Face Value (8 page)

If her cheeks
had been red before, they must be glowing after that comment.
“I-”

“Sorry, I
didn’t mean to embarrass you, but as long as we’re being honest, I
thought we might as well put it all out there.”

“Sure. Right.”
She didn’t even know what she was agreeing to. It didn’t matter as
long as it allowed her to extricate herself from their humiliating
encounter as soon as possible.

“I think you’re
a beautiful woman, Lauren.” He smiled, looking almost sympathetic.
“I like you. You seem like a sweet girl, but I don’t do
relationships.”

She swallowed
and wasn’t surprised to find her mouth felt like sandpaper. She
would be surprised if she could spit out a single word.

“I have sex.
Period.”

Oh God
.
It was going from bad to worse, and her tell-tale blush gave away
her mortification like a flashing neon sign. “I see.” Her voice
sounded like a strained croak. She was pitiful. She could never
look Tucker in the eye again. Why couldn’t she have just kept her
big mouth shut and saved herself the embarrassment?

“You and I are
as different as two people can be. I just have to look at you to
know that. You’re classy. I’m rough around the edges. You could
have any man you want, and I know you wouldn’t choose a divorced
father with calloused hands and a sailor’s mouth who wears work
boots and ripped jeans to the office.”

He was
discounting his painfully beautiful face and chiseled body, but she
didn’t think she should point that out. She smiled because he did.
Just looking at him made her want to smile.

“If you wanna
be friends, I’m cool with that. If you just want a working
relationship, I’m cool with that too.”

Well, a girl
could never have too many friends. She could almost hear her father
saying,
‘Lauren Erika McCall, I told you to stay the hell away
from that man!’

“So what do you
say, do we have a deal?” he asked, offering his hand.

Tucker was
doing her the favor, and he was making it seem like the other way
around. How could she not want to count him among her friends?

She was a grown
woman. Surely she could ignore the sexual attraction between them
for five short weeks. How hard could it be? She slipped her hand
into his and had her answer. His casual touch set her off like a
sweet and bubbly champagne explosion. She had to cross her legs and
mentally chastise herself for behaving like a brazen twit unable to
contain herself.

“Good, I’m glad
we got that straightened out.” He turned back to his computer,
refreshing his screen. He hit print and stood to cross the room.
“Excuse me. I just need to grab that, and we can look it over.”

Lauren dug her
nails into her palms when she realized her eyes were glued to his
denim-clad butt. What was wrong with her? Tearing her eyes away was
harder than it should have been, but when he finally disappeared
into the adjoining office, her eyes landed on the framed pictures
on his credenza.

Awww.
He
was boating with his kids, riding a horse with his daughter, going
on a rollercoaster with his son. They were pictures of a father
totally in love with his kids. How could he be the dangerous man
her father and Amanda claimed he was?

“Okay, I’ve got
the quote and contract. Let’s have a look.” He pulled up his chair
and sat down beside her.

Lauren held her
breath for as long as she could. She didn’t want to inhale the
irresistible scent that stole her common sense when they’d danced.
She had to keep a clear head.

He shot her a
side-long glance. “Are you okay? Do you need a glass of water or
something?”

She almost
released the breath she’d been holding in a gush, but she forced it
out slowly instead. “No, I’m fine, thanks.” There it was: that damn
scent. A hint of cologne, body wash, shampoo, and…

A frown drew a
crease between his brows as he chuckled. “If you’re sure.” He set
the quote and contract down in front of her before reaching across
his desk for a pen. “Sorry,” he muttered when his arm grazed her
shoulder.

Did he not
realize she felt as if an electric shock coursed through her body
every time he touched her? Was she the only one feeling it? “No
problem.” But it was a problem, a very big problem. She suddenly
wanted to jump up, lock the door, and sink her hands into that
thick, silky hair as she pulled his mouth down to meet hers. She
wanted to straddle him and…

“Lauren…?”

Oh no! “Sorry,
I guess my mind was wandering there for a minute.”

