Jade slammed the car door shut and locked it out of habit; no one here was going to steal her old car. Stiff after her long drive, she rolled her shoulders back; it helped to straighten up and ease out the tension in her muscles. Only a few feet from the argument and able to hear every word, Jade hung back by her car to listen.
"You can’t just… just go destroying the woods! Do you even realize how much danger you’re in?" Lauren’s voice sounded shrill and desperate.
Jade cringed. She recognized crazy, and Lauren seemed like she’d dove off the deep end.
"From what?" Man’s dignified voice sounded steely, professional, and in control in a way that made Jade shiver. Under different circumstances, it was the kind of voice she’d have listened to just for the hell of it. "Wild boars? Bears? Deer?"
"You have no idea what you’re getting mixed up in," Lauren warned, still sounding too crazy to do herself any favors. "You need to stop this, and you need to stop it right now."
"Are you threatening me? And if so, with what? Where are your hippie friends? Or is your witches’ coven going to cast a spell? Or come to get me?" the man asked flatly. "Listen, I understand you’re an advocate for nature. That’s great, and I love the environment too. All I’m doing is fencing off this section and taking down a few trees for now, as is my legal right to do. There’ll be no impact on global warming."
As Jade glanced around, she saw men gathered listening to one man who appeared to be giving a speech. Beyond that, truckloads of metal fencing of the sort she’d often seen temporarily erected around construction sites. It was a lot of fencing to put around the woods.
Judging it high time, Jade stepped up to support her friend. As she stood behind Lauren, Jade took a good look at their adversary.
She wished she hadn’t.
Dark and handsome, probably around thirty years of age, the man was exactly the type that made Jade drool.
Something about him suggested he was more than just a suit that the conservative cloth covered something wild and untamed. He wasn’t just wearing a suit; he owned it.
Tall and sturdy, his posture screamed purpose and power. It showed he was polite, well-bred, and underneath it all, he could be an arrogant cocky bastard because he'd earned the right to be one.
He had confidence by the truck load, charisma, good looks, and money too. Jade could tell all this after a few minutes of observation, the information she'd learned from her psychology course had obviously sunk in, the knowledge becoming second nature to her.
His face was narrow, with sharp cheekbones and a distinguished jaw. His short dark hair looked stunning. Jade wanted to run her fingers through the I-just-got-out-of-bed-look that was undoubtedly achieved by an expensive professional stylist. A shabby chic cut, which was more chic than shabby, the complete opposite to Jade’s.
There was no doubt in Jade’s mind that she would fall into bed with a man like the one stood at loggerheads with Lauren on a moment’s notice.
There was also no doubt this man was the developer, or the owner, or whoever it was responsible for the drama and stress. And that made him the enemy.
As Lauren had a bunch of Spartan heroes backed by the gods, so surely this gorgeous creature was sent to test and tempt Jade, and thus, must be evil incarnate from the underworld.
"Lauren isn’t a witch or hippy." Placing a hand on Lauren’s shoulder, Jade couldn’t stand by and watch this disaster any longer. She hated confrontation, but she wasn’t about to let her best friend get badmouthed by a bastard, even a gorgeous one. "She’s a lot of things, but she’s as human as the rest of us."
Jade had been addressing the man in charge but took a quick glance around at the workmen present. They were all wearing hard hats and safety vests, and looked set to go to work. The man'd previously held their attention as he spoke, now appeared to be shouting orders and pointing toward the forest. As if he sensed Jade's gaze upon him he turned to look at her. Making eye contact he lowered his arm, turned, and started toward them.
Having seen none of this, Lauren shot a look of thanks over her shoulder at Jade.
Standing much closer, the man Lauren had been shouting at pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. "Great. Another one. And who are you?"
Jade stood a little straighter. "Jade Lidl, a lifelong resident of Beaumont, and righter of injustices everywhere."
"A comedian." The man’s lips twisted in exasperation.
