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Now I’m really frowning.
“To supervise,” I repeat.
“That’s right,” she says, one delicate eyebrow beginning to rise in defiance.
Why am I getting the feeling that this chick is about to become a real piece of work? I narrow my eyes on her, thoughts of her shower-soaked body quickly swirling down the drain. “Am I supposed to know who you are?”
“Are you the boss?” she asks.
“Damn straight,” I reply.
“Well then let’s get another thing straight. I’myourboss. And you should have been told that I was coming.”
I wrack my brain. What the hell is happening? I definitely had no clue that anyone was coming to the site, let alone this perky blonde bombshell with her fuck-me jeans and tiny towels. Her eyes are molten as they bore into my own and a glint of something dark licks in my abdomen. We’re staring like we hate each other. Fine by me.
I wipe my thumb across my bottom lip and flip to a clean page in my folder, lifting my flagellation pen over the ruled paper.
“Name?” I say gruffly.
“Harper Ray.”
And there it fucking is. I toss the pen down, nodding my head as I meet her gaze again. Her lips are pinched, fighting a smile, and her eyes are glittering with relish. Yeah, I know that surname. She’s one of the owners – or, at least, she’s one of the owners’ kids. The word ‘entitlement’ is practically printed across her forehead. Daddy’s given her a job to fill a blank space in her journal and now she thinks that she can crack a whip on my site because she’s a princess millionaire.
This is just what I needed.
I realise that Jason had probably been informed about this sudden check-on-the-inheritance family visit but forgot to share it with me on top of the million other things we’ve had going on before he handed me the reins. I roll my shoulders and decide to cut the guy some slack. Even if he had known that someone would be stopping by I don’t think that anything he could have said would have prepared me for this.
Forher.
“And you’re Mitchell Coleson,” she continues, fingers tapping agitatedly against her knees. Don’t think that I didn’t notice the little tremor in her voice this time. Like saying my name out loud… did something to her. My eyes fall for a split-second on her lips and she quickly wets them with the pink tip of her tongue.
“Yeah,” I grunt. “Mitchell or Mitch.”
She re-crosses her legs. I spread mine a little wider.
“Well Mr. Coleson, now that we’ve got introductions over and done with I wanted to let you know that Pine Hills is important to me. It’s my family’s business and I want to make sure that the team we’ve got over here is up for the task. I see that the exterior work has already been completed so I look forward to seeing the interior craftsmanship coming into play with the furnishings.” She sounds like she’s reading from an autocue. She pauses, her eyes scrape me up and down, and then she adds, “You know, if you’d like to think about continuing future endeavours with Ray Corp, that is.”
Dangle that ultimatum in front of me why don’t you. I can’t help the exasperated half-laugh that I breathe out in sheer disbelief.
“Is that a threat?” I ask.
“It’s just something to consider,” she shrugs, eyes on her nails.
“Right. Fine. Let’s get to the minutiae then.” Namely:what the fuck are you going to be doing whilst you’re here?“What tasks are on your agenda?” I ask.
She pauses for a beat, lips parted but with no words coming out.
Great. She doesn’t even know why she’s here.
“Listen ma’am–”
“It’s Harper.”
I swallow hard. “Harper, right. I appreciate the fact that this is your family’s business but you hired the right team. I’ve been doing jobs like this since–”
Now it’s my turn to pause. How old is this chick? Have I been hammering nails and hauling wood since before she was born? Please God tell me that that is not the case.
I lean back in my seat and choose to rephrase. “I’ve been working this business for a long time. This ain’t my first rodeo. Your property could not be in safer hands.”
