And with that single-mindedness, he parked right in front of Taylors building-a miracle given the deplorable parking in South Village-and fervently hoped shed made herself scarce. He had a crew to think about, and he wanted their minds on work, not on a beautiful woman, no matter how good shed looked swinging a sledgehammer in all her finery.
His crew was waiting for him, just standing on the front steps, which made no sense. They knew better than to stand around wasting time.
But they werent just standing, they were smiling and nodding like little puppets tosurprise, surpriseTaylor.
It came from Russia, she was saying, holding up some sort of vase as he strode up the walk, annoyance already starting to simmer.
Taylor stroked perfectly manicured fingers over the smooth, porcelain surface of the vase as she talked, caressing the thing like she would a lover, and Macs blood began to beat thick, and not with just annoyance now. An ache, purely sexual, began to spread through his belly.
Which proved it, he was insane.
Its worth a small fortune, Taylor said, seeming lost in the delicate etching on the vase, sighing over the beauty of it as she touched.
The sound of her soft sigh didnt help Macs inner ache, and he spent a moment brooding over the fact he hadnt been with a woman in a good long while. He hadnt wanted to, not since Ariel and her cruel betrayal.
But not having a sexual urge wasnt the same as ignoring one. He looked at the vase in Taylors hands and concentrated on her words.
Worth a fortune, shed said.
Enough to cover the wasted labor for however long she stood there occupying his mens every thought?
But what did she care how much money he lost in wages unearned? Mac wasnt exactly sure what had happened yesterday, why shed momentarily drawn him, given who and what she was-that being a woman too close to Ariels type to make him comfortable. But whatever it was, whatever little spark or electrical current of attraction hed felt in spite of himself, he wouldnt feel again.
She wore a pair of pale blue capris with a matching short, little cropped jacket, looking like she should be getting ready to walk down the runway instead of standing on the step of her ugly building.
Her hair was pulled back in a careful twist and she wore more of that peach lip-gloss from yesterday.
She was a long, cool drink of water, and even knowing it, even having prepared himself to see her again, he was suddenly dying of thirst, and couldnt seem to tear his eyes off her.
When she saw him, she stopped talking, rubbing her lips together in a little gesture that signified either nerves or arousal. Either way, awareness shot straight to his groin.
So much for ignoring her. Why are you here? he asked.
She lifted a brow, assuring him and everyone around that she considered him a Neanderthal for asking such a question. And okay, yes, maybe his tone had been a bit brusque. After all, she did own the place. But there was some inexplicablething going on between the two of them, some amazing thing that reminded him ofa shark bite. Painful, and probably lethal.
But theyd signed a contact, he and she. Every possible little detail had been decided on, down to the last shade of paint on the walls. Her presence here wasnt required, and in fact, he knew the ratio of work done today would be directly related to how far away she was.
The further the better. You agreed to move out for the duration of the restoration, he reminded her.
I agreed to make sure there were no tenants during the duration. Suzanne and Nicole are gone.
But youre not.
Im not a tenant.
Shaking his head, he took the last step that put him on even ground with her. Mostly he towered over everyone around him, and knowing it, he usually made a conscious effort not to use his size as an intimidation. But right now he wasnt thinking intimidation so much as self-preservation. He wanted this job. He needed this job. It was the first thing hed cared about in far too long. And in a way he was just beginning to understand, he needed to lose himself in the pure joy of the work itself, something he couldnt do with her parading around all damn day.
You cant mean to be here while we work.
She lifted that chin, eyes flashing. Ill do as I please.
Damn. She did, she meant to be here while they worked. Because she didnt trust him, or because she wanted to drive him crazy every step of the way?
Why?
I wont be in your way, she said in lieu of a real answer.
In his experience, clients couldnt help but be in the way, always wanting to change the logical order of things, waiting until paint was on the walls or tile on the floor before deciding the color was off, or the brand not quite right. And he had the Town Council and historical society to impress on this one. Look, Princess-
My name, she said, still smiling that cool smile as she carefully shifted the vase from one hand to the other in a way that suggested she was considering smashing it over his head, is not Princess.
He pinched the bridge of his nose. Im not trying to be a hard-ass here, its just that wed all be better off if youd just let us do our jobs.