Jade held up a finger between them. "That’s good of you to notice, but today, I won’t tell many jokes, I promise. I’m here about a serious matter." Why don’t we have a plan, Lauren? And why can’t we communicate telepathically?
Lauren said nothing.
"Fantastic. So we have a woo-woo hippie and her comedic sidekick."
Oh, he did not. Jade was no sidekick. And her fear of confrontation evaporated as her anger boiled over.
"Guess it’s better than being the villain. At least my ass isn’t going to be locked up at the end of the movie." Oh, great Greek gods, that came out more comedic than she intended.
The man’s narrowed gaze locked on Jade’s and a shiver ran down her spine. She stood resolutely against it. Pretty eyes like that should’ve been outlawed, not all smoldering and dark and shit. That wasn’t fair.
"The forest is sacred." Lauren gestured toward it, almost shaking with rage. "If you keep destroying it, bad things are going to happen. Very bad things. People are going to die."
Jade wished Lauren would stop talking.
The more she spoke, the crazier she sounded. Crazy or threatening or both. It wasn’t doing much to help their case. What they needed now was a calm and logical approach, even if the man standing in front of them was a first-degree asshole. Jade did understand the man’s point of view, even if she didn’t like it. Yeah, he owned some land, and yeah, some crazy kids were trying to stop him from using said land.
Fine, he had a point.
That still didn’t make Jade sympathetic to his cause.
"I told you. It’s the destruction of huge areas of rainforest you need to worry about. And I’d back you up on that. Give me the petition to sign, no problem. I’ll even make a financial donation."
Even though he was wrong, at least the man had found a rational reason for the doom-mongering and perhaps hadn’t written Lauren off as a complete nutcase.
Not yet!
"What’s out there in the woods isn’t something you can protect yourself against," Lauren said stubbornly.
No, don’t say that!
The man folded his arms across his chest. "I appreciate your concern, but we’ve got a job to do and need to get on with it."
Jade found herself tracing those arms with her gaze, wondering what they’d be like without the suit covering them, what of his shoulders? Gods, she was hopeless.
Thank goodness Lauren couldn’t read her mind; she’d disown her if she knew.
At that moment the instruction shouting man with the pointing hand came up alongside Mr. Suit. "Hello ladies. Can I help here, at all?" He turned out to be polite, with the sort of warm smile that along was enough to melt Jade's panties and a voice that set Jade's insides ringing.
"I don't think so Nic, the ladies seem to be worried about our safety. Will you confirm there are numerous safety regulations in place? Keeping our workers alive and uninjured is our number one priority while we develop the area." The land owner spoke patiently, but the sound of irritation crept into his voice.
"That's right, there isn't anything to worry about. We've been doing this a long time." In total contrast to the boss, Nic was dressed ready to get his hands dirty. His cutaway sleeveless T-shirt told an already breathless Jade more than she wanted to know. He had a great physique that she had to stop looking at.
While Jade drooled and tried to be subtle about it, unfortunately, Lauren wasn’t done. "You can enforce as many regulations and give out as many hardhats as you want, but it’s not going to change what’s out there."
For the sake of
the forest, Lauren, shut up!
Jade squeezed Lauren’s shoulder, hoping Lauren would get the hint and drop it. The more she talked, the more insane she sounded. No one was going to believe her if she blabbered on and on about a mysterious evil and ambiguous doom and gloom.
"Great," the man said. "Tell you what. Now that you’ve told us, I’ll have a talk with my foremen, Nic here figures out the best way to keep the construction crew safe from the things that go bump in the night, Bigfoot, and the zombies. Does that put you at ease?"
Nic stood with his feet slightly apart, and his hands settled on his hips. A sincere smile shone on his face as if he were friend rather than foe and not as if he were laughing at them.
Jade’s hand tightened. She tugged Lauren back, stepping in front of her. Lauren was ready to explode, and Jade needed to diffuse the situation before she went off.
"What’s your name?" Jade asked Mr. Suit.
The man looked at her suspiciously. "Why does it matter?"
