“I will, Zack.”
She tried to smile at him and failed miserably. He looked so unhappy, but what could she do right now? He didn’t understand what had happened, but she couldn’t explain it to him either. She watched in horror, as he looked at her indecisively and then bent closer and lightly brushed her lips with his. Oh God! What was she going to do?
“Take care of yourself,” he ordered her softly, if a bit gruffly, and then made himself turn to leave.
Chapter 5:
A New Chapter
May 21
Nine days later Amanda forced her reluctant feet off of the elevator and into the hallway leading to the renovation company. She wanted to meet with Zachary about as much as she’d like to contract a case of the clap. But she’d promised to come in and discuss the McGinty project, so here she was, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, or, rather, dull-eyed and sallow looking. As far as her illness went, she was pretty much over it, but still recovering her strength.
As far as Zack went, she had no fucking clue how she felt about him or why she felt anything at all. She’d spent the entirety of the past week vacillating over the idea of a relationship with him. For days now her heart had been dancing to The Clash’s tune of “Should I Stay or Should I Go.” Stupid muscle didn’t know who it belonged to anymore. On one hand she was desperately clinging to David’s memory, and, on the other, she could no longer deny that Zack had already claimed a not-so-small part of it, too. She just needed to decide how long and hard she was going to fight it.
There was no one at the front desk when Amanda entered and she belatedly remembered Allison was away on vacation this week. She waved and smiled wanly in greeting to the others who acknowledged her as she made her way down the hall. She paused outside of Zack’s open office door, quietly observing him for a few seconds. He was leaning over CAD prints and marking up changes, his strong brow furrowed in thought and worry. He tapped a pencil impatiently against the table.
Taking a deep breath she knocked on the door jamb to gain his attention. His head shot up from studying the blueprints and his eyes lit up. A relieved smile graced his lips and she suddenly realized that his impatience and concern had not been aimed at the drawings in front of him, but at waiting on her to arrive.
“Amanda!” Zack dropped the pencil and she watched it bounce off the table and onto the floor. He stepped over to her and took her hands as his eyes coasted assessingly over her face “How are you feeling? You look a lot better.”
She decided he was being gracious, because she knew she still looked like shit warmed over.
“You wanted me to come in and discuss the project?” she knew her voice sounded rather cold and stilted and could see the moment it registered with Zack. He sighed with resignation and let go of her hands when she tugged on them
“Yes, of course. Have a seat.” As he closed his door, he waved her toward a chocolate brown leather sofa set along one wall of his office.
He waited until she sat and then plunked himself down almost on top of her, reaching for her hand once more. She barely contained a shiver that ran through her body as his thumb caressed the pulse point at her wrist. After trying, in vain, to twist out of his grasp a few times she shrugged irritably and gave up, letting him retain her hand. His eyes crinkled in humor with his minor victory. With a roll of her eyes, she advised him that she knew his game and let him win, for now.
“Mr. Grayson,” she began.
“Oh, hell no. Mandy, don’t even go there.” His tone was mild but his threat clear. He wouldn’t tolerate the distance she was determined to keep between them.
To emphasize his words, he scooped her up and settled her on his lap even as she squealed in surprise and squirmed to get off. Apparently, cavemen were still alive and well. She wondered if he’d drag her home by her hair.
“Stop that or I won’t be responsible for the consequences. You don’t have a get-out-of-jail-free card now that you’re feeling better.” His arms tightened around her and her ass was pressed more firmly against his rising erection. “It’s time to stop running, baby. I’ve caught you and I’m not letting you go.”
She gasped as his lips met the column of her neck and heat flashed along her nerve endings. Her struggles to free herself were now halfhearted, at best, and a low moan escaped her.
“Zack, I don’t want this,” she breathily declared.
“Little liar,” he murmured as his tongue flicked over the hollow of her collarbone, one hand traveling northward to cup a breast and tweak a pebbled nipple.
“This is not why I came today” she tried to lodge one more protest, her mind still at war with her body’s needs and heart’s desire.
