Reid must have glanced over at the booth on the far left side of the club where Brooklyn sat with a couple of guys from work at least twenty times before he was finally able to get away, nearly an hour after he’d first spotted her. When he finally made it over there, she was gone.
“Shit,” Reid cursed underneath his breath.
Jarvis slid from the booth and clamped an arm around Reid’s shoulder. “Man, this party is fiyah. Can’t believe you rented out The Hard Court. Maybe I need to get my plumbing license.”
“It was a surprise party, fool. He didn’t rent the place out,” Donte said.
Reid ignored them both. He turned around in a circle, searching for Brooklyn. A relieved breath whooshed out of his lungs when he caught sight of her, off to the right, where the downstairs bathrooms were located. Reid quickly made his way over to her. Taking her by the hand, he brought her to a more secluded area of the club, away from the crowds and music.
“Hey,” he said. Fuck, he could hear the guilt in his voice. Why was he feeling guilty? It’s not as if he’d done anything he should feel guilty about.
“I haven’t had a chance to talk to you all night,” Reid said.
She motioned to the dance floor. “Well, you’ve been pretty busy. It’s quite the crowd out there.”
He shrugged. “Yeah. To be honest, I can’t remember the names of half of these people. Some of them I haven’t seen since high school.”
“But they turned out for your birthday. I don’t think I’ve ever known this many people in my entire life,” she said. “Must feel good to know that so many care about you.”
If he shrugged again she may think he had a tick of some kind. Instead, Reid stuffed his hands in his pockets.
“So, when you said you had something planned with your family… That was a lie?”
She held her thumb and forefinger a millimeter apart. “Just a tiny one. I did have breakfast with my parents this morning, so technically, I did a family thing.”
Earlier this morning. Which meant they’d spent the entire day apart for nothing.
Reid shifted from one foot to the other as he tried to think of something else to say. Alarm gripped his chest with each awkward moment that ticked by. He could sense them moving into a territory they’d left behind the day she asked him to join her for ice cream. He had no desire to return there.
Reid forced a smile. “Nice job keeping this a secret from me,” he said.
“Uh, actually, I only learned about the party yesterday,” she said. “Anthony told me about it when he came in to check on his vacation time.”
She didn’t know until yesterday?
“Shit, Brooklyn, I’m sorry.”
She held up her hand. “It’s no big deal. It’s not as if your siblings even know who I am.”
No, they didn’t. That would change right now.
“Come on,” Reid said, grabbing her by the hand. “Let me introduce you to everyone.”
“No.” She shook her head and tugged her hand from his hold. “No, Reid. That’s okay. I can meet them later.” She jutted her chin toward the club’s main floor. “Your family didn’t go through all this trouble just for you to spend your time back here talking to me. Go out there and enjoy your birthday.”
But here talking to her is where he wanted to be. This was his birthday party. And the woman he wanted to spend it with had been relegated to sitting in a back booth. He couldn’t allow that to stand.
“If it were up to me, I wouldn’t be here at all,” Reid said. “I’d rather be in our chair at the bookstore, reading comics while you worked on Dynamo Diane.”
“I can think of a few people who wouldn’t agree with you there,” she said, and Reid didn’t have to ask who she was referring to.
“Hey, if you’re talking about the girl—well, girls—who—”
But she cut him off, holding her hand up. “Don’t,” she said. “No explanation necessary. It’s not my business.”
Just as he was about to argue that he did owe her an explanation, he heard Indina calling his name, followed by a collective gasp from the crowd. Both he and Brooklyn turned to see Ezra wheeling out a massive cake made to resemble a collection of plumbing tools.
“Time to sing happy birthday and cut the cake,” his sister called, motioning for Reid to come to the center of the club.
“Go on,” Brooklyn said.
Reid looked from her, back to the cake, then back to her.
She gestured with her head for him to go. “They’re waiting for you.”
“Promise you won’t leave before I get the chance to talk to you again,” Reid said. But she didn’t answer. Her only response was a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes.
“Reid David, would you come on?” Indina called.
He looked to Brooklyn one last time, silently pleading with her to understand before he started for the main floor where all his family had gathered.
“Reid,” he heard Brooklyn call.
He turned back to her.
“Happy birthday,” she said.
A somber smile edged up the corner of his mouth. “Thanks,” he said. “Thanks for celebrating it with me.”
With that, he continued on to the happy faces and birthday cake that awaited him, pasting on a smile of his own. But on the inside, happiness was the last thing he felt.
* * *
Her eyes planted firmly on her computer screen, Brooklyn kept a laser focus on the database she’d been updating for the past hour. The trailer had been quiet all afternoon, with only the clack of fingers on the keyboard providing any respite from the weighty silence. Occasionally, a heavy piece of construction equipment would rumble, a car horn would blow, or someone would yell out to another worker in the field, but for the most part, those muted sounds faded into the background.
She wished a particular Holmes Construction employee would join his colleagues out in the field, but they were approaching the end of the pay period and Alex had left instructions for Reid to double-check the timecards. He would be in here until it was time to knock off for the day.