"Because I gave you my name," Jade said. "It’s common courtesy. Humor me."
The man’s lips twitched. "I’m Karl Smyth."
"And what is it that you do, Karl?" Jade fidgeted her index finger with her thumb, hoping not to come across as too nervous or highly strung. She’d learned a thing or two from her psychology degree, and one of them was that she needed to seem approachable if she wanted anyone to open up to her.
"I run a real estate development business." Karl’s lips tightened. He gestured at the woods. "So this is what I do."
"Okay, cool, just checking." Jade smiled. With Karl so good looking, Jade didn’t even need to fake it. "So you’re a businessman, then? Right? That’s kind of the idea."
"I don’t have time for this." Karl sighed. "Please stop hampering our efforts. The land belongs to me."
"No! No, no, no, wait a sec." Jade held up her hand. Her impulse was to flirt. Always. She didn’t know she was doing it half the time. She took a small step forward and ran a hand along the side of Karl’s arm.
The connection was instant.
It was as if fireworks were going off in her chest, blinding her to what mattered and distracting her with Karl instead. Jade had heard of sparks before, but not experienced them like this. All of a sudden, Jade felt way in over her head.
Karl stopped in his tracks. Their eyes locked.
Jade’s breath hitched. Something strange had just happened, and it seemed as if Karl had felt it, too.
Jade swallowed hard and dropped her hand.
Note to self: don’t touch him if you ever want to keep breathing steady and thoughts on track.
"I… um…" Jade floundered for words. "I want to talk business with you."
She expected Karl to laugh scornfully in her face, but Karl merely chuckled instead. With a raised eyebrow, he turned toward Nic, who nodded.
Hope bubbled in Jade’s chest that she wasn’t the only one who’d experienced the explosive force when their bodies met—Karl wasn’t half as hostile as before.
"Business? Are you telling me you’re in a place where you can buy this multimillion dollar tree-covered agricultural land from me?"
"Well… no. That seems a little excessive for woodlands, to be honest." Jade worried her bottom lip. She had no idea how much some trees cost, but she was pretty sure millions of dollars wasn’t in the right ballpark; at least, not in this area. She kept her gaze locked on Karl’s. "But I’m thinking we might be able to work out a deal to save the woods. Not all the woods—you can have other parts if you want—but this part right here? I’d like to see it not torn down to the ground."
"A deal?" Karl hitched a brow. "Really?"
"Hey, I’m trying here," Jade said, exasperated. "I really am. You’re not making it very easy."
"What do you have to offer? What kind of deal are we talking about?"
Jade hadn’t thought that far ahead.
"Right," Karl said after a painful stretch of silence. "That’s what I thought."
"No! It’s not like that. I think we can still work out a deal, but I just spent four hours on the road to get here, and my brain’s scrambled. Can we come back to this tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow?" Karl and Lauren asked in unison. Jade jumped. She’d forgotten Lauren was there.
"Yeah. Can we just call it a day for today and come back to this tomorrow? Don’t tear down any more trees today. It’s not going to put you all that far behind."
"You’re clearly not well versed in business." Karl shook his head. "You’re asking me to stop work for a day with no good reason. I’m not going to postpone work because someone off the street asked me to. I understand that this is a small town, and it’s likely upsetting for you, but it is what it is. The land is mine. I’ll do what I want with it. I’m breaking no laws."
Dammit, if Jade didn’t want Karl to do what he wanted with her, too.
He glanced at Nic who shrugged.
Under pressure, Jade suddenly thought of something. "Do you have permission to build?"
"You can check out the public records, and you’ll find no permits are needed. At the moment, I’m not building. I’m making the land secure by fencing it for the public good, to keep people out so they don’t get hurt by falling timber or construction. And I’m removing just a few trees initially for vehicle access. This is prime agricultural land. This timber has value and is not classified as protected woodland. Does that answer all of your questions?"
To his credit, he’d given them more answers than they were entitled to.
He was still an asshole.
