by Lee Kilraine
“I didn’t tell anyone in the family. How did you—oh, the Grapevine.” He nodded, looking around for the waitress. “Figures.”
“Well, actually, it was the clothing that gave you away.” Avery patted the turned-up cuff on his forearm. “Everyone knows there are only two things that get you in a suit and you look too somber for a wedding.”
Cindee stopped at their table and slid a Guinness in front of him. He raised an eyebrow at her because it wasn’t his usual drink.
“I saw the suit pants. Sorry about your buddy.” Cindee cleared her throat and nodded before heading back to the bar to pick up another order.
Tynan lifted his beer. “To John Kyle. A hell of a soldier, but an even better man. Godspeed, John Kyle.”
“Godspeed.” Delaney and Avery raised their glasses with him.
Tynan ended the quiet moment with a shake of his head. “Okay, enough sadness. I had enough of that all day long.”
“Are you sure you’re good?” Delaney slowed him down with a hand on his biceps while she tried to peer closely into his eyes. “Because I don’t want this to hit you when you’re all alone at three in the morning.”
He grinned at her. “Who says I’m planning to be alone at three in the morning?”
“You might actually try a relationship, you know.” Avery swatted him on his other arm. “That goes beyond the bedroom.”
“Hey, it’s not my fault my brothers snatched up the best women first.” Tynan wrapped an arm around each of them. “Seriously, if I can find a woman as perfect as you two, I’ll grab her up and never let her go.”
“Sure you will. You, sir, are a player.”
“Well, he sure played me.”
Tynan looked over to see that his date from the week before had paused next to the table. A date that didn’t end well. Oh hell. “Caryn. You’re looking beautiful, as alw—”
“Rat bastard. No wonder you couldn’t perform. You were probably exhausted from spreading yourself around.” Caryn’s gaze raked over both Avery and Delaney before landing on him. “Player? Hell, you’re more like a gigolo. You’re welcome to him, ladies.”
Tynan opened his mouth to say something as Caryn walked away, but Avery gave his forearm a warning squeeze. Probably smarter. He’d made a mistake and a nice woman had suffered for it. Not his plan at all.
He reached for his beer but paused when he realized both women were looking at him as if he’d grown another head. “What?”
“Nothing. Nothing at all.” Avery raised her eyebrows.
“Unless there’s something you want to talk about.” Delaney waited expectantly. “I mean, we’re here for you, because there are some things you might not want to talk to your brothers about.”
“I’m good. Nothing to talk about.” Talk about his sex life with his brothers’ fiancées? Were they kidding? He shook his head, maybe a bit too vigorously. The frowns on their faces told him it was time to leave. He glanced at his watch. “Whoa. Look how late it is.”
“It’s not even nine o’clock, ace.”
“It’s been a long day”—Tynan pushed back from the table and stood up—“and it’s going to be hard to get up early tomorrow.”
“We offered to talk that over with you.” Delaney kept a totally straight face.
“Very funny.” He frowned, then bent down and gave them each a kiss on the cheek. “Seriously, I’m fine. And I do have to get to work early. I’m starting the library reno tomorrow.”
Avery snapped her fingers. “That reminds me. Sijan had to catch his flight back to LA, but he said to tell you he handled those interviews for you today, and he hired one of them to start tomorrow. The application is on your kitchen table. He said he left a message on your phone.”
“Okay, thanks.” Tynan left a twenty on the table and headed out to his truck and home. He’d been hoping to hire a couple of new guys for this job, because the library was a total gut job. Bringing the electric to code alone was sure to be a pain in the ass. Plus, he had a bad feeling that too much of his time would be spent dealing with the town council instead of swinging a hammer.
He’d escaped the bar without having a drink thrown in his face. Something he’d lived through once or twice, which wouldn’t surprise anyone who knew him. Sometimes he opened his mouth at the wrong time and said the wrong thing. He had a habit of saying whatever came to his mind. There were very few things he kept to himself, although he’d been hoping this thing with Caryn was one of them.
