by Leanne Davis
Even if I have to grudgingly give him kudos for paying the same wage either way. At least he is as fair to illegal migrant workers as he is to his legal, salaried workers.
Decency. There might be some decency in the man. After all, he raised a decent daughter. No matter how much I search for faults in her, I can’t seem to find any. I don’t know if what I told her is a lie, and my dick is doing all the thinking with regard to her. I must admit I’m taken in by a pretty face and smile, especially with a smoking hot, tight body. That’s what distinguishes her from her dad. And it pisses me off. It was never in my plan to like his daughter. Or become a pair of cute friends.
Fisting my hands and pounding on my steering wheel, cute cannot describe what I’ve become. I’ve just finished a cute, little texting war with Emily Hendricks. I can’t seem to stop myself. This isn’t me. But here I am, freaking friends with the daughter of my nemesis. I toss my phone away, feeling disgusted with myself.
There was nothing decent about the act Will Hendricks executed some thirty years ago. Nothing decent at all about that. It changed the course of my father’s life and affected everything he did afterwards, including how he treated me. All because of the illegal actions performed by the one and only Will Hendricks.
Illegal. Yes, but to what degree? How illegal was what he did in comparison to his perception of my being illegal?
Now here I am, ready to work for the very man who did this. I should be plotting sabotage on one of his jobs, or making him lose a client. I have to do it secretly, so he won’t suspect he’s being messed with. But… that’s not my plan either.
What the fuck is my plan? The daughter? Nope. Not happening. The job? I don’t know. How can I manipulate anything when she is there. Emily is always right there with me. We freaking work together. In all the scenarios I ever imagined linking my life to the Hendricks’s, I never expected to spend the next month working with Emily. We are doing the same job. The exact same things. It’s so incongruent to my impression of what his daughters would be like. Never working side by side in manual labor with me. I mean, shit! This isn’t even fun work. Crawling in and around confined spaces to install the duct work or lifting heavy equipment to the mounting locations is never easy.
We eat lunch together, too. Something I’ve never done before. Working a job like this and eating lunch with a girl is so rare. There aren’t many women working in this field. In the offices, sure, or managing the staff or even owning the business, but rarely doing the physical labor, which is what we do. She is strong enough to handle it, I’ll admit. I actually look forward to work just because she is there.
One evening as we finish up, she looks tired and I ask, “Wanna grab a beer?” I blink, surprised since it’s normally something I’d say to another guy. But there is nothing masculine about her, only my response to her. Even now. Her head is covered by a baseball cap, and her blond hair hangs through the back of it. Her face is smudged with dirt and she’s slipping the gloves off her hands and sticking them into her back pocket so they poke out. Her red t-shirt hem catches on it.
“Sure.”
We’re working in one of the office buildings downtown so we walk the few blocks to the nearest bar. She sighs as she lowers herself into a chair and we order. She takes a long sip of the suds and leans back saying, “I’m tired.”
I raise my bottle towards her. “You should be. We worked a few asses out of us today. I have to tell you, you don’t work like any woman I know, nor any boss’s kid I know, to be honest. Worked with a few who sat around doing nothing, and I picked up their slack just so I didn’t get my ass reamed out. Shit always seems to roll downhill, but with you—”
She clicks her bottle neck against mine. “I told you, I do what I’m supposed to, no matter what that is.”
I can’t help smiling. I’m impressed. “Still, it’s appreciated by those working with you.”
She nods. “I appreciate your work, too. Been with too many people who slack off and I can’t abide that.”
Our heads are tilted closely together as we congratulate each other on showing up for work and then doing it. More often than not, I’ve been screwed by family members who work for the boss, and was rarely rewarded for it.
“How much longer you going to do this?”
Her eyes lift to mine. “What do you mean?”
“Come on, the reason you left your fiancé and the wedding? Your unfulfilled dreams? Not wanting to end up in Ellensburg, Washington forever? What about your ambitions? This manual labor has to be worse than marrying Harrison Jencks.”
