Chapter 8

Cassie

My ride to the job site with Bill was quiet, and I stared out the window thinking about the weekend. I had spent time with my uncle and aunt at the country club, played some tennis, and spent the rest of the weekend hiding out in my bedroom, thinking about Scott. I hadn’t been able to get him off my mind. Every time I turned around, something made me think of him, and it became a bit of a distraction, especially when I was talking to my father about the job. I had some serious mixed feelings about seeing Scott when I got to work.

My cheeks warmed as I thought about sitting at the bar talking to him on Friday night. We’d had such a great conversation even though he had started off kind of cold. He was interesting, unlike the usual fraternity brother or friend of my father I would go out on dates with. He wasn’t pretentious, he had little to no expectations, and he made me laugh unlike anyone I had met before. His sense of humor had been a surprise to me when I got to know him, but it was a welcome trait. On top of all that, he was great in bed—no, more than great in bed. I hadn’t had sex like that ever in my whole adult life. The passion and lust behind it blew my mind and made it hard to go to sleep at night due to picturing him in his bed naked.

I shook the thoughts from my head, wanting to kick myself for being so reckless. I had come home for the summer to get my hands dirty with my internship. It was going to count toward my graduation, and I was lucky enough not to have to spend my summer at a strange company. My father owned the company I would be working for when I graduated college, and he paid me for my internship. By sleeping with Scott, I was putting everything I had worked for at risk, including my internship. I shouldn’t be sleeping with an employee, one that may very well end up being my employee one day. And, God, if my father found out, he would fire us both, leaving me without the credits I needed and Scott without a job. Talk about feeling bad. I could go get an internship somewhere else, but Scott relied on his job for his livelihood.

Bill looked over at me and smiled as we pulled up to the site. I jumped out of the truck and stretched my arms over my head. I grabbed my clipboard and jogged to catch up with him.

“We’re just going to do the usual morning walkthrough to make sure everyone is on site and getting their work done,” he said. “This is also the time you move people around if you need them somewhere else. This morning, though, everyone should know where they need to be.”

“Right,” I said as we walked over to the building Scott worked on.

“Most of these guys should know what they are doing, but that doesn’t mean they do.” Bill chuckled. “Not all our guys are the brightest crayons in the box, but they know how to swing a hammer and put up some bricks.”

“That’s all you need.”

I grimaced as we rounded the corner and ran right into Carl. I had really started to hate this guy and wondered how he hadn’t gotten in trouble before. I guessed with the lack of women on site, there was really no one to complain about him. Bill stood and talked to him for a few minutes, and I stared down at the notes on my clipboard, trying not to make eye contact with him. He didn’t even acknowledge me the entire time I was standing there. I assumed he was on his best behavior since Bill was there with me and he knew Bill would send him home if he heard him talking to me like he normally did.

“All right, Carl,” Bill said. “Keep up the good work. I’ll see you at lunch.”

“Fix your hard hat,” I said, motioning to the fact that it was sitting on the scaffolding and not on his head.

“Yes, madam,” he said with a smirk.

I shook my head and headed toward the rest of the crew. We checked everyone into place and did some normal safety checklist work before Bill sent me out on my own to observe and make sure everything was going as planned. It was after lunch at that point so everyone was moving a bit slower. I couldn’t really say anything, though. I wasn’t moving all that quickly myself. It was the afternoon slump, and I seriously needed some coffee. I turned the corner to head to the trailer and stopped, staring at Carl standing in the middle of the scaffolding. He looked at me and smiled eerily, slapping his hammer into his palm. He sauntered over to me and stopped, leaning to the side to whisper in my ear.

“You are really going to regret not wanting to sleep with me,” he said.

“Somehow, I doubt that,” I replied and kept walking.

It was a strange comment to make, even for Carl. It wasn’t like he had propositioned me, except for the mouth comment, and I hadn’t blatantly turned him down. I stopped and looked around the site to see if anyone was staring at me. Maybe it wasn’t random at all. No, there was no way this had to do with Scott, was there? I walked along wondering to myself if this was attached to what had happened between him and me on Friday night. Could he be going around and telling the guys that we slept together? He seemed like the kind of guy that wasn’t into the gossip of the site, but what did I really know about him?

My blood started to boil just imagining him bragging to the guys about our sex. That would mean everyone would know what had happened between us, which was both mortifying and dangerous. If anyone else found out, like Bill or my father even, both of us would be toast. I was angry at the possibility that Scott would do something like that, but I really hoped I was wrong. He wasn’t stupid. He would know that people finding out could be devastating for both of us, especially for him and his job.

