JULIA LINDSTROM RUBBED HER sweaty palms on the material of her slacks. Her right leg kept bouncing up and down, as though she had restless leg syndrome. No. Nope. She was anxious. Always with the anxiety. It had plagued her from her teens until now. After two years of working with Dr. Grad she’d gotten it under control, but it did often rear its head. And what better trigger for anxiety than the formal, judgmental circumstances of a job interview.

Her first job interview ever.

She’d spent the last four years working as her dad’s receptionist in his computer consulting offices. It was not, however, how she wanted to spend her life. She had no definable objective of what she wanted to do with her life, but staring at computers all day was not it. Her dad had gotten her a job interview. Now, here she sat waiting to enter the man’s office, all the while her stomach jumped around as if on a dose of speed.

Lloyd Cartwright owned a general construction company that built commercial buildings. She had not one skill set for that industry. He was hiring for an assistant. His direct assistant. What did that entail? She had no clue. Just that Lloyd had agreed to interview her for it.

Finally, his secretary who she hoped not to become, named Judy Ann by the name plate on her desk, told her she could go ahead to the last office down the hallway.

With sweaty palms, she entered Lloyd Cartwright’s office and met the man as he stood up from his desk, walked around it and put his hand out to shake hers. She instantly burned up with humiliation while they shook hands. There was no way he wouldn’t notice her clammy palms. Forcing her resolve, she made eye contact and smiled a polite, reserved grin. He smiled far more naturally and nodded at her, before he took a seat at his desk again. He indicated towards the chair before his large desk. “Please sit down.”

“Thank you,” she mumbled, head ducked down as she did so.

Lloyd was… well, yeah, pretty hot and handsome in a debonair, sophisticated way. It was hard for Julia not to respond to the ripple of awareness that shot down her arm when they first shook hands and he unleashed his killer smile on her. He had silver hair. Not gray. Oh, no. No old, faded, lackluster gray for Lloyd. His silver hair set off the most amazing electric blue irises in his eyes. He was fit and trim, standing at about six feet tall and wearing a sports coat, jeans and a buttoned-up shirt. Very casual and at ease.

“So, you’re Donny’s daughter. He’s talked a lot about you.”

She rolled her eyes. “All not true.”

Lloyd chuckled. “So, you…” He had her resume before him and was glancing over it. He lifted his eyes back to her.

“Don’t have any necessary education or experience for this job,” she finished for him.

Startled, his expression dropped and then lifted upwards into a smile as he pushed the paper away. “Honest. No bullshitting, huh?”

She shrugged. “It is what it is. You don’t have to pretend to humor me for my dad.”

“Well, that might be a start. You must have a sense of humor to survive around here.” He rested his elbows on the sides of his chair. “Let me be honest. The job is working as my direct assistant. It involves coordinating between the different job sites and handling anything that comes up. You may need to set up meetings with me or arrange for deliveries to the job site or handle the incoming submittals. All of which you are not trained for…” Leaning back in his chair, he nodded towards her abandoned resume he’d tossed on his immaculate desktop. “The thing is, whoever I put in this job has to be someone that I can stand being around for long periods of time. We will be working closely together enough of the time that we must have an amicable, working relationship. I prefer someone who is quiet but does whatever I ask without a lot of guff or questions. But if they are too mousy, they won’t speak up if I’m wrong. You know, they must also catch any of my mistakes. So I’m looking more for a good personality than an outstanding resume.”

She twisted her clammy hands in her lap below the desk so he couldn’t witness her awkwardness. She kept her face neutral and her gaze on his. She appeared semi-confident even though she wasn’t. In fact, she was breathless with her discomfort and incompetence. “Good, because I don’t have one… a resume, that is, but I do have a decent personality and I think I can work with you.”

She held his gaze. For a long while. He twisted his lips as he leaned forward. “Well, I like your bluntness. I like your upfront approach. So let’s see about that. Why don’t we try it out for a while?”

“You mean, you’re hiring me?” Her tone of voice reflected her shock.

He smiled how one would when indulging a child with their favorite ride at a carnival. “Yes. It saves me from having to advertise and sort through a dozen applicants. You kind of fell in my lap without any work. So why not you?”

“I don’t know anything about construction.” She felt compelled to emphasize that in case he somehow missed such an important fact.

His lips twitched. “I caught that. I can teach you about construction and the way we run things, but I can’t teach you to have a decent personality. So I value your honesty, and having that already, allows me and my staff to train you. Make sense?”

She kept her face passive as she nodded, “Yes, Mr. Cartwright.”

He stood up with his hand out. “So you want to try this?”

She stood too and put her hand in his, shaking it. “Okay. Let’s try it out.” She could have groveled in gratitude, despite how inept she was for any job. But she refrained from doing that, and pretended that she expected this outcome. She was good at appearing confident. She often had a serious expression on her face, one that people seemed to assume was inner confidence or unflagging belief in her skills. As if. But she managed to fake it despite her constant anxiety, stress, and neurotic tendencies.

