No matter how much she wished that wasn’t the case.
Aaaaannd she would stop that kind of thinking too. She was good at her job. No, she was freaking amazing at her job. She’d been told time and again that LeBlanc & Sons would not have survived as long as it had had she not taken over the managerial side of things once her grandma—LeBlanc & Sons original Jane-of-all-trades—retired. Her entire family had sacrificed for the sake of that business. And they’d instilled a work ethic in her that Brooklyn held steadfast to.
She could hear her dad’s voice in her head right now.
Find what you’re good at and give one hundred and ten percent.
She lived her life by that motto.
As for what she would be doing if she wasn’t such an ace at managing construction jobs? Well, that’s what hobbies were for. The world was filled with people who’d had to choose between what they wanted to do and what they should do.
Her one foolish attempt to reject her role—to prove she wasn’t as good at working for LeBlanc & Sons as everyone lauded her to be—had ended in disaster. And it had cost her family everything.
Alex Holmes didn’t know it, but he’d given her a chance to make things right. With this job, she could help her parents get out of the debt she’d inadvertently plunged them into, and make up for all the hardship her stupid mistake had cost them. And that’s why Holmes Construction would get 110% out of her.
What she wanted didn’t matter. She would give everything to the job that paid the bills.
Brooklyn heard footsteps coming toward her and quickly scampered to the desk closest to the door. She perched her backside against it, picked up a random sheet of paper and pretended she’d been reading it all this time. She realized she’d picked up a grocery list and quickly tossed it back on the desk. She would rather get caught eavesdropping than reading her new boss’s personal shopping list.
A second later, Alex entered the trailer. Accompanying him was a guy who, astonishingly, stood an inch or two taller than Alex, and whose shoulders were as broad as any Brooklyn had ever seen. And that was saying a lot, given how many broad shoulders she’d encountered on construction sites over the years.
They walked over to her and Alex made the introductions.
“Brooklyn, this is Reid Holmes.” Her brows lifted upon hearing the last name, and Alex answered her unvoiced question with a nod. “Reid and I are first cousins.”
He was much younger than Alex, probably only a couple of years older than her own twenty-six years. Of course, she still got carded whenever she tried to buy wine coolers, so she knew better than most that looks could be deceiving when it came to telling one’s age.
His rich, dark skin glistened with perspiration courtesy of the summer heat, reminding Brooklyn to thank the good Lord that she was lucky enough to work in an air-conditioned trailer. The temperatures had been brutal this year, and that stifling heat didn’t seem to be letting up anytime soon.
Reid removed his work glove and stuck his hand out to her. “Nice to meet you,” he said, though his unenthused tone belied his words.
“You too,” Brooklyn said. His hand was rough and calloused, despite his use of gloves. Not surprising. Rough hands went with construction sites the way red beans went with rice.
“Reid is one of HCC’s senior plumbers,” Alex continued. “He’s also the person I trust the most when it comes to keeping me informed about what’s going on around the worksite.”
Brooklyn nodded. Having worked in a small family business all her life, she understood those dynamics.
“If you need anything and I’m not around, Reid here is who you should call. He’s going to help you get acquainted with how we operate around here. I thought it best you have someone show you the ropes, particularly this first week on the job,” Alex finished.
Brooklyn was pretty sure if she Googled “apathetic” right now, Reid Holmes’s face would pop up. He wasn’t just apathetic; the stony set to his jaw suggested that he was downright averse to the thought of showing her around.
What the heck? She’d just started this job an hour ago. How had she managed to offend him already?
Alex’s phone chirped. “Dammit,” he said as he read the text message.
“What’s wrong?” Reid asked.
“I need to get down to the job in the Quarter. I told Jason I’d be there later this morning, but later this morning came quicker than I thought it would.”
“Weren’t they supposed to finish the building on Royal Street yesterday?” Reid asked. “What happened?”
“The crew found a bunch of faulty wiring when they went into the walls.”
As he and Alex talked about the renovations a small Holmes Construction crew was working on at an antiques store in the French Quarter, Brooklyn took the time to study Reid.
He was hot. No use denying that. It was his cheekbones, she decided. They were pronounced without being too pronounced. A sharply trimmed goatee covered the bottom half of his face, but it was those warm brown eyes the color of the whiskey her Grandpa Joseph used to drink that commanded the most attention.
Yep, Reid Holmes was hot. If a bit standoffish.
As surreptitiously as possible, she allowed her eyes to travel from his firm jaw downward. Even if she’d randomly encountered him on the street, Brooklyn would have known he was a construction worker. She’d been around worksites long enough to tell the difference between muscles honed from hours of heavy labor and those that came from working on a machine at a gym. He stood with his legs spread apart, which caused his jeans to stretch taut across his solid thighs and tapered hips. The well-worn cotton of his Holmes Construction T-shirt molded to his sculpted shoulders and chest.
And just like that, Brooklyn felt a crush coming on.
Well, shit.
This was so not the time for an instacrush. Why on earth would her brain go there now, and with a guy who apparently didn’t like her even though they’d only met a few minutes ago? Maybe she should tell the butterflies in her stomach to chill until she’d had the chance to peek at some of the other guys on the worksite. Crushing on Mr. I’d Rather Be Anywhere But In This Trailer wasn’t the wisest course of action.
