His step was quick and in two seconds, screwdriver or no screwdriver, he was standing directly in front of her. “Now that’s where you’re wrong. And since I prefer that the men didn’t see us at odds with each other, I suggest we take this discussion elsewhere.”
“Not interested,” she said, already turning back around.
“Get interested. Let’s go.”
Before she could utter the next word, he grabbed her forearm and began tugging her along with him. She was grateful the men were too busy installing Marcella’s granite countertops to give her or Bas the time of day. But still…
“Turn me loose,” she warned him through clenched teeth. “Or you’ll find out just how it feels to really get screwed.”
That statement did the trick and he immediately dropped his hand from her arm. She was too ashamed to admit that her arm felt warm and tingly in the spot his fingers had been.
“We can use my car to go somewhere quiet.”
His words reclaimed her attention and she stopped dead in her tracks. “Excuse me, but I’m not going anywhere with you. I have work to do.”
His dark gaze clashed with hers. “Your work can wait. You owe me an explanation and I intend to get one. Have you forgotten that I’m also an owner in this company?” he asked tightly.
“A mere technicality. I’m buying you out just like I’m buying Leah out.”
His lips twitched and it was hard to tell if it was due to anger or amusement. She got her answer when he said, “I never agreed to sell my part of this company to you. In fact I’m giving serious thought to keeping it. I just might go so far as to talk to your sister about purchasing her share and be willing to match generously any offer you make. Then, just think, Jocelyn, if that happens, we’ll become equal partners.”
Jocelyn tipped her head. She could feel the steam coming out of her ears. Her hand, still holding the screwdriver, itched. She’d never been a violent person but Bas was putting some mighty mean thoughts into her head right now. If he planned to become an equal partner with her, then he had another thought coming.
“Now that I have your attention,” he said, looking down at her, “I think we need to go some place and talk.”
Irritated, annoyed and angered beyond belief, Jocelyn expelled a deep breath. “Fine,” she snapped. “We’ll go somewhere to talk. But we’ll take my truck.”
Without giving him a chance to say anything, she turned and walked to where her truck was parked. And just as sure as she heard his footsteps right behind her, she knew that she had underestimated Sebastian Steele. It would never happen again.
“Just where the hell are you taking me?”
When Jocelyn brought the car to a traffic light, she tilted her head to one side and stared at Bas. Glared at him was more like it. “Not where I really want to take you, trust me.”
Bas frowned. He’d never like smart-mouthed women.
“You wanted to talk so I’m taking you someplace where we can talk.” She gave him a smile. It was polite and phony all rolled into one.
Bas’s eyes narrowed. Not only did he not like smart-mouthed women, he liked even less women who thought they had the upper hand. “We don’t have to go anywhere in particular,” he decided to say, especially when he saw that damn screwdriver beside her on the seat. “We can talk just fine right now.”
“Not while I’m driving, we can’t,” she said, rounding a corner on two wheels. And if that wasn’t bad enough, she stepped on the gas to pass a speeding truck.
Bas had the good sense to reach out and spread his hands palms down against the dash. “Slow down. Are you trying to get us killed?”
She let out a short laugh that let him know she was still pretty pissed. “Now why would I want to do that?”
Yes, why indeed, Bas thought as he tested the shoulder harness of his seat belt. Okay, so maybe he should not have threatened to buy her sister’s share—not that he had any intention of doing it anyway. There was one thing he and his brothers would not tolerate and that was anyone trying to come between them, whether it involved a business deal or otherwise. And there was no way he would have caused problems between Jocelyn and Leah by doing that same thing.
But he had wanted to make a point. When it came to him, she had better not assume anything. The right to sell or not to sell Mason Construction would have been her decision and he would not have taken it away from her. However, she needed to understand that there was such a thing as business respect.
“Okay, we’re here.”
He snapped out of his musings when the truck came to a stop. He swore as he hissed out a breath. Where in the world was he? When she nodded her head to the left, he saw the house through the clearing. It was a two-story brick structure with a double garage set in a bevy of tall oak trees that provided a lot of shade. And he could see the clear blue waters of a lake in the back.
“You know the people who live here?” he asked, admiring the structure and the land, which had to be at least ten acres.
“I’m the one who lives here,” she muttered, opening the truck door and getting out.
He frowned as he watched her cross in front of the truck to get the mail out of a brick mailbox. She lived here? When she got back in the truck and thumbed through the letters, he stared at her for a moment then said, “I thought you lived in the house with Jim.”
She glanced up at him. “I moved back home when Dad got sick, but I’ve been out on my own since I turned twenty-one. I lived in town in an apartment for a few years. I bought this place a year and half ago to stop Reese from burning it down.”
Surprise glinted in the depths of Bas’s eyes. “Reese was going to burn it down? Why?”
Jocelyn blew out a breath before tossing the envelopes on top of the dashboard. “This was Singleton land. At least this is the parcel that once belonged to Reese. He had always envisioned him and Leah living here together as man and wife, and without letting her know, he began building this house and was going to surprise her with it on her birthday. She left town before that. Afterward, Reese didn’t have the heart to finish it.”