"So you could continue putting up the fence today but not start on the trees until after we’ve met tomorrow? How does that sound?" Jade asked.
It was a long shot. All of this was a long shot. Lauren and Jade were two young women going up against a business. Even if Karl was the owner, he had the bottom dollar in mind, not the comfort of two young twenty-somethings.
"Please?" Jade pouted her bottom lip. "I’ll have a deal worked out for you tomorrow. You’re going to find it worth your time, I know it."
"Ladies. I don’t want trouble, and everything I’m doing is legal." Karl shook his head slowly. He closed his eyes. "What do you think, Nic?"
"We don't need to cut down trees today, nor tomorrow either." He winked at Jade. "We've got more plenty to do replacing the school fencing and more."
"All right, no trees will come down today. Tomorrow, before seven in the morning, room 102 in the Beaumont Inn. If you’re not there with a proposal, I’ll continue with my plans."
"Thank you!" Jade beamed. "I promise it’s going to be worth the wait."
Raising an eyebrow, Karl said nothing. He gave Jade one last, hard stare, then turned. Nic shot them both a beaming grin and turned with his boss. Together they crossed the parking lot in the direction of the workmen.
Jade guided Lauren back to her car. When Karl and Nic were out of earshot, Lauren let the air out of her lungs in one loud breath. "I can’t believe you did that."
"I can’t believe I did that, either." Nothing stopped Corporate America—Jade wasn’t foolish enough to believe otherwise. She watched Karl cross the field, eying them up and down. Her heart skipped a beat. Karl hadn’t agreed because he thought it was good business, so did that mean he agreed because… she'd meet him in his hotel room? "Now I’ve got to come up with a plan good enough to get him to leave the woods alone. Totally possible, right? It’s not like I just shot myself in the foot."
It was Lauren’s turn to squeeze her shoulder. "We’ll figure something out."
"Yeah." Jade bit down on her bottom lip. She kept watching the men. Why did the gorgeous ones always have to be evil? Perhaps the foreman wasn't evil, just doing his job. Life was unfair. "We’ll figure it out."
Chapter Three
Jade couldn’t figure it out.
She spent the rest of the day with Lauren, plotting and brainstorming.
"You know," Lauren said as they sprawled out across Jade’s old bed. Lauren’s h
ound and protector, Cana, lay on the floor by their feet. "Maybe we should get in touch with Brenna somehow. She lives in a palace with the heir to a throne, right? She’s got to have access to something worthwhile."
"She doesn’t even own clothes anymore." Jade sighed. "I’m pretty sure her kingdom doesn’t exactly value the same things that ours does."
"It’s worth a shot."
"And how are you going to contact her?" Jade lifted her head lazily to glance at Lauren. "There aren't exactly cellphone towers where she’s living right now, and we can’t traipse through the wood. I don't even know how you're going to get home."
"I don’t know." Lauren buried her face in her hands. "I’m trying. I really am. I just can't think of anything to turn this around. We can’t let them destroy the woods. We can’t."
"And we can’t appeal to the gods of Olympus to help? Are you sure about that?"
Lauren’s face looked a picture of horror at the suggestion. "I don’t know what they’d do, but I sense their solution might be out of all proportion to the problem. They don't have our sense of morals, they're gods and see us as completely disposable. If they find out." Lauren shuddered. "I can't consider it. Zeus, Poseidon and Hephaestus are behind some of the biggest so-called natural disasters in the world. Things like earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, there's a reason they're called Acts of God, they really are, and so many people might die."
"What do the Spartans say?"
"Well, they can't buy the land, they have nothing of value. Hence the name, Spartan. They come from a different world, they don't see a problem with defending the woods in the way they always have. I If that means people die, to them it is the price of war. They are preparing for war, Jade, but even so, they don't want war and they certainly don't want mortals to find out about them, so they'd prefer we'd find a peaceful solution."
"So the Spartans have no treasure? Something they wouldn’t miss? And we can't ask the gods for treasure?"
Architects_Sons of Olympus Page 3
