Page 14 of Drilled

“I’m saying that she’s a client, Miller. Which means you should watch how you talk about her,” I said.

“Boring,” he rolled his eyes. “Sy, you agree, don’t you?”

Silas stayed quiet at first, like he didn’t want to say anything. But eventually, he gave in. “She’s beautiful. And funny too. She can handle Dax’s asshole tendencies just as well as any of us.”

“Hey,” Miller sounded indignant. “Now you’re just being mean.”

“I like that she wants to help out. And that she’s really smart,” Sy added.

“Those legs aren’t too bad either,” Dax said with a grin.

I knew with the next turn that I'd overtightened the wrench. “You know, Miller, sometimes it'd do you a whole lot of good to shut up. She's a person who's paying us to do a job, not some piece of ass for you to ogle."

Silas and Dax both stared at me.

“Boss,” Sy said. “You like her, don't you?”

“Don't be ridiculous,” I snapped, but I felt my ears heat up in panic.

“Nothing ridiculous about it,” Dax said, letting out a low whistle. “Damn. Never thought I'd see the day you got the hots for a client, Bear.”

“If you don't shut –”

“Guys, lunch is ready!” Lane’s voice carried from upstairs. My heart thundered in my chest, but her next words stopped it altogether. “And just for the record, I can hear everything you're saying.”

Shit.

5

Lane

Spending the day with the guys instead of working like I'd intended had given me a sense of clarity.

I hadn't expected to enjoy the labor part of Bear's plan as much as I did, or to feel as comfortable as I did. It was strange how that single morning managed to make me feel just a tad more at home than I'd felt since moving in here.

And maybe it was that surge of newfound confidence that drove me to corner Dax the next day, against my better judgment. But I hadn't forgotten what I’d witnessed between him and the two strangers. I hadn't imagined the hostile tension between them, or the thickness of the envelope he'd handed over. None of that boded well and it was just another source of stress I knew I had to eliminate.

Bear and Silas were still unloading equipment from the truck when I grabbed Dax's elbow and pulled him into a corner of the living room. He looked at me with slight surprise, then the same knowing smirk he'd worn when he was helping me with the sandbags.

“If this is your way of trying to score some privacy with me, I highly suggest you look for better locations,” he said breezily. “This isn't exactly inconspicuous.”

“Funny,” I said deadpan. But whatever expression I was wearing must've given me away because Dax's smirk melted off his face. “Look, I wasn't planning on saying anything before but I can't stop thinking about something. You the other day, getting into it with a man and older woman right outside my house.”

Dax's face soured instantly, like he'd just sucked on a particularly tart lemon.

“What you do in your personal life isn't any of my business, but the second it starts taking place on my property–” I began.

“You're right. It's none of your business,” he snapped, his attitude suddenly moving from playful arrogance to a coldness that caught me off guard. “I'm your contractor and you're the person writing my checks. That's it, got it?”

He didn't even give me a chance to say anything before storming off with a thundercloud over his head.

I didn't move an inch, stunned at the exchange that had just taken place. A flurry of emotions stirred up inside me, and instead of picking them apart and driving myself crazy with even more questions, I simply grabbed my things and headed for the safety of my office.

I let the chaos of the day wash over me from the second I stepped into the Daley, but it wasn't enough. I kept replaying the exchange with Dax over and over in my head.

It wasn't just the slight sting to my ego that bugged me. It was the nature of the switch-up. It wasn't like Dax at all. It made me think of Terry's practiced anger and how it was obviously a facade for something more fragile.

What was it that Dax could possibly be hiding? Bear had been so sure that he was a reliable guy and that his past was well enough buried to not come up as a problem in the present. And from what I could tell, Bear was a pretty good judge of character. He had an uncanny knack for seeing straight through the bullshit most people set up, at least when it came to me.