Jocelyn paused a moment as if remembering that time. It was moments later before she continued. “At one point he hated this place, swore he would never finish it and even threatened to burn it to the ground. Dad and I talked him out of it. Told him if he didn’t want it he should finish the work on it and sell it. And he did, to me.”
Bas rolled down the window, suddenly needing air. Since he had never allowed a woman to cause him any pain, he could only imagine Reese’s heartbreak. Hell, there wasn’t a woman alive who could drive him to burn anything, not even a hot dog.
“Does your sister know about this house?” He had yet to meet Leah Mason but already from all accounts she sounded like a selfish person to turn her back on the love of a good man.
“No, she doesn’t know everything.”
Bas lifted a brow. “What doesn’t she know?”
“She knows I bought the house from the Singletons but she doesn’t know it had been meant for her.” And now, after finding out the real reason Leah had left Newton Grove, in a way Jocelyn wished she wouldn’t find out. That would only add to the guilt her sister was already carrying around.
Starting up the truck again, she said, “We didn’t come here to talk about Reese and Leah.”
“No, we didn’t,” he said, as she parked her truck in the driveway.
“I come here at least twice a week to get the mail and check on things.” She tossed the words over her shoulder as she got out.
“When will you be moving back?” he asked, getting out the truck, as well.
“I hope in another week or so. I had planned to be back by now, but there’s still a lot of Dad’s stuff that Leah and I need to go through and I hadn’t counted on Leah staying this long past the funeral, although I’m glad she has. And with the cost of gas, living in town has been convenient for me, although I miss the seclusion.”
“You don’t mind living this far fro
m town alone?”
“Nope. I’m surrounded by so many people during the day that a secluded lifestyle pretty much suits me in the evenings and at night. Besides, Reese’s brother and his wife live on the other side of the lake.”
Bas didn’t relish the thought of her living up here alone. His cousin Vanessa had bought a house in a rural section of Charlotte and it was awhile before he or his brothers got used to the idea. They still took turns checking on her every so often.
“Come on inside. I’ll fix a pot of coffee and we can talk. I need to get clothes for the rest of the week anyway,” she said as she started up the walkway.
Watching her stride toward the door was giving him a generous view of some very serious curves in her jeans, just like he’d gotten last night. But this time those curves were in motion and he could only stand and appreciate the sway of her hips. The sight was definitely holding him captive and he couldn’t help but take the time to admire her. Not for the first time he thought that Jocelyn Mason was a very beautiful woman. Beautiful and tempting. And he quickly reminded himself that she was feisty. Too feisty for her own good…as well as for his.
Evidently noticing that he wasn’t following meekly behind her, she stopped and turned around. “You got a problem?”
He recalled that was the same question he had tossed out at her last night. “No, I don’t have a problem.”
She nodded and began walking again. It was only then that he decided to follow. At least she had left that damn screwdriver in the car. For some reason he believed that if she got mad enough, she was a woman who made good on her threats.
Inside, Bas noted that the house was spacious, allowing a view of most of the rooms from the foyer, including a massive eat-in kitchen.
All the ceilings were vaulted and in the living room a brick fireplace was flanked by built-in bookcases. The furnishings were elegant, traditional, with the leather sofa, love seat, wingback chair and table lamps strategically placed facing the window to get a good view of the mountains. Every item in the room seemed to have a place and the beautiful splashes of earth-tone colors blended well with everything else, including the two oil paintings on the wall.
The dignified furnishings in this house, he noted, reflected a side of Jocelyn he hadn’t seen a lot of yet—her prim and proper side. It showed a woman who had good taste and who liked beautiful things. Even the polished wood floors had character.
He reached out and traced a finger along a mahogany curio, noting the intricate detail and the fine craftsmanship. “Nice place and super-nice furniture,” Bas said, glancing beyond the foyer and living room to the dining room where the furnishings there was just as elegant, traditional, sturdy.
“Thanks. Reese built all the furniture,” Jocelyn said as she shoved her hands into the pockets of her jeans and leaned back against the wet bar that separated the dining room from the kitchen.
Bas’s gaze shifted back to her, surprised. “He did?”
“Yes. He has a gift when it comes to using his hands on wood.”
That, Bas thought, was an understatement. The man was definitely gifted. No wonder Jim had left him a tidy sum to start up his own business. He was wasting his talent at Mason Construction.
“This place was really too big for what I had in mind but like I said, I didn’t want Reese to get rid of it,” Jocelyn said, reclaiming Bas’s attention.
The late-afternoon sunlight was shining through the huge kitchen window and the view of the lake from where they were standing was wonderful. But he thought the picture of Jocelyn standing in front of that window was even more so. She was a picture of refined elegance, just like her home.
“I can make us some coffee if—”
“No, I don’t want anything,” he said, interrupting what she was about to say. He thought it was safe to remember why they were there and not let other thoughts filter through his mind.
“I just want my question answered, Jocelyn. Why didn’t you tell me about your meeting with Cody?” he asked, deciding to get down to business.