Then again, maybe he was the smartest crush. This way, she wouldn’t be tempted to treat it as more than just a harmless little infatuation.
Brooklyn held no illusions when it came to the Reid Holmeses of the world. Guys like him didn’t go for girls like her. That wasn’t to say there was anything wrong with her. She was cute. She was damn cute.
Okay, fine. She was kinda cute.
Being kinda cute had always served her well. Someone had just commented on her ass not even twenty minutes ago, for crying out loud! She wasn’t starving for attention from the opposite sex.
But she was also a realist. Certain people fit with certain people. And people like Reid, who with a crook of his finger could easily have a dozen salivating women at his side, tended to go for the tall, cover model divas of the world. Not petite and curvy comic book nerds.
And that was just fine with her. She knew her lane and she stayed firmly within the lines. Reid Holmes was not in her lane.
That’s why she would welcome this admittedly swiftly-formed crush. He’d give her something nice to look at while at the job. There was absolutely nothing wrong with that.
“So, are we good here?” Alex asked. “I need to get going.”
Brooklyn nodded and looked at Reid. “We’re good,” she said.
He hitched a shoulder. “Yeah, I guess.”
“Reid, why don’t you take Brooklyn on a tour of the worksite so she can get a feel for the place,” Alex suggested.
She noted the reluctance in the way Reid’s mouth pulled tight at the edges.
“Actually,” Brooklyn said. “If it’s all the same, I’d rather spend today getting used to my workspace here in the trailer. I also need to familiarize myself with the scheduling system Holmes Construction uses. It’s a lot more involved than what I’m
used to.”
“Right, right,” Alex said. “That’s good. Why don’t you two meet here in the morning? You can take her on your initial morning rounds,” he said to Reid. “And try to be on time tomorrow.”
The crease in Reid’s forehead deepened. “You know this morning wasn’t typical,” he said.
“Yeah, I know. Just thought I’d remind you,” Alex said as he rolled up several 24x36 CAD drawings and stuffed them into cylindrical containers. “I’m going straight to the Westbank worksite in the morning. I should get here in the early afternoon.” He turned to Brooklyn. “If you need something, go to him,” he said, tipping his head toward Reid. “If he can’t help you, you have my number.”
“I’ll be fine,” Brooklyn reassured him.
Alex’s eyes crinkled at the corners. “I have to remind myself that you’ve been working on construction sites longer than half the guys out there in the field.”
His warm smile broadened and Brooklyn felt another crush coming on. It didn’t matter that Alex was probably old enough to be her dad. He had his own brand of hotness going on.
A few minutes later, both men left the trailer and Brooklyn set about familiarizing herself with her surroundings. This would be her home for a large portion of the day. She needed to feel comfortable. After adjusting the temperature to something other than frozen tundra, she spent the rest of the afternoon watching every YouTube tutorial she could find on the scheduling system Holmes Construction employed. It would take some getting used to, but she felt confident she’d have this conquered by the end of the week, possibly sooner.
She considered moving on to the inventory system, but her brain revolted at the mere thought. Rome wasn’t built in a day; her knowledge of how things worked at Holmes Construction wouldn’t be either.
Just as Brooklyn powered down her computer for the night, the trailer door opened and Reid walked in. He removed his hardhat and her soul released a satisfied sigh.
Goodness, but he was nice to look at.
He frowned when he spotted her behind the desk. Apparently, she wasn’t so nice to look at.
“I thought I was running late,” he said. He walked over to Alex’s desk, which was separated from hers by about seven feet. “Why aren’t you packed up and ready to leave? Didn’t Alex mention that the workday ends at five around here?”
“He did, but I’m not used to working by the clock,” Brooklyn answered. “At LeBlanc & Sons, daylight is what dictated whether or not we left the jobsite.”
“Yeah, well, Alex is usually pretty strict about sticking to an eight-hour workday. He’s big on the work/life balance thing—at least for his workers. We only work overtime when we absolutely have to.”
Oh, look. He could speak to her without frowning. Who knew?
“So what are you still doing here when it’s…” She pointed to the time on her computer screen. “Five-eighteen?”
The barest grin tipped up one corner of his mouth. It made him even more gorgeous, because, of course.
“I’m one of the exceptions to the rule,” he answered, that hint of a smile lingering.
God, she wished he would go back to frowning. She was smitten enough as it was.
He tossed his work gloves onto Alex’s desk, then turned and started for hers. His relaxed gait summoned thoughts of every movie Brooklyn had ever watched where the hunky hero strolled with a confident, sexy swagger. If she were writing this particular movie, he would come around her desk, brace his hands on either side of her chair, lean down and whisper inappropriate things in her ear.
He stopped a couple of feet from her desk and asked, “So are you ready for me to walk you to your car?”
That wasn’t the line she would have written.
“Why would I need you to do that?” Brooklyn asked. But then she answered her own question. “Alex told you to, didn’t he?”
Reid put his hands up. “I’m just doing what the boss asked me to do.”
