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“But I didn’t buy anything.” Rita’s voice trailed off as she looked at the contents. It was a 4.2-ounce bottle of Pour Homme. She smiled and looked at the salesman. “Thank you.” She spied a slip of paper in the bag. A receipt! She pulled it out, hoping for a name on a credit card slip, but no such luck. He’d made a cash purchase. Grabbing Keanie’s hand and ignoring her questioning look, they headed for the door.
3
“I’ve wanted to do that since I saw you at the bar.”Rita jerked awake. She was covered in a light sweat, and her body felt like a live wire. Just like it had every morning for the last week. Her encounter with the Voice had become the mainstay in her Skank Bank, as Keanie called it.
She almost went back to sleep—and hopefully back to her dream—but her alarm went off, and she sighed.Another day, she thought. But then she remembered that they were starting a new project today, and she extracted herself from her blanket with more energy than she’d felt a moment before. Rita was excited for this particular project: she had a bunch of volunteers who had just completed orientation, and they were going to start working on two homes that were located on the same lot.
The homes belonged to a multi-generational family with a history of being victimized by acts of violence. The family had lost their older son in a shooting. The youngest became paralyzed in the same attack and was now wheelchair-bound. The emotional aftermath had been so stressful that it triggered the father’s stroke. When they applied for the nonprofit’s assistance, Rita made sure that they were chosen. She would spend the next few months ensuring that their homes were safe and accessible.
She dressed in comfortable work clothes, and on her way out the door, she grabbed her tool belt. It was a bubblegum pink. Tuck had given it to her as a joke after she expressed a wish to do some renovations. She’d kept the mocking present and wore it as a badge of honor now.
The jobsite wasn’t overly far from her home, but with the press of morning rush hour traffic, Rita was still one of the last to arrive. Luckily, she wasn’t normally needed onsite. Today, Brian—a board member for the organization and also the volunteer coordinator—had asked her to come out to help the volunteers get acquainted and acclimated. She’d help where she could with demo and cleanup, but she wasn’t quite ready to help build anything. She climbed out of her car, dragging her pink tool belt after her. Brian, who was standing beside a man whose back was to her, saw her and waved.
“Rita,” Brian called, motioning for her to join them. He was one of the kindest men Rita had ever met. Keanie had gotten her a meeting with him when she’d first moved to San Diego, and he had been the one to overlook the gaps on her resume. He had welcomed her to the nonprofit with open arms and an easy smile. He never seemed to lose his good humor, even when they couldn’t keep a general contractor for more than a project or two at a stretch. Finding one willing to volunteer their time was often a near impossibility, but here he was with another half-dozen new workers and a licensed general contractor.
Rita closed the distance between them. “Hey, Brian.”
He smiled and gestured toward the man beside him. “I want to introduce you to Jared Michaels. He’s the new general. He has considerable experience working rehabs and green construction. I think he’s just what we’ve been needing.”
The man turned, and Rita’s mouth went dry. There he was. Literally, the man of her fantasies… and she would be his boss. Or, at least, they would be working together. She supposed, technically, that he was in charge on the construction site. She was just there to sign the checks and approve the supply orders.Stop spiraling, Rita said to herself.Your face will look idiotic.
Jared leisurely looked Rita up and down. A slow smile spread across his face. Sticking out his hand, he said, “Nice to meet you, Rita…”
“Tucker,” Brian said helpfully. “Rita runs the regional division of the nonprofit, and she happens to be a great asset on the job site too.” Brian looked at her, practically beaming. “Anything you need, you’ll just ask her, and she’ll get it for you.”
Jared’s eyebrow raised slightly, and she watched his jaw clench slightly. “You don’t say,” he drawled. Still holding his hand out, he said again, “Nice to meet you, Rita.” Swallowing hard, Rita reached out, and he enveloped her hand in both of his and squeezed gently.
