Everywhere and Every Way(9)

His thoughts flicked back to the woman. Morgan. He loved her Southern  accent, a rich, sensual twang that stroked his ears and other parts of  his body. He'd tried not to smile at the proper way she stood before  him, as if she were a female David to his Goliath, with her eyeliner  smudged, mud on her skirt, and pieces of dog hair stuck all over her  expensive jacket. Petite, but she packed a punch with all those gorgeous  curves. He was so tired of stick figures on women, and as a rough  lover, he enjoyed being able to grab, lift, and position them during sex  without worrying about breaking them.

Huh. Where had that thought come from?

Her appearance screamed pampered Southern belle. Straight, silvery blond  hair. Big china-blue eyes. Pretty pink mouth. But she'd managed to  surprise him.

She'd called him Charming.

Damn, it had been hard not to laugh at that one. He deserved it, of  course. He rarely talked down to anyone like that, but she'd caught him  off guard and in a pissy mood. Even Sydney, who'd worked for him for  years, would never have tried that. Morgan Raines didn't hold much fear  of him-or, he suspected, most people. It had been a long time since he'd  sparred verbally with a woman who was that intelligent, too.

But it didn't matter. He wasn't taking that fluff job, and he refused to  be told what to do in his own company. Dealing with her on a daily  basis would be the stuff nightmares were made of. She struck him as the  stubborn type. Cal shook his head, imagining her fierce cat claws during  negotiations and the challenges of picking out every feature on an  endless search for perfection. All for a client he'd never really meet.

Why would she want that type of job, anyway?

He finished his drink and placed it back on the blotter. Had to be  money. Probably liked working for famous people and being involved in  the inner circle. She seemed to dress and act the part, with her  conservative designer clothes and her polite drawl and her confident  manner.

Charming.

Cal bit back a laugh, put her out of mind, and got back to work.





chapter four







I'm sorry, Cal. I decided to sign with someone else."

Caleb stared at Jet. This wasn't happening. He'd come over to Jet's,  contract in hand, to finalize the deal that would take some of the  strain off the business for the next few months. He kept calm, nodding,  as if this happened all the time. "Look, Jet, this is a big project. I  know I don't have the usual background in Green technology, but I'd  never take the job if I had any doubts. My architect finished up the  plans, and I know you're going to love them. Can we go inside and talk?"

Jet McCarthy was well-known for his work with environmental conservation  and was a huge investor in multiple Manhattan properties. He liked to  acquire land and build eco-friendly buildings, but this was for a  personal home in Harrington. He wanted a home base to commute back and  forth to, like so many of the residents in a town known to be Green in  other ways. Cal figured Jet had just gotten spooked over the massive  project, and he needed to be persuaded.

Even now, the older man rocked back on his heels, dark eyes peering over  a trendy pair of black glasses. He kind of reminded Cal of Einstein,  with his shock of crazy silver hair and compact build. When he got  caught on a thought, he'd just check out of the conversation¸ and Cal  never knew when he'd come back. The guy was a genius and was well  respected.

Shit. Cal needed this job. Bad.

"I'm not hiring anyone local. Decided to bring in some people I know who've done some work with me on previous jobs."

Cal looked him dead in the eye. "You don't think I can handle it?"

Jet dropped his gaze, looking uncomfortable. "Actually, Cal, I thought you'd do a great job. I feel bad about this."

Caleb frowned. "I don't understand. What happened to change your mind?"

"I got a call. Morgan Raines. She explained how the Rosenthals needed  you to build their house on a tight deadline, and we had a long  conversation. I've been looking to get more celebrity awareness  regarding environmental conservation, and they agreed to hold a large  fund-raiser for me. It was a win-win. Besides, my guys have done this  before, so it'll free you up to spend all your time with their project."         

     



 

The burning hot poker of anger prodded him like a matador bent on  torturing his bull. Caleb blinked through the red mist of his vision and  tried to salvage the mess. He gave a fake laugh and nodded, as if he  knew Morgan well and had been involved with the situation. "Oh, I think  you misunderstood, Jet. I decided not to take on the Rosenthal job.  They'll be working with another company, so no worries. I apologize for  the misunderstanding."

