by Jill Sanders
“I’m here to help you,” Terry answered with a smile as he slowly stood up. “I hear you have family in… high places.” His eyes ran over her, and she felt her entire body shiver with disgust. The man was easily a hundred pounds overweight and at least twice her age. Not to mention that she knew he was married. She’d heard rumors that he’d had several affairs while working there but had yet to find anyone in the office who liked him, let alone would sleep with him.
“I don’t know what you mean.” She moved past him, but he caged her in.
“Oh, I think you do. It’s come to my attention that you’ve been keeping a secret from us. A pretty big one.” His eyes narrowed. “Harold Smith”—he wiggled his eyebrows— “is your father.”
She felt her back teeth grind as she pushed past him. “I am not keeping it a secret.” She sat down in her chair and logged into her computer. “Anyone with a brain could have figured it out.” She glanced up at him, hoping he didn’t see her hands shake or her temper grow. “Was there something else?”
Terry was frowning down at her, and his face was growing red like it did every time he was agitated. “No one else knows.” He moved closer to her and reached out. He would have placed his hand on her shoulder had she not scooted her chair back a few steps. Arching her eyebrows, she chuckled.
“I will happily head out right now”—she nodded towards the door— “with a bullhorn and let everyone in on my secret.” She air quoted the last word.
His face grew even redder. His eyes moved around as if gauging his next move. “Then I’m sure you won’t mind if I let your father in on your last client.”
She laughed. “Why don’t you regroup?” She pushed herself back towards her desk and turned her attention towards her screen. “When you come up with something else you deem worth blackmailing me for to get to my father’s money, let me know.” She glanced up and smiled and then dismissed him and returned to her work.
Shortly after the man left her office, she felt the tension in her body relax. God! She hated her job. She hated being associated with one of the richest men in the world.
It took Terry a week to come up with a new angle. He barged in while she was finishing up with an email.
“Kasey, I’m going to have to call you back.” She hung up. “Yes?”
Terry had moved over and sat across from her and had gone as far as to prop his feet up on the edge of her desk again.
“I was thinking,” Terry started slowly. She bit the edges of her tongue.
“Yes?” She glanced at the clock and realized she only had a few minutes before she could technically clock out.
“I’ve gone about this the wrong way.” His smile grew. “I think we should have drinks.”
She laughed. A burst of it escaped her before she could control herself.
“That is not going to happen.” She hit send on the email. The email instantly popped back at her that her account was locked, and she frowned.
“I think you’ll reconsider.” He motioned to her computer.
“What did you do?” she asked, hitting send again. She sighed and leaned back. “Paid off the IT guys?”
His eyes narrowed. “It’s amazing what you can find going through someone else’s email. I think your father would find a few of these very interesting.” He set down two papers he’d been holding.
She didn’t even spare them a glance. Instead, she stood up and smiled at him. “Thank you, Terry,” she began as she leaned on the desk. “You’ve made this decision easier for me.”
The man’s bushy eyebrows rose slightly as he removed his feet from her desk. “We can discuss this over—”
She laughed again. “When hell freezes over.” She pulled her purse and jacket from the bottom drawer and took her time slipping on her jacket. “You’ve just made it easier for me to walk out.” She smiled and started out of her office.
He followed her until she stopped by Barb’s desk. Her supervisor glanced up at her with annoyance.
“Terry here has seen fit to have my email account locked, which has finally given me the spine to quit,” she said with a smile. Then she leaned down closer to her boss. “In the last two years that I’ve worked under you, not once did I see you stick up for what was right. You treated your employees like tools to better your own career.” The woman looked put off and annoyed. “Terry has also informed me that it may not be common knowledge who my father is.” She smiled when Barb glared up at her. “The name Harold Smith might ring a bell.”
She waited until she could see in Barb’s eyes that she’d made the connection before turning around and leaving.
It was the best feeling in the world, until she stepped out on the snow-covered curb and shivered. How the hell was she going to pay her rent next month?
That night, sitting in her small one-room studio apartment listening to sirens outside her window while she sipped the cup of noodles, she realized the magnitude of her actions.
She had been paying for night classes at the closest community college in hopes that her art career would take off. But now that she couldn’t even afford a meal beyond what she was currently eating, she knew her entire life would have to be put on hold.
She had some money in her savings account that she could live off if she had to, but she preferred not to touch it. At least not yet.
She was job hunting on the small secondhand laptop she’d purchased a few years back when her phone rang.
Seeing the unmarked number, she almost didn’t answer it, but then she remembered she’d put her number on a few online applications.
“Hello?”
“Tell me it’s not true you quit today?” Her father’s voice boomed in her ears. She hadn’t seen him since the day before her eighteenth birthday and she wondered if he was older and frailer looking now.
“Yes,” she answered. “My hand was forced—”
“You’ll go back tomorrow.” It was a demand not a request or question.
“No, I won’t,” she said quickly. No matter what happened to her, she would no longer be indebted to anyone.
“Yes, you will. I’ve arranged everything with your supervisor.”