Great. That’s exactly how she wanted her crush to view her, as someone in need of a babysitter.
Brooklyn sighed. A big, deep, dramatic sigh. “I know Alex promised my dad that he would look out for me, which apparently means that you have to look out for me when Alex isn’t here, but it isn’t necessary. I’ve been around construction sites my entire life. I know how to take care of myself.”
“If you think that matters to Alex, you don’t know who you’re dealing with. He’s got it in his head that you need a bodyguard.” He lifted one of those broad shoulders in an insouciant shrug. “I’m just doing my job.”
In her movie, she would happily pay for Reid Holmes to willingly guard her body? Willingly being the keyword. If he had even tried to hide just how much he didn’t want to do this, Brooklyn could have pretended that he was onboard with playing the role of protector. But she’d seen the expression on his face earlier when Alex had first introduced them. This was about following the boss’s orders, and nothing more.
For some reason Reid didn’t want her here. And her pride was just a little too stubborn to allow her to accept any kind of help from him.
“You may feel obligated to watch over me because Alex asked you to do it, but I’m letting you off the hook,” Brooklyn said. She locked the top drawer on her desk, where she’d stored the backup flash drives holding the personnel files, and stood. Drawing the strap of her battered Comic Con San Diego canvas bag over her shoulder, she said, “I’m a big girl, despite being vertically challenged. I can take care of myself.”
He looked on the verge of refuting her statement, but then Reid held his hands up in surrender. “It’s your call. Just know that Alex won’t like it.”
“He seems like a reasonable guy. He’ll get over it,” Brooklyn said.
Reid’s sharp crack of laughter reverberated around the trailer. “Now I know for sure that you have no idea who you’re dealing with when it comes to your new boss.”
“I guess I’ll find out soon enough,” Brooklyn said with her own nonchalant shrug. She headed for the door, but turned when she noticed Reid following her. “What are you doing?”
“Going home,” he said. The duh was silent. He gestured for her to keep walking. “Go on. I’ll lock up the trailer.”
Brooklyn exited the trailer and continued down the steps and through the gate of the chain-link fence that surrounded the worksite. She’d walked only a couple of yards along the sidewalk before Reid appeared at her side. She glanced over at him.
“Still going home?” she asked.
He nodded.
Brooklyn pointed toward her car, which was parked underneath a large oak tree in the next block. “I’m pretty sure you’re not driving that bright yellow Volkswagen Hatchback,” she said. She hooked her thumb over her shoulder. “That Silverado back there looks more your speed.”
A grin tipped up the corner of his mouth, but he didn’t say anything, just continued walking.
“So?” Brooklyn prompted.
“So what?” he asked as they reached her car.
“I told you I didn’t need you playing bodyguard?”
He shrugged again. “Doesn’t matter. Alex wants me to look out for you.”
“But you said it was my call.”
“I lied.” He reached over, took her keys from her hand, unlocked the car door and opened it. “I’ll see you in the morning.” Then he tossed the keys to her and pivoted, heading back in the direction of his truck.
Brooklyn slid behind the wheel and slumped in her seat. She didn’t know what to make of the last ten minutes. This movie was one she hadn’t seen before.
* * *
An argument over a call in the baseball game currently playing on the flat screen above the dozens of liquor bottles that lined the bar’s mirrored wall greeted Reid as he entered the doors to Pal’s Lounge. He spotted Anthony sitting at the far end of the scarred wooden bar, raising a longneck to his lips.
“Hey,” Reid said. “Sorry I’m late. I had to make sure the new site coordinator got to h
er car safely.”
“Uh-oh. The bossman tapped you to play babysitter, huh?”
Reid let out a derisive snort as he straddled the stool next to Anthony’s and signaled for the bartender. “Alex claims I’m not her babysitter, but how many other workers do I have to escort to their car at the end of the day?”
Of course, Brooklyn LeBlanc had insisted she didn’t need him to walk her to her car, but if something did happened to her Reid knew he wouldn’t be able to handle the guilt. Not that he expected any of Holmes Construction’s workers to physically attack her or anything, but he’d seen them catcall a woman walking down the street a time or two. He would make sure they all knew that shit would not fly where Brooklyn was concerned. Hell, they shouldn’t do it at all. He would demand that women be treated with the utmost respect by everyone working for Holmes Construction. Period.
Says the guy who woke up to a strange nipple damn near poking him in the eye.
Maybe he should take his own advice before he started dishing it out to others.
The bartender came by and Reid ordered a Coke with extra ice.
“Coke?” Anthony looked at him as if he’d lost his mind.
Reid put both hands up. “All that drinking last night got me in enough trouble. I’m not looking for a repeat.”
“Trouble, huh? With the way you strolled out of The Hard Court with that honey draped all over you, I would have thought you’d be okay with how last night turned out.”
“The problem wasn’t with last night. It was this morning when I woke up and had no idea who was in my bed with me.” Reid shook his head. “I couldn’t even remember her name until after lunch. And I’m still not sure if I’m right.”
Anthony belly-laughed. Reid didn’t find anything particularly funny about the situation.
Awaken Me Page 3