Jet shook his head. "I already made the arrangements, Cal. My team  arrives tomorrow morning. Besides, Morgan said you'd tell me that  because you felt bad and were trying to take on too many jobs. I think  it's best this way. You'll build them a tremendous house." Jet patted  him on the back, and his eyes got the familiar distanced look. "I'd  better go-got some work to do. Thanks again."

Cal opened his mouth, but Jet was already trudging away, lost in his  thoughts of spectacular visions of clean energy and recycling and saving  the earth.

Son of a bitch.

He was going to kill her.

Cal got back to his truck and drove, allowing his mind to contemplate  all the ways he was going to make that woman pay. Unfortunately, he was  afraid it was now too late to book the job. Jet had his mind made up.  The only revenge he had left was to show Morgan Raines that her plan had  backfired. Now he was more determined than ever not to take the damn  job, under any circumstances.

His cell phone blasted on cue, and he hit the speaker button. "Yeah?"

Tristan's voice clipped out, "We got a problem."

Caleb barely managed not to grit his teeth. The last time he'd visited  the dentist, he was told that if he didn't stop the stress habit, he'd  have no enamel left. "Surprise, surprise. What is it?"

"Are you close to the house? Dalton's here with me."

"On my way."

Caleb hit the accelerator and drove through town, wondering what was  going wrong now. He'd run Pierce Brothers without a hitch for the past  five years, other than dealing with his control-freak father. In a  matter of one month since his brothers had returned, they'd lost  clients, blasted through money, and averaged a fight a day if they  happened to all meet in the same room. In a strange way, Cal had thought  maybe being forced to be together would help them start rebuilding  their relationship. Instead, close proximity made it worse. They'd  always been an affectionate, roughhousing type of family, but after Mom  died, everything changed. Now they seemed able to communicate only by  yelling. Sydney and Brady usually played referee, and already they were  claiming exhaustion, refusing to get involved in future epic battles. He  bet his father was laughing his ass off up there.

Or down below.

He pulled up the driveway and got out of the pickup. Two flashes of  monstrous fur whizzed by him, ready to pounce, and he barely managed to  get out the command in time. "Stay!"

Gandalf and Balin froze in midair. Gandalf fell to the ground in his  dead-man pose, and Balin managed to get half a butt to the ground, the  other half wiggling madly. Okay, at least they hadn't tackled him today.  That must mean he was making progress, right? He leaned over and  scratched.

"Go play," he said, finding the sweet spots and grinning as their  matching legs thumped up and down in ecstasy. "Stay out of the mud,  though; I'm tired of using the hose on you every day."

Dismissed, they bounced away like they were two Chihuahuas rather than  giants and disappeared. Cal walked into the house, snagged a bottle of  water, then headed toward the office.

The faint pang of memory stirred. Other families went to baseball and  football games on the weekend. Other families took exotic summer  vacations.

But Cal learned early on that free time was to be spent at the building  site with his brothers, learning the business from the ground up. They  worked through high school, and after graduating college, each of them  returned to run Pierce Brothers and take their rightful place. They'd  never had a choice, but then again, they never questioned their future.  And his mother instilled pride in who they were and what they could  accomplish together, as a family.

Every morning, they'd hold a casual meeting in the kitchen over  breakfast. Mom had insisted that bonding over a meal to start the day  was critical to success. Bacon frying in the pan, coffee black and  thick, they'd huddle around the high marble countertops arguing over  ideas, laughing at his mother's bad jokes, listening in rapt attention  to his father's booming voice always lecturing on contracts, profit, or  potential clients.

The office was a place for cold, calculated business. The kitchen broke  the barriers and turned them into a real family. He may have sensed his  parents' distance between each other but never wanted to think about it  much. Because when they were all together, he'd been happy. Normal. Part  of something bigger, from the blood that ran in their veins to the  future of a company that bore their name.