“I don’t care. I won’t go back.”
“Then you leave me no choice to see to it that you will have no references. I’ll make sure that it’s noted that you were officially fired. I can even arrange to make sure that it’s difficult for you to be hired anywhere else in the city.”
“I don’t care.” She shut her eyes and tried to hold firm. “I don’t need anyone’s handouts.”
“How will you pay for the room you call an apartment?” he asked, causing her eyebrows to rise. Did he know where she lived? If so, why? Why was he keeping track of her? His exact words from a few years ago were that his obligations as far as she went was over. Why would he care where she lived? Or even worked?
“I’m no longer your obligation.” She threw his own words back at him.
He was silent for a while and she almost believed that he had hung up. Then he said. “A job isn’t an obligation.”
She was in complete shock and almost missed his next statement.
“Think about coming back to the office. I’ve secured a leadership position for you. Your supervisor had nothing but great things to say about your work ethics. She’s the one that suggested I move you to the eleventh floor.”
She held her breath. How long had she been trying to reach that goal? From the moment she’d learned about the leadership team positions almost two years ago, she’d worked on moving up in the company.
“I’ll think about it,” she said softly.
“Don’t take too long.”
“I’ll let you know by Friday,” she added before hanging up.
She was torn. Part of her wanted to tell her father where he could take his new job offer while the other part of her liked the thought of eating more than noodles and broth for dinner.
That night she had little sleep as she made a mental list of the pros
and cons of going back to work for her father’s company.
The following day, Aubrey had gotten the call that Elle’s grandfather Joe had died. During her trip back down to the camp to console her friends, Elle had proposed that the friends all chip in and rebuild the defunct campground. She’d been the first one to jump at the chance. After all, there hadn’t really been anything for her back in New York. Her friends needed her. So, without a second thought, she’d pulled most of her money from her savings account to be with the only people she deemed family. And, in the process, she’d found her new life.
Chapter 2
Three months later…
Aiden stood with his back to the sun and felt his breath hitch in his lungs when the pretty redhead came bouncing down the pathway. Who the hell was she? he thought to himself quickly.
His cousin Elle rushed after her and called out the woman’s name.
“Aubrey, wait up,” Elle said.
He’d known Elle Saunders his entire life. The fact that they were second cousin had helped him secure the job fixing up the summer camp she’d inherited. It had been owned by her grandfather Joe, his great-uncle.
Shortly after Joe’s death, Elle had called him with a crazy idea, one that he jumped at.
Not only was he going to refurbish the entire campgrounds, but he was in charge of overseeing the remodeling of each of the twenty small cabins. He was going to take the old cabins, which used to house a dozen preteen girls, and turn them into exclusive private cabins that could be enjoyed by wealthy adults. It was just the project he needed at the moment.
Having Danelle break things off with him a few months ago had left him raw. He’d known better than to invest his heart into a woman who was damaged and unwilling to commit. Still, he’d hoped, and had a broken heart to show for it.
He figured the new camp project would help get his mind off his heartbreak and financial issues. Danelle had taken off with almost everything he owned after maxing out his credit cards.
She’d even moved out most of his furniture when he’d been at work, leaving him with only an air mattress, a worn leather chair, a single dish, and a spoon that she had probably forgotten in the bottom of the dishwasher. She’d even taken his refrigerator, washer, and dryer.
“Hey,” Aiden said to Elle when the two women stopped in front of him.
“Hey,” she said a little breathless. “Aiden, this is Aubrey.” She motioned to her friend. “Aub, this is my second cousin Aiden.”
Elle had mentioned her friend Aubrey tons of times over the years, along with Zoey, Scarlett, and Hannah, the other Wildflowers, as they called themselves.
“Hey,” he said, removing his sunglasses to get a better look at the sexy redhead.
Aiden had a type. Or so he’d thought. Every single girl he’d dated before had been tall, brunette, and built.
So he was slightly confused as to why he felt an instant sexual pull for the short, curvy redhead with porcelain skin and eyes the color of the sky on a clear day.
“Hi,” Aubrey said as she glanced beyond him. “Gosh, you’ve gotten so much done already.” She walked past him into the cabin.
He and his crew had pulled out the built-in bunkbeds and the old flooring and had cleared out the connected bathrooms, leaving only electric wires and exposed plumbing.
“I can’t believe how big this cabin is after everything’s been removed,” Elle said, walking in circles.
“There’s plenty of room,” he agreed, walking over to unroll the plans he’d drawn up for this particular cabin. “There’ll be a small sitting area and a kitchenette, a larger bedroom area, and the bathroom…” He motioned to the plans as both the ladies looked on. When he leaned closer, he was rewarded with the soft scent of Aubrey’s perfume. She smelled like flowers and sex.
He straightened and took a step back. He’d gone several months now without sex and knew that the pull was probably due to that.
As he talked to them both about the other cabins, his eyes kept darting towards Aubrey.
