Mal nodded. "After you asked me to set up a computer account for her, Adam told me to make sure your financials were locked down tight. She steal from you?"
Reluctantly, I nodded. "A few hundred here or there. She thought I could spare it, and I could. I just didn't want to spend it on her drugs."
"Adam also said you paid for her legal fees when she was pursuing guardianship over her sister."
"Adam has a big, fat fucking mouth."
"He doesn't want to see you get fucked over again."
I leaned back in the chair and folded my hands behind my head. "I'm doing this for Winter, just like I paid those legal bills, just like I lied on the stand and swore Ivy would be a good guardian. I've always wanted to take care of Winter. I just didn't know it extended beyond that until two months ago. When I walked away from Ivy, I walked away from Winter. Do you know she spent all their parents' life insurance as well as the proceeds from selling the house to get Ivy clean? No one was there for Winter then. No one. But she's not going to be alone anymore because I'm here, and I'll be damned if I see her try to shoulder another of Ivy's mistakes without help."
Mal gave me a rueful smile. "I hear you, man. I admire that. I just hope this Ivy chick doesn't fuck it up for you."
"That's on me, though, isn't it?" It was more of a reminder to myself than a question.
•••
"What is it that you're building here?" Ivy asked. A few of the construction guys stared at her as we walked toward the office trailer. Maybe one of them would screw up the courage to ask her out and then marry her, taking the burden off Winter's shoulders.
"Multi-use building," I replied. "This is the office trailer. There's my desk, which you can use. The computer, printer-slash-fax machine, tool chests, fire extinguisher. A couple first aid kits. Refrigerator. Help yourself to whatever is in there." I paused. Was there beer in there? Shit, I should have taken that out. Hurriedly, I moved on. "Here's the filing cabinet." I slapped the side of the sturdy metal unit that Mal and I had hauled in this morning after he'd fixed the laptop. "And those are the papers that need to filed and organized. Put the bills in date due order, file any permits. The trade magazines can be stacked into the front shelves."
"Where's the bathroom?"
"Right there." I pointed to the two porta-potties outside.
"Seriously? That's so disgusting, and look at this shit.”
“Just kidding. There’s a bathroom in the back.”
She glared and me and then pointed to the mountain of half-opened mail. "How can you find anything?"
"I can't," I admitted. "Which is why I hired you."
"Aren't you worried some of your bills are in arrears?"
Arrears?
She lifted a few of the papers with one finger, as if she was scared to touch them. "What? I can't use the word arrears? One of my favorite drug dealers used that all the time. ‘Ivy, one of my clients is in arrears. Should we give him more time to pay or collect it now?’"
Great. She was hardly here longer than a few minutes and she was joking about her drug dealer. Maybe Mal was right, and this was a huge mistake.
"Oh my God." She slapped a hand over her heart and laughed. "I wish you could see the utter horror on your face when I said drug dealer. When did you become such a straight edge?"
"You really don't know anything about me," I replied evenly. It probably wouldn't make Winter happy if I fired Ivy only minutes after bringing her onboard. Winter was the only one who was thrilled with the idea. Everyone else thought it was the dumbest thing ever. But Ivy needed a job. That was one headache I could relieve for Winter. I was going to remove every little headache and obstacle until there was nothing standing between the two of us. First up? Getting Ivy a job. I wasn't going to back down now. "Your password is written down here. Memorize it, and then shred the post it." I tapped the yellow sticky.
"Shit, I can't even remember what a burger at a fast food joint costs, and I'm supposed to remember this?"
I bit down to keep my temper in check. "I'm running a business, and businesses require secure passwords."
"Whatever. Don't you think this project is too big for you? I thought all you did were like one bedroom houses over on the east side," she said and flipped her hair over her shoulder. It was an action she'd done plenty of times in the past, and it never failed to draw attention to one of her major attributes. But even as the motion drew my eyes to her hair, the blond locks had zero effect on me. I preferred the coal black of Winter's straight hair. It did make me look at Ivy more closely though. She'd curled her hair, and she was wearing a lot of makeup and a shirt that had a pretty deep V-neck. She'd get plenty of attention if she walked around the site like that. I had a niggling feeling there was something I was missing, but I couldn't put my finger on it.