As they had held each other’s gaze and touched hands, there was a distinct something that zinged between them. It was an instantaneous reaction. She was sure it wasn’t just on her end either. She dropped his hand, smiled without speaking and therefore, revealing anything that might have exposed her real self. Her incompetent self. The self that was going to be Lloyd Cartwright’s new assistant.

“Come this way, let me introduce you around.”

Led out to the front entry of the offices, she was formally introduced to the matronly Judy Anne who didn’t even pretend to smile at her. Her eyebrows rose up and then back down after her gaze scanned over Julia with a cool, “Hi.”

Next, she met Walter, the bookkeeper who was a tall thin man with glasses perched on his nose and thinning blond hair. He waved hello with the same lack of interest as Judy Ann. Not exactly a friendly office staff.

From there they went to the first office, a small enclosure with no windows where she was introduced to the project manager named Phineas, who grunted at her without sparing a glance up from where he was pouring over paperwork in front of him. A tie was shoved haphazardly over his shoulder, as his shirt buttons strained over his stomach. He wasn’t all that overweight, but seemed to prefer too small of shirts.

Last, they walked into a larger office with a window and an older woman, who was perhaps in her fifties. She turned from the table she sat before while perusing a set of blueprints. She had long brown hair, perfectly straight it brushed over her shoulder. She had virtually no eyebrows and drew them in with a single line of brown pencil, but they were crooked and therefore distracting. In order to avoid staring, Julia forced her gaze down to Margaret’s brown turtleneck and not the distinct and odd eyebrows. “And this is Margaret, the other project manager. Margaret, Julia. We’re giving her a shot as my new assistant.”

Margaret’s face didn’t move in recognition of the words. “Really? Well, good luck to you, Julia.” Her words were right, but her tone was not. Her glare perused Julia and was as scathing as her tone of voice dripped disdain. Puzzled, Julia felt a ripple of uncertainty travel down her spine. She’d rubbed this woman wrong before she even spoke.

Lloyd then set her up with Walter, going over her new hire packet. Two hours of paperwork and instruction, after which she was given an office right next door to Lloyd’s. It was small, with only a desk, plans table, and file cabinet. The walls were white and the floor had blue carpeting. Functional and utilitarian. No window. Windows seemed to be a status symbol in these offices. Lloyd walked her to the front door. “We’ll start in my office at eight o’clock and I’ll give you a rundown, okay?’

It sounded far more than okay. Tomorrow she had work outside of her father’s office. And it didn’t entail staring at a computer and fielding phones calls all day. She restrained the urge to throw her arms around Lloyd in gratitude. He gave her the job. A chance. The chance to be a new and improved Julia Lindstrom.

****

Chris Vaughn leaned back on the seat of the excavator he was operating, pausing to watch his father crossing the graveled lot. He was headed towards the mobile job shack that housed the offices where Chris and his crew worked. Folding his arms over his chest as the giant machine under him idled away, he felt the engine’s vibrations travel up through his torso to where the top of his head met the hard hat. He sat up straighter when the figure he spotted trailing behind dear, old dad filtered into his consciousness.

Who was that? Chris scooted around, squinting against the harsh sunlight of the blistering blue sky and platinum sun. Blonde. Tall. Slim. She was wearing a ridiculous white dress. White! Of all the colors, she chose white for this muck hole? Her dress ended at her knees, surrounding her slender frame, and he could see the multi-inch spiked heels from where he sat. Who was she? Scurrying after the old man, who appeared to be her primary focus, she trailed behind him like a duckling chasing its mother.

Chris sighed. Sure, of course, Barbie there was most likely his dad’s new assistant. He liked them young and fresh out of business school. He usually started sleeping with them after the first month he hired them. It sometimes took longer, but he almost always succeeded in seducing them. At best, his father could be called a philanderer. That was the nice name for it. A male whore. A player. But unpaid gigolo suited his father much better as far as his conscience was concerned. Chris had often heard women discussing Lloyd Cartwright, calling him a silver-haired fox and a distinguished, older man. Chris’s father seemed to possess a power over these young women, who were usually barely in their twenties. He first posed as an accomplished mentor to them, and then a sexual relationship naturally ensued. Most of those didn’t end well, however. At least not for the women. Chris wondered why they never saw Lloyd as a father figure, or possibly even a grandfather figure. Chris could only continue to wonder. His dad turned fifty-six this year, not even remotely close to the ages of the barely legal women he slept with.

After three failed marriages, Lloyd enjoyed the entire smutty, mid-life crisis package that he proudly offered to young women. But it wasn’t a crisis confined to mid-life. Oh, no. His dad had been doing the same thing for thirty years. The only factor that changed was Lloyd’s age, never the ages of the women.

