxed. You look like I just made you scream my name three or four different times, and we ought to relax with a bottle of wine, not have to pretend that we hate each other for the benefit of some guys building a foundation.”
“I could definitely go for a glass of wine. Maybe a nap,” I said. I was fishing for an invitation, I knew. I wanted him to invite me over, or out for dinner or a drink. I wanted him to offer me more.
“I didn’t figure you drank on the job,” he said wryly. “We’ll play it your way.”
“Seriously though, you can’t go around making expensive changes, or any changes, without clearing it through me and the council,” I said.
“Okay, fine,” he said grudgingly.
“You know I’m right. You knew I was right to start with. I don’t know why you did it.”
“I trust my instincts, and it makes me mad when somebody questions my judgment. I figure you hired me because you wanted the best. So, give me room to be the best.”
“That’s oversimplifying, and it’s not your own money you’re spending here, or mine. It’s the city’s. And—I don’t want Ray Forrester. I never did. Not for this job, not for anything else,” I admitted.
I figured he’d nod, acknowledge that he was the best and everyone should know it. But it mattered to me to say it out loud, to make sure he knew that he was the only man for this job and the only one I’d consider risking my own career to hook up with and fall for like a damn moron. He didn’t say anything for a second. Then he reached for me and held me. Noah palmed my head, rested his chin on my hair.
“Good,” he said, and I felt some tension in him loosen that I hadn’t realized was there. He just hugged me for a minute, “How about we do this my way? Instead of taking the argument back to the job site and having to pretend, maybe I just storm out of your office, and you throw something which might explain all the—pounding that everybody heard earlier.”
“Okay, that’s fair. And I don’t have to stand around watching you work, wondering if you’re having trouble keeping your mind on the bricks because you want me.”
“You don’t have to wonder,” he said with a rueful chuckle. “You know I am.”
He dropped a kiss on my lips and took a step back, then winked at me. I rolled my eyes back at him.
“I SWEAR TO GOD, WOMAN!” he shouted, “If you throw ONE MORE THING at me—”
He nodded. I picked up a book off my desk and threw it at the wall, missing him by a foot. He grinned.
“That’s it! I’m not dealing with this shit today!” he stormed out and slammed the door.
For good measure, I picked up the weird brass paperweight the mayor had given me for Christmas and threw it at the door. It bounced off and rolled, made a satisfying thud on the floor. I grinned in spite of myself.
17
Noah
I was two beers in and still couldn’t make any sense out of things. Max was busy with family stuff, and I didn’t feel like being around anybody else. He was the only one who knew I’d slept with Nicole. I wasn’t going to tell anyone else. I did want to protect her reputation as city planner, and there was probably some pearl clutcher on the city council who’d freak out if they knew that adults, even those working for local government, sometimes had sex. It sickened me to think of anyone calling her on the carpet for hooking up with me, like there was some stupid harassment issue when I grabbed her today and barely waited for the door to shut before I stuck my tongue down her throat.