I picked up the extra walkie-talkie and placed it by the computer. "If you need anything, press the button to talk. When it's pressed you can't hear anyone, so try to remember that."
"Are we just going to ignore that night?" She stepped closer, close enough that I could smell her perfume. I shifted to the side and then walked toward the door.
"Yes." I placed my hand on the doorknob, but before I could escape, she threw the bomb.
"This baby could be yours."
It was her aggressive and challenging tone almost more than her words that made me explode. "The hell it is. Have you told Winter this?"
"No."
"You'd better not because we both know I didn't fucking touch you that night," I snarled.
She shrugged, but she didn't quite pull off the nonchalance she was trying to project. "How else did I get pregnant? It wasn't an immaculate conception."
I had thought about that night a million times since learning about Ivy's pregnancy, and every time I replayed the events, I woke up wearing my jeans and a clean dick inside my shorts.
"Are you saying you've only slept with me since you got out of prison?"
"I'm not the type of girl to kiss and tell." She gave me a smug smile.
I thought about all the men she'd slept with and barely held in a nasty retort. "It's not mine," I repeated. "You better not break your sister's heart because you're jealous of her."
"I'm jealous." She laughed, but the sound was hollow.
"Yes. Sick green with it. She's got friends who care about her, a good job, and me." Maybe I wasn't a huge prize, but I was something Ivy had that she pissed away.
"I’m not jealous of my sister. I want her to be happy."
"Then you'll keep your nasty insinuations to yourself." I wrenched open the door and then paused, pinning her with a look of disgust. "You've been selfish all your life, and your sister, who loves you more than anything, has taken the brunt of it." She smoothed a hand across her stomach, the stomach that was supposedly holding a kid that could be mine. I tried to feel some fatherly excitement, but there was nothing. All the feelings I'd ever held for Ivy were dead. I didn't give a fuck that she was pregnant. "You're a liar and a cheat, Ivy. I don't believe you."
"It doesn't matter. Point is that you aren't the type of guy I want my sister with. She deserves better." Ivy dropped into the chair behind the desk and started sorting. "But you'll screw up, and she'll break up with you."
"What's the perfect guy for your sister?" I asked against my better judgment, angrily tapping my helmet against my leg.
"Someone real smart and artistic. He'd be close to her height so she wouldn't have to constantly be craning her neck to see his face." Ivy stretched out her chin. "He'd be a family guy, one that didn't already have kids with her sister."
The thought of Winter with another guy—any other guy—made me curl my hands into fists. I nearly broke the trailer doorknob off. "Funny how Winter has never once mentioned that she minds I'm taller than her. In fact, she's pretty damn happy that I can lift and carry…stuff."
"Probably because she doesn't want to hurt your feelings." She buried her head in the papers. The conversation may have been over for he
r, but it wasn't for me.
"I'm giving you an opportunity because I care about your sister and I want her to be happy. I've never had to fire anyone, and I don't want to start with you." I reached for the door and saw two guys walking toward the trailer. Throwing open the door, I called out to the guys.
"Come on in. Meet our new office lady. Ivy Donovan. She's single, guys." I winked at them and left the door hanging in the wind.
"Boss, you ready for the walk through?" Henry appeared at my side.
"Yeah."
"Got a headache?" he asked as I rubbed my temple.
I gave him a grim smile. "Gardening problems. Too much Ivy."
With a snort, he gave a nod of understanding. "That shit gets everywhere."
"You're telling me."
18
WINTER
I showed up at six to pick up Ivy. We were carpooling since Atra wasn't far from Finn's jobsite. I felt bad that I hadn't been here before, since I knew how important of a project it was to him. And I was worried. I'd talked to Tucker about it, and he said that a lot of people felt Finn would fail. He was too young and too inexperienced, and his uncle, the other half of O'Malley Construction, wasn't helping him. No one knew why, though, other than Finn's dad and uncle had fought about bidding for the project.