He wouldn’t have blamed her one bit if she’d tossed a drink in his face, but he was fine not having that story go roaring through the Climax Grapevine. He had also escaped without having to discuss the details of his sex life with Delaney or Avery. He was chalking that up as a win. And one new guy on the crew was better than none, right?
Leaning over, he grabbed his phone out of his glove compartment, where he’d stashed it before the funeral. He turned it back on and checked his voice mail. Three messages. The message from his brother Sijan, telling him about the guy he’d hired. He could use more, but not with the budget the town council had allotted him.
A drunk call from one of his squadron mates. Tynan had left before the drinking had started since he’d had a few hours to drive. Apparently, Wojciehowicz loved him, man.
He saw a missed call from the veterans’ nursing home. Crap. He’d probably done something wrong again. Last time they’d called because while they appreciated him informing the veterans about STDs, they didn’t think the Victoria’s Secret catalogue was a necessary visual aid. Please. The men were old—not dead. And he’d promised to bring a Muscle & Fitness magazine for the ladies next time. Whatever.
The final message was from his brother Kaz, telling him he now understood the dog’s name and they’d be over at Tynan’s waiting for him. Hell, he didn’t know what he was going to do about his new dog. He’d adopted him three months ago from the pound and the dog had become a regular escape artist.
When he pulled onto his driveway, his headlights cut across the front porch and he saw both his dog and Kaz sitting at the edge of the steps. His dog hopped over to greet him, sitting down about ten feet from him, unsure but wagging his tail furiously.
“You could have warned me, Ty. It took me an hour of looking to figure out he wasn’t hiding but had actually left my house. I’m still not sure how he got out.” Kaz stood up from the steps and moved down toward them. “He was halfway to your house by the time I found him. He moves pretty fast for a dog with only three legs.”
“Sorry. He’s been showing up at my jobsite, and I thought he was escaping because my kitchen door lock is so old.” Tynan squatted down next to his truck and reached his hand out palm up for the dog to sniff, which he did cautiously before moving to nuzzle his head under his hand. “Hey, Houdini. We’re going to have to talk about this escape act of yours, buddy.”
Houdini whimpered and licked Tynan’s chin. In the time he’d had the dog, Ty was amazed at his sweetness after all the poor dog had lived through in his short life.
Kaz stuck his hands in his pockets and looked the dog over from the ripped-up ears, the scars over his face and body, and his missing hind leg. “Bait dog?”
Tynan frowned. “Yup. From that dog-fighting ring they broke up six months ago over in Winslow County. Maybe I should cancel my camping trip.”
“Don’t cancel your trip.” Kaz jingled his keys in his pockets.
Tynan looked down at Houdini, wondering who was a bigger mess, him or the dog. He knew he couldn’t cancel his camping trip because it was the only way he could get through the anniversary of the darkest day of his life.
“I’ll just come stay at your place with him instead of trying to keep him at mine. It’ll be fine.” He gave a nod and headed down the driveway toward his own truck. “But maybe cut me some slack and change the lock on your kitchen door before then.”
“Will do.” He nodded, and then he and Houdini watched Kaz drive away. “All right, Houdini, let’s go hang out and review t
he rules of the house, shall we? Number one: This is your home; no one will ever hurt you again. Number two: We’re bachelors. That means I get to leave the toilet seat up and you can sleep on any couch or chair in the house. Number three: Dogs stay safely indoors while the master is away. . . .”
Chapter Two
“Well, hell, you’re a woman.” Tynan Cates narrowed his gaze at Lu.
Her new boss’s formidable frown had Lu second-guessing her plan. Then again, she’d already broken the eggs; she might as well go ahead and finish making the omelet. So full steam ahead.
“What gave me away? Was it the breasts? Because they aren’t very big and hardly get in the way at all. I mean, no more than your dick, I’m guessing.” Crap. How had Lu forgotten she yammered when she was nervous? “Not that I’m saying you have a small penis or anything.”
Tynan’s brows lowered and his gaze hardened. Whoa. Someone’s sensitive. No more talk about his penis. His odd-colored eyes pinned her to her spot. Two different-colored eyes. One an intense blue and the other mostly green with some flecks of brown. They were so unique it was hard to stop staring at them.
