by Jordan, Skye
Randy.
Jack’s mind flashed back to his site visit earlier in the day. To the welding foreman, straddling a beam fifteen feet above him. And all the bees in his stomach stung him at once.
Miranda? That had been Miranda?
Only now did Jack make sense of the oddity of the way she’d responded to his presence, with nothing but a half-hearted salute. She hadn’t even lifted her helmet.
His brain clicked thoughts together so fast, he couldn’t keep up. He felt stupid, duped. Realized he’d told her confidential information she could have leaked. If that information reached Bruce before the funds transferred back to Pinnacle’s account, the man could begin a legal battle that would last years. The company would never survive.
How long had she known? How well did she know Alex? Jack thought back to the bar the night they’d met. Wondered if she’d known he was coming into town. Tried to remember who had initiated their connection. Had everything between them been part of a plan? Had she targeted Jack at the bar? Come on to him and used sex to get into Jack’s world? A way to get information she could pass on to Alex, who then passed it on to his father?
The sting turned to acid, and nausea rolled in Jack’s stomach. “Can I see that, Dad?”
“Sure.” He closed the paper and handed it to him. “I’m about ready for bed.”
Jack was so caught up in the article, he didn’t even notice his father leave the room. The piece portrayed Miranda as a woman deeply committed to veterans, a love that stemmed from her stepfather, Marty, who had served and lost a leg in the Gulf War. It claimed she had a desire to expand her idea of turning shipping containers into low-cost homes beyond the veteran community to help ease the homeless crisis in America. There was also a smaller photo of a completed home that no one would believe started as a rectangle of metal. Jack was acquainted with the niche of shipping-container homes. He’d never given it any real thought, but he instantly saw how useful they could be in this context.
He lowered the paper and stared blankly out the window. “Why in the hell didn’t she tell me?”
The fact that she’d kept this from him made his mind turn in a suspicious direction. Jack thought back to his site visit, remembered how Alex had talked up a few key employees during the site visit. Randy had been one of them.
Why? Why?
Jack and Miranda had even more in common than he knew. And still, she’d ended their…what? Could he even call it a relationship? More like an affair. A fling. A hookup.
Dumbing down their connection angered Jack, but the fear that she’d hooked up with Jack to help Alex burned a hole in his chest.
He pulled out his phone and sent a text to his firm’s travel agent. Postpone my trip to Tampa twenty-four hours.
He needed to deal with this. Now.
20
Miranda felt like she was coming down with the flu. Listless, melancholy, distracted, achy.
She was surprised how despondent she felt after ending things with Jack. Like a light inside her had gone out. Sure, it had been the right thing to do. Letting things linger would have only ended up hurting them both. But that didn’t make the loss hurt any less. And the fact that she was pining for someone she’d known less than two weeks annoyed the hell out of her.
She finished a weld and moved down the beam to a corner join, fired up the torch and began again. The floor was alive with crew members today, steelworkers, fellow welders, general construction workers, a couple of supervisors. It was only ten o’clock, and she couldn’t wait for this day to be over. Every time her memory flashed back to the look on Jack’s face when she’d ended things, her gut twisted. His text weighed on her heart.
I care about you.
She could count the number of people in the world who truly cared about her on one hand. But he didn’t really know her. The same way she didn’t know him. Alex’s assessment of Jack filled her head. Then the way Jack had acted during his site visit. To the things he’d said and the way he’d said them.
Miranda had been exposed to enough bad men in her life to know they could manipulate their personalities to get what they wanted. She’d seen men flip from black to white. Watched unassuming men turn into monsters. Witnessed fights and beatings. Miranda had managed to keep herself out of those situations, but that didn’t make her an expert in staying out of trouble. She’d found plenty of her own when she’d been young.
She wasn’t sure her intuition and judge of character was serving her all that well where Jack was concerned.
“Wright!”
The bellow made her jump. She released the handle of her torch midweld and looked toward the floor fifteen feet below. Jack stood there in his business casual and visitor’s hard hat, hands on hips. And a deep scowl on his face.
Miranda’s stomach hit the ground.
Shit. Shit, shit, shit.
Alex approached Jack. “What the fuck are you doing here again?”
Jack remained laser focused on Miranda, and he was livid. “Get. Down. Here.”
“Hey, I’m talking to you.” Alex stepped in front of Jack. “Randy’s working. Get the hell out of here.”
“Get the fuck out of my face,” Jack shot back, giving Alex a hard shove.
Alex retaliated immediately, coming back at Jack with a double-handed push. “Fuck you.”
Fear and anger flared through her chest. Miranda pushed her face shield up. “Cut that shit out.”
They stopped and looked up. Alex just looked pissed. Jack looked—shell-shocked. As if he hadn’t really expected to see her. Maybe he’d been holding out hope that whatever he’d discovered wasn’t true. His shock wore off almost as fast as it registered, replaced by fiery anger.
Work on the floor screeched to a halt. All eyes on the three of them. Fire ignited in Miranda’s gut.
Jack pointed at her. “The foreman’s trailer. Now.” Then he pointed at Alex. “You stay the fuck out of this, or I’ll can your ass.”