Lloyd had no idea that one of the many, perhaps dozens of affairs he had could have resulted in the birth of a son. Chris Vaughn. But so far, Chris didn’t tell that to Lloyd. Chris only intended to meet the man whom his mother claimed was his father. However, at their introduction, Lloyd held out his hand to shake Chris’s, erroneously assuming Chris was there to interview for a job, since he looked like a construction worker.

Chris was six foot seven with a broad chest and strong arms, rippled with muscles. Wearing a t-shirt that stretched across his massive chest, his impressive girth was the result of many hours of weightlifting. His tattoo-sleeved arms, bald head, and crooked nose instantly told anyone he wasn’t an average male.

Chris was startled at first by Lloyd’s assumption that he was there for a job, but he went along with the interview. He lied and said he saw the Help Wanted sign in the office window, and had some experience on construction sites, which was certainly enough for him to qualify for a job at CGC. Lloyd hired him at once. Since then, Chris did everything imaginable in the construction of a commercial building. From grunt work like spreading gravel to helping with roof assembly to finishing work installing hardware on cabinets and doors at the end of a project. There was no task that Chris didn’t volunteer for just to gain experience.

Lloyd promoted Chris to site superintendent and assigned him to his first project, one which he had to run out in the field. When material or subcontractors arrived on site, Chris was the one they checked in with and from whom they took all instructions. Chris was the responsible one now; it fell on his shoulders if anything went wrong with the workers or the construction process. Chris took a crash course in reading blueprints during the last four years. Being a quick study, he managed to hide his initial ignorance on the subject when he started. He never intended to do anything more than monitor the man who was his natural father. He still hadn’t decided if he even wanted to get to know him.

Somehow, a few months turned into four years, and Chris still hadn’t told his dad his true identity. He remained undecided. Even now. In all honesty, Chris loved the damn job. It was a complete surprise. Initially hired as a laborer, his job title included anything from debris removal, to running errands for his superiors. Chris did it diligently. He was observant, motivated, and he didn’t leave until all the tasks of the day were finished. That soon got him noticed. He hated to be idle and tended to excel at whatever he attempted, whether it be excavating a ditch, or sweeping up the sawdust inside a warehouse. His best efforts showed every time. All the time. There was no job Chris thought he was too good for.

As reward for all his hard work, he’d worked his way up the ladder and now currently worked as Lloyd’s newest site superintendent.

Chris shut down the excavator and jumped out of the cab to cross over the muddy hole, heading towards the job shack. It was March and they could break ground after enduring a long winter of more than average rain and frigid temperatures. It invariably resulted in a mucky soup regarding any dirt work. The earthmovers required full-sized excavators and dump trucks to remove the hills of sludge. They would later fill it with gravel and rocks, part of the site plan for proper drainage.

He smacked his boots on the stairs beside the door, brushing them several times on the boot scrubber. It didn’t do much to remove the caked-on mud. Dried mud masked the brown leather and the treads on the soles were full of stuck-on bits. The hems of his jeans were ripped and frayed, streaked with more lines of brown mud.

Chris entered the large room. Lloyd was staring down at the blueprints spread out before him. Two of his laborers sat down at the central table that seated half a dozen. They were drinking coffee and no doubt, trying to warm up before the job site meeting that was scheduled for ten o’clock. That was why Lloyd was there with his newest assistant.

The woman stood back, slightly off to the side of Lloyd. Her posture reflected rattled nerves. Hunching her shoulders forward, she kept her head down, although her eyes were darting around. She was tucked away in the corner as tightly as she could be, to make herself even smaller. Taking off his leather gloves, Chris ran a hand over his cue ball head.

She could have possibly used a few lessons in how to dress, however. Glancing down, Chris saw her brown heels matched her dark brown belt that encircled her waist. The assistant didn’t lift her head, but her eyes flew upwards at Chris’s entrance. Her eyelids blinked several times as she took in his massive presence. He was quite familiar with the big-eyed looks of astonishment when anyone more normal in size encountered him up close.

Lloyd turned at his entrance. “Chris. Hey, how are you?” he asked, stepping forward with his hand out to shake Chris’s. That was how Lloyd greeted everyone, from the superintendents to the architects to his clients and laborers. Always using their first name with a handshake. That was also how Lloyd earned his respect. Lloyd had an immaculately clean and upstanding reputation. Part of it was owing to his attention to customer service and the professional way he treated his employees.

Just not in how he treated his romantic interests. And specifically those he chose to hire on for his made-up job as his assistant. The funny part was Lloyd worked well with women in general and usually exhibited nothing but respect. His best and most respected project manager was Margaret Layhe. If someone didn’t respect her, Lloyd fired them or at minimum chewed them out. So it wasn’t a pattern with Lloyd. No, he wasn’t like that with any other employees, coworkers, or clients. It was only in his relationships with the young women he hired to work directly for him that he was less than professional.

