Unexpected Love (White Oak-Mafia #2)

by Liza O'Connor

  “So Dina Drenner—that’s a horrible name—did she tell your wife she and her husband have it in for me?”

  “No, that’s just my opinion. However, this change in the Drenners is recent.”

  Probably since her grams died. Grams would have skinned the man alive with an angry lecture had he done this to her.

  “Well, I’ll try to find out what Drenner is pissed about from this side. If you hear anything of use, let me know. Oh, and Sam, make sure you bill me.”

  “You sure? If there’s no bill, the governor will have nothing to complain about.”

  “He still won’t. I plan to pay it myself.”

  “All right, I’ll send you a bill.”

  That was too easy.

  “Cost plus profit,” she said.

  He hung up.

  Damn it! She was pretty sure that was his way of saying “no” on the profit.

  Strong hands gripped her shoulder as a familiar body leaned in. “Problem?” Steel asked.

  “Mr. Drenner is trashing my name and riling everyone up.”

  “Is he nuts?”

  She turned around and leaned against his chest. “Maybe…or maybe my father is behind this. My father can scare people into doing stuff.”

  “I’ll take over comforting Tess while you start cooking,” Dan said and pulled her out of Steel’s arms and led her to the couch.

  “That was rude,” she grumbled. He pulled her affectionately into his arms and whispered in her ear. “Just trying to keep our friend alive. Frank was watching you two from the hall.”

  She sighed and hugged him. “I forgive you.”

  He kissed her temple and playfully patted her forehead.

  “Not a puppy,” she growled.

  A pleasant chuckle rumbled from his chest. “I do love your sense of humor.”

  She almost told him she was being serious, but then noticed Frank enter the room, staring at them. After giving Dan a lethal glare, he stormed to the kitchen. A moment later, she could hear him speaking softly to Steel. All she could make out was “double standard”, and after that Steel slammed a skillet down, silencing Frank. He wisely left Steel and sat down in Grams’ chair.

  She sat up and moved away from Dan, or tried to, but he scooted over so Sonny and Jack could sit.

  Tess spoke up so everyone could hear. “I got a report on Luke. He has a minor concussion and should be released. Frank, could you let him know he should stay overnight in a hotel. I’ll pay for it.”

  Frank pulled out his phone. “How much would it cost to have the helicopter pick him up and bring him back here?”

  “Probably no more than the hotel stay, but I got in trouble for using a helicopter rescue without getting permission first. I could justify my actions today, but I’ll drive down and get Luke tomorrow.”

  “Tom called you out for getting Luke medical care?” Steel demanded from the kitchen.

  “Someone complained to the governor,” she explained. “I asked Tom to talk to you tomorrow.”

  “Like hell! Who here can cook steaks?”

  Jack rose and took over cooking while Steel stormed to his room.

  Tess leaned on Dan’s chest. “This is exactly what I didn’t want to happen.”

  Frank took Jack’s seat beside Tess and patted her leg. “I’ve found Tom to be a very reasonable man. Can you explain exactly what has happened?”

  She told them her lack of a zip-line brake and possibly Mr. Drenner were the crux of the problem.

  “Drenner. Is he the guy who has our luggage?”

  “Round about. Kyle is the one who lied to you, but Drenner is in charge. He was the one I expected to fire Kyle if any of your stuff was missing. However, turns out he’s been trashing me, saying I use their service but never pay for it.”

  “Does he send you a bill?” Dan asked.

  “No. Grams always donated two hundred thousand a year to them, and when we’d call and ask them to rescue someone on our road…usually from the bear, they’d come right out. To be honest, I thought them really great guys until Grams died. Then some kids tried to set fire to the forest, and their leader turned out to be Kyle’s brother. Then my father—”

  “They don’t need to know about that,” Dan whispered in her ear.

  “Well, Kyle proved to be less than reliable, and then he pulled that nonsense with you guys. I expected Drenner would fire him, but evidently I’ve become the bad guy in this.”

  She leaned in and whispered to Dan, “Could you find out if my father has gotten to Drenner?”

