When he returned, the receptionist smiled again. “Mr. Wiley will see you now, Mr. Crowes. You can take the elevator over there or climb the stairs to the second floor. His secretary will be sitting at the desk outside his office to show you in.” She handed him a business card. Absently he tucked it in his shirt pocket.
She smiled again. “Hope to see you again, Mr. Crowes.”
“Thanks.”
He took the stairs and spotted a woman sitting at a desk, so he headed in that direction. She rose before he reached her.
“Mr. Wiley will see you now, Mr. Crowes.” She opened the door for him.
Cal drew a deep breath to try and steady the heavy kick of his heart. He rubbed his palms against his jeans and stepped through the door.
The head of Wiley construction was facing him, pouring a glass of diet soda over ice. A man closing on sixty-five, Wiley looked like he’d spent his entire life out in the sun on construction sites. He strode toward Cal, his hand extended. His palm as it met Cal’s wasn’t the soft, callus-free grip of a businessman, but the hard, worn hand of a worker. “It’s nice to meet you face-to-face, Cal. May I call you Cal?”
“Sure.”
Wiley motioned toward a small grouping of upholstered chairs. “Have a seat. Can I get you something to drink?”
Cal swallowed, though his mouth was dry. “A bottle of water?”
“Sure.” He moved to a large cabinet and opened one of the doors to reveal a small refrigerator. He removed a bottle of water. “Want a glass?”
“No, sir. The bottle will be fine.”
Wiley carried his own drink to the coffee table and handed the bottle over. He waited for Cal to take a drink and settled back into his seat. “You’ve worked for Wiley Construction for how long, Cal?”
So it began. Cal screwed the lid back on the half empty bottle and set it on a coaster on the coffee table. “Just over a year.”
“Are you satisfied with your job here, Cal?”
“Sure, Mr. Wiley.”
“Have you seen Nora Harper’s reports on her show?” Deep grooves carved the man’s forehead as he raised his brows.
“Not recently, sir.” In fact he avoided watching the news or interview shows most of the time.
“She does a four-minute human interest piece every night on the news, and a longer one on her show. She’s been doing one on injured vets and how they’ve put their lives back together after coming home. The struggles they’ve faced finding a job, that kind of thing. She mentioned Wiley Construction and some of the responses she had after broadcasting the footage taped the other day of the near miss on-site.”
“She called me for an interview and I turned her down, sir.”
Wiley scooted forward in his chair, rested his elbows on his knees, and laced his fingers. “I’d like for you to reconsider your position on that, Cal.”
Shock jolted Cal’s system. “I don’t understand.”
“We’re getting some negative publicity, not because we don’t hire according to the disability laws, but because you seem to be the only commercial construction worker in the area with a disability.”
Angry heat hit Cal’s face. “I’m not disabled, sir. If I were, I wouldn’t be on the job.”
“You do have a prosthetic limb, don’t you?”
“Yeah, I do. But it doesn’t keep me from doing the work.”
“Tom Hill has told me that repeatedly. He’s one of my best foremen, and I believe him. And watching you walk in here, I’d never guess you had any kind of challenge. It has to be a challenge at times.”
Cal remained silent.
“I’m not firing you or trying to talk you into taking a less active job, Cal. I’m asking for your help in heading off a small publicity issue. So far all I’m hearing are negative responses, not just for the company, but because we’re allowing you to do the work. So it would be a win for you too if we could turn things around. Some of the comments I’ve read so far state that we’re unnecessarily putting you and others at risk allowing you to walk steel. Tom said you enjoyed the work and wouldn’t stick around if we put you on deliveries.”
Cal shook his head. “That’s not what I signed on for sir. If I was just starting out and my skill level was less advanced, I’d understand being demoted, but I’m a trained welder among other things. I’m an asset on-site, not the opposite.”
“Tom said you are damn good at what you do. So I’d like to balance things out with some positive public responses.”
