by Jen Peters
“Not really, it’s just…” She was a pretty tough cookie, but he’d had it drilled into him that real men don’t cuss in front of ladies.
But she finished for him. “Nicer to say out loud than a few other things we could think of?” She smiled, her eyes crinkling again. “You don’t need to, I’ve heard it all. But I appreciate it.”
He had to look away from those blue eyes. There was somehow a little more connection between them than he could deal with right now.
“Is your police friend on his way?” Cat asked.
Justin nodded. “And we’re not supposed to touch anything until he gets here.”
“Great,” she groaned. “Can’t even keep working, then. Should we tell Pete to stay home?”
“Too late,” he said, listening to Pete’s old sedan pulling up, the engine coughing until it finally died.
They met at the front porch and explained, then sat in silence until a black and white police car pulled up, and a slim, dark-haired man in uniform climbed out. “Hey Justin, Pete,” he called. “And you must be Catherine Billings. I’m Javier Gonzales.”
She stood and stretched her hand forward. “Call me Cat, please.”
He shook it firmly. “Had a theft?”
“This way,” Justin said. Cat glared at him, but he didn’t care. He needed to take charge, to feel some bit of control. He led Javi through the house to the shed in back. “Took the door right off the hinges. Stole six spools of wire. And a bunch of the lumber outside.”
“Can you make me a list of exactly what’s missing?”
“I’ll do it,” Cat said. She began her list, carefully counting the remaining lumber.
Javi went out to his patrol car for a crime scene kit.
And Justin fumed.
This was his town, and he was sick and tired of petty criminals causing so many problems. He had to find a way to keep the job on schedule—his mom’s situation meant he couldn’t slow down—but he’d sure find a way to make them pay.
In the meantime, there was still work he could do. He looked at what the thieves had left behind, checked with Javi for permission, and grabbed a hammer and crowbar. Time to put this excess energy to good use.
* * *
Justin’s thoughts went in worried circles as he worked alongside Pete on the third floor. Waiting for more wire to come would put him several days behind. If they had a persistent thief, it would only get worse. If the job didn’t get finished on time, if they didn’t make the progress mark for the next pay draw, his mother’s bank would go to the police after all.
He had built an extra day into the schedule, but if Pete could help him, maybe that day wouldn’t be needed. And the wiring plans were intricate—perhaps they could simplify the needs just a bit. Did each floor really require an extra phone in the hall?
“Problems, compadre?” Pete asked, prying a board loose with a satisfying nail screech.
“Nothing I can’t handle.” Justin shook his head to clear it, then focused on loosening his own board. “You going back to work on Monday?”
Pete cussed in Spanish. “No, the foreman, he called last night and said it will be another week.”
“I’m sorry, Bro. But hey, I could sure use you here.”
Pete’s face lightened. “Truly? That will be a big help.”
Justin nodded and went back to pulling boards, then realized that he hadn’t heard Cat’s saw in quite a while. He tossed his crowbar to the floor and trotted down two flights of stairs.
Cat was tapping a pencil against her lips, her eyes focused on a clipboard she leaned against the table saw. Man, he could come home to her sitting there any day of the week. He’d get out of the truck, she would trot lightly down the stairs with a welcoming smile, and greet him with a kiss he could get lost in.
No! He slammed the brakes on his wayward thoughts. This was no time to be thinking about women, especially a relationship that would involve someone he’d want to keep in his life for longer than a few months, someone worth coming home to every night. He found himself hoping there would be a time for that someday, but for now … for now it had to be hands off.
She turned as Justin clattered down the last few stairs. “I’ve got a plan,” she said, smiling.
“So do I! But you go first.”
“I’ve worked out better security around here, plus a change to our timeline.”
He lifted his eyebrows. “How much change? And what are you planning—armed guards?”
She chuckled, a low laugh that set him dreaming again. “No, just a little extra work for us. Of course, that won’t bother a workhorse like you, will it?” She held the clipboard out to him. She had sketched the mansion, the backyard, and the creek, with lines of X’s crossing at various spots.
“What’s this?” he asked.
“This is where we put a security fence in.” She moved her finger across the paper. “Chain link here and solid wood here. We’ll store what we can in the house—we can use the dining room for staging for a while—but there’s a lot that will have to stay outside.”
She seemed pleased with herself, but more security wasn’t going to put them back on schedule. “That’s fine, but it doesn’t get us back on track. Now my plan…” He reached for the blueprints and spread them out across the floor, pointing to various spots as he spoke. “The B&B doesn’t really need extra phones in all these places. And if we cut one or two outlets from each room plan—”
“No way! First, those may be little things to you, but they’re part of what makes this a high-end place,” she growled. “And second, we have no right to change the plans. That takes the architect and Mitchell Blake, and I will NOT have Blake think we’re cutting corners.”
“It’s not cutting corners,” Justin protested. “It’s just making things a little more reasonable, and saving a day or two instead of being behind schedule.” A few days late with a bank payment was far more than his plan could afford.
Cat raised her eyebrows. “So you’re okay with telling Blake we not only can’t secure our materials, but also asking him to lower his vision just to save a couple of days?”