“Okay, so these
are my standard terms. You can read through it before you sign, but
I’ll go through the quote with you real quick first.”

Her eyes landed
on the number at the bottom of the page. That couldn’t be right. It
was only two-thirds of what Phil had quoted her. “Um, Tucker, you
may want to recheck this.” She pointed at the last figure. She
wasn’t opposed to getting a deal, but he was going out of his way
to help her. She wanted to make sure he was fairly compensated.

He smiled. “No,
that’s right.”

She picked up
the sheet and scanned the material and labor costs. The break down
made it easy to tell he hadn’t figured in his own time. “You need
to adjust this,” she said, refusing to look him in the eye.
Just
keep your eyes on the quote. Whatever you do, don’t look at
him.
“What’s your hourly rate?”

He chuckled.
“That’s not really how I pay myself. My salary comes out of the
company’s profits. I work on a job when I intend to sell the
property. Paying myself an hourly wage would eat into the profit
margins on those jobs.”

“Still, you
have to charge me for your time.” It was outrageous. How could he
even consider doing her project without anything in return?

“Look, I know
you took a hit with some of the problems you had on this project
early on. I’ve been there. Someone can walk in and tell you in a
second that the job you’ve been losing sleep over for the past
three months is suddenly going to cost you more than you make on
it. By the end, you’re just glad to be rid of it so you can move on
to something else.”

He was right.
The project left very little, if any, meat on the bone at the end
of the day. But that was her problem, not his. “I never expected
you to work for free, Tucker. That’s crazy!”

“You want to
pay me back? You can feed me.”

Her mouth fell
open. “What are you talking about?”

He threw his
head back and laughed. “You should see the look on your face, lady.
You’d think I was asking you to pay me in sexual favors instead of
food.”

“Oh, shut up,”
she said, pushing against his shoulder. Bad idea. She had to
remember touching him was a very, very bad idea.

“You’re on site
most days, right?”

“Yes.” She
always stopped by at the end of the day to talk to the crew and
check on their progress.

“Cool. We can
grab dinner together. I probably won’t have time to stop on my way
from the office, and if your days are anything like mine, you
probably skip way too many meals.” His eyes skimmed her body
appreciatively. “Although you look just about perfect to me.”

Oh no, he
was flirting again!
She would never survive the next five weeks
without making a complete fool of herself. “Dinner. Sure, I can do
that.” Had she just agreed to spend every night in his company?
What was she thinking?

“Excellent. So,
do we have a deal?”

As if she had a
choice. “We have a deal.”

***

Tucker could
hardly wait to call it a day. He hadn’t gotten his hands dirty on a
job site in too long, and he was actually looking forward to the
challenge. He told himself it had nothing to do with the gorgeous
blonde waiting for him.
Yeah, right.

Pulling into
the driveway, he smiled when he saw Lauren’s little BMW was the
only car there. He’d sent his crew over earlier to evaluate the job
and compile a list of items they would need, but they must have
been and gone. He didn’t mind having Lauren all to himself
though.

He pulled his
tools out of the bed of his truck and walked to the front door,
whistling quietly. When was the last time he’d done that? It seemed
like forever.

Lauren met him
at the door before he could knock. “Hi, Tucker.”

His eyes
drifted over her firm body. She’d changed into black yoga pants, a
bright green tank top, and black running shoes with flashes of
neon. She looked young and innocent with her hair pulled up in a
ponytail and just a hint of make-up.

“Did you just
come from the gym?” he asked, setting his tools down inside the
door.

“No. I took a
swim before I left my building.”

“Nice.”

“I hope you
like lasagne?” She lead him into the kitchen. She’d brought two
stools and covered the rough wood island with a disposable
tablecloth. The makeshift table also had paper plates, plastic
utensils, and a covered glass dish.

“You didn’t
have to go to all this trouble, Lauren. Take-out pizza would’ve
been fine.” He felt guilty about requesting meals as payment, but
he couldn’t think of a better way to spend more time with her.