She stares down, folding and crinkling a cocktail napkin that came with the beer. “You’d think. But no. At least it’s mine. I don’t know if that sounds crazy. But whatever, this is just about me. I don’t feel trapped anymore. Not like I did with Harrison. So, go figure.”
I swirl the liquid up the sides of the bottle. “Yeah, I don’t know. Seeing you in action, I’m not sure I can in good conscience call you snowflake anymore.”
She stomps on my feet under the table. We are both wearing boots so it doesn’t hurt. I grin as she shoves my arm too. Physical woman. I grab her wrist and hold it. “Careful, or you just might get trapped again.”
I meant to flirt, but my tone comes out too deep and sounds too serious. I’m totally confused why I sound so… fuck! Strange. I don’t know. Now we are locked in a staring contest. Her smile disappears and her eyebrows drop downwards. She lets out a breath from between her lips.
“Ramiro…” My name comes out like a gasp on her lips. Her eyes are scanning my face and she leans closer. So do I. Our gazes stay locked on each other. I reach up without thought and cup the side of her face. Her eyes widen at my touch and I lean in further.
“Emily?”
The mutual spell we’re under is almost a trance and we both seem lost until it ends with the male voice calling her name. She jumps to her feet when she seems to recognize the blond white guy standing close beside her. She scoots back. “Harrison.”
Her eyes are huge and she pulls the hat on her head. It tips off and falls onto the table with a small plop.
I release my beer and sit up straighter. The kid is tall and strong. Nice face. Preppy clothes. His gaze scrutinizes Emily. “Why do you look like that?”
“Been working for my dad,” she mumbles.
“Working for your dad? What? Like actually working? Installing heaters?”
“Uh-huh.”
His gaze rakes over her before landing on me. “And this guy?”
“I—I work with him.”
I not only dislike being referred to as “this guy” but when the woman dumped his ass pretty epically just a few weeks ago, even if we were kissing on top of the table, he has no standing. Plus, she’s acting weird now. Almost tongue-tied. Kind of wimpy and, what? Embarrassed? No, not like I know her. I slowly rise to my feet. Harrison’s gaze slides back to mine. I scowl my darkest and sneer, all but snarling my teeth at him. I can look intimidating. Shaggy hair, dark skin, grubby work clothes certainly can daunt a conservative guy like him every time. He isn’t sure what to make of me.
“You got a problem?” I mutter finally when he keeps staring at me.
“Nothing to do with you,” he replies, turning towards Emily. His hand comes out to take her arm. His fingers wrap around her bicep and he squeezes the skin. He pulls her closer to him. She tries to shake off his hand but he merely grips her harder. He acts entitled, like he owns her and insists on having her undivided attention. Entitled, sexist pig. At least, I’m aware of it and don’t do it.
“Where’re your friends?” I ask quietly. Keeping my face neutral, my eyes flick around, giving him the impression I’m shifty and therefore, dangerous.
“What do you mean?” he snarls, annoyed that I’m interrupting him. His gaze lands on Emily again, and she has to acknowledge my question.
“Your friends aren’t here to harass her this time, so, what? You’re going to? Take your hands off her unless she invites
you.” I nod towards his hand and he sneers at me.
“Emily, tell your amigo here to go take a hike. We need to talk. You’ve ignored all my texts and calls. You really shouldn’t any longer. I need to talk to you.” He shakes her as he says amigo.
Amigo? He’s lucky I don’t wrap my hands around his throat. He’s still trying to contact her? Her gaze darts to mine and she pulls her arm back gently.
“Harrison, please, I don’t think this is a good idea. Look, I’ll just leave and—”
“No, no, your amigo here doesn’t want you to do that,” I say as I step closer. My anger is growing exponentially, and my mouth is compressed. My temples are throbbing as I imbue my words with a heavy Spanish accent to heighten the asswipe’s erroneous assumptions.
She darts a warning gaze at me and puckers her lips in disapproval. I don’t think she likes being rescued. But I don’t like this guy. I don’t like the way he lets his friends treat her and even though she handled it quite well the last time, she is a half a foot shorter than Harrison and me, and weighs significantly less than either of us, despite her obvious toning. She still isn’t a big person. I’d feel the same way if a guy friend were being intimidated by Harrison. It’s just wrong in my book for anyone to intimidate another. But when it’s Emily?
