Awaken Me

by Farrah Rochon

  She couldn’t ignore the ache this time as she tried to swallow past the lump in her throat.

  “Stop your bellyaching and be grateful you have a job,” she muttered underneath her breath.

  After the way she’d bumbled things with her family’s business, she was lucky to find a good paying job doing the one thing that she knew how to do well. It’s not as if the construction business was the goldmine it used to be. She’d been given a second chance, one Brooklyn wasn’t sure she even deserved. She would not waste it lamenting over something that apparently was never meant to be.

  She spent the next hour using colored duct tape to create a checkbox system on one of the white boards, then began the arduous task of hanging up the flowcharts she’d printed this morning on the huge plotter printer. LeBlanc & Sons had never been big enough to justify owning one of the big machines, so whenever she had to print charts or blueprints, she’d have to make a run to the printers. She was going to love having that thing at her disposal.

  Brooklyn stood before the wall, the flowcharts in her hands. This would be a lot easier if she possessed another five or so inches. Because she didn’t, she climbed up on a chair and, using the fluorescent push pins she’d brought from home, tacked the first of five flowcharts above the row of whiteboards. The up and down on the chair should count as her workout for the day—if she was one to go to a gym, of course.

  She’d just finished hanging the last chart when the door to the trailer opened. Brooklyn turned to find Reid striding toward her.

  A tiny breath whisked from her lungs.

  Great. Just two days in and they were already at the breath-stealing stage. No doubt about it, this crush would be an epic one. Much worse than the one she’d had on Donovan Johnson, the bricklayer who’d worked on and off at LeBlanc & Sons for a couple of years. Donovan was cute and all, but he couldn’t hold a candle to Reid.

  She couldn’t get over the sheer size of him. Brooklyn was used to huge men whose muscles were built buy hard construction labor, but something about Reid Holmes’s body took on an almost comic book hero likeness. His biceps were like boulders, yet not so big to look unlifelike. It would be a joy to watch him work. She was already imagining the way those muscles would undulate underneath his sweat-dampened Holmes Construction T-shirt.

  “Well, damn,” Reid said as he looked around. “You sure made yourself at home.” He pointed to the chair she still stood on. “You realize that’s a safety violation, right?”

  Brooklyn’s face heated. Yes, she knew that, but she’d mentally used the excuse that it would only take a minute to tack up the charts to justify not having to look around for a step ladder. It was stupid.

  “You’re right,” Brooklyn said. “I know better. That’s the last time you’ll see me standing on a chair.”

  Reid responded with a simple nod. He crossed his arms over his chest and peered at the various charts and whiteboards now adorning the once empty walls. He hooked a thumb at the inventory chart.

  “What’s all this?”

  “A site-wide inventory list,” she answered. “It’s a way for workers to let me know if they need anything. If supplies are running low, I want people to write it down on the chart. I’ll check it at the end of the day and make the order.”

  He nodded and moved to the next chart.

  “That one will be used to track the progress of the various jobs,” she said.

  He looked over at her, one sardonic brow cocked. “The ‘Job Progress’ written across the top kinda gives it away.”

  “Oh. Right.” Brooklyn glanced down at her feet, wondering if there was anything she could do to magically produce a nice big hole that could swallow her up. When she peered back up at Reid, a slight grin tipped up one corner of his mouth.

  Good. Lord.

  That little tilt to his lips didn’t even amount to a real smile and it was still enough to make her heart flutter like a butterfly on crack.

  Epic. This crush would be epic!

  “Are you ready to make the rounds?” he asked.

  She blinked twice and shook her head. She’d been momentarily mesmerized by that hint of a smile. “I’m sorry, what?” she asked.

  He released a low chuckle.

  Oh, nice. He was laughing at her. Perfect. That’s exactly the reaction she was going for.

  Of course, if she started laughing then he would be laughing with her. But Brooklyn wouldn’t categorize this little episode as funny. More like excruciatingly uncomfortable and diving full-speed into mortification territory.

  She hated feeling this way. She thought she’d built up enough confidence in herself that she would never feel this way again. Except, apparently, around guys like Reid. Just…ugh.

  Enough with the awkward, self-conscious bullshit. He was just a guy. No need to feel weird around him.

  “What did you ask?” Brooklyn tried to tamp down the irritation in her voice. It wasn’t Reid’s fault she had a stupid crush.

  Well, actually, it kinda was his fault. He could try harder to look like a normal guy and not like some Nubian god in worn jeans and a T-shirt with sweat rings under the arms. Seriously, what normal human being made that look sexy?

  “I asked if you were ready to make the rounds,” he said. “One of your job responsibilities is to tour the work site twice a day. Alex wants me to join you this first week.”

  Brooklyn emphatically shook her head. “No. Don’t worry about it. I’ve worked on enough construction sites to be able to find my way around.”

  “You haven’t worked on a Holmes Construction site.” He tipped his head toward the door. “And I already told you, what you want doesn’t really matter here. Alex left instructions. He’s the boss.”