Jocelyn sighed as she stared at him. “The reason I didn’t tell you was not because of some sinister plot on my part to keep you out of the loop about anything. I had honestly assumed you would accept my offer of a buy-out like Leah’s doing. Why wouldn’t I assume that? You and your brothers own a major corporation, the largest minority-owned one in North Carolina. You employ over a thousand people so I’m sure you’re busy most of the time. To be quite frank with you, I’m surprised you’re even here now. Not too many people would just up and drop everything and leave the running of a corporation even on a temporary basis to spend six to eight weeks supervising a construction company.”
Bas nodded and shoved his own hands into the pockets of his jeans. “They would if the man who’d made the request was Jim Mason. Fourteen years ago I had left home with a chip on my shoulder and mad at the entire world. Your father helped me to turn my life around that summer and see things as they really were. If it hadn’t been for him, no telling where I’d be today. I owe him a lot.”
He decided it wasn’t any of her business to know his other reason for coming—his health.
“Well, because I assumed what I did, I didn’t think twice about not including you in the meeting since I had every intention of telling Cody that the company wasn’t for sale. He made me a good offer but I wasn’t interested.”
A question came into her head. “How did you know about my meeting with Cameron Cody?” She hadn’t mentioned it to anyone, not even to Reese.
“Cameron told me, and yes, I know him. He was interested in one of my cousins a few years back. I was surprised when I ran into him in town. Because he’s always on top of things, he was well aware I was one of the owners, but figured you were speaking in my and your sister’s behalf when you turned down his offer.”
Deliberately, Bas moved in front of her. “Okay, I’ll accept the way you were thinking, but in the future don’t assume anything, especially when it comes to me. I want to know about anything that involves this construction company, no matter how minor the detail. It’s a matter of respecting me as one of the owners. Understood?”
Jocelyn frowned. She didn’t like anyone talking to her as though she was a child, although he was right. She should have included him in her meeting with Cody. “Yes, I understand. Now it’s time for you to understand something, as well.”
“And just what might that be?”
“I’m not used to taking orders from any man except my father. In the future if you have a request, it will pay you to make it nicely.”
He lifted a brow. “Or else?”
“Or else it won’t happen. I tried to explain to you that with this outfit everyone can’t be a leader. Reese is the foreman and I respect his position, but when all is said and done, I’m still the boss.”
“Um, sounds like you have an ego issue.”
Annoyance rattled her at his words. “Sometimes in a man-dominated world women have to have one. But I don’t think I have an ego issue. I just refuse to let anyone push me around.” She stepped past him to walk over to the window. To Jocelyn’s way of thinking Bas was standing too close. She could feel his heat. She could breathe in his scent. And both were doing crazy things to her mind as well as to her body. She was experiencing that tingling sensation in the pit of her stomach again.
“If you were one of my brothers I would challenge you to a game of basketball. Working off your frustrations can help.”
She tipped her head to the side and looked at him. “I take it that whatever game you’re involved in, you play to win.”
“Yes, just about.”
She couldn’t help wondering how often he played any games. From what she’d seen in the past two days the man spent most of his time working. She was dying to know how he relieved stress.
“Okay, since you think I need to work off my frustrations, I have the perfect game.”
He lifted his brow. “What?”
“Follow me.”
She led him through the kitchen to the basement, and when he reached the bottom stair he stopped, grinned and let out a long whistle. The place resembled a sports bar with a huge plasma television screen on the wall, a wraparound bar with wooden stools as well as several pinball machines, a huge dartboard and a card table. And you couldn’t miss the bold neon sign that read Jim’s Place.
She must have read the question in his eyes because she said, “You know what a sports fanatic dad was, especially when it came to football. When I bought this house I decided to turn this room into a place where he and his cronies could hang out and enjoy whatever game they were into.”
She chuckled. “On the weekends it became a regular hangout for him because there was always some game or another to watch on that huge television over there. It was nice seeing him and his friends have so much fun, and it felt good having him underfoot.”
She swiped at the tears that suddenly appeared in her eyes and swore. “Damn, but I’m going to miss him.”
Bas was across the room in a flash and gently pulled Jocelyn into his arms. “Hey, it’s going to be okay. And it’s all right to miss him. He was a good man and from what I can tell you were a good daughter. He had to have been proud of this place that you provided here for him, his own entertainment spot. That was pretty nice of you considering I bet Jim and his buddies could get rather loud at times,” he said flicking her a teasing smile.
She chuckled. “If only you knew. I would be upstairs in bed reading with my ear plugs in. Still, it felt good knowing he was having a good time. They will be memories I will cherish forever, Bas.”
“And you should. My parents retired a few years ago to move to Florida and left me and my brothers in charge. My first thought was good riddance, we wouldn’t have to put up with Dad constantly checking our decisions or Mom forcing us to Sunday dinner. But they hadn’t been gone two weeks and we were all missing them like crazy. We even thought about calling and telling them to move back. But then we decided it would have been selfish on our part. It was their time to enjoy life.”
Forged of Steele Bundle Page 29