  He stroked her hair and pressed his lips to her temple.

  Frank frowned. “Tess, I’m pretty sure the water is hot by now.”

  She smiled. “Is that a nice way of saying I’m dirty and stink?”

  Frank scratched his chin. “I know better than to answer that question. Ask Dan. He’s closer.”

  “You’re a mite ripe,” Dan admitted. All the guys chuckled.

  Tess pushed off the couch and ruffled Sonny’s hair as she passed. “Not funny.”

  ***

  When Tess returned twenty minutes later, clean, wet-haired, and wearing sweats, she entered a room of sullen men. Steel had taken back his cooking responsibilities with angry determination.

  She worried he held her responsible for this stupid fiasco. If he did, she couldn’t blame him. She entered the kitchen and checked out his cooking as she whispered, “Are you mad at me?”

  He placed a grilled chicken breast on a plate, clearly remembering she didn’t eat red meat, and pointed her to the counter. “No. You are the one person I’m not angry with. According to Frank, Sonny, and Jack, you were very clear in your instructions and that the zip-line was dangerous and lacked a brake.”

  Frank sat down beside her. “I called Luke. He’ll stay at the Motel 8 and pay for it himself.”

  “No, I said—”

  “I know you wanted to pay for it, but Luke adamantly refused. He takes complete responsibility for hurting himself.” Frank looked at Steel. “He’s going to call Tom and tell him the same.”

  Steel gripped the edge of the counter. “Clear it through me before you have people going straight to Tom.”

  “Will do. But just so you know, I didn’t tell him to call Tom. He just said he was going to. He’s Tom’s godson.”

  “This couldn’t be more botched if we’d purposely thrown a spanner in the works,” Steel muttered as he stormed out of the kitchen and headed back to his room.

  Tess rescued the steaks on the grill and passed all but the nicest one out to the boys. That one she carried to Steel’s room. She knocked, but no one replied so she entered.

  “I said go away,” he growled. He laid sprawled over the bed.

  “Sorry, I didn’t hear you. I brought you a steak in case you just wanted to eat in peace.”

  He sat up and patted the bed next to him. She kicked the door closed and brought him his plate.

  “Any chance you remembered—”

  She pulled napkin-wrapped silverware from her pants pocket.

  He smiled. “Now at least I know why you were so upset. Tom had promised to shield me from all the political nonsense, so I’m guessing his job is on the line as well.”

  “I think my father’s behind this,” Tess whispered and then burst into tears.

  Steel abandoned his food and pulled her into his arms. “I’m not going to tell you that you’re wrong because Sheriff Cobbs warned me something like this might happen.”

  “When?”

  “When what?”

  “When did he warn you of that?”

  “When I walked him out to his truck this morning and made sure he had planks to get down the hill.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “Honestly, the moment you decided we should help you zip-line the forest, it went right out of my head. But it came back when I talked to Tom.” He sighed heavily and pulled her painfully tight to him. “Luke may have done this purposely to set us up.”

  �
�No,” she pleaded.

  “Who else knew about the zip-lines lacking brakes?”

  “I don’t think Tom knew that until I told him.”

  “Okay. This is an area I’m better at. Bosses who are politically appointed never get full disclosure. So in the future, if Tom calls, ask him to hold on and get me. Okay?”

  “Gladly,” she grumbled. “I almost cursed him out. He was being so unreasonable, complaining about us wasting taxpayer’s money by transporting people by helicopter.”

  “Well, to be fair, I believe he was talking about when the guys arrived with the equipment, and he was angry because he thought it wasn’t in the planned costs.”

  “Yes, it was.”

  “Which I pointed out to him.”

  Tess smiled. “You’re talking to him from now on. I misunderstood and made things worse.”

  “Maybe not. He would have been really pissed to learn from Luke’s mother or someone else that his godson was nearly killed and I had failed to mention it at all. So in this case, your admission is probably the best thing.”

  She leaned her head on his arm.

  Steel stroked her hair. “He says you hung up on him.”