“Good. Just trying to muck out the hole a bit more.”

“Yeah, real vat of soup out there. Hopefully, a week of clear weather will give us the opportunity we need to get it cleared out so we can move forward with pouring the foundation. Will you be ready for the earthworks by Thursday?”

Chris nodded. The hole was supposed to be fully dug out and graded and leveled before the site work began. Clear weather was predicted for the next ten days. Fingers crossed, Chris replied, “Sure.”

“So who’s coming today?”

“The client, architect, and structural engineer,” Chris answered. “Pavers, earthworks, um… I think the crew who is doing the footings will be here and that should be it for today.”

Lloyd nodded. “Perfect. First few trades to be here need the tour and schedule.”

“Yes.”

“Safety too. Make sure all of them have their safety plans on file. The state’s been checking on those like crazy lately.”

“Will do. Full house today.” Chris nodded behind Lloyd, indicating his huddling assistant. Lloyd didn’t even bother to turn to introduce her. “So, who’s this?”

“Oh, sorry.” Lloyd turned and swept his hand out. “Julia Lindstrom, my new project assistant, I would like you to meet one of my superintendents, Chris Vaughn. In fact, this is the man you will be working with most of the time.”

Chris grinned. “Yeah, because I’m pretty new too. He doesn’t trust me.”

Lloyd grunted with a laugh. “Your talents exceed those of most men. Even the ones I’ve had on the payroll for ten years. So that’s not entirely true. What you lack in experience you make up for with natural instinct and common sense. And you pick up things quickly too.”

Chris glanced down with surprise at Lloyd. He towered over his boss and dad by a good half foot. He’d never heard Lloyd talk about him like that before. It annoyed, irritated and made him downright angry, but not at Lloyd. A rush of pleasure swept through him at the compliments. God. He was so thrilled and pleased that he was good and ready to sit up and beg Lloyd for a few more crumbs of praise. But Chris wasn’t a boy anymore, and he didn’t need anyone’s consistent approval. No. Hell, no. Chris was his own man and had been so for a decade, maybe even longer. Yet he continued blushing with warmth at hearing that Lloyd thought so highly of him. It seemed as if it were much more than his boss complimenting him. But that was stupid. Lloyd knew nothing about his role as an absentee father.

Why didn’t Chris say to Lloyd, Hey, you’re my dad? Not sure why. But now it would have been awkward and weird, to say the least, after not admitting anything during all these years. He waited too long to tell him. Still, Chris could not deny the distinct pleasure he felt in knowing that Lloyd approved of his work so highly. He sighed. When did he become a school-aged namby-pamby? Someone who needed his teacher’s gold star stuck on his latest science assignment?

Julia raised her head and her gaze met his until she looked away. A small, polite smile appeared on her lips. She nodded towards him in lieu of a handshake. She had very dark eyes. Black eyes. Compelling eyes. He smiled. “Nice to have you on, Julia.”

She nodded. “Thank you.”

Chris turned around when the trailer was suddenly occupied by an assortment of representatives whom they were waiting to consult. Two came from the architect’s office, one was the structural engineer, and four were various subs. All were male. There were handshakes, back slaps and casual conversation about the constant crappy weather, and some industry scuffles and practices. When it was ten o’clock, Chris nodded around the room, clearing his throat. “Should we all take our seats and get started?”

More shuffling ensued as chairs scraped the floor and deep voices muttered softly. Chris flopped down, placing the legal pad in front of him for notes, as well as a pile of meeting agendas with the job schedule attached to them. He passed the stack around for everyone to take one. It included a list of all the members at the meeting and an outline of what they intended to discuss. Once seated, all eyes turned his way.

“So first up we need to address the drainage problem out there. It isn’t proceeding as fast as we predicted. As you’ll see when we go out there and look more closely later, it’s going to be a nightmare if we don’t find a fix fast.”

From there, the subcontractor handling the earthworks started speaking while the architect who was leaning over the site plans occasionally chimed in. They discussed how to fix it as Chris listened, his eyes darting towards the end of the table. Julia slipped into the seat next to Lloyd’s, following the schedule and writing down notes.

Unfortunately, she sat down beside Lloyd. That meant something significant to everyone in the room. Including the woman who took the job. Typically, Chris wouldn’t think that about a woman simply because she sat down next to a man. But Lloyd purposely used his assistant position to get women. And until now, those women understood that clearly because as far as Chris witnessed, Lloyd simply told them so.

She was, or would most likely soon be, Lloyd’s newest girlfriend.

“How about some coffee, sweetheart? Pretty nippy out there.”