Given what I knew about the O'Malley mess, I suspected it had nothing to do with the project and everything to do with the O'Malley home life. But I kept that to myself. It was Finn's business, and no one else’s.
Finn was walking across the dirt-packed land toward the trailer when I drove up. He spotted me and immediately redirected his path to my car. I had to restrain myself from leaping out and running to him like some loved-starved teenager, even though that's how I felt inside.
Besides, watching him move, even walk, was a pleasure I didn't mind taking in. His long strides ate up the distance, and he was on me before I had enough time to appreciate the view.
"What are you doing here, sweetness?" He smiled, and my entire body warmed in response.
He leaned down and gave me a long, deep kiss that turned warm to hot in seconds. I forgot what he'd asked me, and when he released me, I tottered on my weak legs and smiled dumbly up at him for about five long seconds until his quirked eyebrow reminded me.
"Oh, I'm here to pick up Ivy."
"Right." He looked a shade disappointed but covered it well. Tucking my hand in his, he asked, "Want to see the project first?"
"I'd love to." The only other time I’d been here was that night, and I didn’t see much other than the inside of the trailer.
We walked over to the trailer. Ivy was seated at a big metal desk with paper sorted in big piles. Her lovely hair looked a little mussed, and she glowered when we stepped inside. "Finally, I can't wait to get out of here."
I gave Finn an apologetic grimace. Our plans to look at the property would have to wait. "Sorry, I was practicing on some pigskin today and time got away from me."
"Whatever." She stood and draped her purse across her body. "Let's go."
"How about I take you both out for dinner?" Finn interjected. He squeezed my hand. He wasn't ready to let me go, and frankly I'd been waiting all day to see him.
"No, God, I can't even think about eating." She patted her stomach, making Finn sigh. There was a dynamic here at play that I didn't really understand. Hopefully one or both would explain it to me later before I became uncomfortable.
"Why doesn't Ivy drive home, and I'll take you to dinner after I show you the jobsite?" Finn moved across the trailer and grabbed a yellow battered hard hat. "A little big for your tiny head, but it'll do," he said and set the helmet on my head as if his suggestion was a done deal. It slid forward and covered my eyes. He reached behind me and cranked something, and soon the helmet was just slightly too big instead of so big I couldn't wear it, kind of like the baseball helmet. He smiled, and I knew we were thinking of the same thing.
"I can't drive, genius," Ivy huffed from behind. When she’d taken the car the other day, she’d risked violating her parole. She wasn’t eligible for a license yet and usually got a ride home with someone since I had the car.
"I'll drive you home and come back," I offered.
"No need." Finn took the keys from my hand and threw them at Ivy. Reflexively she caught them. "I called your parole officer, and as long as you're going to and from work, you can drive." With that, he took my hand and led me out of the trailer.
"You called her parole officer?"
"He actually called me. Apparently your sister needs to be actively looking for a job if she's not currently employed. Her former boss called her parole officer and told him that she'd been fired, so he called Ivy and she told him that I'd hired her. He called to verify."
"Wow, Jimmy is a real asshole. Was he trying to get her parole revoked?"
"Don't know." His detached tone told me he didn't care either.
"You guys seemed tense. Do you want to tell me about that?"
"She doesn't want you to go out with me. Want to tell me about that?"
The grip on my wrist had gotten tighter and his footsteps a little faster. I had to nearly trot to keep up with him. "She's emotional," was all I could come up with. I didn't quite fully understand her hesitancy toward Finn unless there was something deeper and darker that had happened while they were dating that neither wanted to confess.
He grunted and then stopped walking when he reached an opening wide enough to frame four doors. "This is the entrance. It will have twelve-foot double doors in the center and two sliding doors for accessibility on either side. When you first walk in, there’s a four-story atrium ahead of you flanked on either side by the escalator bank. Escalators go only to the third floor. Elevators take you to the fourth. There's room for shops on the first floor with the next three being offices. Floors five through eight floors are residential." He was apparently very done talking about Ivy. He walked me through the stores that had committed and then out onto the back which overlooked the river.