To say it had been awkward from the very moment Reid entered the trailer just after lunch would be the understatement of the century. The tension saturating the air around them was enough to choke on.
Brooklyn had been obsessing over just how today would play out ever since she snuck out of The Hard Court, about twenty minutes after her run-in with Reid Saturday night. She’d prepared as best she could for what she knew would be a strained, uncomfortable encounter. She told herself she would just do what was necessary to make it through this first day back at work, and then figure out the rest later. But an entire year wouldn’t have been enough time to prepare for the awkwardness of the brief exchanges she’d had with Reid today.
Saturday night had been a reality check.
More than a reality check, it had been the wake-up call she’d needed to remind her that when it came to Reid Holmes, he was in another league. One she didn’t play in. She’d allowed herself to be seduced by the fantasy that they could actually work, but seeing the parade of women glom onto him had put Brooklyn squarely in her place. They were in entirely different hemispheres, and she had always, always, always been just fine on her side of the world. Why she thought she could exist in his was beyond her.
But she was back to her normal reality now. She wouldn’t allow herself to be put in that position again.
As for her and Reid, Brooklyn still wasn’t sure how they would navigate their way back to the friendly co-worker relationship they never should have veered away from in the first place. He’d tried contacting her several times yesterday, sending five text messages before eventually calling. At first, Brooklyn had considered letting his call go to voicemail, but knowing how persistent he was, figured it was easier to just nip it in the bud. She told him she was busy cleaning out the closet in her old bedroom at her parents’—a task she’d been putting off for over a year, which turned out to be the perfect distraction—a
nd that she would talk to him on Monday.
But neither had done much talking today.
She knew it was best they just get everything out in the open so they wouldn’t have to walk on eggshells while around each other. More than anything, Brooklyn wanted to assure him she would continue to work on the Dynamo Diane comic for the foundation’s kickoff party. The comic had become so much more than just a favor to Reid; it had taken on a life of its own. She was excited to see it through to the finish.
But when it came to anything going on between them after work hours, the comic is where their association should stop. That’s what she wanted to tell him, but something wouldn’t allow her to say the words out loud.
The whirl of the printer knocked her out of her daze. She heard Alex’s chair roll away from his desk, then felt the trailer vibrate with Reid’s footsteps as he walked over to the long folding table that held the printer, scanner, and coffee pot. Brooklyn kept her back to him. She heard his footsteps as he left the printer, but instead of moving away, back toward Alex’s desk, it sounded as if they were moving closer toward her. And then stopping. Right in front of her desk.
Her eyes slid shut. She discreetly pulled in a deep breath, searching for calm. If she pretended she didn’t know he was standing there, would he eventually walk away?
“Brooklyn.”
Guess not.
She released a weary sigh—loud enough for him to hear it this time—and swiveled her chair around. She looked up and nearly flinched at the pain that struck her chest just at the sight of him. Some may consider him rough around the edges, but Reid Holmes was hands down one of the most gorgeous men she’d ever encountered.
“Yes?” she asked.
He shifted from one foot to the other, slapping his solid thigh with the papers he’d brought with him from the printer.
“About Saturday night,” he started.
But Brooklyn put both hands up before he could finish. “Whatever you think you need to explain, you don’t. It was your birthday party, Reid. There were at least a hundred people there, all clamoring to spend time with you.”
“I hadn’t talked to half those people in years,” he said. “My brothers put a couple of the guys from the crew in charge of invites, and they picked people who they thought I’d want there. If I’d known, none of those…those women…would have been invited, Brooklyn.”
It’s not as if she didn’t believe him. She could tell Saturday how uncomfortable he’d seemed as the three women each sidled up to him. But it didn’t change the fact that those women were the kind he was used to dating.
No matter how long she lived, Brooklyn doubted she’d ever quite get over the sting of witnessing just how right those gorgeous women looked at his side. They fit with him so much more than she ever would.
“I’ve been thinking about…well…this,” she said, gesturing to the space between them. “And maybe we should just stick to being co-workers.”
His head jerked back. “What do you mean?”
“I mean exactly what I just said, we’re co-workers. That’s all.”
It pained her to say those words more than he could ever know, but they came from a place of self-preservation. She had a healthy ego. She wasn’t over-confident, but she knew her worth. And she would be damned if she allowed anyone to make her doubt herself. It was better to stick with guys in her league, and leave Reid to the Destiny’s Child lookalikes from Saturday night.
She pointed to Alex’s desk. “Alex will want those timecards reviewed by the end of the day. You should probably get back to them.”
He looked on the verge of speaking, but instead, exhaled a frustrated breath and pivoted, heading for Alex’s desk. Brooklyn’s shoulders slumped with relief.
Her relief was short-lived, because a second later, Reid turned and stomped over to her desk. But then he bypassed the desk all together and came around to her chair.
Brooklyn stared up at him. “What are you doing?”
He leaned forward, bracing his palms on the armrests and getting right in her face.