Chris frowned when the voice came from Beck, one of the subs. Obviously, he was addressing Julia and judging by the way he stared at her, the nickname he used was degrading. Maybe not degrading exactly, but the tone Beck used was inappropriate. Her head popped up from where she’d been intensely concentrating. Or at least, that’s the impression she portrayed. Her face reddened in a blush as she realized the entire table was staring at her now. She glanced around and turned to Lloyd for help, but he didn’t say anything, only nodded.

Chris frowned. It was obvious she was feeling overwhelmed in the presence of this sausage fest. He jumped to his feet. “Sure thing, Beck. But you don’t have to butter me up with heartfelt endearments. I’ll do it for free.”

Beck glared up at him. “I wasn’t talking to you, Vaughn. I was talking to the pretty legs down there.”

Julia’s face dropped onto her chest and her long, blonde hair slid forward. Chris stared at Beck, crossing his arms over his chest as he scowled. Beck visibly swallowed as Chris sneered at him.

“Ms. Lindstrom is Lloyd’s newest project assistant. That means, she will be in charge of the facilitation and communication between the projects in the field and the office. That also means, Cranston,” he sneered as he uttered the man’s last name, “that she ranks much higher than you or me. So either I can get you that coffee or you can go out and get your own. It’s up to you. But I like the suggestion, so I think I’ll go and pour some for myself.”

There was a general shuffling of paper and soft mumbling after his outburst. Cranston’s mouth dropped open in obvious surprise. Chris walked over to the coffee maker with its hot pot of coffee. He grabbed two mugs and poured some, going directly past Cranston, and setting the coffee cup in front of Julia. Her head snapped up, and her eyes were wide with surprise. He smiled and nodded. “Ms. Lindstrom. Would you care for some coffee?”

She gripped the hot cup in her hands and nodded, “Um… yes, and thank you.” Her puzzled gaze stayed on Chris for a moment before she looked down at the cup of caffeine before her. He sauntered back to his seat. “See how it’s done, Cranston? I mean, sweetheart?”

The man glowered as he sunk down into his chair. The meeting was strained for a few minutes after that but Chris ignored it. He grilled the structural engineer who was discussing the building straps that had to be added to the foundation when it was poured. It temporarily eased the tension until Chris glanced down towards the new hire again. She kept her gaze riveted on what she wrote except when it was focused on whomever was talking. Very serious. No fanciful glancing around. No inconspicuous analysis of the crowd she found herself in. Chris didn’t fail to notice that Lloyd never sought out someone who was remotely capable of doing the job as his personal assistant. He didn’t even pretend to.

But so far, this one seemed to be trying.

When the hour-long meeting ended, they were planning to walk the site, including the subs and architect, and perhaps Lloyd, but the rest were leaving. Half the table ducked outside in a hurry to take a smoke break. Lloyd stepped out with the owner and architect, deep in a discussion.

Chris glanced up and saw Julia awkwardly shifting her weight from one foot to the other. She didn’t know whether to follow Lloyd, wait there, or perhaps take a tour of the site. Her hesitance showed in her furrowed eyebrows, lip-chewing, and the general air of anxiety that emanated from her. She didn’t so much as glance at Chris.

After wondering if he should say something to her, he said simply, “Hi.”

Her nervousness was palpable as anxiety radiated off her. No one needed to stress as much as she obviously was.

Her mouth puckered in surprise at seeing him before she said, “Hello.”

“If I were you, I’d skip the walk-through right now.”

Julia straightened her back. “Because I’m a woman who wants to stay clean?”

“No, because you don’t have the proper footwear and you might get hurt,” Chris replied. His tone was quiet without any accusation or offense in it. “Just a word of warning, you should keep a pair of boots with you at all times when you come out to the job sites.”

Her shoulders dropped and she sighed. “I’m sorry. I falsely assumed… No, I shouldn’t have. And, thank you… for what you did earlier… I mean, the coffee.” She gasped out the sentence in distress.

He smiled gently, trying not to scare her. She seemed so skittish. “No problem. Don’t let any assholes push you around. You’ll have to quickly grow a thick skin to survive on these job sites and be sure to give them that shit right back. For some of them, it’s like they’ve never worked beside a woman before. It’s pathetic, stupid, annoying, and detrimental to all workers in my opinion, but blatant sexism does exist.”

Julia’s unsure smile gave Chris a fleeting glimpse of her well-aligned, white teeth. “It’s only my first week. I’m supposed to be a liaison between the field and the office. I have no authority here and all of you are way over me in rank.”

“Are you talking about what I told Beck about you?”

She nodded.

“Well, no one else knows that. And he was irritating me so I wanted to humiliate him.”

“Thank you,” she said quietly, her eyeballs darting furtively.

He sighed as he side-stepped her and in response, she retreated timidly. He wasn’t even intending to approach her, but only trying to take the stack of papers to his desk, which was next to the plans table before throwing the garbage away. He held up his piles. “Just taking this stuff to my desk.” She stared at him curiously, her eyes narrowing. He added, “It’s behind you.”