  He pulled a hardhat off the peg on the wall and handed it to her, but Brooklyn had already grabbed the purple one with the Iron Man stickers that she’d been wearing since Robert Downy Jr. won her heart in the first Avengers movie.

  Reid lifted the hardhat from her grasp, an even bigger grin stretching across his lips.

  Best to get this out in the open.

  “I’m into comics and I like stickers, okay? Sue me.” She reached for the hardhat, but he extended it just out of her reach.

  “What’s with the attitude?” Reid asked. “Did I say anything about your stickers?”

  “No, but I can tell you want to.”

  His grin morphed into a full-on smile and the breath that had managed to accumulate in her lungs rushed out again. Dammit.

  Reid set the hardhat on her head and gave the crown a playful thump, as one would do to his kid sister.

  Okay, that’s definitely not what she was going for.

  “I like the purple,” he said. “Means you’ll be easy to keep track of while out in the field.”

  Of course. Because that was his ultimate concern, keeping track of her. Because Alex had told him to do so, not because Reid wanted to be in her company. Best to remember that whenever her foolish brain felt tempted to read anything more into the smile on his handsome lips.

  Remember your lane, girl.

  She followed Reid out of the trailer, determined to find a replacement for the role of her workplace crush. Having him play that part was just plain unhealthy, especially with Alex’s insistence that Reid act as her guide while on the jobsite.

  Her task would be a lot easier if her tour guide made himself scarce for a few minutes. Brooklyn couldn’t help but compare every construction worker they came across to Reid, and, well, there was no comparison.

  He pointed out the state of the build as they toured the area. Instead of working from the ground up, they were tackling the build by wing. Some walls were up, but not yet painted. The parking lot had been framed, but the concrete would not be poured for another week. Pipes protruded from the floor, but there was still a lot of plumbing work to be done.

  As they moved to the northeastern quadrant of the worksite where back-out framers were building additional interior walls, Reid asked, “So, what h
ave you observed so far?”

  “Is this a test?” she asked, peering over at him. He even made those goofy ass safety goggles look good. So not fair.

  He hitched a shoulder, but shook his head. “No. I just want to know what you see when you look at all of this.”

  “It looks as if everything is moving at a steady pace,” she offered. “According to the project manager, the job is running just five percent over budget and only a couple of days behind schedule, despite the weather delays, which I find impressive. However,” She stopped when she realized that Reid was no longer walking alongside her.

  She looked back to find him a couple of feet behind her, the skin between the brim of his hardhat and top of his safety goggles creased with confusion.

  “What?” she asked. “You don’t think that’s impressive?”

  “What’s impressive is that you know where we stand on both the budget and schedule already. This is only your second day.”

  She shrugged. “It’s my job to know.”

  “Shit,” he cursed after expelling an irritated breath. He rubbed the back of his neck. “I guess you really are good at this.”

  “You don’t sound particularly happy about that.”

  “I just hate it when I’m wrong and Alex is right.”

  She frowned. “What?”

  “Forget I said that.” He gestured at the network of wooden planks they’d been walking on during their site tour. “Come on. Let’s take a look at the rest of it.”

  As they made their way around the site, Brooklyn counted three women working among the men in the field. That was three more than LeBlanc & Sons had ever employed, present company excluded. Her dad’s unwillingness to hire women had been a bone of contention between them for years. Even though he’d had no problem dragging Brooklyn onto construction sites all her life—and teaching her everything from floating drywall to running electrical wire—he never thought to hire women to do the actual work.

  Yet another notch in the plus column for Holmes Construction. At least they seemed to be progressive and not stuck in a 1950s mindset when it came to gender roles. She wouldn’t hold that catcall from yesterday against Alex or the others on the worksite either. She knew from experience that assholes were everywhere, and some of them happened to be good at installing insulation or roofing. She hadn’t encountered anything along those lines today that made her feel uncomfortable. Whether it was due to Alex’s warning or the fact that Reid had accompanied her, she couldn’t be sure.

  Maybe having him as a bodyguard wasn’t such a bad thing after all.

  * * *

  By the time they returned to the trailer, Brooklyn had decided to put the bodyguard thing back into the big fat no column. Any positives she could come up with were overshadowed by the single biggest negative: her heart could not take being in such close proximity to Reid Holmes for an extended period of time. Twice while touring the site she’d stumbled on the uneven ground and Reid had caught her by the arm to steady her. Her skin still tingled where he’d touched, and her heart rate had yet to return to a normal pace.

  She nearly wilted in relief once she reached her desk, looking forward to an afternoon without her entire body suffering through this heightened state of awareness. Seriously, this could not be good for her heart.

  But instead of going back out into the field as she expected him to do, Reid walked over to Alex’s desk and plopped down in her boss’s rolling chair. He picked up a pen and repeatedly tapped it against the palm of his other hand as he studied her.

  Brooklyn attempted to ignore him, turning to her computer and logging into her email. She could feel his eyes on her the entire time. After a full sixty seconds ticked by without him saying a word, she was the first to cave.

  She swirled her chair around to face him. “What?”

  He tilted his head to the side, tossed the pen on the desk and asked, “What made you decide to work construction? I took a look at your resume this morning. You have a degree in…what is it in?”