“You haven’t come, yet, baby, but I’m aiming to change that, too,” he replied with a chuckle. His other hand slid down between her legs, his fingers rubbing lightly along the seam of her dress slacks.
His mouth landed on hers and devoured, tracing over her plump bottom lip before slipping inside her mouth. His fingers became more insistent in their work and, for just a moment, Amanda wondered at how easily he found her clit, even fully clothed. But, it had been so long. So very long since she’d experienced, let alone surrendered to, this building feeling of ultimate bliss. The moist heat of his mouth, a pinch of a nipple, and the firm circling of her clit threw her into an unexpected climax.
He muffled her cry of ecstasy with his lips on hers. The moment felt incredibly right as she slumped against him panting for breath, Zack holding her close and sheltering her quivering body, until reason revisited her.
Pulling from his arms to stand on shaky knees was one of the hardest things she’d ever do. Pulling back her fist and punching him in his aristocratic nose one of the easiest.
“I did not come here to be seduced,” she ground out between clenched teeth.
“But you did come,” he snorted out amusedly while rubbing the bridge of his nose and blinking back tears in his eyes. “That’s some right hook you’ve got.”
* * * *
June 30
“Hey! Tom! Tommy!”
Amanda called to the crew boss over the din of the combined sounds of nail guns, drills, and table saws. “Can you give me a timeline on when we can expect the delivery of the roofing materials and the wood for the porch remodel?”
Tom Maloney’s head turned toward her, and he dropped his grizzled and graying unshaven chin, shaking his head in exasperation.
“Now, Miss Amanda, I keep telling you that everything is on schedule. You’re going to give me, and yourself, an ulcer if you don’t let up!”
He ruined his lecture by adding a belly laugh that shook his rotund stomach. Hitching his thumbs in his work belt, he crossed the yard toward her with somewhat of a rolling waddle. Amanda smiled at him, imagining him in a Santa suit. He’d be a perfect fit for the role, and was jolly enough to boot. He’d been an absolute dream to work with.
“Bert! Ernie!” Tom yelled at two of the men on his crew.
Amanda had thought he was pulling her leg when he’d first introduced them to her. Bert and Ernie, right, sure! But, sure enough, those were their names. No one got it when she had found it amusing, or maybe they were just playing dumb to get a rise out of her. She wasn’t sure how they could have gone through life oblivious to Sesame Street. The thing that really threw her off about the two guys was that their physical resemblance was opposite that of the characters. Ernie, whose given name was Ernesto, was tall, skinny, and had a dark complexion, while Bert was short, pudgy, pale, and at the moment suffering from a horrible sunburn. Ouch! She couldn’t help but cringe just looking at the poor guy. Maybe she should offer him some aloe?
Not gaining their attention he hollered, “Guys!” When that didn’t work, Tom placed two fingers between his lips and let go with a high-pitched whistle that had Amanda covering her ears and wincing in pain. Why he couldn’t simply walk over and get their attention she didn’t know, but that was how he handled his crew and as long as he stayed on schedule and ran
a safe operation she couldn’t complain. But, Lord! There were many days she went to bed with a splitting headache, most often compounded by Tom’s whistled exhortations.
Having finally gotten Bert and Ernie’s attention he gestured to them. “Get your asses over here! We need to have a sit down with Miss Amanda, to discuss where we’re headed with the load-bearing walls.”
While waiting for his two crewmen to turn off and put away their tools, Tom walked over to a storage unit and hauled out a hard hat. He came back and unceremoniously plunked it on top of Amanda’s head.
“Missy, we need to head inside, so I can show you why the owner’s plans are not gonna work out. Sounds great in theory, not so much in practice.” His words sounded gender biased but she knew that wasn’t how he meant it. He tended toward the brusque side, but had a heart of gold underneath.
He turned away and snorted in long and loud through his nose, spitting a huge glob of green phlegm to the ground three feet away.
“Damned allergies!” he complained. “Sorry Ma’am. My Dana would throw a fit if she saw me do that in front of a woman.”