“I’m not much
of a cook.” She sank her teeth into her lower lip as she looked at
her offering. “But I seem to have mastered a few dishes through
trial and error. This is one of them.”

“Smells great.”
He rubbed his hands together. “Let’s dig in.”

“It should be
warm,” she said, taking the lid off the glass tray. “I brought it
over in a thermal bag.”

Tucker was
touched that she’d gone to so much trouble, and he knew no matter
how it tasted, he would praise her effort. He couldn’t remember the
last time someone had treated him to a home-cooked meal. Most of
his dates were more interested in drinking and dancing than a quiet
night at home. He really had to start dating more mature women. He
was getting too old to try to keep up with twenty-something
women.

He sat on a
stool and waited for her to dish out the portions. She was so
beautiful he had trouble tearing his eyes off of her, but he didn’t
want to be too obvious. He picked up his phone and scanned his new
messages while he waited for her to claim the stool beside him.

“So, how was
your day? Did the boys stop by to evaluate the job?” he asked.

“Um, yeah.” Her
eyes fell to her food almost instantly. “They were here when I got
here.”

He sensed she
wasn’t telling him something. “Is everything okay? They didn’t find
anything I missed, did they?” He wouldn’t be surprised if they had.
She had distracted him so much when they walked through the house,
he had struggled to stay focused on the job.

“No, I don’t
think so.”

Tucker started
eating, waiting for her to elaborate on what was troubling her. He
didn’t know her well, but she read like an open book. “Wow, this is
really good.” He meant it. It was delicious.

“Thanks.” She
laughed. “It’s our housekeeper’s recipe. She kept it simple so not
even I could screw it up.”

He loved that
she didn’t take herself too seriously and wasn’t afraid to admit
her flaws. He was so used to dating women who pretended they were
perfect. Lauren, on the other hand, didn’t seem overly concerned
with impressing him, which did. A lot. “You gonna tell me what
happened when my guys stopped by?”

“Nothing.” She
put a forkful of pasta in her mouth and chewed carefully.

“I don’t
believe you.” He’d always found the direct approach to be best, and
since he and Lauren had already established the boundaries of their
relationship, he saw no reason to pull punches.

She glared at
him before a smile finally lit her face. “Do you always call your
clients liars?”

“I call them
out when I need to.” He lived by one steadfast rule: be who you
are, no explanations or apologies. He’d spent most of his life
being told he wasn’t good enough, first by his stepfather, then by
his wife. Now he was finally at a place where he liked himself, and
those who didn’t like him for who he was could keep their
distance.

“I like that.”
She pointed her plastic fork at him. “I appreciate the direct
approach.”

“Good. Now are
you gonna tell me what happened to piss you off?” He ate as he
waited for her to continue. He set the beer bottle she’d placed in
front of his plate aside and reached for a bottle of water
instead.

“Nothing.” She
shook her head, pretending to concentrate on her food as though it
was worthy of her undivided attention. “Honestly, it was
nothing.”

Tucker frowned.
He got the feeling she was keeping something from him to avoid
offending him or getting someone else in trouble. “Is there a
problem with my crew? You don’t like them?”

“No, it’s
nothing like that.” She looked him in the eye as she set her fork
down. She picked up her water bottle on a sigh. “If you must know,
one of the guys asked me out. It was kind of… uncomfortable.”

Tucker curled
his hand into a fist on the tabletop. He couldn’t believe one of
his crew had been stupid enough to hit on a client their first day
on the job. He told himself he wasn’t jealous. He was just
concerned about his professional reputation. “I’m sorry about that.
If you tell me who it was, I’ll talk to him tomorrow.”

“No, it’s okay.
I handled it.”

“How?” He
wanted to know everything that was said, word for word. He’d sent
Will to the site with the guys, so if Lauren left out any details,
Will would fill him in.

“I just told
him I wasn’t interested.”

“Who was it?”
He felt his irritation mounting, so he forced himself to take a
deep breath and count backward from ten. He’d learned the anger
management technique in his mandatory therapy, and it had served
him well.