“Damn,” he shouted. He threw the pillow onto the phone, hoping it would silence the thing. It kept ringing. He rolled out of bed and grabbed it. Seeing Gabe’s number, he pushed the button to answer and yelled, “What?”
“You’re welcome, bro. Do you remember me dragging you home last night?” Gabe sounded bright and cheery. Zeke wanted to slug his brother.
“Nope.” He just wanted some caffeine. He was fully dressed, but the expensive suit was a wrinkled mess. He stumbled into the kitchen and shoved a pod into the coffee maker.
“Well, you were hitting on Marisol. I saved you.”
“Good lord. What was I thinking?” Zeke ran his hands through his hair and waited for the coffee to run through the pod.
“You weren’t. You said something about Dad and Sophie, and getting a demotion. It was all a jumble. You feel like talking about it today?”
“I’d rather die.”
“Alrighty, then. You know where I am if you need me. Your truck’s at Bart’s. Need help retrieving it?”
“Nope.” Zeke slammed the phone on the counter and winced. How had his life gotten so screwed up? He didn’t know exactly how he was going to do it, but he had to get out of that stupid job and start his own company. If he had to play the good boy with Sophie for a few weeks, he’d do it. He didn’t need to drink himself into a stupor again.
“Just do what you’ve got to do until you don’t have to do it anymore,” he said to himself. He’d deal with Sophie Malloy and Tucker Hart on Monday. It was Saturday, his weekend, and by all that was holy, he was going fishing. He sipped on the coffee and felt the caffeine waking up his veins. By the time he’d had two cups, he was ready for a shower and to face the day.
As he stepped into the shower stall, he realized his brother had helped him dodge a significant bullet. All he needed was to complicate his life with Marisol again. She was nutso, and he knew better. The last time he’d hooked up with her, she’d called and texted him for weeks after. She’d only stopped when she started dating a trucker she met online. That lasted all of six months, but it was enough time to make him realize he should never go there again.
Chapter Six
Sophie stopped at Rainy Daze for a large latte with a triple shot of espresso before going into the office Monday morning. She needed a boost to face her day. Dealing with Zeke during the best of times was difficult. She had imagined every horrible scenario over the weekend and was sure it would be worse. She arrived before the lights were on and was happy for a few stolen minutes of peace in her office. The computer screen saver with her favorite motivational quote stared at her. “The key to success is to focus on goals, not obstacles.” She read it aloud to herself and decided that’s what she’d been doing wrong. She needed to set a goal for this project with Zeke and stop thinking of him as her stumbling block.
“OK, you can do this,” she said and opened an Excel spreadsheet to organize her thoughts.
“What shall I do for you this morning? Bring your coffee? Polish your shoes?” Zeke’s sarcastic voice broke her concentration, and she jumped in her seat. Her hand flew to her heart, and she scowled at him.
“Don’t sneak up on me like that,” she said. “I almost had a heart attack.” She thought he looked haggard but still handsome as ever. She patted her hair self-consciously to make sure the bun she’d pulled it into was still in place.
Zeke strode in and came around her desk to stand next to her. He leaned down to check out her screen, and she breathed in the smell of him. Calvin Klein’s Eternity plus something distinctly his own. She sniffed to cover up the fact that she had inhaled deeply. Her mind went to a picture of tumbling in hay while being smothered with kisses. She shut her eyes and tried to concentrate.
“Blank spreadsheet? What’s up with that, boss?” She could feel the heat from his hand on the back of her chair, and it made her angry. She told herself, “He’s a step to my success; he’s not an obstacle. Now get to work and get your mind out of the gutter.”
“I start each new project with a list of things to do. I was just getting ready to begin. Why don’t I put this on Google Sheets, and you can see what I’m doing in real-time on your computer. You do know how to use Google Sheets, right? You know, it’s the online platform that people can share in real-time while working on a spreadsheet.” She wouldn’t look at him.
He thumped her chair and retreated. She told herself that she welcomed the release she felt when he backed away, but a part of her was disappointed. Her mind was so scrambled. She was afraid she’d screw up this job. Why, oh why, had Tucker thought this was a good idea?
From the doorway, Zeke left a parting shot.
“You know, this wasn’t my idea. I’m not any happier about working with you than you are to be working with me. I was hoping we could at least be civil.”
She swiveled in her chair to take a good look at her nemesis. He did look extra tired. There were dark circles under his eyes, and he’d worn jeans and a white Oxford shirt with no tie instead of his usual attire. She wondered about his weekend. Most likely, it had included rolling around in a king-sized bed with some woman with super-sized breasts. She made herself keep eye contact with him.
Her first thought was to say something smart about his offering to polish her shoes. Instead, she opted for kindness.
“You look beat. Are you all right?”
“Yeah. Don’t worry about me. Good old Zeke, always there to lend a helping hand.” He knocked on the doorframe and left.
She wondered what that was about, but didn’t spend much time on the subject. She had work to do. It was only a couple of minutes later when she noticed that Zeke had signed on to the program. She typed out a couple of ideas and was surprised to see him add some of his own. The most interesting and disturbing part of that was, the ideas he posted were great. Some she’d have written down later, but a couple of the ideas were fresh and exciting. She sat back in her chair and watched as he typed another idea into her spreadsheet.