  “I did. I told him to call you tomorrow and hung up.”

  “Well, just remember you need his help to get into the University of Minnesota program, so tomorrow, perhaps you can write him an email apologizing for ending the conversation so abruptly.”

  “Okay.”

  “Maybe when you’re sending him the revised plan that has us building a shed for the expensive equipment we possess.”

  “I’ll do that now.”

  “Have you eaten?”

  “No…”

  He grabbed his plate and walked her to the door. “We’ll eat together.”

  When they arrived in the kitchen, the dishes were washed. Steel stared at the men watching TV in the living room. “Thanks to whoever did the dishes. What happened to Tess’s chicken?”

  Sonny turned toward them. “I wrapped it in foil and put it in the fridge,” Sonny said.

  Tess smiled at him. “Thank you.”

  Steel grabbed her chicken, removed the foil, and popped it into the microwave.

  Tess took the time to retrieve her computer and update her plan to include building a shed to protect valuable equipment needed to be kept at the mound site. She listed the costs, which were low since they only consisted of two bolts, 500 carpenter nails, 100 roofing nails, and four packs of roofing shingles.

  “What are we doing tomorrow?” she asked.

  Steel frowned, confused by the question. “I thought you were building a shed with Dan, and my guys and I would work on redoing yesterday’s work even better.”

  “What about Luke?”

  Frank’s head popped up, and he approached. “Mind if I join this conversation?”

  Steel sighed heavily, but nodded.

  “I was out of line before. I apologize,” Frank stated.

  Steel seemed to ignore him as he cut into his steak. “Do you have something about Luke you wish to share?”

  “Yeah. If it’s okay with you, he’s going to rent a pickup truck, purchase two computers to replace the two that died, and drive up here.”

  Tess waited for Steel’s response. “Has he been cleared to drive?”

  “Yes.”

  Steel looked at Tess. “Can a pickup cross those ravines?”

  “Not without planks. Tell Luke he needs to buy a couple of twelve-foot-long planks, no less than two inches thick and a foot wide, and make sure the wood doesn’t have knots or weak points.”

  Frank seemed perplexed but called Luke and relayed the message, except he forgot to mention no knots.

  Tess asked to speak to him. “If your wood has weak points, it’s going to break and send you crashing down. Go to Lumber 8 and ask for Ken. Tell him you are driving up here, and he’ll find you the solid planks.”

  “Tess, I’m really sorry I’ve got you guys in so much trouble,” Luke said.

  “How do you know that?” Was Steel right? Did he do it on purpose?

  “I called Tom. He’s my godfather. When I told him what I had done and why I had done it and why brakes wouldn’t have saved me, he reamed me a new one and told me how much trouble he, Steel, and you were in because of what I did. Honestly, he’s never yelled at me before, so it was traumatizing to say the least. He threatened to pull me and send me back to Harper Ferry, but I begged and pleaded and finally he agreed to give me another chance.”

  “Can you retell that story to Steel?” Tess asked and then handed the phone to her boss.

  He listened while he ate, and honestly, she had no idea what he was thinking. His stern expression gave away nothing.

  “All right, make it up here alive with two working computers, then arrive at the mounds without damaging the trails, and you get another chance.”

  He hung up the phone and handed it back to Frank. “I know you’re standing behind this kid, but one more screw up, and he’s gone. He’s either a saboteur or just unlucky, but either way, I’m not having it. You have a problem with that?”

  “No, sir,” Frank stated.

  “Good, then let’s call it an early night and get some sleep. Breakfast is served at six. We’re out the door at dawn. The only reason no one got in trouble about your late start today is because I forgot to tell you the night before. But you know now. Did anyone mistakenly take this job as a nine to fiver?”

  No one spoke.

  “Good. Then let’s make tomorrow a better day.”

  He stood, rubbed Tess’s back, and left the room.

  Dan followed Steel out. Tess returned to her food until Frank’s hands gripped her shoulders. “Sorry, but I need to speak to my guys. Think you could eat that in your room?”