Justin stifled a groan. When she put it that way, it did sound rather juvenile. But what was the alternative? “We have to get this project in on time.”
“You adjust about as well as a rusty pipe wrench, don’t you? Look, the framing crew is supposed to be here Monday. They could put the fence up instead, right? And you and I can use the remaining lumber on the new bathroom walls while we wait for replacement materials.”
Cat’s eyes held his for a long moment, her look of expectation changing slowly to something else. Something he didn’t want to acknowledge, let alone name.
Disconcerted, Justin looked away and cleared his throat. What just happened? Cat was cute and all, but no more so than any of the other girls he’d dated before. But this was…some sort of connection? Recognition?
No, he didn’t believe in any of that woo-woo stuff. He’d just ignore it, keep his head down, and work.
“Sounds doable,” he finally croaked.
Chapter 6
Cat ended the phone call and leaned back against the newly completed bathroom wall, smiling with satisfaction. “Guess what, Justin? Our supplies are in—a day early!”
He paused and grinned, his eyes crinkling behind his safety goggles. And son of a fast turtle, that lopsided smile did her in every time! He gave her a thumbs up and went back to nailing with relish. His black T-shirt stretched across broad shoulders, his biceps flexed with the weight of the nail gun. Cat could stare at him for hours and not get bored.
She shook herself back to reality. That’s not what she was here for, not while they were working on the mansion, and not after the job was done. She was leaving after this project, moving on to another. She was.
Two hours later, after yanking her eyes back to the task at hand so many times she lost count, a truck rumbled into the driveway.
By six o’clock, the new boards were stacked neat
ly against the high chain link fence. The tools went inside the house, and she and Justin heaved the spools of electrical wire into the back of his truck. No way were they leaving it onsite again. Justin fingered the wire while she signed the delivery slip.
“What do you say? Time to call it a day?”
Justin looked at the fading daylight surrounding them. “I suppose. We could work longer with a spotlight, but I guess that’s above and beyond the call of duty for you, right?”
She cocked her head. “For anybody but a workaholic. I’d like to take Bella for a long walk before the temperature drops too much.”
“Why don’t you come up to my place when you’re done. I’ll have this stuff unloaded, and we can grill a steak.”
She looked at him warily. Beyond lunch breaks during the day, she’d never really socialized with her co-workers. Or with anybody else, for that matter. But maybe it was time. “Just a steak, right?”
“Of course,” he said with a smile.
She waited.
“What?” he finally said.
She grinned. “I might need your address, you know.”
Justin blushed just as endearingly as she’d hoped. “Oh. Right. 126 Morgan Street. Top of the hill, veer to the right, then follow it up a mile. It’ll be on the left.”
Then he frowned. “I guess I’d better get some steaks.”
Cat tamped down her smile and called Bella to the truck. “I’ll see you in a bit.”
After a quick stop at Mrs. Vanderhoof’s to clean up, she let Bella lead the way down the quiet street. She loved walking in the twilight, watching the street lights twinkle on. This was the first town she felt safe in on her own—she even left Bella tied to a light post while she bought an apple pie at the IGA grocery. Her old city life would tug at her eventually, she supposed, but right now she couldn’t think of a place she’d rather be.
Cat finally wound her way up the mountain and pulled in to Justin’s driveway. His mish-mash of a house surprised her. The bungalow half clung to a soaring cedar wall filled with expansive windows, like a cozy cottage had met a magnificent ski lodge and produced an ugly kid. She rang the doorbell with her eyebrows still raised.
A little white fuzzball came dashing out the door, leaping and tumbling in its haste to reach her. Justin followed and scooped it up, reaching his head back to avoid being licked on the lips.
It was a dog, Cat decided. One of those furry little breeds that yapped, and definitely not the type she’d peg Justin for. What happened to the manly man?
The fuzzball finally quieted down, and Justin tucked it into the crook of his arm while he stroked its head. “Sorry about that,” he said sheepishly. “She gets excited about seeing people when I’ve been gone all day.”
Cat nodded, still curious. “Have you had her long?”
Justin motioned her through the door. “About six months. I found her by the highway just before Christmas, covered in blood and mud. Took her to the vet, got her stitched up, and brought her home with a cast on her hind leg. Silliest looking thing you’ve ever seen. But I never could find her owner, so she sort of adopted me.”
Cat put the apple pie on the counter of a kitchen in dire need of updating. “You’re a pushover, huh? Never would have guessed.”
Justin blushed. He was cute when he went all pink. “I’m not usually so, um, pushy,” he said. “You just caught me off guard, and I’ve got some situations that—” He broke off suddenly.
Cat looked at him sideways. “Care to elaborate?”
He shook his head, that delightful curl bouncing slightly.
“Oh come on,” she teased. “I told you all about my problems selling the last house.”
Justin clamped his lips tightly and turned to the fridge. He pulled two sodas out.
Cat would love to know what was going on behind those green eyes of his. Just what kind of secret was he hiding? But okay, she could take a hint. “So tell me about this,” she said, motioning to the kitchen—in dire need of an update—and the gorgeous great room beyond.