“Damn,” she said. “Who’d a thought it?” Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad. If she could keep her libido out of the mix, this might just work out.
She typed into the next empty cell on the spreadsheet, “Meet with City Council,” moved the cursor down and typed, “Meet with County Appraiser,” under that, “Meet with Barry.”
Zeke called her on the intercom.
She picked up.
“What’s all this nonsense?” He was so loud; she could hear him from across the hall. She wondered why he’d bothered to use the phone.
“Come in here,” she said. “I don’t like being yelled at.”
He slammed the receiver down, almost busting her eardrum.
“Why are you wasting my time, and yours, with these people? We need to go to Dallas and meet with the client.” He made quotation marks with his fingers when he said the word client.
“Sit.” She pointed at the chair he stood behind. “Lesson number one.” She held up her index finger. “Don’t get in a hurry. Lay your groundwork.”
“What groundwork? I thought we wanted to get Walsh to build corporate headquarters here.”
“And why would they want to do that here as opposed to any of the other myriad bedroom communities around the metroplex?” She leaned forward and resisted the eye roll that was threatening to happen if she didn’t keep her anger under control.
Zeke stared at her but came up with nothing.
“I’ve been thinking of reasons we want the job.” He had been going at the whole thing from the wrong angle. If he’d put much thought into it, he’d have approached it the way he’d sell a fishing expedition to a potential client. He did a mental forehead slap but made sure he didn’t let his chagrin show on his face.
She started counting. “One: lower tax rates; Two: better deal on real estate…”
“Hence the meeting with Barry.” At least he knew who Barry was. The man was the local real estate tycoon. Zeke had a couple of contacts at City Hall but none at the cou
nty level.
“Exactly.” She nodded and held up a third finger. “Now, as I was saying before you interrupted with your stupid observation, Three: Better schools for employees’ children. That’s a given, so we don’t have to meet with the school board. Four: Best construction company in a one hundred fifty-mile radius. Five: Employees will have a better commute, no paid parking.”
“I’m getting the idea.” Zeke felt defeated. He’d never be the salesman his father wanted him to be. Sophie had this handled, and he would do good to limp along at her side to keep up.
“Can we finish what we started now? Do you want to stay here, so I can explain as we go along?”
Zeke didn’t grace her question with an answer. He simply walked back to his desk, sat down, and watched as she typed in more items.
When they finished the spreadsheet, it was time to get serious. Sophie was ready to make the first call to get the ball rolling. Instead of shouting across the hall, or using the intercom, she typed into the next cell on the sheet, “Come over when you’re ready to listen in on the call.”
She watched as her cursor blinked. Zeke didn’t reply, and he didn’t come into her office. She got up from her desk and poked her head out into the hallway. Zeke stood a couple of doors down with a cup of coffee in his hand. His full attention was on Robin, the newest intern. Sophie rolled her eyes. “I should have known better than to think this would go smoothly,” she thought. She decided it was an excellent time to get some more coffee and happened to knock into Zeke on her way past him.
“Hey,” he said. He held his cup up to keep from spilling the hot liquid, but Sophie kept walking as if she didn’t hear him at all.
She was seething by the time she got to the coffee pot.
“What was that about?” Zeke asked. He had snuck up on her once again. She turned to face him and wanted to read him the riot act. Instead, she let out a breath and beamed a smile at him.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she said. “As soon as I get this, I’ll be making the call. If you’re not too busy flirting with the interns, you might want to come and listen. You may even learn something.” She poured coffee, added cream and sugar, and marched away. She was so busy being upset; she missed the confused look on Zeke’s face.
He shook his head and followed in her wake. He’d never understand women in a million years.
##
The phone call was a success, and their first appointment was the next day. Zeke realized they'd be spending a lot of time together. He wasn't sure he was up for dealing with Sophie's attitude. She'd always been irritable with him, but her level of rudeness had spiked considerably since his father put them into this situation together. He was determined to make the best of it. He'd learn from her and show Tucker what he was made of. He was tired of being underestimated. Although, he was confident that he'd never live up to his father's expectations. The old man had made that clear by the time Zeke was seven years old. He wondered why he was still trying.
For the remainder of his day, Zeke worked on the company website. He was giving it a complete overhaul. No one had asked him to do it. He'd taken the task upon himself after looking into other sites for construction firms. He used the ideas Sophie had given him and started looking at it from the potential client's point of view. He wanted to make it easy to navigate, appealing to the eye, and informative. So, what if no one else cared? He had his own values. He refused to let his mind wander across the hall to the beautiful woman Soph had become. She didn't like him. Never had. Never would. He might as well get any thoughts out of his head of taking her hair down from the tight bun and nuzzling that long, ivory neck.
She was most definitely in the friend category, if that. Her prickly nature would typically present a challenge for Zeke, who liked a spunky partner, but she'd made it clear that she was far from enamored with him. She seemed to lump all the Harts into the same category. He'd watched her grow into a capable, stunning woman, but she still thought of him as the boy who chased her around the schoolyard and got her clothes dirty by tackling her. He knew he was much different from that little boy, but it wasn't worth it to try to convince her of that.