When she asked him about permitting and contractor licenses, he was a little shocked that she knew so much about the business. He talked to her about the city’s permitting schedule and how he was a licensed state engineer, which cut down on the time frame for work to start.
“Besides, Marg and I go way back.” He chuckled.
“Oh?” Aubrey asked.
He shrugged. “She used to babysit me.” He smiled. “She has a soft spot for me still.”
“Most women do.” Elle chuckled and nudged Aubrey, who blushed slightly. Her pale skin turned a soft shade of pink, causing his blood to heat. Elle didn’t notice it since she was too busy walking around the cabin again.
He watched as the two friends chatted about furniture, decorations, and the camp’s future. He watched Aubrey closely and wondered if she was single. Okay, a lot of other thoughts rushed through his head as well, but the first and foremost was if she was free.
He’d made the mistake of not checking to see if someone he was interested in was unattached before and it had burned him.
Elle’s phone rang and, after glancing down at it, she held up her finger and took the call. Shortly after answering, she stepped outside the cabin.
“So.” Aubrey turned to him. “You’re Elle’s cousin?”
“My grandmother Nancy and Elle’s grandfather Joe were brother and sister. My grandmother died a long time ago.”
“We all loved Grandpa Joe.” Aubrey’s smile brightened. “It’s funny, Elle had never mentioned you, at least not until we started planning this all out. Then you’re all she could talk about. How you’d just come back from college. Architect?” she asked as she tilted her head.
“Bachelor of Design in Architecture.” He nodded. “FSU.”
“I was going to school.” Her eyes turned towards the large windows his crew had ripped out earlier that morning. A few bugs buzzed in and out of the empty spaces.
“For?” he asked when she didn’t continue.
Her blue eyes moved back to him. “Art,” she said with a sigh.
“Sounds like you miss it?” He tucked his hands in his jean pockets.
She shrugged and walked over to the fireplace and ran a finger over the worn wood. He had plans to refurbish the old thing with oak. The fireplaces in all of the cabins would be modernized into gas fireplaces, but he planned on keeping the hearths classic and rustic looking. It would be part of the charm of each cabin.
“I do sometimes. I suppose when there is more work around here for us to do, I won’t be so…”
His eyebrows drew up. “Bored?”
She chuckled softly. “I guess living in a city has turned me into a time snob.” She glanced over at him.
“We could always use some extra help,” he suggested. “If you were an art major, I’m sure you’ll have no issues picking up a paintbrush.” He nodded to the walls. “We start painting in here in about a week. Course, we’ll tape it all off and spray, but…”
“Oh, that sounds wonderful. I know how to use a sprayer.” She clasped her hands together as if excited.
“I’m sure I can find other things for you to do around here.” He glanced around just as Elle stepped back inside.
“I’ve got to go meet the cleaning crew for the main building.” She glanced at her watch. “Aub…”
“I think I’m going to help out around here. Aiden says he could use the extra help,” Aubrey jumped in.
Elle’s eyebrows shot up as she glanced his way.
He nodded quickly, confirming. “If you can spare her today.”
“She’s all yours,” Elle said with a smile as she turned to go.
“Well?” Aubrey asked with a smile. “Where do you want me?”
The question right then was where didn’t he want her? His mind played over kissing her and taking her everywhere he could. Against the wall with her legs wrapped around him. She bent over his workbench as he pounded into her soft flesh. Taking her in a soft bed somewhere.
When she shifted, he cleared his mind and motioned towards the bathroom area.
“How are you with swinging a sledgehammer?” he asked.
She smiled. “I have some pent-up issues I could release on a wall.”
He chuckled and she followed him back to the bathroom.
“How about knocking out all this old pink tile?” He motioned to the wall of showers that had been tiled in a soft pink square tile so many years ago.
“You’re going to let me do all this?” she asked as her eyes grew big.
He ran his eyes up and down her and then smiled. “You look strong enough to handle it.”
She chuckled. “Oh, I am. I’m just happily surprised you aren’t treating me like a wilting wildflower.”
He smiled at this. “As I said, you look strong enough. When it really comes down to it though, it’s not strength, it’s how much pent-up frustration you have to keep you hitting the crap out of the tile.”
Her eyes move over towards the wall and grew a little unfocused and sad. She shivered once and then nodded. “How many bathrooms like this need to be done?”
“All twenty cabins.”
She frowned. “I could easily do twice that.” She picked up the hammer.
“Here.” He handed her a pair of leather gloves and some eye protection. “There’s a hard hat.” He motioned to the workbench. “Rule number one, safety at all times on the job site.”
She slipped on the gloves and glasses. “What’s rule number two?” she asked, picking up the hard hat.
“Have fun.” He motioned towards the wall.
He stood back for a few moments and watched her swing the hammer at the tile.
“You won’t be there the entire time, will you? It’s very intimidating. I’m sure you’re a pro at swinging this thing by now.”
He chuckled. “No, I think you’ve got it. If you need anything, I’ll be in the other room.”
She waved him off and returned to swinging the large hammer. Pink tiles flew off the wall, and she kicked them aside as she kept moving.