The photo in the paper didn’t do the man justice. It didn’t capture the energy that surrounded him. Or his size. He was big. And muscular. Just a hard, badass-looking dude. A man who looked like he didn’t take shit from anyone, and here she was planning to shovel some his way.
“Your name sure didn’t give you away or I’d never have agreed to hire you sight unseen.” Tynan shook his head and scowled some more.
She heard the annoyance in his voice, but she was a little annoyed herself. “Whoa. This sounds a lot like discrimination. Where’s a lawyer when I need one?”
“I’m a lawyer.” The man standing next to Tynan grinned at her. He reached out to shake her hand. “I’m Paxton Cates, the possible defendant’s brother.”
“Is that why you showed up this morning? You and Sijan thought this would be funny?”
“Pretty much.” Paxton winked over at her. She could see the resemblance: dark hair, square jaw, good-looking. Only this brother had green eyes and didn’t look like he knew how to kill someone seventy-three different ways with a paper clip.
Tynan shook his head and flicked the paper on the clipboard in his hand. “I filled out this form when you called. You said your name was Lou. And your voice sounded deeper.”
“My name is Lu. Short for Lulubelle.” Joe hadn’t called her Lulubelle since she’d kicked him in the shin in fifth grade, so that sliver of truth was safe to reveal. She cleared her throat and forced her eyes to meet his. Steady, like she wasn’t about to lie her butt off about everything else. “And I had a bad chest cold when I talked to you.”
“Sure you did.” The frown said he wasn’t buying it.
“Sijan said she’s been in a mentoring program over in Half Moon, isn’t that right, Lu? So why don’t you let her show you what she can do?”
“I know a few people in the business in Half Moon.” Tynan’s gaze held hers as he tapped the clipboard with his thumb. “Who’d you mentor with?”
Crap. All she could think of were the names of famous chefs. “Bobby Flay.”
Paxton’s eyes widened, but Tynan just lowered the clipboard and tapped it against his leg while he apparently ran the name through his mental contacts list. “Huh. I don’t know him, but aren’t you a little old for the mentoring program? According to your application, you’re twenty-six.”
“Late bloomer.”
“No kidding. Have you gone through puberty yet?”
“Hey, it’s really uncool and possibly sexual harassment to comment on the size of my breasts.”
“I agree. I was talking about your height, short stack. What are you, five foot nothing? The two-by-fours are twice as big as you. I can’t picture you carrying a stack of them up to the third floor.”
Well, heck, neither could she. “So I’ll take them one at a time. I’m excellent with a hammer and probably every saw you have, nail guns, glue guns, whatever. Name it and I can do it.”
“Tile?”
She’d watched someone tile on TV once and thought it looked a lot like when she made gingerbread houses at the bakery every December. “Sure.”
“Framing?”
Had to be similar to building up the layered tiers of a wedding cake, right? “Uh-huh.”
“Plasterwork?”
Pfft. Like icing a cake. “I’m your guy. Um, so to speak.”
“Glad to hear it.” He didn’t sound glad. “Okay, you get a two-week trial period to prove you can handle the work. Go ahead and grab your tools. We’re all meeting in ten minutes by the head librarian’s desk to discuss—oh hell, tell me those aren’t your tools.”
“They’re not my tools.” Darn it. She should’ve stopped at the hardware store, but once she came up with the idea of tracking down Tynan Cates’s smiling face, she hadn’t let anything slow her down. And she had this set of pink Martha Stewart tools her mother had given her for her birthday a few years ago. The best defense was a good offense and a really good lie. “Look, mister. Mine got stolen out of my car last week. Are you going to hold that against me too?”
“No. But if you can’t pull your weight around here, you’re gone. And the fact that you have breasts will have nothing to do with it.”
“That’s fine with me. I’ll just go wait in the library with the other guys.” She walked away with a stiff back, holding her breath in case he had rabbit ears and heard her sigh of relief. Wow, she’d heard that photos revealed the truth, but she was beginning to have her doubts. She couldn’t imagine Tynan Cates, aka Mr. Short-Flat-Chested-Women-with-Pink-Hammers-Need-Not-Apply-to-My-Manly-Man- Job cracking a grin without his face crumbling. He seemed just as miserable as she was.