“Oh. Sorry, Mr. Vaughn.” Jumping to move aside, she clipped her hip on the corner of the table. She released an anguished cry as she rubbed it. Okay, not only was the woman a jumble of nerves, but she was clumsy too.

“So… Julia. Do you care if I call you Julia? We use first names around here.”

“Okay.”

“And Julia, please relax. You’re new, you’re not being judged today on anything. I like everyone to feel comfortable enough that they can always speak to me. I know I’m big, but I’m not a jerk.” He tried a gentle, tentative smile.

“You are quite big.”

Chris flopped down on his desk chair, and the back ended at his middle back while his sides spilled over the seat by several inches. His legs were tucked up too high because it was too awkward to slide them under the desk. He crossed his arms over his chest and bit the side of his cheek to avoid smiling from amusement. Chris was sure Julia had no clue about what she just said, or that anyone else around there would soon be snickering and laughing over it. A pretty woman said that he was quite big. Thank God, she wasn’t overheard by the other laborers or subcontractors’ workers. They’d have been back-slapping, winking, and humiliating the timid, serious, quiet, but kind of funny woman before him now.

“Yeah. Been told that before. But I’m harmless. Honest. You don’t have to look like you’re going to pass out. I’m not half as mean as I might appear.”

She smiled and her gaze slid from his, running the length of his torso before it landed on his face again. He smiled back.

“All right, Chris.”

She had a cool voice with a professional-sounding tone, but there was an underlying timbre to it that suggested a streak of timidity.

“Sit down, so we can talk about a few things. Lloyd didn’t mention he was hiring anyone or I’d have been sure to put more thought into this, but let’s wing it.”

She shrugged. “He hired me a few days ago.”

Chris leaned forward and set his hands on his desk. “Yeah? Where did you go to school?’

“Uh… Calliston High School.” Her eyeballs darted nervously again and she cringed in obvious embarrassment.

He smiled. Calliston, California was the small town that they lived and worked in. “I’m sorry. I just assumed… Lloyd usually hires recent graduates from USC or Peterson in Marsdale. He says he likes to give the new graduates a chance because it is so rare for them to find a good job right away.” To hear Lloyd’s explanation, it sounded as if philandering was his contribution to public service.

Julia sat down, perching her butt atop the edge of the functional, metal fold-up chair. Smoothing her unmarred dress over her thighs, she modestly tugged it towards her knees where it had ridden up. It was only a few inches but Chris gulped as he tried to keep from staring. He was straining, and nearly falling forward to glimpse her bare, naked, white legs sporting the pair of sexy high heels that slimmed and defined her calves so well. No. She was no more than a colleague. She didn’t deserve any ogling or objectifying. He owed her the respect and dignity of any man who sat in that chair, along with clear, straightforward communication and a chance to prove herself.

“Lloyd hired me basically because of my dad’s recommendation. He’s known Lloyd for twenty years or more. They got to talking a few weeks ago and Dad mentioned I needed a job and Mr. Cartwright offered to meet me because the position was empty and he needed… and so…” She shook her head. “No one mentioned that I needed a college degree.” Her entire face bloomed into a vibrant blush. Shame. He shamed her.

Leaning forward, Chris resisted the urge to reach across the desk and pat her shoulder. He didn’t see why she seemed so ashamed by her admission. “Oh, hey. It’s no big deal. Half the laborers here are the sons of former carpenters or subcontractors or the people staffing the offices. Nepotism exists across all genders, occupations, and pay grades, so I wouldn’t get too bent out of shape over it.” Lloyd was recently threatened with a lawsuit from his last project assistant. According to rumors, she came after him with a sharpened pencil when he tried to dump her. Chris hoped to God that Julia would be smarter than that woman was and not fall for the same shady ruses that Lloyd frequently employed.

 “Don’t you need to go show all those guys around the site?”

“Yes. Whenever Lloyd comes back in. He first schmoozes it up with the owner, then he gets me and after that, all those who are waiting will be addressed. Way of the world, it’s all about pecking order. So I got some time. He’s usually a good twenty minutes or so.”

“So I dressed all wrong and I don’t have the proper degree. And you know what? I didn’t even realize it. Smashing first week.”

Chris sensed Julia was trying to appear polished and professional in her conservative, stylish and pretty dress. She would have been in most offices. Just not theirs. “Some days, your outfit could be perfect as long as you stayed in the main office. But most days, you have to be prepared. You’ll be the go-between for the superintendents, Lloyd, Phineas, and Margaret. You’ve met Margaret?”

“Yes.”

He was pleased at the lack of inflection in Julia’s tone. She’d have to survive Margaret’s wrath if she intended to continue working there.