“They’re pushing the negative because it triggers more reaction from their viewers?” Cal commented.
“Probably. And it’s certainly generated some pointed phone calls here from several agencies.”
Cal leaned back in the chair, rested an elbow on the arm, and cupped his forehead in his hand. Jesus! He didn’t want to go on television. He didn’t want to be looked at with sympathy or pity. He cleared his throat and dropped his hand. “Sir, the reason I’ve been able to do the job is because I don’t draw attention to my leg. It isn’t something I talk about. The men I work with, there’s only a couple who know about it.”
“There’s bound to be more now, Cal. Ms. Harper has been belaboring the issue since Wednesday of last week.”
Fuck! It took all his self-control to keep from saying the word out loud. “No one’s said anything.”
“Well, they see you every day doing the job, why would they?”
Had he really been worried for nothing? Why the hell hadn’t Julio or Hector said something? Both of them watched the news.
“If I go on television, sir, I’m not just protecting Wiley Construction from negative publicity, I’m laying my private life wide open to—everyone.” He swept one hand toward the surrounding buildings visible from the windows.
“And what do you have to hide? We do a background check on all our employees, Cal. There’s nothing in yours to worry about. You’re a decorated war veteran who sacrificed a limb for his country. Go on and make these people eat their words. And I’ll look at it as a personal favor.”
Shit! What did you say when the owner of the company said he owed you one? He didn’t really have a choice. But he didn’t want any of this. “All right. But there’s only so far I’m willing to go with her interview, Mr. Wiley. She asks me to show off my prosthetic, then I’m out of there. And I’d like to see a copy of the questions before the interview.”
“I’ll make that clear to her when I call. You’re not the only one who’ll be on the hot seat. She’s asked to interview me, too.”
Somehow Cal didn’t get any comfort from that.
Wiley stood, and Cal followed suit, recognizing his dismissal.
“I’ll have my secretary call you with the particulars as soon as we know them. Please give her your number,” Wiley offered his hand.
“Yes, sir.” Cal shook his hand and headed for the door.
While he stood outside of Wiley’s office door, his first thought was he wanted to talk to Kathleen about the interview.
She’d been in his thoughts every morning when he got up. Lying alone in bed, he went to sleep thinking of her. They’d done little more than kiss and grope like teenagers, but he’d dreamed of more with her. His heart kicked into high gear. He was falling for her.
Ah, hell, he wasn’t just falling, he was already there.
Chapter 12
‡
Kathleen detached the external hard drive from her computer and tucked it into her purse. Her cell phone rang and she reached for it. “Hello, Callahan.”
“I’m in the building downstairs and it’s just shy of quitting time. I’d like to see where you work if the coast is clear,” Cal said.
“I think Mr. Warren left earlier. I’m on the fourth floor. If you take the elevator, I’ll meet you in reception.”
“I’m on my way.”
Kathleen rushed down the hall to the large square reception area where the secretarial staff was already shutting down their computers. The elevator opened and Cal ste
pped out.
“Hey, Rose.” He surprised her by leaning down and brushing a kiss against her cheek.
“What brings you here?”
“Mr. Wiley wanted to see me. I’ll tell you about it later.”
She eyed his expression, searching for some key to how he felt about the meeting. He didn’t seem angry, but he wasn’t totally at ease either. “Come this way and I’ll show you my work space.” She guided him down the wide hall past three other offices, the restrooms, and the break room. “This is my pod.”
“Pod?”
“Well, that’s what we call it. I haven’t had much time to personalize my space yet.”
He paused before the photograph-covered bulletin board, then studied the drawing she’d done the week before and framed just that morning.
Nerves fluttered beneath her ribs at his silence. Would he like it?
“This design is going to be something special, Kathleen.”
She breathed a sigh of relief. “Thanks. It’s just my vision of what the façade will look like once it’s built—if the client is pleased with the design.”