Or maybe he was just born a butt-head.
* * *
“I’ll eat a box of 16d framing nails if she can do everything she says she can.” Tynan had nothing against working with women. Not that there were a lot of them in construction, but he’d worked with some who were more than capable of pulling their own weight. Lulubelle Swan looked as big as a pixie and as old as a Girl Scout. Could be the baggy overalls and ponytail made her look younger, but maybe he should double check her ID just in case.
“Maybe she’s down on her luck or leaving an abusive relationship.” Paxton shrugged next to him. “Let’s hope not for her sake, but this could be highly entertaining.”
He glared at him with older brother superiority. “You know, I’d like to see your face when some first-year law student gets hired to work on one of your big cases.”
That wiped the smile off Paxton’s face. “Fine. Fair point. So, if she isn’t qualified, fire her. But don’t go extra hard on her just because she talked about your penis. I mean, I know it’s a sensitive subject for you right now, but–”
“Oh, for the love of God, I had one off night, all right?” That’s the story he was sticking to anyway. If he opened up to any brother, it wouldn’t be Paxton. Not only did lawyers like to talk, they liked to ask pointed questions too. Nope, he wasn’t up for that interrogation.
Paxton nodded. “Sure, Ty. Hey, it happens. Although, if you want to talk or anything, you know where to find me.” He slapped him on the shoulder and walked down the sidewalk, turning right at the corner toward his law office.
Well hell. Of course it was making its way around the Grapevine. Reaching into the bed of his truck, he grabbed his tool belt and slung it on. He pulled the rolled-up blueprints from the backseat and paused, looking up at the old building. She was a beauty. On the outside, at least. Inside, the building needed work.
The town council had finally set aside funds to repair the damage sustained from flooding last year which, at a minimum, would require a gut of the entire first floor. Plus, the librarians had talked the council into upgrading the technology infrastructure while the walls were open. So, the books had been boxed up and a temporary library set up in a trailer a block over. It was a big job, but Ty
nan was anxious to get started.
Inside, he found his crew surrounding his newest hire. It sounded like she was getting a lesson on how to use a nail gun. Ridiculous. Any guy came in there and couldn’t use a nail gun, they’d probably shoot him with it. But there she sat, blinking those bottomless dark brown eyes through her disheveled bangs. Disheveled like she’d just gotten out of bed disheveled. No wonder the guys were falling all over themselves to be friendly. Couldn’t they see she looked young enough to sell them a box of Thin Mint cookies? Although that mouth . . . just damn.
Oh hell no. He wasn’t going there. Time to get to work. “Guys, it’s day one of demolition and—”
“Ahem.”
He narrowed his eyes on the sexy pixie. What did she want from him? He was sure guys and gal wouldn’t cut it. Pixie dust? Short stack? “Guys and Lu. Like I was saying, the first day of demo is always fun, but don’t anyone get carried away and get careless.
“Okay, I’d like Craig and Junior to start on the back of the first floor. Juan, Tom, and Cash, head up to the second floor.” He’d worked with this crew on his last big job and knew they were good. That made the pixie with her set of pink tools the only new hammer in the bunch. “Lu, as the newest hammer, you’re here with me in the lobby. Remember, we’re salvaging as much of the original trim as we can.”
Everyone nodded and scattered to different parts of the building, but not before smiling and encouraging Lu. Tynan shook his head, hoping the novelty of the new “guy” wouldn’t last long. They had work to do.
“I’ll start on the trim and you can follow up behind me ripping the drywall down. Can you believe this building originally had gorgeous plaster walls and some idiot contractor tore them out and replaced them with drywall? It’s damn lucky they kept the original trim.”
* * *
Apparently, there was something special about a plaster wall but darn if she knew what it was. She settled a sad, wistful look on her face. “It’s downright shameful is what it is, all right. Maybe you should report them to the builders’ guild . . . or something.”