Yeah, my reaction’s pretty swift and strong so it surprises me. I go full cave man, wanting to rip out the jerkoff’s stupid, too blond hair from his head. Scalp him. Punch him. Maybe cover his smug mouth until he stops breathing.
I fist my hands. Why am I like this? I’m usually pretty laid back. I’d rather use humor and joke my way out of a tense situation. I prefer to avoid confrontations. But something like this? Never. Not at all. No.
“Um…” Emily gulps. Glancing down, I see she has her phone in her free hand. She’s clicking something. Harrison’s gaze follows mine. The phone is ringing on speaker and a voice answers. It’s her dad. “I think I’ll just call my dad, Harrison.”
What the hell? I almost take a step back I’m so surprised by her move. He must have heard and known it was her. Will’s voice comes out sharply, “Emily? Where are you?”
“Pine Crest Tavern,” she speaks loudly into the phone. She doesn’t cut the call either. Her gaze is now solely fixed on Harrison. She is challenging him. Wow. She’s brilliant. Once again, she manages to stop Harrison in his tracks, and keeps me out of it. Her dad. She called her dad, so Harrison is well aware of who is now on his way over there.
She keeps Harrison in her view. And finally, while glaring at her the entire time, he releases her arm from his filthy fingers. It’s slow and overly dramatic. He lets go of her with his index finger, then the next one and so on. He turns and shoves me out of his way. I push back and make him step off to the side.
“No!” Emily says and she immediately grabs my arm. “No! Ramiro please don’t.”
I’m breathing hard. The last altercation garners a few glances from those around us. I’m sweating, with unused adrenaline. I can follow him. I know I can take him, or at least, it’d be a fair fight. But Emily’s tugging on my arm. “He’ll cause trouble for you, Ramiro. No. No. He’ll… he could find out. You can’t let him know who you are. Ever. He’s that petty right now.”
Find out? I’m confused. Sucking in a deep breath, I shake my head to clear the fog enveloping my mind. Her words register along with her panic. I glance down at her. “What? Find out what?”
“About…” she glances around and rises to her tiptoes, tugging on my shoulder so I drop down closer to her mouth. Puzzled, I lean over and her warm breath touches my ear as she whispers, “Your lack of citizenship in this country.”
I jerk back. That’s what concerns her? I stare down into her face, seeing complete sincerity. She has to deal with that jerk on my behalf. She worries he’ll make enemies with me? Then what? Send ICE after me? “That’s why you called your dad?”
She nods, her face looking grave. “I know he’s afraid of my dad. He’d never want my dad to see him like that. I knew it would spook him and it did.”
“All to deflect his attention from me?”
She nods. “Thank you though, for taking him to task for my sake.”
I stare at her. “Of course.”
“But you shouldn’t do things like that. Don’t do things that could mark you on anyone’s radar. Lay low. Please, Ramiro. Promise me?” Her brown eyes are wide with fear and the sincerity oozes out of them. I swallow, confused by the lump of emotion her reaction for me causes inside my chest. I’m humbled by it.
Her hand is still on my arm, gripping my bicep. Our faces are very close. I turn towards her and without thinking, my other hand comes up and rests on the back of her neck. I bring her closer to my side and hug her. Her arms respond by automatically encircling my waist and she snuggles into my chest, even under my arm. She feels so small and slight against me. Her body is warm and feels so good next to mine. My lips brush the top of her hair. “You don’t have to worry about me, Em. I can take care of myself.”
Her head shakes back and forth on my chest and her arms tighten around me. “I think you’re underestimating Harrison. He is waiting to explode. He wants to get back at me because, I guess he’s thinking we… we’re…”
“Hooking up?”
Her head nods. I tense at the words and the images they evoke in me.
