by North,Leslie
“Duncan,” Angie said in a warning tone. “I’m sure Daisy doesn’t want to talk about personal family matters here.”
“No, it’s fine. My relationship with my father is rocky,” she admitted. “We were close when I was growing up, but I quickly learned that his view of the world wasn’t something that I agreed with.”
“Like what?” Stephen asked.
Daisy tapped her fingers on the table and smiled as a plate of food was placed in front of her. “A black bean burger?” she asked.
“Nathan reminded us that you were a vegan,” Gabe said. “We decided we’d all try something new tonight. Black bean burgers for all. Plus, it’s probably good for Duncan’s cholesterol.”
“Thank you,” she said softly to Nathan.
“You were talking about your father,” Stephen prompted.
Daisy bit into her burger and nodded. “Right. Well, my father told me that if everyone liked me, everything in the world would open up to me. I relied on my popularity for everything until I realized what he did for a living. He wrote ad copy for several successful businesses, and he helped them hide their dirty secrets through savvy marketing campaigns. I realized then that having people like me meant nothing if I wasn’t doing good with my life.”
“Doing good?” Stephen asked with a raised eyebrow. “You were arrested several times. You completely disrupted an entire research facility when you broke in and released all their animals. You do more harm than good.”
“Stephen,” Angie hissed. She gave Daisy a small smile. “Daisy is trying to change her ways.”
“I am. I was young when that happened. Well, I say young. What I mean is that quite a lot has happened in the years between the woman who did those things and the woman I am today. I’m confident that with Restore Eden’s resources, I won’t have to resort to such radical tactics. And if you saw the cages that they kept those poor dogs in, you would have released them as well.”
“What do you mean by things that happened? You mean you and Nathan’s break-up?” Duncan asked suddenly.
“Dad,” Nathan growled. “We are not talking about this.”
Daisy’s cheeks flamed, and she looked at Gabe. For some reason, she wasn’t embarrassed about talking about her relationship with Nathan in front of Duncan. But she really didn’t want to talk about it in front of Gabe. However, he was looking at her like he expected her to respond.
“Nathan was one of those reasons,” she admitted in a low voice.
“We’re not talking about this,” Nathan interrupted. “And the next person who brings it up is going to have to deal with me. Do you understand?”
Daisy put her burger down. “No, it’s fine.” She took a deep breath. “I am part of the reason that Nathan acted against Duncan Enterprises and walked away. I have no doubt that you all already knew that, but I feel like I should come clean. I had no right to ask Nathan to choose between his family and his beliefs.”
Gabe’s jaw dropped, and he stared at her. What was happening here? He cleared his throat, dabbed his lips with his linen napkin, and then said, “So you’re saying you’ve given up on all that radical stuff?”
“I’m saying, I am doing things differently this time. I’ve realized by now that I won’t get anywhere by antagonizing everyone. On top of all that, if I want Duncan Enterprises to change, I need to be open to the fact that not everything is black and white. That’s why I’m changing.” She took a deep breath and looked around the table. Everyone was staring at her, and there was a smile on Duncan’s face.
“I’m sorry that I didn’t get to know you sooner,” Duncan said as he lifted his beer. “These next few weeks are going to be fun!”
He and Stephen immediately started to squabble, and Daisy settled back to watch the scene. She and her father had never been on good terms after she started on her radical ways, but even when they were friendly, it was never like this. She had often tried to imagine what it would be like to have a big family.
Stephen and Duncan were almost identical in how they conducted themselves. It was probably why they argued the most. Angie flip-flopped between defending her mentor and defending her husband, and Daisy could see why the family liked her so much. She was the perfect mediator.
Nathan and Gabe kept quiet most of the time. She knew that Nathan was giving her sideways glances, but so was Gabe. Finally, when no one was looking, Nathan leaned over.
“Are you okay? It seems like you didn’t know that you were joining us for dinner.”
“I didn’t know. And yes, thank you, I’m fine.” She gave him a small smile. “If this is the worst of my problems when it comes to dealing with Duncan Enterprises, I think I can handle it.”
“Gabe told me that you didn’t want to work with me. Is there something I should know?” he asked quietly.
She looked at him, and for a moment, she wondered if there was still a spark there. If Nathan told her that he had feelings for her, how would she react? She had fond memories of him. She wouldn’t trade her years with him for anything, but now, she realized there was nothing there anymore.
“Even though we’re okay now, I don’t want our history to get in the way of my plans. I hope you’re okay with that?”
He reached over and gave her hand a squeeze. “I’m okay with that. Just know that I’m behind you all the way.”
When she returned her attention back to the table, she couldn’t help but notice that Gabe was watching them closely. His expression was unreadable.
8
Daisy met Gabe out on another site a few days later. Getting there an hour early, she explained the situation to the foreman and asked if he could clarify some of the jargon on the budget reports. Unlike the previous site, this man was very happy to show her around. “We’ve got a lull in the work right now. Client wanted to make some changes, so we’re kind of at a standstill,” he told her as he walked her around. “It’s costly because he still has to pay my men even though they’re not working, but I guess the clients that work with Duncan Enterprises don’t have to worry too much about money.”