I headed to the trailer and grabbed a cup of coffee to take back out with me. By the time I had it in my hand, my adrenaline was already pumping, waking me up. I sipped the coffee as I strolled through the site, watching the guys work. As I neared the house in progress, I saw Scott dropping a load of debris on the side of the perimeter. He looked hot – his arms, his ass, the pure size of him – and the memory popped in my head of him inside me, pounding me hard. But I needed to talk to him. I jogged toward him, figuring now was better than never.

“Hey,” I said, catching up with him.

“Hey there.” He smiled. “How are you?”

“Not good,” I said.

“What?” He turned to me with concern. “What’s wrong? What happened? Are you okay?”

“Walk with me?”

“Sure,” he said, putting down his stuff and turning to walk to a more private area.

“This afternoon I ran into Carl,” I said. “He said something to me that kind of concerned me. He told me I would regret not sleeping with him. Have you been telling people about this weekend? Because it could get back to my father if you are, and that could be awful for both of us. He is not a clear-thinking man when it comes to men and me.”

“What? No,” he said, shaking his head and looking kind of hurt. “I didn’t say a word to anyone. That’s just Carl being a douchebag as always.”

“Really? Because I would rather you tell me now than have it catch me by surprise,” I said.

“I’m telling you the truth,” he said. “I haven’t told a soul, not even my best friend, who doesn’t even work for the company. I haven’t even spoken to Carl since Friday before leaving work for the day. Cassie, I would never do that. I’m not that kind of guy. I don’t go bragging about the girls I sleep with, especially when they are the daughter of the owner of the company I work for. I have never been the guy who engages in bullshit guy talk. That’s part of the reason I don’t really fit in with this line of work. I don’t get along with any of the other guys.”

I stared at him, tilting my head to the side and listening to him promise he didn’t tell anyone. If it were any other guy, I would immediately doubt his sincerity, but I could see in Scott’s eyes that he was mortified I would even need to ask him. He said he was telling the truth, and everything in my gut told me I could trust him, so I did.

“Okay.” I sighed. “I’m sorry for even asking, but I had to.”

“No, I totally understand. It’s your dad, and you wouldn’t want something like that getting out to him,” he said. “I like having a job, so I don’t really want it to get out either.”

“Right.” I smiled. “Well, I’m not going to tell him.”

“Thanks,” he said. “I gotta get back to the job, but you look really pretty today.”

“Thanks,” I said, my cheeks blushing. “You too?”

“I tried.” He smiled. “New lipstick. It’s called Ravenously Constructed. It’s a new line. You just wouldn’t know about it.”

I laughed. “Nice. I’ll see you later.”

We walked off in different directions, and I smiled to myself before heading off to do my job. After work, I went up to the local bar to meet Whitney. I hadn’t talked to her since Friday night, so I was curious to see how her night had gone. Whitney and I had been best friends since high school, and though we went to different colleges, we always made sure to spend ample time together whenever we were back in the same place at the same time.

“Hey,” I said, sitting down next to her at the bar. “Sorry I’m late.”

“Hey,” she said. “You’re fine. I ordered us some cheese fries and beer.”

“Perfect,” I said, taking a sip of the beer. “Sooo, what happened the other night?”

“I left and went back to that guy’s place.” She giggled. “He was hot but kind of stupid.”

“Oh, God.” I laughed. “You always like the dumb guys.”

“What about you? Get into anything after I left?”

“Yeah, actually,” I said, smiling. “I met this guy at the bar. He bought me a drink, and things escalated from there. I ended up back at his place and had the best sex of my life.”

“Wow,” she said, leaning in. “Tell me more.”

“He’s handsome, smart, and has a wicked sense of humor,” I said, leaving out the part about how he worked on my father’s crew.

“Hmmm,” she said, elbowing me. “It sounds like you might have some real feelings for this guy.”

“That is what I’m afraid of,” I said, rolling my eyes. “You know how my dad is, and plus, I’m leaving to go back to school after the summer is over. I don’t need any distractions.”

“Girl, you never let your hair down,” Whitney said. “You need to do things for you, even if it’s only for the summer. There is nothing wrong with a little summer romance to keep you occupied when you aren’t working for your father.”

“Maybe you’re right,” I said, smiling.

And I meant it.