Hillary wandered in with a bottle of water. Reluctantly Kathleen introduced her to Cal.
“Are you the friend who helped her get her tires fixed this weekend?” she asked.
“Yeah.”
“You’re a good man.” She patted Cal on the shoulder. She was just behind the partition when she paused and shook her hand and blew on it as if touching Cal had burned it. Kathleen bit her lip to keep from laughing.
“Are you ready to leave for the day?” Cal asked.
“Oh, yeah.” Chiding herself for her paranoia, Kathleen opened her purse to make sure the hard drive was inside and checked to be sure she’d closed out her computer.
Cal motioned her out the door ahead of him. She was aware of his hand against her hip, and the way his body heat seemed to envelop her as they proceeded down the hall to the elevator. The two receptionist/secretaries who worked on the floor paused to eye him as they strolled by.
“You’re being checked out, Callahan.”
His brows hiked up. They stepped on the elevator and he glanced up at the two women with his aw-shucks grin. They both smiled. He made a motion as though tipping his hat. The two giggled like schoolgirls.
The elevator door closed and Kathleen looked up at him. “You really didn’t notice until I pointed it out to you?”
“I’m interested in you, Kathleen. Not other random women.”
Her breasts tightened as her nipples budded and an instant heat trailed down her body to nestle deep. She ran her fingertips over the buttons on his shirt. “I am interested in you too, Callahan.”
His arm tightened around her, his blue-green gaze narrowed as he focused so intently on her, her legs went rubbery and she wondered if it was possible to have an orgasm from just a look.
“Will you come back to my apartment with me?”
His voice held a masculine rasp that played along her supercharged nerve endings and gave her goose bumps. He was what she wanted. She didn’t hesitate. “Yes.”
The elevator door opened and they stepped out together.
The two of them entered the reception area and were almost to the door when Paul Warren strode through the front entrance. The moment he spotted Cal he stiffened and his eyes narrowed. When his attention shifted to Kathleen, color suffused his features.
“What’s your business here, Crowes?” he demanded.
Cal ran a soothing hand down Kathleen’s back and settled into a relaxed but alert stance. “I was invited, Mr. Warren.”
Warren’s gaze raked Kathleen. “This is a place of business, not a bar to pick up women.”
The receptionist behind them caught her breath.
Color stormed Cal’s cheeks and his eyes narrowed. “I’ve had enough of this shit.” He started forward.
With Zach’s warning blaring in her mind, Kathleen threw up an arm to block Cal’s forward momentum. It was like trying to stop a boulder from rolling downhill. Every muscle in his body was charged with aggression, and she had to step in front of him and brace her hands against his wide chest to stop him. “He’s goading you, Cal. Don’t allow him to use me to provoke you.”
She turned to face Warren at the same moment the security guard sauntered up. “Is there a problem, Mr. Warren?”
“Yes, there is,” Kathleen answered for him and focused on Warren. “What is wrong with you, Mr. Warren? Your behavior towards me is inappropriate and offensive, as it is toward Mr. Crowes. Cal is here at Mr. Wiley’s request and by my invitation. If you don’t back off, I will file a harassment complaint against you.”
Warren’s cheeks grew flushed and he clenched his fists at his sides. “That isn’t what’s going on here.”
“Then why don’t you explain what is so we will all know?”
Warren ground his teeth as though he were searching for words. “He’s not who you think he is. You’re making a bad decision going out with him.”
She shook her head. There was something seriously wrong with the man. “I’ve only been working here nine days. I don’t know you, and you don’t know me. Certainly not well enough to tell me who I should and shouldn’t date. That’s harassment. When you demand to know whether I really have a date with someone else when you invite me out for drinks, that’s harassment. When you refer to me as a bar pickup, that’s harassment. Please—stay away from me, Mr. Warren.”
The security guard placed a hand on Warren’s shoulder. He twisted away from him. “Keep your hands off me.”