Daisy had to bite her tongue. The budget showed significant cost differences in environmentally friendly structures and those that were not, but if clients could afford to pay men to sit around and do nothing, it seemed reasonable to suppose that they could pay a little extra for sustainable structures and eco-friendly working practices.
“Do you recycle here?” she asked as she carefully negotiated rubble and picked her way through the dirt.
“Nah. Too expensive. We try to use recycled material though.”
“Of course you do. It’s cheaper,” she said. “Doesn’t the client have to pay a disposal fee?”
“It’s usually part of the price.” The foreman squinted at her. “It’s not even our decision.”
“But it could be,” Daisy pushed. “You could factor the price for a recycling bin and a trash bin all into one bundle. The client wouldn’t have a choice, right?”
“I suppose. That’s something you’ll have to ask the Maxfields.”
Just then, a car pulled up to the site. Daisy looked around and frowned. “Speak of the devil,” she murmured. She had some choice words to say to him after the stunt he pulled with the Maxfield family dinner a few nights ago.
Gabe got out of the car. He was dressed in his usual expensive gray suit, but this time he left his jacket in the car. Daisy watched as he stripped off his tie as well then rolled up his sleeves. When he slowly unbuttoned a few of the top buttons on his shirt, her breath caught.
Hell bells, that man was sexy.
He caught sight of her and frowned. “Are you pissing off the foreman again?” he called out.
“No,” she snapped back. “He was more than happy to show me around. Apparently the client has no problems paying for the men to do nothing while he makes up his mind what he wants, but when it comes to shelling out a few more hundred dollars for recycling, he’s not rich enough for that.”
Gabe grabbed the har
d hat and eyed her warily. “You seem unusually angry today.”
“Let’s get this over with,” she snapped. “I looked over the budget reports, and I see what you mean by a price difference. I worked on this last night.” She pulled out another piece of paper and handed it to him. “This is a sustainable structure using the same budget that you have here, but there are a few differences.”
Narrowing his eyes, he grabbed the mock-up budget and frowned. “It’s not bad, but you’ve left a few things out. You need to include extra braces for earthquakes territories. Plus, this doesn’t factor in the weather. Companies don’t pay their men during bad weather like rain or cold. There’s no central heating system and…”
Daisy reached out and snatched the paper back. “It’s California. What the fuck do they need central heating for anyway?” she grumbled.
He sighed. “Don’t get upset. It takes times to learn the ins and outs of a construction company. Your mock-up isn’t bad, but it’s not going to be perfect the first go round. Now, I’ve called a recycling company in the area, and they’re bringing a bin by later today. We can’t bill the client for it since they’ve already signed a contract, so Duncan Enterprises will be footing the bill for that.”
Her eyes lit with glee, and she clapped her hands. “Gabe, that’s fantastic! We need to go through your waste to pick out what can be recycled, and we need to teach the workers to know the difference between what can be recycled and what can’t. If even one wrong thing goes in the recycling bin, the whole bin has to be thrown out.”
“Really?” he asked, startled. “I had no idea. Some instructions will be necessary. I don’t want to lose all this money to have the recyclables tossed out. But we’re not going through anything today. The recycling can start when the bin gets here.”
“No,” Daisy planted her hands on her hips and stared at him. He wasn’t seriously suggesting that she ignore all the materials that could be recycled. “Why? Why can’t we go through the trash now? The men don’t have any work to do anyway, and they’re still getting paid.”
“Daisy, I have to go back to the office after this. I’m not sorting through trash.”
“You are unbelievable. How are you going to help change the world if you don’t want to get your hands a little dirty?”
“A little dirty? I think we both know that’s an understatement. If you want to go through the bins, be my guest. But don’t expect me to help you. When you’re done, we can go over the design plans for the building.”
She frowned. “That reminds me. I noticed that there weren’t any design plans in the bundle of information that you gave me.”
“You’ve already gone through all that information?”
“No, of course not. But Jordan and the rest of the guys at Restore Eden are combing through it. Apparently they expected to see design plans.”
Gabe raised his eyebrows, and she saw the suspicion in his eyes. “Blueprints for all our designs in progress are available to the public. You have to go to the county commissioner’s office to pull them. Any design that has not been approved by the commissioner is not available to the public, and I can’t send you that information.”
“Don’t you trust me?”
“With Restore Eden’s track record? Absolutely not. Anyone can take our plans and get them approved by the commissioner before we can. It happens more often than you think, and it’s not something that we are willing to risk. If you want the blueprints, you’ll have to go find them. If you want to talk about architectural design, you’ll have to hit up Nathan. No hardcopies of designs in progress will leave Duncan Enterprises.”
That made sense. Jordan probably didn’t know the ins and outs of the county commissioner’s office. And there was no way she was going to let her section do anything illegal.
“Let’s look at the blueprints before I start dumpster-diving,” she said as her stomach rumbled. Glancing up, she realized that the sun was already setting. Gabe had promised her an hour, and that hour was almost up.
“Come on. I figured we’d be here until late. I have some sandwiches in the car, and you can grab us some coffee from the trailer. I’ll meet you at one of the picnic tables,” he said softly.