“You can’t fire anyone, asshole,” Alex shot back. “You don’t even fucking work here.”
“Watch me.” Jack turned toward the stairs and disappeared.
Alex looked up at her, arms out to the sides. “What the fuck?”
Miranda exhaled hard. She climbed down from the beam, put her tools away, and pulled off her helmet. “I think it’s about me being the one getting canned, not you.”
“He can’t do that. He’s not your boss. He’s not anyone’s fucking boss. Motherfucking bastard. This is just like him, this holier-than-thou shit.” Alex took Miranda by the arms. “I’m not losing you. I’ll go to the board if I have to.”
Miranda forced a smile, realizing Alex was probably far more accurate about Jack’s character than Miranda ever was. And that oversight might cost her job. “Thanks, Alex. Don’t worry about me.”
Work on the floor slowly picked up again, and Miranda made her way down twenty-five stories and across the site, all while her mind calculated the damage getting fired would cause in her life plans.
Gillespie paced outside the trailer, the phone at his ear. When she approached, he put the phone to his chest. “What’s this about?”
Miranda shook her head. “Not sure.”
“I’m trying to get ahold of someone in HR. Get to the bottom of this.”
“Don’t think that will help.” She took a deep breath before saying, “Marco can step in for me. He’s ready.”
“No one here can step in for you, and you know it.”
She gave his arm a squeeze before climbing the stairs and stepping into the trailer.
Jack didn’t even look up. He was pacing, hands at his hips, head down. He’d tossed the hard hat on a ratty love seat, and his hair was all over the place. She couldn’t help but think it looked a lot like she’d had her hands in it.
She stood at the door, helmet in hand, waiting to see what Jack Taylor was really made of. “Shitty thing to do, confront me at work in front of everyone.”
“The shittiest thing here is
you lying to me.” He kept pacing, his hands in constant motion—in his hair, down his face, at his hips. “What the fuck is going on here, Miranda?”
“I don’t know what you mean by ‘going on.’”
He stopped pacing and faced her. “Then why the fuck didn’t you tell me where you worked and what you do?”
“We were just getting to know each other. In my experience, men get a little squirrely when I tell them I work in construction around a hundred other men. I didn’t even know you were connected to Pinnacle until yesterday.”
“You knew last night, and you still didn’t tell me. Instead, you broke it off. Were you afraid I’d gotten too close? That I’d find out what you were doing? What you’re involved in?”
“I don’t know what you think I was doing, but I’m not involved in anything other than welding for Pinnacle. Period.”
A mess of hot emotions floated through his expression. “Bullshit.”
She lifted her arms out to the sides. “If you’re not going to believe anything I say, why am I here?”
“You were hiding it from me. If you weren’t, you wouldn’t have kept that damn helmet on when I was here yesterday.”
His voice boomed through the trailer, and Miranda winced. “Please keep your voice down. These walls are paper-thin.”
His gaze flashed with irritation, exposing his belief of just how he expected her to speak to him. Score one for Alex.
“I was shocked to see you. I didn’t know how you’d react, and I didn’t want everyone on the crew to take one look at us and know—” She cut herself off with a glance at the door. “This job is important to me. I’ve worked my ass off to get where I am. If I’d known you were in any way associated with Pinnacle, I would never have—”
“Why didn’t you tell me last night?” he demanded.
“I was going to. Then you told me you’re leaving. There wasn’t any point.”
He shook his head. His jaw muscles jumped.
“Get out of your own head for a minute,” she told him. “Look at this from my perspective. You didn’t tell me what company your father owned. You didn’t even tell me what industry it was in. I’ve never even met the man.”
“You’ve worked here six years, for fuck’s sake. Are you telling me you didn’t put two and two together and figure it out?”
Another flash of temper burned in her gut. She dipped her chin and lowered her voice with clear warning. “Watch your tone, Jack.”
“He knew you. My dad saw that article in the paper about the veterans’ charity and knew you went by Randy on the site.”
She crossed her arms. “For a man who didn’t even recognize his own family until recently, that seems like a stretch. It’s more likely you dug into my background.”
“No. But I obviously should have.”
He paced away from her, and Miranda closed her eyes a moment, regrouping. But the only thing that filled her mind was how alive he looked when he was this angry. The sharpness of his gaze, the intensity of his soul. And with the memory of their last night together still so vivid in her memory, still living in her sore muscles, her body burned.
She exhaled and cleared her head. “Look, Jack, I’m sorry you found out this way. I don’t know why you’re this pissed over something so insignificant—”
“It’s not insignificant. This is my father’s whole world, and no one—no one—is going to fuck with that again.” He turned toward her, eyes flashing. “What’s between you and Alex?”
Her jaw hung open as she processed that question and all the implications. “What?”
“You heard me.”
“I did. And I sure hope that insinuation in your voice is my imagination.”
“It’s not.”
Her temper spiked and slipped from her control. She stalked straight toward him, shoving him back with both hands. “You sonofabitch.”
He gripped her upper arms and pulled her close, searching her eyes. “Are you sleeping with him? Or just stealing with him?”
