Page 9 of Working for Him

"You drove into town for this."

"I was already headed that way." I wasn't. She knows I wasn't, judging by the look she gives me over the rim of the cup, but she doesn't call it out, and I don't explain it either. Some things don't need narrating.

"Thank you," she says, quieter than the moment probably calls for.

"Don't read too much into it," I say, even though we'd both know I was lying.

"Wouldn't dream of it," she says, and there's a smile underneath the words that she's not quite letting reach her mouth.

We both stand there looking at each other, waiting for the other to say something. The noise of the site disappears from around us, and then I see her coming back to reality.

"I've got a report due to the city by Friday," she says eventually. "Shoring specs, load calculations. Riveting stuff."

"Sounds it. I wait a beat. “You could come by the trailer later. Pretend to check on the pour schedule again." There's a challenge in it, light enough to be a joke, honest enough that it isn't quite one.

"Might do that," she says before looking back at her clipboard, and I go back to my rounds. Nothing's been promised that wasn't already true yesterday. But something's shifted anyway, the kind of shift you only notice because the ground under it feels a little more solid than it did this morning.

I've got the uneasy, unmistakable feeling that solid ground and Rena were never going to stay separate concepts for long.

CHAPTER 5

Rena

The problem with admitting you're attracted to someone is that it's like flipping a switch you can't turn back off.

I've spent three days trying to convince myself that honesty would defuse the tension between Caleb and me. I was catastrophically wrong. Every interaction feels charged, every accidental brush of hands feels intentional, and I've caught myself staring at his mouth so many times I'm surprised he hasn't called me on it.

By Thursday afternoon, I'm losing my mind, hiding out at City Hall updating permit paperwork with Lila Moreno mostly to get a change of scenery.

Lila's been watching me struggle with the same form for twenty minutes before she speaks up. "You want to tell me what's going on, or should I just keep pretending you haven't read the same paragraph six times?"

"It's complicated," I admit."Hypothetically," I try, "if someone were attracted to a colleague they have to work with daily, what would you advise?"

Lila's smile is knowing. "Hypothetically, I'd say that someone needs to be more honest about whether this colleague is also the site supervisor who looks at her like she's the most interesting thing on that entire construction site."

"That obvious?"

"Only to anyone with eyes. Caleb Wyatt's been paying attention to you since day one." When I groan into my hands, she softens. "Why is this a disaster? Because you're attracted to a good man who respects you professionally and can't stop looking at you?"

"Because the last time I let my personal life intersect with my professional one, it ended badly enough that I'm still rebuilding my reputation."

"Fair enough. But here's what I've learned in small towns like this. Sometimes the complicated things are the only ones worth doing." She grins. "One more thing. Forge Creek men don't do casual. If he's interested, it's because he sees something real. They're all in or they're out. No middle ground."

I take in her words which land in my chest, heavy and significant. By the time I leave, the sun's dipping toward the horizon. I'm fishing for my keys when another engine pulls in behind me. I know it's him before I turn around.

"You following me, Wyatt?"

"Might be," he says, stopping a careful distance away. "Or I just finished a meeting with the city engineer and noticed your truck still here."

"You want to get out of here?" The question comes out before I've thought it through. "I'm going to Black River Overlook to decompress. You're welcome to join me if you want to keep dancing around whatever this is." I wave my hand between the two of us.

Something complicated works through his expression. "Yeah. I'd like that."

Black River Overlook isn’t as beautiful as I thought it was going to be. There’s one bench and a view that’s mediocre. But I know why he likes it here, it’s quiet. Forge Creek is not quiet, so this is a great place to just sit and think.

"Lila cornered me today," I say. "Told me Forge Creek men don't do casual."

"She's not wrong," he says, turning to look at me properly. "You're not subtle, and we don't do casual."