"This is a big project." I hadn't fully grasped the scope of the build from the erected steel beams.
"Too big for me," Finn admitted. "I'd never willingly sign up for this."
"But you're doing it." I leaned against one of the metal support frames. The view of the river was beautiful on the ground level, and I'd imagine eight floors up, it would be even more spectacular. Once this building was complete, the units would fly through the leasing agents’ hands.
"I am." He cocked his head.
"What now?"
"You and Adam are about the only ones who've never implied I'm in over my head."
"Maybe we know you best."
"Is that right?" He had moved so his big body was only inches from mine, his forearm resting against the metal beam.
"Yes." My heart was in my throat, but I couldn't stop the words from tumbling out even as they exposed every feeling I had. "I've made a study of Finn O'Malley. He's easy going on the outside, but he cares deeply. He’s had the same best friend since kindergarten. He sticks by people even when they've done him wrong because he wants the best for them. He takes on projects he doesn't want because someone he loved would have wanted him to finish them."
His work-roughened fingertips made circles around my face. "What does Finn O'Malley think of Winter Donovan?"
I sucked in a shallow breath. It was getting hard to breath. "Finn likes Winter. He thinks she's a talented artist. Also good at kissing."
One side of his sexy mouth quirked up. "Nothing else?"
Tongue-tied, I didn't know what else to say.
"Finn more than likes Winter. That's a pretty tepid phrase for how he feels about her. He also thinks she's a kick-ass artist and an even better kisser. He loves her kind heart and her willingness to listen. He loves her sexy black hair." He ran a hand over it, watching the silky strands slip through his fingers. "He adores her beautiful breasts and her very sensitive nipples." His hand crept under my shirt to squeeze one of them tightly betwe
en his fingertips. "Oh, right there, huh?" he murmured as I gasped at the response that echoed in the lower parts of my body. "He can't stop thinking about how good she tastes and how he'd much rather spend all his free time with his head between her legs."
It was a good thing the steel beam was behind me because otherwise I'd have fallen, particularly when his free hand slid under the loose leg of my shorts to rub over my very damp panties. His fingers pushed aside the elastic of the leg opening and briefly caressed my swollen lips before diving inside.
"Mhhmm," I moaned and then shut my mouth for fear my sounds would travel down the river. His shoulders were broad, and I was small enough that it was possible no one could see me, but we were in the open. One of his hands squeezed and kneaded my breast while the other was between my legs, making me wet and hot. I wanted to climb around him and press my aching center against the hard shaft rubbing against me.
"Can you come right here?" he whispered in my ear, running his lips along the shell of my ear and then finding the sensitive spot around my neck.
I shook my head no and then yes because I didn't know if I could and I wasn't sure if I should. He took my confusion away by not stopping. He dipped his head and claimed my mouth. I rode his fingers and sucked on his tongue until I forgot where I was and the danger of exposure.
He took his one hand away from my aching breasts, dipped his knees and then lifted me higher. I wrapped my legs around his waist and allowed his fingers to stroke me to an orgasm, right there, in the middle of downtown for any resident to see. Thankfully his mouth stayed over mine the whole time, so at least my cries of happiness didn't echo up or downstream.
"Come back to the trailer," he said, his voice hoarse and gravelly. I squeezed him tightly when he pulled his fingers out. I wanted him to stay inside me.
"Why?" But I knew why. I read it in his eyes and felt it in my veins. I followed him, making no attempt to right my panties or the bra he'd pushed up above my breasts. His gait was uneven, due, I guess, to the massive hard-on tenting his jeans.
The Honda was gone, and the trailer was quiet and dark. Finn had me on the desk, a nipple in his mouth and my shirt over my head, before the door slammed shut behind us. I fumbled with his jeans, but he brushed my hands away and wrenched them off and then pulled his T-shirt over his head with one hand.
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