Amanda wrinkled her nose but laughed lightly. “Tom, it’s not like I haven’t seen it before. I do work in construction, just in case you haven’t noticed.” Glancing over at him she raised her eyebrows and shook her head, simply saying, “Men!” and snorted herself, drawing a chuckle from Tom.
“But still, she wouldn’t be too impressed with her man’s lack of manners,” declared Tom.
Dana was Tom’s wife. She was a tiny whirling dervish of activity who ran her home, and her husband, with an iron hand, and she could cook like crazy. Amanda had had the good fortune to be invited over to their home for dinner several times a week since she’d begun the job a month ago. Actually, she’d rarely had any evening meal alone, which was astounding, since she was smack in the middle of nowhere. She had come to believe that was Zack’s doing, always watching over her, even from afar. When would he leave well enough alone? She wasn’t sure if she should feel cherished or managed.
Tom raised his arm and swept it grandly toward the house, gesturing for Amanda to precede him. Entering, she could see the framework for the new walls going up. The project was off to a good start, but it was going to take longer than Amanda had initially planned and she wasn’t too happy about that. The men were all pulling their weight, the supplies were arriving on time for the most part, but there had been foundation issues, termite issues, and a host of other problems large and small that Amanda was already tired of dealing with.
She’d caught herself wishing, more and more frequently, that she was working a project closer to the city, any city. This country, out in the middle of nowhere bullshit, was an everlasting pain in her ass. She loved the country, and the mountains, in and of themselves, but combining them with a project, and then coordinating the materials, and workmen to get them there, and get the job done was another thing altogether. She now understood why Zack wanted a constant presence on site.
Tom unrolled the architectural plans, laying the new ones over the old. Bert and Ernie stomped over to join them. Well, actually, their order of entrance had been Ernie, then Bert, but she’d never get the children’s show out of her mind, so it was always Bert and Ernie. A few times she’d had to stop herself before she asked Ernie if his feelings were ever hurt because he was always mentioned second. She could just imagine his response, which would probably be along the lines of a very confused look combined with, “Huh? No, Miss. Why?” She coughed to hide a laugh before it escaped.
“All right, Tom, what’s the problem?” she asked.
Tom, flipping back and forth between the old and new plans, wasn’t too certain about the safety of removing certain load-bearing sections of the old house. Bert and Ernie pitched in with their comments and suggestions as well. After forty-five minutes of discussion Amanda had come up with some alternatives that might work, adding decorative, pillared, yet supporting columns, therefore also allowing for the open atmosphere the new owner wanted.
“Let me speak to Mr. McGinty, and present the problem and the alternatives we’ve discussed. As soon as I get his approval I’ll let you know. It should only take a phone call.”
As she stepped down on the first step off the porch she slipped a little on the coating of muck that ran the width of the top of the step. She threw her arms out to catch her balance to keep from falling down the stairs, breathing a sigh of relief when she caught herself. Whew! She needed to have the men clear that. It was a safety hazard, especially to someone as uncoordinated as she was.
She called back up to house. “Tom, would you have one of the guys scrape those stairs? Someone’s going to get hurt!”
Tom hollered back he’d get on it, right after lunch. That was good enough for her.
As she walked away, Amanda heard Tom call for a lunch break and, within a minute, blessed silence fell over the rolling hills. Thank goodness! Some days got to her more than others, and today it was bad. She was feeling a little stressed out. She was missing home. She missed Diane’s ready presence. She wanted to have her friend over for a few drinks, not that Diane could drink right now anyway, but still, the premise remained the same. She needed to take a trip home for a weekend and check on her house, relax in her own space. This Friday. Whoa! That was tomorrow, she realized suddenly. She was going home, period.
She reminded herself that she and Di still needed to finalize the arrangements for the D.A.R.E. fundraiser scheduled for mid-August. Amanda had been handling most of the particulars through email and a few phone calls, but she always liked to sit down with her vendors for some face-time, just for reassurance. She didn’t want to fail the women and children who relied on the organization for aid.
