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“Definitely behind.” Turning my cell away from me, I offer him a slow scan of the site before facing him again. A crew was busy building out the second story, a few men pushing up a section of wall and anchoring it in place. The hum of an air compressor followed by the thwap, thwap of a nail gun filled the air.
The resort would have fifteen rooms. A five-star restaurant. Spa. Outdoor adventure center. Now? It didn’t even have a roof.
“It’ll get done.”
“Before you retire?” he poked.
We were close, too fucking close sometimes, especially since we worked side by side. I may be CEO, but he ran James Corp just as much as me. We were close with Theo and Dex, too, up in each other’s business non-stop and I was surprised one or both weren’t also on this call.
“Fuck you. I’m not that old.” Thirty-seven wasn’t ancient, except when I seemed to have the hots for someone at least a decade younger. Maybe Bridge thought I was old. My dick didn’t care. I’d had a semi since she patted me down and thinking of her naked with just a pencil behind her ear had me shifting my dick in my jeans.
“The project’s that behind,” he clarified.
I sighed because he was right. “I have a meeting in a few with the contractor.” I flicked my gaze to the resort, currently was nothing more than framed out.
“I’ll come up.”
I shook my head. “To do what? Kick someone’s ass for me?”
“You are scrawny.”
No response was needed for that because I hadn’t been scrawny since the second grade.
“Let me see what the hell’s going on. Unless you can build trusses or operate a crane, you aren’t going to be of much help.”
That was the next step. Once the second-floor framing was done, trusses would be lowered to build out the roofline. Then it could be enclosed and the roof put on. Hopefully before the snow started. Here in Montana, that came sooner than later.
“You can’t do that shit either.”
I smirked. “No, but I can hopefully scare the project manager into getting his shit together. I’ll be back in the office by lunchtime tomorrow.”
“You’re not that scary in pink. But go bust some balls, brother.”
I’d do it, because I wasn’t having this project fail. I could throw more money at it, and I would, but that wasn’t my way. The project team was failing at their job, and I needed to find out why.
5
BRIDGET
* * *
Friday 12:18 pm - Six hours before the scream
* * *
I entered the office, loaded down with bags from the deli. The meeting with Maverick James from Denver had started ten minutes ago, but my job wasn’t to sit in on it, but to feed everyone.
After the coffee shop fiasco, I’d settled in at my desk and finalized the reports for my boss. He’d taken the printout I handed him, tore off the top sheet with my name on it, tossed it into the recycle bin, then told me to get everyone’s lunch order.
Jemma, the office receptionist, had given me a commiserating look and helped. She couldn’t leave her desk since she had to answer phones. I, on the other hand, had free time to run out since I hadn’t been invited to the meeting.
She was well aware of how much of a little shit Jason was, but neither of us had any way to complain. There was no human resources locally, only at James Corp headquarters in Denver. Since he’d come from that office, it didn’t seem like they were interested in him being an asshole. He was a misogynist who liked me as an assistant so he could ogle my ass and use my brain to his advantage.
Jemma and I were the only locals hired to James Corp for the project, the rest came from Denver with Jason to be the core crew. A local general contractor dealt with the various elements of the work such as sub-contracting for concrete and electrical.
I didn’t want to lose my job, but Jemma was a single mother who needed the steady paycheck and didn’t dare complain. While I didn’t have kids, I was saving up money so I didn’t have to live with my sister for much longer.
So when I pushed through the front entry, barely able to see over the tops of the bags, Jemma dashed around her desk and opened the conference room door for me.