She gave him a grateful smile. Not only was he offering to feed her, but he was offering more time than he’d promised. Maybe Gabe wasn’t such a bad guy after all.
Grabbing the coffee, she met him at the table where he had the plans spread out. “Why did you trick me into having dinner with you?” she asked.
“Who says I tricked you?” he said mildly. “Maybe the dinner was sprung last moment.”
“Was it?” she demanded.
“Daisy, if you’re going to work with the company, you’re going to have to work with everyone. Despite your obvious issues working with Nathan, I have to know that you’ll set your feelings aside during this project. I have to know that you’re not going to attack Duncan and that you can put up with Stephen’s temper. Had I invited you to dinner, you wouldn’t have come. Consider it your initiation.”
“First off, I don’t have any ‘obvious’ issues with Nathan,” she said, doing the air-quotes thing, “I prefer to work with you so that when I make my reports, there is no confusion about my relationship with Duncan Enterprises,” Daisy snapped. It really upset her to think that Gabe still thought she had feelings for Nathan.
“Fine,” he said as he watched her carefully.
“Not fine. Next time, you need to be more transparent about certain situations. If you wanted to have dinner with me, all you had to do was ask. There’s no need to put on a charade.” The words were out of her mouth before she even realized what she’d said. Gabe moved quickly, pinning her to the table. Immediately, the air around them grew tense, and she felt her heart beat faster.
“More transparent about situations?” he murmured. “Like you were the other night when I found myself at a party? Who was asking whom out then?”
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, but he wasn’t finished. His hands went to her hips, and her lips parted in anticipation. More than anything, she wanted him to kiss her, and she was embarrassed by that revelation.
“If I wanted to ask you out, Daisy Levine, you can be damn sure that it wouldn’t be in the company of my family. There will be no charade. When I want something, I’m not hesitant about taking it.” He dipped his head low, but he hovered a few inches from her face. Unable to help herself, she lifted her lips and brushed them cross his. It was a butterfly touch. It was meant to tease him, but the action was more than she could handle. Before she knew what was happening, Gabe pushed her back and pressed his lips to hers.
As his tongue swept in, she reached up to grab his shoulders as she attempted to hold on. The entire ground beneath her feet shifted, and she heard herself moan. Gabe’s hands trailed up her jeans until they brushed under her shirt, and with the immense pleasure of feeling him touching her, she felt a cold dose of reality.
“Shit,” she said as she pulled away. “No. We can’t do this.”
He stood still as she quickly turned to gather up her paperwork. She wanted him to say something. To agree with her. “I’m going to go. I will see you at our next meeting,” she said unsteadily.
“You don’t want to look at the blueprints?” he asked calmly.
“I do. I really do. But it’s more important to me that you don’t think I go around mixing business with pleasure. I’m not interested in being entangled with the Maxfield family again. So when we’re both feeling more like ourselves, we can finish this conversation.” Breathing heavily, she ignored the desire that inflamed her body, and she forced herself to walk slowly away.
He didn’t follow her. Part of her wished that he’d say something so that she’d know how he felt, but she knew she had to get away from him. The attraction was too much to deny, and she didn’t want him to get the wrong impression.
She was here to work. She sure as hell didn’t need to get involved with another Maxfield.
Rather than going home, Gabe stopped by the office. He was still shaking with anger. What the hell had he been thinking? Kissing Daisy was a mistake. It was more than a mistake. It was dangerous. It had been obvious the other night when he watched her and Nathan whispering, that she still wasn’t over his brother, no matter what she might declare to the contrary. Rather than feeling satisfaction that Angie’s plan might work, Gabe only felt an overwhelming sense of jealousy.
“Moron,” he muttered as he slumped heavily at his desk. What was going on with him? Not only was Daisy nothing like his usual type, she was dangerous. She could ruin what little relationship he had with his younger brother, and she was like a powder keg ready to blow Duncan Enterprises to smithereens. He needed to get her as far away from the company and himself as possible.
But damn, she tasted good. She lingered on his lips, and when he closed his eyes, he could hear her breathy moans. Despite his best intentions, he knew he wanted her. He would have to make sure they met only in public spaces where the chances of anything so intimate happening again were severely limited.
Cursing himself, he turned on his computer and scrolled though his emails. If he knew what was good for him, he’d go work off his frustrations with some other woman, but he knew that wasn’t the answer. Right now, he only wanted Daisy, and trying to ease that ache with someone else would only add fuel to the fire.
A bold subject line caught his attention, and he opened the email. The foreman on the first project where he’d taken Daisy suspected theft from the work-site. Glancing at the clock, Gabe saw it was late, but he called the foreman anyway.
“Mr. Maxfield,” the man said gruffly. “I tried to call you earlier, but your secretary said that you were out at a site. Did you see the email that I sent you?”
“I did, but it doesn’t say anything specific. What’s missing?” Things disappeared from construction sites all the time, but it was usually lumber and hardware. Generally, it was never a big deal, so for the foreman to have emailed him seemed to suggest that something of greater than usual value was missing.