Her knees wobbled.Don’t you dare faint,Rita thought. “Nice to meet you too, Mr. Michaels,” she wheezed out. It was like she was too dumbfounded to speak. She couldn’t stop staring at him. Was this for real?
“Please,” Jared said, still holding onto her hand. “Call me Jared.”
Rita nodded. They stood there for probably way too long, staring into each other’s eyes, until Brian coughed pointedly. She dropped Jared’s hand and glanced at the volunteer coordinator. He was giving her an odd look. Rita felt heat rising in her face. She never had any difficulty with people Brian had brought on before. She could only imagine how this looked.
“Well,” Brian said slowly, trying to clear away the awkward tension, “how about I give Jared a tour of the site and introduce him to the others, and we’ll let you get to work.”
“Sounds like a good idea,” Jared said.
Rita could tell that she’d been dismissed. She stared at Jared’s ass as they walked away.I cannot believe that he just walked away like that. What the hell?She turned on the ball of her foot and stomped over to the trailer that served as a mobile office. She wrenched open the door and let it slam shut behind her. “Fuck,” she breathed out. “What am I going to do?” She looked around the small space, then at a patch of sunlight coming through the singular window, falling across her desk. “Okay,” she mumbled aloud. “I get the hint. I’ll get to work.”
Between the volunteers and a stack of paperwork on her desk, she managed to make it through the rest of the day without seeing Mr. Jared Michaels. Didn’t mean she didn’t think about him, though. If she let herself stop for even a moment, she would start staring off into space and picturing what Jared would look like naked. Right around five, she called it for the day and gathered her things to head back to the apartment. When she got to her car, there was a note on her windshield.
7:00 PM, 867 Vista Bella. Wear the heels and bring that pink tool belt.
It wasn’t signed, but it could only be from one person. Without stopping to consider anything, she turned back to the office. She was going to need that tool belt after all.
* * *
Jared didn’t know what the hell he was thinking when he put that note on Rita’s car. Seeing her at the department store had been a coincidence. He’d walked in to buy a couple of work shirts since he’d landed a temporary gig with the nonprofit that he hoped he could push into a more permanent position, and then the woman who’d haunted his thoughts was at the cologne counter. He hadn’t thought about it then—he’d just reacted, and he was damned lucky that she hadn’t sprayed him in the eyes with a cologne sample.
The encounter in the dressing room should have been enough to slake his thirst. Even if he hadn’t fucked her, Jared had been more than satisfied with what went down.So why can’t I let it go?Jared had never met a woman that he couldn’t walk away from. Two marriages that went belly up proved that. He had been invested in those relationships, but when his wife at the time wanted to end it, he hadn’t fought. He hadn’t begged.
Now, the dressing room vixen was going to be his boss of sorts for the foreseeable future.Even more of a reason to leave her the hell alone, he thought.Would she show tonight?He hoped that she would, even if he knew that he was walking into a mistake. Jared did his best to shake himself out of his thoughts and pay attention to the here and now. He needed to finish the inspection of the property before he could figure out what needed the most attention first. So far, the houses were both a mess. Foundation issues to be sure, and he’d have to get someone up on a ladder to look at the roof. Legally speaking, a contractor could only cover a single layer of roofing with a second layer as a kind of “Band-Aid” fix to address a leak or major issue. Even from the ground, he could see that the roofline was a hodgepodge of layered shingles. Someone had been trying to limp this roof along for a long time, and it was time to scrape it all away and start over fresh.
“Hey, Jared.” His other boss, Brian, came up beside him. “How’s it looking?”
Jared tried not to laugh. He didn’t know Brian well enough to know if he was the jokester type or not. “It’s not great,” he answered honestly. “So far, the foundation is going to need some major work, and we’re looking at replacing the roof, and I haven’t even looked at wiring or plumbing yet.”
Brian let out a breath. “I knew it wasn’t going to be great,” he said. “It never is in these situations, you know? But foundation and roofing are going to eat a lot of our budget, and we have all of the accessibility issues to address on the inside.”