He stared out at the river and reminded himself that he had work to do. His computer dinged with an incoming email. He turned his attention back to the job at hand. His concentration was so deep that time slipped by quickly.
"See you in the morning," Sophie said. She was in his doorway. Her bun had slipped and stray hair skimmed her shoulders. Her makeup was almost completely gone, but she didn't need it. He'd always liked a more natural look on women. Her clothes were immaculate except for one spot of ink on her left cuff.
"Want me to pick up coffee in the morning, boss?" The sarcasm rolled out of his mouth to cover the emotion moving around in his stomach. She didn't need to know how she affected him.
"I can get my own coffee," she said. "Just be here on time for once." She turned, and he could hear the sound of her heels clicking down the hall. It took all he had to not get up and watch. He'd seen her from behind on more than one occasion, so he closed his eyes and recalled her beautiful figure. When the sound of her heels started down the stairs, he turned back to his work.
"Get your head out of the clouds, son," he said in a perfect imitation of his father's voice. After several minutes of trying, he gave up, closed down his computer and left the building. He hadn't fully recovered from his night at Bart's Bar. He knew he was getting too old to pull stunts like that, but the thought of weeks working so close to Sophie had him wanting another drink. He took out his phone and called Nat.
"What's up?" Nat asked. Dogs barked in the background, as usual.
"You done for the day?"
"Finishing up right now."
"Dinner?" Zeke heard cages rattling. His brother's dog training business was taking off better than any of them had imagined. He felt pride mixed with envy. Why had Tucker given Nat a free pass? The man had even backed Nat's enterprise with cash. What was so much better about dogs than fishing expeditions? People paid good money to use a fine boat and be taken to the best spots. He shook his head when he realized he hadn't heard what Nat said.
"Sorry, what?"
"Rainy Daze. Gabe says she's got some new dessert that he wants to try. We're meeting at seven. See you there?"
"Yeah, that works." Zeke clicked off. Rainy was always changing her menu. He thought it would be nice to have something stay the same in this town.
"Oh, hell," he said to himself. "You're just becoming a grumpy old man. Some studio will probably come to town and make a film about you and your sorry attitude." He slid behind the wheel of his F-350 Ford and roared out of the parking lot.
Chapter Seven
The day had come. Sophie managed to get half the town on board with their project. Zeke was impressed with her business acumen. He’d sat through meetings with her as she’d fended off dirty old men, surly government employees, ego-driven politicians who needed special hand-holding, and all with her head held high. She looked great too. He’d always thought she had great legs, but he was starting to appreciate the whole package. As they got into her car after a particularly unpleasant meeting, he decided he had to say something.
“You’re amazing,” he blurted out as she slid into her seat and closed the door.
“Don’t start,” she said without looking at him. She turned the key, and the engine roared to life. Zeke was constantly surprised at the Mini-Cooper’s power.
“I’m serious, Soph.”
“My name is Sophie. Are you too lazy to say the whole thing, or what?”
“Think of it as a term of endearment.” He’d tried. He gazed out the window as the familiar sights of Hartford whizzed past.
While he was distracted, Sophie stole a glance. He was serious. She hadn’t expected a compliment.
“I don’t know why I’m so hard to get along with. You’re doing a good job, and all I’ve done is lecture you. Sorry. Truce?”
He turn
ed his head and nodded. “Truce. I never wanted to fight, Sophie. I mean it. You’re good at this job. I can see why Tucker wanted me to learn from you.”
She snorted.
“What?”
“It’s a little insulting. Don’t you think? To both of us, I mean.”
“Well, yeah. That’s my father, though, so…”
“Not surprising?”
“Exactly.”
“Tell me why you call him Tucker,” Sophie said, keeping her eyes on the road.
“He hates it, so I do it.”
“Ah. I see. You like poking the bear,” she said with a nod.
They were coming up to the Pizza Palace, and Zeke’s stomach grumbled.
“You hungry over there?” Sophie asked. He nodded.
“Pizza OK?”
“Yep.” He smiled as she turned into the parking lot.
“I’m buying,” he said. He was getting out of the car before she had it in park. She followed him in and waved at Mabel.
“Double pepperoni, onions, mushrooms, and green pepper, coming up,” Mabel said. Then she turned to Sophie and said, “Margherita for you today?”
“Make that one pie with half for me, half for Sophie.” Zeke slid into his favorite booth and watched Sophie slide gracefully into the seat across from him. She seemed to be at a loss for words. He hadn’t witnessed that in years.
“So,” she began. She cast her eyes around the room as if looking for the correct words. “Why do you think your father did this to us?” It was a question that had been knocking around in her mind ever since that fateful meeting.
“I think he truly wants me to live up to the position he gave me.”
“Well, yeah.” She spread her hands to indicate that she knew he’d stated the obvious.
“It’s just that; he knows I don’t want the position. He thinks that us getting this job will get me excited, and that will make me want to do more.” Mabel brought a root beer for Zeke and a Diet Coke for Sophie. She didn’t linger. The usual lunch crowd filled the place.
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