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s lowered and she surrendered to sleep, safe and warm in Jake’s arms.
Epilogue
Muck sloshed over the pointed toe of Claire’s knee-high leather boots. Great. She’d been trying to avoid the muddy puddles dotting Harvest’s parking lot but had gotten distracted when Jake grabbed her hand. The moment their fingers touched, her body turned into a sea of molten want. Never mind that he’d left her satisfied and panting less than an hour ago. She needed more. Even after two months of spending nearly every day together, her lust for him hadn’t lessened. Looking down at her gray, soaked boots, she admitted there was a downside to that.
“Hey, Claire, glad to see you on the site.” Billy, the construction foreman, hurried to their side. Contemplating her wet shoes, he spit a brown stream of tobacco juice to the other side of them.
“You’ll be even happier when you see this.” She snatched her insurance check out of her purse and waved it underneath his nose.
“Hot damn.” He rubbed his hands together. “So we’re a go?”
“Yep. How soon can you start rebuilding?”
“The demolition’s just about finished. It’ll take us a few days to clear the site and then we’ll get moving.” Billy glanced back at what was left of Harvest. All that remained were piles of burnt wood and debris. “I’ll let the guys know they’ve got a hell of a job ahead of them.”
Claire leaned back against Jake’s wide chest as Billy strode away. Glancing up at the building’s charred remains, grief squeezed her heart, but not as tightly as before. Now that she had her insurance check, she was going to build again, make it better than it had been.
“Still think you can share an office with me and keep your panties on?”
She elbowed Jake in the gut. “Shhh. The guys will hear you.”
“I thought that was your secret plan. Get me to open an Absolute Security satellite office in Dry Creek so you could have your wicked way with me anytime day or night.”
The smirk on his face said he was joking, while the growing bulge pressing against her ass told a different story. One she’d like to read as soon as she could get him somewhere private. Her nipples hardened and her thighs tingled at the thought.
The chirp of her cellphone stopped her lascivious thoughts. Jake gave her a quick peck on the cheek and strolled across the parking lot toward the foreman. She reached for her phone buried in her purse. Man, he looked good walking away, but she liked watching him come better.
Pulling the phone out of her bag, she promised herself she’d make this a fast call. A number with a 702 area code flashed at her from the phone’s screen. Where was that? Almost everyone she knew had a local phone number.
“Hello?”
“Claire, I think I’m in trouble.” Panic tightened Beth’s voice.
Tension cramped Claire’s body. Beth was never in trouble. “Where are you? What’s happened?” The questions rushed out of her mouth.
“I’m in Vegas.” A heavy silence followed Beth’s declaration.
Claire fought to keep her voice calm while visions of her best friend trapped in various dire situations flashed through her mind. “What happened? Did you gamble away your hotel money? Do you need bail? What is it?”
The blaring beep of a construction truck backing up overpowered Beth’s mumbled answer. “What? I can’t hear you, Beth. Speak up!” Claire sprinted away from the ruckus.
“I can’t talk louder. He’s in the bathroom. I had to wait for the shower to come on before I could call you.” Beth’s whispered words barely carried over the noise of the construction equipment.
“Who’s in the shower? Who’s he?” Had she been kidnapped? Claire’s pulse went into hyperdrive and she pressed the phone hard against her ear.
“Claire, I think I married your brother.”
“What?” Of all the scenarios, this was one she’d never expected.
“Oh God, the shower just turned off. What am I going to do?” Beth’s apprehension vibrated through the phone line.
She couldn’t make her friend’s words make sense. Married? Her brother? The synapses in her brain finally connected.
“Beth,” she screamed into the phone. “Which brother?”