  “Construction management.”

  “Yeah, that.” He slowly swiveled the chair from side to side, a faint creak chirping every time he twirled to the right. “To be honest, I didn’t know that was even a thing you could study in college. Why did you choose that as your major?”

  “I come from a long line of construction workers,” Brooklyn answered.

  “I know that. Your family has been in the business for years, but it’s LeBlanc & Sons, not LeBlanc & Daughter.”

  She cocked a brow. “Sexist much?”

  His wry grin returned. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to be. I’m just curious. You don’t—” he started, then stopped.

  Brooklyn perched her elbow on the desk and rested her chin on her fist. “I don’t what?” she queried.

  He released a dry chuckle as he ran a hand down his face. “This is going to sound as bad as the LeBlanc & Daughter comment, but you don’t really fit in with the whole construction site crowd.”

  Yeah, like she hadn’t heard that before.

  “Really? So, what would make me fit in?” she asked, unable to keep the humor from her voice. “Should I go out there and drive a few nails into two-by-fours, because I can do that too. In fact, I can do your job if necessary.”

  Amusement shone in his keen eyes. “Should I be worried?”

  She stuck her nose up in the air. “Nah, I don’t want your job. You couldn’t pay me to work out in that heat.”

  His sharp laugh echoed off the trailer’s faux wooden walls. “Spoiled by the A/C.”

  “Damn right.” She tossed him a cheeky grin, enjoying this back and forth way more than she should. “I’m starting to suspect that you’re still in this trailer for the same reason.”

  “I’m still in here because you still haven’t answered my question.”

  “Which is?”

  “What made you decide to work construction?”

  She expelled a deep sigh. “Simple. It’s all I’ve ever known. I’ve been doing this for over ten years.”

  He sprang forward from his relaxed pose, those whiskey-colored eyes teeming with incredulity. “Ten years? How old are you?”

  “And that’s your business how?”

  “Come on,” he said.

  “How old are you?” Brooklyn countered.

  “I’ll be thirty in a few weeks,” he answered without hesitation.

  Interesting. She’d pegged him as a couple of years younger than thirty. How she wished the age difference could make him seem less attractive, but it didn’t. Not even a little bit.

  “So?” he asked.

  “So what?”

  “How old are you?”

  “You’re just full of questions, aren’t you?”

  “I’m told it’s my most annoying and endearing trait,” he answered, that grin lifting the corners of his lips again.

  Wait. Was this flirting? Was he flirting with her?

  “Still waiting,” Reid said.

  Okay, so maybe he really did just want to know her age.

  “I’m twenty-six,” Brooklyn answered. “I started working for my dad when I was fifteen.”

  He nodded and leaned back in the chair, resuming the lazy back and forth swirl. A couple of moments ticked by before he abruptly rose and started for the door.

  Hold on. Was that it?

  “Where are you going?” Brooklyn asked.

  “Back to work. Unless you want to trade places for the rest of the day. You can go out there and inspect a couple hundred CPVC fittings and I’ll stay here in this nice air-conditioned trailer.”

  She looked him up and down, deliberate with her side-eye action. Then Brooklyn made a production of turning her chair back to her computer screen. “Have fun inspecting those pipe fittings.”

  His rich, teasing laugh wove its way through the air, baiting her until she twisted her chair around and stuck her tongue out at him. Was she really engaging in lighthearted, witty conversation with this unbelievably sexy man? Was this her
actual life right now?

  “Smart and funny,” Reid said. Then he winked. “There’re more sides to you than you first let on.”

  He walked out of the trailer and Brooklyn’s heart skipped a good five beats. She couldn’t be sure that’s exactly what happened, because, well, her heart had never skipped a beat before, but she was pretty sure that’s what the skitter and thump within her chest amounted to.

  He had been flirting with her. That’s what that wink and teasing amounted to in her book. Of course, guys like Reid probably engaged in that kind of lighthearted teasing all the time. But, so what? She was the one on the receiving end. Brooklyn was more than happy to have some of it directed her way.

  That said, she was also smart enough to not read anything into it. Just because he’d tossed a couple of smiles her way, it didn’t mean she had to lose her head. Who knows, maybe they could be friends. It would make dealing with this crush easier, wouldn’t it?

  Yes. Definitely.

  It was settled. She and Reid Holmes would be friendly co-workers. No pressure. No awkwardness. No expectations that were certain to be unmet, thus plunging her into a heaping ball of disappointment.

  Whew. Nice to have that all squared away. Maybe now she could get some actual work done around here.

  Brooklyn turned her attention to several subcontractor agreements Alex asked her to review. She tried to downplay the anxiety cascading along her nerve endings as she pored over the documents, but couldn’t deny that it was there. It would probably always be there when doing this particular task. After all, if she hadn’t missed a clause in that last contract she’d reviewed for LeBlanc & Sons, maybe her family would still be in business.

  Brooklyn pushed her chair away from the desk and stretched her arms out in front of her, clutching and then releasing her palms in an effort to relieve the tension building within her veins. She could not allow those past mistakes to affect her for the rest of her life.