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But here she was, dressed for work, hauling her giant coffee thermos, and definitely not leaving town.
This was all Gunner’s fault.
She had been mentally prepared. She had been ready. She had accepted her fate!
And now she was heading to work like nothing was amiss. Like her ex hadn’t found her. Like he wouldn’t ruin the life she’d built here and anyone who got close to her.
She was a damn grenade.
“This is such a bad idea,” she muttered as she slid into her car.
The drive to work took half an hour, but today would be an easy day. Thank goodness, because she was exhausted from two nights of staying up thinking about a sexy shifter.
She’d tased him, and he’d still fucked her silly.
Hallie bit her lip against a grin. It had been an illuminating couple of days.
She couldn’t be in a bad mood this morning if she tried. That man had consumed her last night, and her body was still buzzing from the high of him.
At the jobsite, she parked her car behind the others and grabbed her hard hat out of the front seat.
Before she left the car, she picked up her phone and confirmed her counseling appointment for later. Just as she moved to leave the car, a text came through.
Can we talk? It had been sent from an unknown number, but she already knew who it was from. Derek had probably figured out he was blocked on her phone and was messaging from anther number.
Her stomach dropped to the floorboard of her car.
“Hallie, you coming?” Sam called from up ahead.
“Be right there,” she called out the open door, but then dragged her gaze back to her phone.
I just want you to leave me alone. I’m happy. I want nothing to do with you. I’m dating someone. Move on, asshole. Send.
With trembling fingers, she held her phone and watched as the little dots said Derek was typing. Her heart was pounding so hard!
A video message came through. When she clicked play, it wasn’t Derek sitting there looking confused. Gunner was rubbing his hand down the scruff on his face. “Geez, lady, you move on quick. It’s not polite to call someone an asshole when they made you come twice last night. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that message wasn’t for me. Just telling you good morning, and I wanted to tell you something.” The humor faded from his eyes. “I’m taking your advice. I’m going to apologize. I was going to see if you wanted to come with me. After counseling, of course. I remembered you saying it’s Tuesdays and Thursdays, and today is Thursday. Take your time, go to your bar, process, get your shot of whiskey, and then let me know if you feel like meeting the Warlanders. It’ll be ugly and uncomfortable.” He scratched his neck and rested his arm on an open window. Was he in a pickup truck? Okay, hot-boy. “Last night was fun. Not the talking part, I mean the fucking part.” The cheeky smile returned to his masculine lips. “You said you’re dating someone. Better not be. I don’t like sharing.”
The video clicked off, and she sat there with her mouth hanging open. It hadn’t been Derek who sent her that message at all. This was Gunner’s number. He’d gotten her number from the message to Bangaboarlander! Aaaaah! She stomped her feet in quick succession on the floorboard and squealed with happiness.
“Hallie!” Sam called.
“Fuck off, I still have five minutes!” she belted out, and tossed a middle finger up for good measure. The boys on her crew were ridiculously needy sometimes.
She aimed the camera function on her phone at her face. Before she hit record, she fluffed her hair and got a good angle. She hit record. “Hi, hello, hi.” She grinned. “Good morning. Ummmm, I thought you were Derek. I’m not really dating anyone, I was just saying that.” She grinned like a weirdo. “Okay, all that to say, I would love to go to your apology party with you. What should I bring? Wine? Beer? What do the Warlanders like? What can I do to soften the apology? We can be a team. Teamwork!”
“Hallie!” Sam yelled.
“I’m busy!” she yelled back, then smiled brightly at the camera. “Um, I have to get to work.” She reached over, grabbed her hard hat, and put it on her head. “Very important stuff to accomplish today.” She tapped her hard hat and cheesed at the camera. “Don’t miss me too badly. I’ll tell my therapist all about you. She’ll probably tell me to run, and I’ll ignore her sage advice. I can say with confidence that so far, you are my favorite mistake. See you soon.”
She gave a megawatt grin and stopped recording, then sent the video to Gunner before she got out and threw an empty soda can at Sam’s stupid head because he was standing in front of her car pelvic thrusting.
Boys could be so stupid.
Chapter Nine
Gunner watched her video for the third time in a row. God, she was so damn cute. He liked that she could be spicy and tell a coworker to piss off, then bring that bright smile right back for him.
That woman was trouble in so many more ways than she understood.