  She almost reminded him she was his boss and this was her house, but after Steel’s comments, they probably did need to reassess their stay here. She grabbed some foil, covered her dish, and put it back in the fridge.

  “I didn’t mean to make you stop eating.”

  “It’s okay. To be honest, I wasn’t that hungry with all the stuff going on right now. This was a bad day,” she stated to all three of them. “That happens in life. You either quit and give up, or you work through it. My grams taught me to work through it, so all I can tell you is to focus on little wins. Tomorrow, we have to get the EPR to the mounds without damaging it or the trails.”

  Frank groaned, evidently not realizing that.

  “Here’s the good news. The ground will be firmer, and I can build a shed in one day, so you won’t have to bring it back down. And if you can think of a way to bring the GPR to a halt without hitting the tree, then we can probably move it pretty quickly using the zip-line.”

  Tess left them mulling over the problem. She already had a solution, but these guys were too smart not to start thinking for themselves. Steel would like them better once they showed him they had initiative and common sense.

  Chapter 21

  Tess woke at 5:30 a.m. and started breakfast. Dan was the first one to enter, rubbing his arms.

  He grimaced as he sat on a stool. “I’ll tell you this. I don’t need a gym on this job.”

  Tess chuckled. “I was actually chubby when I came to live with Grams. She assured me I’d lose every ounce of fat, and she was right.”

  Tears filled her eyes as she realized Grams was gone forever. Then a sense of peace and warmth came over her. Grams.

  “You okay?”

  She breathed in and smiled. “I am.”

  Next to arrive was Frank. He frowned at Dan, evidently planning to be the first to show. He sat on the stool farthest away from his nemesis.

  Tess split the scrambled eggs she had in her skillet in two, giving half to Dan and half to Frank. She then started more scrambled eggs. When the toast popped, Dan got up. “I’ll get that.” As he walked behind her, his hand rested on her lower back. He grabbed a plate and tossed the toast on it, popped in fresh bread, and restart
ed the toaster.

  “Thank you,” Tess stated, surprised he’d think of the guys to follow.

  He kissed the top of her head. “My pleasure,” he purred and then sat down, taking four of the toast.

  “Are you sharing?” Frank asked.

  Dan pushed the plate to the middle of the counter, forcing Frank to lean in to reach his bread.

  Sonny and Jack came in. “Morning, Tess,” Jack stated and walked behind her. “Anything I can help with?”

  “Nope,” she chuckled. “Just sit down, and I’ll have eggs for you in a second.”

  “Got any butter?” Frank asked.

  Jack slid past her and opened the fridge. He held up a canister. “Tess, is this butter?”

  “No,” Frank grumbled.

  “It’s good-for-you butter. Lowers your cholesterol,” Tess replied.

  Jack placed it on the counter and looked in the fridge again. “Don’t see any real butter, Frank.”

  “That’s all there is?” Frank asked with a hint of aggravation.

  “This tastes like butter,” Sonny said.

  Tess ignored the butter complaint and divvied the eggs onto two plates, then gave one to Sonny and placed Jack’s between Sonny and Dan. She slapped Jack’s butt that was sticking out as he studied the contents of the fridge. “Out of my kitchen.”

  He chuckled, closed the door, and hurried to his seat. She retrieved the toast when it popped and added them to the bread plate. Seconds later, the bread was gone.

  She filled the toaster again and began the last skillet of eggs.

  When Steel entered, Dan stood and gave him his seat.

  “Thanks,” Steel said. Before he sat down, he moved behind Tess, his hand resting on her lower back. “Is that mine?”

  “Ours,” she corrected.

  “Good. Anything I can do?”

  “Nope.”

  “You smell good,” he whispered in her ear.

  She chuckled. “Eggs are ready. Sit down.”

  She gave him three-quarters of the skillet and most of the bread, then stood while eating her own food.

  Sonny popped up so fast, he almost fell backward. “Sit here, Tess.”

  “I’m good. You guys figured out a way to zip-line that GPR?”