Before I can figure out the strong and unexpected reaction I have towards her, I see her dad’s form in the doorway. His head is swiveling around when he spots us. I let Emily go from my embrace as he strides forward. His expression is fierce. She notices him and suddenly flings herself at him before bursting into tears. He grabs her, holding her against him as she sobs. He pats her back. “Are you okay?” he asks while staring at me, with an unsure frown. He has no idea if I’m the reason for her tears or not. I stand back, crossing my arms and scowling. I don’t feel very nice either.
Her head nods up and down. She finally leans back, taking in a deep breath. “Harrison came over here and made a scene. I was afraid—”
“For me. She was afraid I’d beat the shit out of him and he’d later come after me for… certain things she worries about.”
Will’s eyes widen and he blinks. “Oh. I see.”
She whips her head around to me. “I didn’t think you would do that. I was more afraid of you being targeted in his crosshairs.”
Her dad nods. “That makes sense. Good strategy to call me. Fast thinking on your feet.”
“Why don’t you admit he grabbed your arm and held on for several minutes? He was not backing off, Emily. I don’t care what you choose to believe. He wasn’t. And you’re damn right I was about to intervene.”
Will stiffened. “Is that true?”
She wipes her eyes. “Maybe. He’s just mad. I guess he thought we were on a date or something and overreacted. He’s still very angry at me and—”
“And he intimidated you again. We’re reporting it.”
“No! We’re not. Last time, half the town gave me the silent treatment. They think I’m crazy. First the wedding, then reporting him to the police. I can’t do that again.”
Will’s jaw tightens. “Emily, this isn’t funny. Nobody has the right to grab someone who is weaker than they are. Just because he’s angry. He can say whatever he wants. But the manhandling? It isn’t funny.”
“It’s not criminal, however. And if you report it, all it will do is draw unwanted attention to Ramiro. He was just trying to help me. That’s not fair.”
Will’s eyes meet mine over her head. She turns around and catches my gaze. I shrug. “I can take care of myself. I don’t need protection and he can’t do anything to me.”
“Why risk it?”
“Because maybe next time, you’ll be alone and can’t get away,” I say sharply to her question. My tone is quiet to underscore how valid I believe the threat is, especially after meeting him. She tilts her head, considering my words. I know she’s listening, and I have her full attention because so often, I
’m not serious.
“I’m not in any danger. I mean… it’s Harrison.”
“No, Emily, it’s a very angry guy that you humiliated in front of the entire town. You not only hurt him, you also hurt his manhood. He seems sure of that. So no, it’s not just Harrison any longer,” I insist.
She shakes her head and turns toward her dad. “You know Harrison. You know he wouldn’t actually do anything to me.”
Will glances at me and then looks down. “No. I don’t, Em. I agree with Ramiro. I think his assessment is very plausible. And I don’t like those odds.”
She throws up her hands. “Well, what do you want me to do? Hide out in my room?”
Her dad shakes his head. “I don’t know yet. But I don’t like it.”
“And what you don’t like means what exactly?” Her facial expression is glacially cold. “I won’t walk around as if I’m a prisoner. Or did anything wrong. Or be afraid. I refuse to.”
“No, but maybe you need to be more careful. Why don’t we go home? Talk with your mom, and see what she thinks?”
She turns and collects her hat and purse, downing the rest of the beer. Will glances at me. “You want to come, too, Ramiro?”
I’m speechless at the invite from Will Hendricks. He’s inviting me to his house. My mouth opens. I have to quickly regain my composure. I nod. “Sure. Okay.”
He puts his hand behind Emily’s back in a gentle gesture to move forward and nods at me to go. I feel weird. I’m going home with the very man I came to get revenge on somehow, some way. And yet, I’m as concerned for his daughter as he is. And fuck. If he doesn’t respect that about me. He’s a damn decent employer. He pays a fair wage. His demands and expectations are tough, but again, he’s fair.
He’s not turning out to be the evil fiend I planned on him being. I hate him all the more for that.
And I certainly didn’t plan to feel anything for his daughter. The very daughter that got me entrance into his house is now the daughter making me hot and heavy over someone else treating her badly. It doesn’t make sense. At all. And I don’t know what to do with it now.