You are a hard-ass, its one of the reasons I hired you, she said, surprising him. And I think you could try trusting me a little. Im not going to bog you down.
Mac didnt do trust, and even if he did, hed be crazy to give in to a woman quite used to crooking her little finger and having the entire male population fall over its own feet to please her.
Im not, she repeated, a little softer now, watching him with those clear, clear eyes that werent going to give an inch.
He ran his hands over his face, put them on his hips and stared at her, but she was still just waiting with what he figured was the patience of a cobra. Okay, whatever.
She was wise enough to keep her smile to herself but he saw the triumph in her eyes, the eyes that only yesterday had turned him on.
Still turned him on.
Youll finish the demo downstairs this week? she asked.
And upstairs.
Youll finish the demo downstairs this week? she asked.
And upstairs.
Oh. Now something else flickered in her gaze. Is it really necessary to push your men like that?
Likewhat?
Well, I would think demolishing just the downstairs would be enough for the next week. In any case, its going to be awfully hot.
Were doing both up and down this week, he said firmly.
Hmm.
The sound that escaped her throat suggested he was not only a hard-ass but a brutal boss to his crew. Demolition is back-breaking, hot, filthy work, he explained, trying not to resent having to do so.
I realize that.
Then you also realize were far better off digging in and getting it over with quick as possible.
Okaywell, maybe you guys can start and complete the entire renovation downstairs before moving to the next floor.
No. Not cost-effective.
Hmm, she said again doubtfully, and he narrowed his eyes. Why didnt she want them upstairs this week? He would have pushed for answers but each of his crews heads were whipping back and forth between the two of them as if they were watching a tennis match.
He was not going to make a scene. The woman wanted to breathe down his neck all day long? Fine. Today was going to be particularly brutal. By the end of it, her hair would be in her face, her creamy skin smeared with dirt and no way was that million dollar linen going to make it through unscathed.
Shed be, at the very least, hot, sweaty and rumpled, and he could only hope he would get that insane urge to see it right out of his system.
Lets move it, he said to his crew, and they scattered.
3
FOR SEVERAL DAYS, Taylor kept close tabs on the demolition, from a safe distance of course. She wasnt stupid enough to rile the beast any further, though she had to admit, she had been able to rile him with little to no effort so far.
She supposed that meant he felt the same irritating physical attraction she did. And it was purely physical. A man as alpha as Mac was only good for the physical. There was nothing sensitive, tender or gentle about a man like that, nothing.
He wasnt someone to fool around with. Hed swallow her whole and spit her right back out, and in her world, she was the one who did the spitting, thank you very much.
What she needed, if she needed at all, was a far more beta man to have fun with, to walk all over, if thats what she was looking for.
And maybe she would. Later. Right now she had bigger problems, such as figuring out how to keep her contractor from learning she wasnt just going to be casually around, she was still living here.
Not because she didnt trust him, as he figured, but because she didnt have the money to move out and get another place. Every cent she had was sunk into this building and the renovations. Until she could get more tenants-something else she was dependent on her contractor for-she was pretty much stuck.
Suzanne and Nicole had each offered her a place to stay. But Nicole lived in Tys house now, and Suzanne with Ryan. Both were deliciously, deliriously drunk on true love. She knew the feeling, oh yes, she knew, but she couldnt watch it or witness it too closely. She just couldnt.
She figured shed just stay here, quietly, out of the way.
Undetected.
But that would be tricky, because now she knew the truth, that very little, and quite possibly nothing, got past one Thomas Mackenzie.
You want to move, Princess, or youll feel the effects of this dust in two seconds flat.
Having come out of nowhere, the tall, moody, opinionated man in question stood at the bottom of the stairs, looking up at her. She leaned against the railing on the second-floor landing just outside her apartment, the one he didnt realize she still slept in.
He wore a hard hat, protective goggles and a face mask, which hed shoved off his mouth, and was now hanging around his neck. He also wore a fine layer of dust that clung to his damp body. So did his dark T-shirt, which she was quite certain shouldnt make her pulse quicken. He seemed so huge, so powerful and virile standing there with his sledge hammer in hand as he stared up at her from those whiskey eyes. And ridiculous as it was, she quivered like a mare in heat. It was shockingly, amazingly juvenile, and if shed known how it was going to be, shed have found another man for the job.