Chris imagined Margaret probably wasn’t very nice to Julia. Margaret often rolled her eyes, or sighed and scowled, calling Lloyd’s assistants his ass-candy. Or eye-candy. Pussy PAs. She did that while smirking with pleasure as she explained PAs were also the initials they used for project assistants. Margaret’s list of derogatory names to describe Lloyd’s liaisons with his assistants was endless. Chris couldn’t blame her, having to watch the parade of women constantly coming through the office. All were young and attractive, which would not have mattered except that more often than not, they lacked any skills for the position and had little or no work ethic or ambition. Meanwhile, Margaret still worked ten-hour days and had more than proven her exceptional capabilities and stamina.

Biting her lip, Julia replied, “That’s why Margaret seemed to dislike me and dismissed me? I don’t have a degree. Duh. Lloyd said most of this job was hands-on and told me I would learn it as I did it. I’m also supposed to take over all the submittals processing from the subcontractors for all the jobs.” She shook her head, throwing her hands up in the air. “Problem is, I don’t know what submittals are or how to keep track of them.”

His lips twitched. “Well that’s a huge problem. Submittals are the proposals that are given to us from each and every subcontractor or materials provider we hired to supply the things we need for this job. The process Lloyd talked about is for you to check and see if their submittals match what the plans and specs require.”

She licked her lips, twisting her fingers around each other.

Chris tilted his head. “What did I say? You suddenly look as if you were sucking on a wedge of lemon.”

“I don’t exactly know how to match their submittals to the specs because I don’t know what those are…”

He smiled as he nodded. “Lloyd didn’t explain anything to you yet, did he?”

Negative head shake.

Jumping to his feet, Chris walked over to the plans table. “Come here.”

Julia obeyed, coming up beside him. Her head was between his elbow and shoulder. Her eyes dimmed as she met his gaze while glancing up. He pointed to a thick book. “So those right there are the specifications. The architects write them up according to the set of architectural blueprints they make for each project. You get what blueprints are, right?”

“Yes. Of course. I just can’t read them.”

“I can show you some basics.”

Her head tilted to the side. “Why would you do that?”

“’Cause you need to know how. Besides, Lloyd’s great to work for but he isn’t the best at supplying the details. Like making sure any new people understand their jobs and what he’s saying and how to properly dress.” He cringed visibly. “I couldn’t read a blueprint upside-down or sideways, let alone match up the specs to the architectural details. Well, let’s see over here…”

He pointed to the site plans and showed her a small insignia of A-1, which he then applied to detail A-1 in the specification book. The spec details included a drawing of a certain type and size of rock. “So you see, everything is itemized, sometimes right down to the exact brand. The materials they use must be exactly what the architect and engineers had in mind, and that’s so the building won’t fall down or flood or whatever. It’s to make sure everything functions as it was initially envisioned, and that the vision isn’t lost in translation when someone like me, who doesn’t belong to either of those professions, tries to interpret their intentions from this,” he plunked a finger on the top sheet of the plans, adding, “to a real building and site.”

“You couldn’t read them either in the beginning? The plans, I mean?”

“No. I was hired to basically run around all the job sites, hammering nails wherever I was told to or removing construction debris. I was what’s called a general laborer. But it’s simply a title for all the grunt work of the site. So don’t feel dumb. Everyone has a first day.”

Her eyebrows furrowed together. “Thank you. You’ve been very helpful.”

Lloyd stuck his head back in. “Ready, Chris?”

“Coming.” Chris turned back to Julia. “Like I said, you aren’t safely dressed to go around the site as you are. But ask Lloyd to let you come back this week and bring some boots and pants and I’ll show you around. Then you can see how the real site relates to those.” He waved towards the site plan. “Okay?”

“That would be so helpful. Thank you, Chris.”

“You can wait here and have some coffee.” He stuck the hard hat on his head. “Just don’t get it for anyone else or they’ll always expect you to.”

“Expect me to what?”

“Bring them coffee. You aren’t a waitress here. Keep that in mind before you hop up to do anyone’s bidding. Don’t do grunt work that other people can perfectly well do for themselves.”

“Basically don’t let them treat me as if I’m a woman doing a man’s job.”

“Exactly. Make sure you are treated as person simply doing your job.”

“Except of course, for Mr. Cartwright.”

It was on the tip of Chris’s tongue and he was about to add, especially Mr. Cartwright. Oh, that old, wily bastard. He insisted that everyone call him Lloyd, even the freaking warehouse manager. But his assistant? She made it sound as if Lloyd were some kind of older, better hero, someone for her to respect and kowtow to. Chris had seen Lloyd’s moves once too often and he sighed as he shook his head. “Even him.”

“What about you?” She kept her tone light and smiled as she said it. Was she being lighthearted with him?

“Even me.”

She smiled. “I was about to rush over and get that guy some coffee, until you did. You shocked me. It never occurred to me to say no. Although I didn’t like being singled out or called sweetheart.”

“I can’t imagine why anyone would at work. I hope to see you, Julia.”