Amanda had spoken with Heather, D.A.R.E.’s founder, several times and Heather had encouraged her to not sweat the small stuff. Heather’s inner strength, kindness, intelligence, and organizational ability sometimes made Amanda feel inferior. Heather had suffered a horrible trauma and had pulled herself together in the years following her multiple rapes, though she still didn’t handle being around strange men very easily. She hadn’t allowed herself to hide away, too much anyway. Unlike Amanda, who felt like she’d done nothing but hide since David’s death. If Heather could put herself out there after what she’d been through, then why couldn’t Amanda do the same? What Amanda had had to deal with was nothing compared to what Heather had gone through. The death of a loved one was nothing compared to having your fiancé and his so-called friends brutalize your body and murder your best friend in the process. Amanda shook her head. She’d never measure up to the emotional strength of others, she was such a weakling.
The day was hot and muggy. She felt a drizzle of perspiration run down her neck and between her shoulder blades as she raised her arm to remove the hard hat. The hat was partially a gag gift from Tom and his guys. When they’d found out a woman was heading the project they’d promptly taken a smaller hard hat and painted it pink. On the front they’d stenciled MISS AMANDA. They’d presented it, rather grandly, to her that first day upon her introduction to the crew. She’d taken it in the spirit intended and laughed. They weren’t making fun, it was just their way, and she could appreciate a welcome when she saw one.
Entering the carriage house, which had become her home away from home, Amanda stepped on the backs of her heels to pull off her work boots. She hadn’t bothered lacing them up, she’d just slipped them on and tucked the strings in. They were covered in mud from the recent rain and churned up dirt from the delivery trucks and heavy equipment. No suits and pumps out here in the boonies. Jeans, T-shirts, and safety boots were the norm. She had to admit that while she missed the city, she sure didn’t miss the suits, heels, and pantyhose!
She headed to the work area she had set up in one corner of the living, sliding into the chair while swiping a finger across the touchpad of her laptop. She popped the top on a can of Pepsi and took a cautious sip of the fizzing beverage while she dialed Mc
Ginty’s office, only to hear that he was in a meeting. She left a message with his secretary.
Hearing a perfunctory knock at her door she cursed under her breath, wondering what new problem had arisen.
“Just a minute, Tom!” she called.
She quickly typed a notation about the morning’s issues into her project spreadsheet, and logged the date and time of her call to Mr. McGinty. Another, lighter knock sounded and she heard the door open.
With her back to the door she brushed some loosened strands of hair from her face and said facetiously, “Impatient much? Couldn’t you just give me a minute? I have to get this information entered so I can send it to our great task-master, Mr. Grayson. You know how anal he is.” She added the last on a soft conspiratorial chuckle.
“He sounds like he’s a real bastard to work for. Perhaps you should come to work for me, instead,” responded a deep, gravelly voice.
Oh fuck! she thought, her face reddening at her latest OSM, as her eyes slammed shut with severe embarrassment and she gritted her teeth. She really ought to look before she leaped, or at least glance before she opened her mouth. When would she learn? Those oh shit moments seemed to be coming more frequently of late.
She hung her head and rubbed her face with her hands. Then, looking up at him, she pulled herself together and said with a sugar-sweet smile and innocently upraised brows, “My only problem with my boss is his deplorable habit of butting into, and controlling, his employees’ lives, and, let’s not forget, seducing them. What’s your take on that?”
Zack looked her square in the eye, quirked his very sexy mouth, and grinned. “I’d say it’s working.”
Dropping the act, he asked sincerely, “How are you, Amanda?”
Zack’s suddenly husky and very personal voice sent tingles down her spine. She literally felt it all the way down to her toes, which had actually curled, she noticed, flexing them. His question was laden with more than common courtesy. She’d been dodging him, and guessed that his unannounced presence was his way of dealing with it. She could almost hear him challenge her with a, go ahead and try to avoid me now! Well, as long as he was on site at least they weren’t alone, and she’d make sure they wouldn’t be, if she could help it. She bent back to her desk and took her time entering her notes, letting him cool his heels.
Amanda's Touch [D.A.R.E.ing Women] (Siren Publishing Allure) Page 13