“We are not just co-workers,” Reid said. “Me and Donte? We’re co-workers. Me and Anthony? Co-workers.” He pointed toward the door. “I’ve worked with some of those guys out there for over ten years, but I’ve never stretched out on a blanket with them in City Park, or stayed up texting with them until one in the morning. And I sure as hell have never kissed any of them.”
“Reid—”
“We’re. Not. Just. Co-workers. And you may not think you deserve an explanation for Saturday night, but I think you do.” He straightened and stepped away from her chair. Holding his hands out in a plea, he said, “I was put into an awkward position. I couldn’t just ignore those women, Brooklyn, but you have to believe me when I tell you that I didn’t want anything to do with them. I haven’t wanted to even talk to another woman since the day you started working for Holmes Construction. Even when I didn’t want to like you, I still couldn’t stop thinking about you.”
Her chest constricted with a bewildering combination of hope and uncertainty. He was asking her to believe in something that, until a few weeks ago, she’d never allowed herself to think was possible.
She wanted to believe him. Goodness, did she want to believe every single word he said. She wanted to cast aside all those cautionary flags imbedded in her brain, warning her not to fall any harder for Reid Holmes than she’d already fallen. To push away those notions she’d accepted as truth—that opposites don’t attract, and that the shy comics geek could never land the heartthrob.
She wanted to believe all those things could happen. But the potential for heartbreak was too great for Brooklyn to take a chance believing in that fantasy.
Her voice barely a whisper, she muttered, “Let’s just get back to work, Reid.”
“Brooklyn—”
“We have work to do,” she said, putting an end to the discussion. Then she turned her chair back to her computer and pretended the ache in her chest was a consequence of the soup she’d eaten for lunch, and not her heart breaking over what might have been if the world wasn’t so damn unfair.
As afternoon meandered into evening, the opportunity to think about the might-have-beens eroded to almost zilch. Alex had called midafternoon with news of a potential contract with a car dealership in Slidell that sought to expand to the south shore of Lake Pontchartrain. He wanted Brooklyn to start running numbers to see if it was feasible for Holmes Construction to bid.
She spent over two hours analyzing timelines of the various jobs currently in progress. Alex might not want to hear it, but unless he worked with several subcontractors, there was no way Holmes Construction could take on a job of that magnitude.
She was reviewing the list of HCC-approved subcontractors when she heard a throat being cleared behind her. Brooklyn startled at the sound.
“I’m sorry,” Reid said. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”
She sucked in a breath before turning her chair around to face him. “What do you need?”
He pointed to the clock on the wall above the door. “For one thing, we both should have been gone about forty-five minutes ago.”
Brooklyn glanced at the time on her computer, shocked she hadn’t noticed it was going on six p.m.
“I’ve been so busy trying to figure out how we can make this car dealership thing happen that I didn’t even think to look at the time.”
“I get it,” he said with a nod. He rubbed the back of his head, then brought his hand down to his neck. “Uh, I got a text from Alex a few minutes ago. He needs me to go over to the site on the Westbank for the rest of the week, so I won’t be here.”
Brooklyn only hoped her expression didn’t give away just how deeply that news affected her. Being in this trailer with him all afternoon had been as comfortable as sitting in a pile of red ants, but it was still better than not being around him at all.
She swallowed. “Okay.”
Reid shifted from one foot to the other.
/> “Is there something else?” Brooklyn asked.
“Uh, yeah.” He nodded. “About this coming weekend…”
Shit. The Comic Con in Biloxi. How could she have forgotten?
“The whole point of me going was to get ideas for the foundation’s kickoff party,” he continued. “That still needs to happen, but if you’d rather us not go together, I’ll understand.”
She was so close to agreeing with him, but her practical side wouldn’t allow it.
“That doesn’t make any sense, Reid. We can still drive there together.”
Just a few days ago Brooklyn had considered cancelling the second room she’d booked. Thank God she hadn’t.
“Is eight Saturday morning still a good time to leave?” he asked.
She nodded. “The convention kicks off around noon and there are several early panels I want to make sure I get a good seat for.”
“Okay.” He stuck his hands in his pockets. “I’ll be at your place at a quarter to eight.”
She thought that would be the end of it, but instead of leaving, he continued to stand at her desk.
She lifted her hands in question. “Yes?”
“I’m just waiting for you to pack up,” he answered. “Like I said, we were supposed to be out of here an hour ago.”
There was absolutely no way she could handle him walking her to her car.
“You go,” Brooklyn said. “I just have a couple of things I need to finish. Alex will understand that there are exceptions to the work/life balance.”
Reid continued to stare at her, a sardonic arch to his brow. She should have expected that reaction. The man walked her to her car for over a week in broad daylight. There was no way he’d leave her to walk alone with dusk quickly settling in around them.
She sighed. “Fine. Give me a few minutes.”
His response was a firm nod. Then he hooked a thumb toward the door. “I need to grab a couple of tools that I’ll need to bring with me to the other job site. I’ll be back in about five minutes.”
As she watched him walk out of the trailer, Brooklyn pondered the dejection she felt at the thought of him being gone for the rest of the week. She should be relishing having the trailer to herself. She could get twice as much work done without Reid here to distract her.
Awaken Me Page 17