AINSLEY

My jaw dropped as the rudest man I’d ever met turned and stalked away from us. I couldn’t even form a response to what he’d just said. A look over at Steve revealed he was just as shocked as I was. He shot me a rueful smile.

“You’ll have to excuse Reed,” he said with a shrug.

I shot him an exasperated look, rolling my eyes. “Why?” The guy was rude as hell. I wasn’t excusing anything.

“Reed’s Reed,” he said like it would be enough to snuff out my anger. “He puts the ‘rough’ in ‘roughneck’.” He huffed a laugh then continued. “But he’s good at what he does.”

The way he said roughneck, a common name for oil rig workers, niggled in the back of my mind. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but it reminded me of something. I had more important things to deal with right now, however, and shoved it to the side. “What exactly does he do?”

Steve led me down the walkway to the main rig, calling out over his shoulder, “He’s the head foreman here.”

That statement had me stumbling again as I followed along behind him. That asshole was in charge here? Granted, I wouldn’t mind him being in charge of some other things…he was hot! The way he filled his orange jumpsuit was something I’d thought impossible—but he was a chauvinistic ass. I needed to keep that in the forefront of my mind, not how tall he was or how muscular his forearms were. Nope. Assholes were not in the equation this time around; I most definitely did not want to climb him like a tree, or jump him like a starving anaconda in heat.

That’s it! Roughneck Anaconda. The girls at HQ on the island had done all but warn me to stay away from him. When I’d asked why they called him that, almost every woman in the office blushed and giggled. Meeting him now, I could see why there were so affected. Not to mention what I’d felt against my backside moments ago.

“You’ll just have to find out for yourself,” one of the secretaries had replied. “We all did, at one point or the other.” They’d all laughed. “It’s like a…welcoming basket!”

“Or sorority hazing, depending on how much you can take,” another one had said. When they chuckled again, all I could do was stand with my mouth agape and my mind trying to process what I’d been told.

My thoughts went straight to the moment Reed pressed his hard body against me. And I meant Hard with a capital H. Or with a capital A for Anaconda. It didn’t erase the fact he’d acted quite unprofessionally.

I took on this job to get away from sexist pig-headed men like Reed. Then I recalled seeing his file and getting chills over his profile picture. How could a man so good-looking and from what I’d read in his file, brilliant be so rude and angry?

I pushed my hair off my face as though it would be enough to erase the man out of my mind. With a brush over my jacket lapels, I smiled tightly at Steve. “Why don’t we start the tour?”

* * *

I sat back in the ratty leather office chair and sighed. My shoulders throbbed from being hunched over the desk. I rolled them, trying to loosen the muscles. The past few days had been grueling as I toured the rig, learning the ropes of how the massive entity ran and functioned. It had been one thing to spend years studying to be a Health and Safety Office; another to actually being one. The record keeping alone was exhausting. It was with no little surprise it'd been Reed who'd been doing most of the work. Whatever he may be like on the mainland, he was a Goody Two Shoes by the book foreman on the Meridian.

During my perusal of the many files, I'd learned the safety incidents and infractions had dropped dramatically since Reed had taken over. OSHA loved the Meridian. Everything was always in order during their inspections, despite Martinez and his less than stellar job performance.

If Reed weren't such an asshole, I'd probably nominate him for sainthood, he did such an amazing job.

I scrubbed a finger under my eyes and glanced at the clock on the wall. Disbelief coursed through me when I saw I'd been here most of the day. There'd been no visit out to the rig lately. Some would call me a coward, but I preferred to look at it as avoiding complications. Or rather, one complication.

A large, sexy, dirty complication.

Something would have to be done about Reed Anderson eventually. He was too cocky and had taken to challenging me every time we were alone. That is, when he wasn't busy staring at my breasts or ass. It made me that much more determined to prove myself on the rig. It didn't stop me from giving in and flirting a time or two myself, however. Probably not the best decision I'd ever made.

"You coming out to the Meridian with me?"

I turned my head toward where Steve stood at the doorway. It was sorely tempting to jump up and race out with him. I actually felt the desire like a weight in my chest to go. But to give in and do that meant admitting Reed had some sort of power over me. That was not acceptable. That was not part of the plan.

The plan, Ainsley. The plan was everything. It would make or break my future, and I couldn't deviate. No matter how much I was tempted.

I shook my head. "No, I don't think so." 

Steve studied me with a frown. I felt the intensity of his stare and sat up to start shuffling papers around on the desk. The old chair squeaked at my fidgeting, and I winced.

"Is everything all right? Is Reed bothering you?" he finally asked, suspicion lacing his voice.

Yes. I can't concentrate because I want to throw him to the floor and do nasty, bad things to him. "Not at all," I responded with false confidence while I pretended to tidy my desk. "He's fine." Yes, he is. Jesus!—I couldn't make it stop!

"Well, if you're sure," he said with a distinct lack of conviction to his tone. He shifted and started to turn away. "Don't forget, there's that party tonight for Jackson. It would be good for you to get to know everyone outside of work for once."

I nodded. "Sure thing! I'll be there," I told him with a wave of a hand. Steve stood there for another moment, eyeing me before he turned and left. At his exit, my breath rushed out in a whoosh. I hadn't even realized that I'd been holding it.

With a groan, I dropped my head to the desk in defeat. "This has got to stop," I muttered to myself. "He's just a guy. That's all. Just another, random guy."

"If you're talking about Reed, I think you'll find a lot of women who'd disagree."

I shrieked and jumped in my seat at the sound of Molly's voice coming from behind me. I swiveled and glared at the office manager who just grinned back at me, not sorry in the least.

"Dammit, Molly! Don't sneak up on me like that. You almost gave me a heart attack," I complained with a hand pressed to my chest as my heart pounded away.

She chuckled as she walked over to the desk and set down the folders she held. "You're fine." She pointed to the files. "These are the last of the inspections you asked for."

I smiled my thanks and reached for the top file. When she didn't move, I looked at her. "Was there something else?"

"You know, a lot of women have tried to tame that roughneck," she mused thoughtfully.

Big surprise there. I frowned at her. "Okay?"

She shrugged. "I just think maybe that's the problem. They made it easy for him, and that's not what he wants. I think Reed is looking for a challenge, someone who won't just roll over for him."

I shook my head in confusion. "Molly? Why are you telling me this?"

"Just thought it might be interesting to you," she said with a smile.

I scoffed. "Hardly. I have no interest in the Roughneck or his Anaconda. Sorry." I directed my attention back to the folder. "Now, if you don't mind, I have a lot of work to do," I said, my tone clearly indicating I was done with the conversation.

"Sure, Miss Montgomery. I'm sure you do," Molly said with a smugness that stated she didn't believe a word of it.

The problem was, I wasn't so sure I believed it, either.