She lifted her arms in one quick jerk, breaking his hold. “You fucking bastard.”
He grabbed her again, giving her a little shake, his expression desperate. “Tell me I’m wrong.”
Tears came out of nowhere, stinging her eyes. Fear, anger, hurt, loss. They blended into a knot at the center of her chest and tightened her throat. “I shouldn’t have to.”
His anger morphed into realization. Then pain. With a whispered “Fuck,” he pulled her close.
She fisted her hands to keep herself from returning the gesture, but the feel of him tore at her walls.
“Goddammit.” He pulled back, lowered his head, and kissed her, his lips infused with apology and passion.
Miranda was caught between anger and desire. She desperately wanted to heal the new tear in her heart. But her mind kept telling her to push him away. Rebuild those walls.
He broke the kiss, whispered, “I’m sorry,” tipped his head the other direction, whispered another “I’m sorry,” and kissed her again.
A rush of complex emotions buckled her knees. Jack pulled her off her feet, crossed the room, and dropped onto the love seat with Miranda straddling his lap. All the anger in his gaze melted away. Now his eyes shone with regret.
“I found out more about you in a newspaper article than I knew after sleeping with you. I started to wonder what was real.” He leaned his forehead against hers and closed his eyes. “All I could think about was you knowing Alex and all the information I’d given you. All the trouble it could cause for the company.”
“I would never—”
“I know. I’m sorry. It all hit me at once. I should never have suspected you.”
“Suspected me of what? Why did you ask about stealing?”
He laid his hands on her thighs and gave them a squeeze. “Tell me about your relationship with Alex.”
“We’ve known each other for over a decade. Met in our early years working construction. He hired me at Pinnacle after we’d worked together at other companies. He’s been an advocate for me my entire six years with Pinnacle, getting me promotions and raises. He’s always taken care of me—professionally. He’s a friend. What do you think is going on?”
“I can’t get into details. Just that it’s not good. He’s a bad guy, Miranda. Just like his father.”
She shook her head. “I didn’t know Bruce, but Alex is dedicated to Pinnacle.”
He took her hands in his. “We already know he’s dirty. We just haven’t determined to what degree.”
The enormity of the mess overwhelmed her. “This is all so screwed up. We can’t do this. Like I said last night, it’s best for us to end things now.”
“We’re not screwed up,” he insisted. “The company is.”
“I don’t know… I can’t…” She pulled back, hurt and confused. “I need to think.”
“No. We need to work through this together.”
That touched a deep, barren part of her. She’d stood alone for so long, she didn’t know what it was like to have a man want to battle for her, not against her.
He smoothed her hair back toward her ponytail. “I want to know everything about you, Miranda. All the things you haven’t told me.”
She looked away. “No, you don’t.”
“Yes. I do.” He tipped her face up to meet his eyes. “Your past has only made you the woman I’m crazy about now. I want to see where you live, meet Marty and Gypsy, see the veterans’ project, hear about your work with Pinnacle. You’re fucking impressive, Miranda. You’re resilient and talented and ambitious. I want to know all of it.”
She met his gaze deliberately. “You’re leaving.”
“New York isn’t on the other side of the damn country.”
“You’re not being realistic.”
“And you’re not dreaming.” He took her face between his hands and held her gaze deliberately. “I’ve never met anyone like you, and I’m not going to give up before we’ve even given it a real try. Please. Mee
t me in the middle here.”
She exhaled and looked at the door. At her escape route. But she knew what lay beyond—a life filled with work, work, and more work. For the first time, she wanted more. For the first time, she had a man who wanted more too.
“Shit.” She covered his hands with hers, pulled them away from her face, and climbed off his lap. “Come to the vets’ site this weekend. It’s a big work party. All the volunteers will be there. I’ve got to get back to work.” She picked up her helmet and scraped her hand through her hair. “And, now, I’ve got to figure out what I’m going to tell the crew about you. Jesus.”
He stood, caught her hand, and pulled her back. He wrapped her tight and kissed her. “You’ve got this. We’ve got this.”
21
Jack turned off Highway 65 and followed the GPS directions along surface roads toward the Warrior Homes building site.
“Some pretty country out here.” His father sat in the passenger’s seat, a bit on the sedate side, but returning to himself a little more each day. Jack thought his dad might benefit from being around a construction site again. Specifically, one not run by Pinnacle. Jon wasn’t ready for that kind of wake-up call.
“Very pretty,” Jack agreed. The heavily treed hills rolled gently across the northwest portion of Davidson County, about twenty minutes outside the heart of Nashville. “Miranda said the property was donated to the project by Veterans Affairs.”
“Have to be a millionaire to afford it otherwise.”
He smiled at Jon, who stared placidly out the passenger’s window. His father never did come to terms with being one of those millionaires. Had continued to live a scaled-back but comfortable life even after Pinnacle had become wildly successful. Jack hadn’t realized how much he’d missed his dad until he’d started getting pieces of him back. He also hadn’t realized how much he wanted Miranda until she’d walked away.
He was still feeling shitty about the way he’d called her out at work, but at the time, he’d believed the longer he waited to get answers, the longer Pinnacle remained at risk.