“Ongoing project. I got the addition done the way I wanted, but redoing the rest…well, let’s just say it got put on hold for a bit.”
More intrigue from a guy she had thought was pretty straight forward. She wandered to the front windows, the soda cold in her hand. “Wow, what a view!” Lights sparkled in the narrow valley below, with the mountains rising dark against the sky.
He nodded, coming to stand behind her. “It’s why I bought the place.” She could feel him close, closer than she expected. Something tingled inside her. “Don’t know why nobody else saw it, but it had been on the market a long time.”
She turned and found herself almost nose to chest. She stepped back. “You got lucky,” she stammered.
She was more flustered than she should be. He was just a guy she worked with, and they were only grilling steaks. She moved to an armchair anyway.
“Have you always lived in McCormick’s Creek?” She took a sip of cold carbonation, which helped greatly in cooling her off.
“Nah.” Justin shook his head and settled comfortably on the adjacent couch. “I thought I wanted more excitement. Went to live with my cousin in Portland the summer after high school. Winding rows of McMansions, all the same colors, being told what you can and can’t do to your place. And then the noise! Traffic, horns, gas fumes, music blaring everywhere, or at least it seemed like it. Everybody always pushing to get somewhere else, no time to just breathe. And no air to breathe! Asphalt and car fumes—ugh.” He shuddered. “I only lasted a month.”
Cat grinned. “That’s all I’ve known. I’m still getting used to the quiet here.”
He smiled and she caught her breath. “So you’re a City Girl, come to discover the great outdoors.”
“For a bit, anyway. But what happened after Portland? You came back here?”
He shook his head. “No, I went out to my uncle’s wheat farm in Eastern Oregon. Back to clean air. But I wasn’t cut out to be a farmer, either, and I was finally beginning to appreciate McCormick’s Creek. So I came home and started at the community college down in Albany that winter, got my electrician’s license, and I’ve been here ever since.”
Cat frowned slightly. “Is there enough work here for you? It’s not an awfully big town, and it seems …” her voice trailed off.
“Yeah, I know,” Justin said. “The town needs a lot of help, but I get by. And something’s got to change sometime.”
Cat wasn’t sure. There were towns that modern life just passed by, usually because the highway went somewhere else. But technology and business could skip a town too.
“Let’s get the steaks on,” Justin said. He stood and crumpled his soda can. “What about you? Did you always want to be a builder?”
Cat snorted, nearly spewing her drink all over him. What would he say if he knew her life story?
She’d spent her childhood getting by with an alcoholic mother who often put parenting to the side while she focused on the boyfriend-of-the-month club. By Cat’s teens she seemed destined for a career as a petty thief. She had a long list of misdemeanors to her credit—thank goodness juvenile records were sealed—but just before she dipped her toe into harder crime, Sam Hillers came along.
She smiled, remembering. She had thought Sam was ancient, but he had probably only been about 40 to her 15. He’d caught her breaking into his back shed, and the cops said the tools she had lifted could have gotten her a felony charge.
She’d never known what Sam saw in her, but he had come to visit her in juvie a couple times, and then became her mentor when she got out. He had taught her everything from hammering a nail straight to working a budget, and especially taking pride in earning her money. She had worked for him through high school and beyond, before setting out on her own three years ago.
No way was she sharing all that with Justin, though. Too personal. Too open.
Cat took another sip and followed him into the kitchen, figuring out how to answer. “I�
�ve been headed for construction since I knew what it was.” That was the truth, anyway. “Had an older guy named Sam Hillers who taught me everything. But I’ve always worked in a city, or at least the suburbs—it’s strange to be this far away from everything.”
“Hey, we have a movie theater and everything!” Justin protested.
Cat grinned. “I saw that. And a Chinese restaurant. What more could you want?”
“So, City Girl, you’re going to stick around?” He led the way to a wide deck and lit a massive grill.
She shook her head. “I like it here, but I’m a bit of a foodie even though I can’t cook for my life. Thai food, really good Italian, and there’s a place in Roseville with seafood that’s out of this world.”
He fussed with the steaks.
“McCormick’s Creek is growing on me,” she continued, “but we’ll be done in a couple months, and then I’ll be out of here and on to the next project.” Cat finished her soda, then leaned close as she tossed the can beyond him to a bin.
Another tingle ran through her body at the contact. She stumbled as she stepped back.
Justin whipped around and caught her arm. His eyes searched hers, but she was too flustered to do anything but pull away.
“Sorry, I’m a klutz sometimes.” She took a deep breath and tried to settle herself. “Anyway, like I was saying, I probably ought to start scouting out a new area next month, at least online. There’s just not enough economy to flip a house here, and I’d like to have some possibilities lined up when we finish.”
She managed to keep the conversation to general topics while he cooked, then admired his perfectly seared steaks and his mother’s dressing on the salad.
Cat’s pulse was back to normal, and she was comfortable with him again by the time they cleared up. Until they reached for the same dish and their hands touched.
Cat dropped her eyes quickly, trying to slow her heart, trying to understand the zing. But she couldn’t. She put the last plate in the dishwasher and grabbed her purse.