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He grinned. “Yeah, but you like it.” He leaned in close to speak directly into my ear so no one else would hear. “Your ass is mine, and you know it.”
I shivered, my blood rushing hot at the words. “That’s not the point.”
“Oh, it is,” he said. “Because I aim to please, and I always do, Beck.”
While I stood there, trying to rein in my body’s response to his teasing, Wes sauntered out of the store. He no longer looked jealous. No, he looked smug.
The sexy jerk.
CHAPTER18
WES
“Let’spick up the slack, guys. We’ve got to get this shit finished.”
Colt turned from where he’d been working to uproot a row of dying bushes behind Mayor Michaels’ house. “I’m trying, man.”
“Well, try harder,” I said, though as nicely as I could manage. “We’ve got ten other things to get done by the end of the day.”
Colt’s face twisted, and I braced for a tirade. But he swallowed it down. He looked constipated, but hey, it was progress.
Beckett stepped up beside me, the wind tossing his red hair into his face. Fall had finally hit with a brisk chill to the air, and most of the guys were wearing long-sleeve shirts today. Beck impatiently shoved his bangs out his eyes.
Fuck, but he’s beautiful.
“We’re all busting hump,” Beckett said, gaze flicking between me and Colt, his tone apologetic. “This job was a little bigger than I anticipated. I didn’t know she was going to want us to do the extended acreage behind the house. Sorry.”
The mayor’s home was on the edge of town, just far enough from the rest of the city to feel like a country estate. She had a manicured front yard, and a bit of a wild jungle growing in her immediate backyard. What Beck hadn’t counted on was her request for us to go through the less landscaped acreage that extended beyond the yard, which hadn’t been well-maintained.
We took the job, of course, because we were trying to take all the work we could before winter hit. But it was a bitch to get everything done with the park project on our plate too.
“Hey, you brought in paying work. That’s never something to apologize for.”
“Still, we could have planned better for it if I’d been more thorough.”
“Beck.” I laughed. “Stop being a perfectionist. You won over a great client. We’ll figure it out.”
Colt tossed the bush he’d uprooted into a wheelbarrow. “Wes is right, Beckett. Getting overtime isn’t exactly making me sad.”
We’d called in a few crew members on their days off, including Colt. I’d half expected him to throw a fit, but he’d claimed he was happy for the work. Out of all the problems we’d had with Colt, showing up to work wasn’t ever one of them, so I suspected he needed the money to cover his bills.
Still, his attitude now did surprise me—in a good way. I knew he and Beckett had butted heads on several occasions. Now, Colt was giving him a word of support, and damn, my eyes must be deceiving me, because Beck was actually smiling and squeezing Colt’s shoulder as he passed him.
It was a hard, long day, but as we wrapped up, I felt satisfaction humming through me. My muscles ached in the way they did when they got a workout, but seeing everything we’d accomplished felt good.
We’d had to divide and conquer some of the work to keep up with everything, and Beckett pulled up in the pickup, Colt in the passenger seat, just as I called an end to the day. Colt opened the door and clambered out.
“Good work today!” Beckett called to him.
Colt froze, looking shocked. “Really?”
I laughed and clapped a hand to his back. “Shit, we really were assholes if you’re that astonished to get a compliment.”
Colt shook his head, looking a little embarrassed. “Nah. We just got off on the wrong foot, I think. I’m trying to get my shit together. Here and with Andi.”
“Keep trying, and we’ll always be good,” I said. “Ain’t that right, Beck?”
Beckett ducked his head to see us both through the open door. “Yep. Though I can’t speak for Andi.”