Kathleen gripped Cal’s hand and tugged him away while Warren was occupied. Once outside, Kathleen took a deep breath and tried to control her trembling.
When they reached her car, Cal leaned back against it and pulled her against him. “Are you okay?”
She pressed in tight and rested her forehead against his shoulder. “It’s adrenaline. It’ll ease off.”
“What the hell is going on here, Kathleen? Has he really been harassing you?”
“It’s hard to explain.” A rush of embarrassment made it difficult to meet his eyes. “As satisfying as it would have been, I couldn’t let you punch him. You’d have been fired, or arrested for assault.” She leaned back to look up at him. “I know I turned it so it sounded like it was aimed at me, but he only did it to get a rise out of you. He’s fixated on you, Cal. We have to figure out why.”
“I don’t know. I never met the guy until he took over the tower project from one of the other project supervisors, Shelton Cobb. From the moment he met me he’s been riding my ass. I thought he was just prejudiced against me because of my leg.” Cal raised her chin to look down into her face and asked again. “Has he really been harassing you?”
She didn’t want to go into this with him. It only fueled whatever was going on between him and Warren. “The night you took me to Julio and Jessica’s he asked Hillary and me out for a drink. When I said I already had a date, he questioned whether I really did have one. He said it was because he didn’t want the argument we’d had that first day to make it difficult for us to work together, but he has a kind of passive-aggressive way of saying things—” She shook her head. “It shook me up.”
“And then the next morning your files were deleted and your drawings gone.”
“Yes.”
Cal’s eyes took on a flat cold rage. “You should have let me punch him.”
“I didn’t tell you about it to begin with because I thought it would only feed the situation between you and him. Zach warned me what he might do if he found out we were dating.”
“So you’ve talked it over with your brother but not me?” Cal stepped back and gripped her arms. “I’m a grown man, Kathleen. You don’t have to protect me.”
“I know that. I thought we were protecting each other.”
“It doesn’t feel that way to me.” Cal shifted back, leaving her feeling bereft. “Just what kind of argument was it you had that first day. Was it about me?”
/>
Kathleen bit her bottom lip. She didn’t want to tell him. He’d misunderstand. “He’d made some derogatory comments about your ability to do the job and that you were reminding the rest of the men what a hero you were by wearing the cracked hard hat. So I reminded him you’d just saved the company from a lawsuit and of the laws governing hiring and firing.”
Cal’s cheekbones reddened, and for the second time she saw anger directed at her. It tightened his mouth and made him look as intimidating as her brothers. “You’ve been running interference for me since day one.”
God save her from a bruised male ego. “It wasn’t because of your leg. And it wasn’t because I felt you couldn’t handle things on your own. I didn’t even know you then. It was because right is right and wrong is wrong, Callahan.”
“I left home because I couldn’t take my parents treating me like a cripple. My dad wouldn’t even let me work with him. This is the same thing, Kathleen.”
She could deal with the anger, but the pain in his expression sliced at her. “No it’s not, Callahan. I’ve never looked at you and seen anything but a strong, virile, sexy man. You’re rock steady. I trusted you to protect me when we went to Julio’s neighborhood. I trusted you to hold me and comfort me after the worst workday I’ve ever had. And if you’re looking for a way to welch on what you’ve been promising me since the first time you touched me, then get in your truck and make tracks. But you’ll regret it as much as I will.”
Cal stormed away from her two strides, then two more. Her heart sank and quick tears blurred her eyes. The pain, sharper and deeper than she expected, took root and left her breathless.
“Damn it.” He pivoted on his good leg to face her. “Jesus!” He threw up his hands in frustration. “You should have been a lawyer instead of an architect.”
Kathleen blinked to clear her vision.
“I don’t need your pity, Kathleen.” With his hands clenched at his sides and his jaw taut, he looked formidable.
Breaking Boundaries (SEAL Team Heartbreakers Book 5) Page 13