“You will. Bye.” Julia’s smile made his heart bump in a weird way. Frowning, he turned back towards his dad, waiting, and staring out at the mucky lot. His brain was spinning as he began thinking of how to resolve the soupy mess before them. He had to get it cleared out and dried soon or their building schedule would suffer greatly.

Chris stopped near his dad who glanced up at him. “Ready?”

“Yeah. Just explaining to Julia how the plans and the submittals mesh together.”

Lloyd laughed and they fell into step. “I doubt she’ll ever get that. Hot, little piece though, isn’t she?”

Chris rolled his eyes. She definitely was. But why didn’t the old man have even an ounce of ethical standards? Where was his moral fiber? “Aren’t you friends with her dad or something?” Chris muttered.

“Nah. More like fleeting business associates. Julia is his daughter. She’s kind of messed up or having trouble finding a job. I knew what she looked like so I offered her one, of course. Gentleman that I am.”

They stepped across the sticky muck. “How do you avoid getting sued?”

He snickered. “Ah, Chris. You’re such a novice. I don’t touch any woman who works for me unless they’ve signed forms stating it’s consensual.”

“That’s creepy,” Chris replied. “And this works? The women, the assistants agreed to all you do?”

“Of course. I don’t do it unless they’re interested. I’m not a sexual predator.”

Maybe not, but he walked the sleazy border of it. Chris failed to add that he did not intend to be seducing women who were young enough to be his own daughter at the age of fifty-six. Nor did he mess around with coworkers. Ever. That was a concrete rule to him. And shouldn’t it be? Especially for Lloyd? The boss? Didn’t he see the conflicts of interest he created for himself?

“Anyway, this one, Julia, seems smart enough. Any reason why you couldn’t teach her the job, without sleeping with her? Don’t you want to rely on an assistant who is not inept? We’re pretty freaking busy right now. We need the help. Here’s a crazy-assed thought, why don’t you use her for the position you hired her for and formally employ her?”

Why was he arguing that? What was he pursuing now? Who cared? So what if some woman he didn’t know slept with his father? Chris witnessed five other girls in the brief four years he’d been working there. He learned no more than their names because there was nothing to be gained from them, much less, any reliance on them. What Chris said was true, and they were seriously slammed with work. The office was behind in responding to customer requests and answering questions, as well as getting all the supplies and materials out to the job sites. Chris called four days ago to get the specification on the type of screening they needed to cover the new grate they were putting in. He had still heard nothing. They also needed a new printer/scanner because theirs died, but no one had done anything to procure it so far.

Lloyd slapped his back with a rich bark of laughter. “Ah, Chris you’re such a damn prude. You look like you could rip apart two pit bulls with your teeth just for fun, but in truth, I suspect you’re more apt to cuddle a stray puppy than do anything violent. I already employ her. It’s not my fault if things develop into something more personal.”

It was his fault and his fault alone.

“You could not let it develop this time,” Chris pressed. Why did that seem so important? Who cared? He recalled his damn heart was blipping at her smile. He just didn’t want her sleeping with his dad. End of story. To be honest? She seemed nice. Not many of the women Lloyd hired for that job were very nice. They seemed to understand why they were hired and in fact, they wanted to be hired for that sole purpose. None of them seemed to care about their performances on their first week of work. Not like Julia did.

“I could… we’ll have to see…” Lloyd said, his voice trailing off as a sleazy smirk appeared.

“We are overworked and the project managers aren’t responding to requests they deem unimportant or too time-consuming. They’ll only address the big stuff. This Julia is needed. She could fulfill the small, daily tasks and requests that need to get done, Lloyd. I’m not kidding around.”

Lloyd’s mouth twisted one way and then the next. “She does seem smart and capable enough.”

“She doesn’t have a clue who you usually hire for that job. She seems normal. So why not put her to work? We need the help.”

Lloyd sighed. “Hell, you could take the fun out of a strip joint, couldn’t you? Fine. I’ll start training her for real. Just so you know, she’s going to be assisting you the most. So if you’re so hellbent on making her worker of the year, realize a lot of that will fall to you. I don’t have the time or patience.”

“Yeah, that’s fair.”

“And Chris?”

Chris waited as Lloyd dramatically raised his eyebrows and studied him. “She has no education and zero experience. Twenty-four years old and has only ever answered phones for her father’s small business. So, good luck.” Lloyd then slapped him on the back and proceeded forward.

Chris sighed in relief as he followed his father around the job site conducting the rest of the meeting, all the while remaining hyper-aware of the employee waiting in the job shack for them to return. He tried to ignore the ripple of something close to anticipation.

But it wasn’t the same type of lewd intentions like Lloyd had. No. He admitted to acknowledging she was unusually beautiful and young, and hell! That was just an observation. Like her noticing, he was big. He was big. She was pretty. Factual. It wasn’t creepy or gross or inappropriate. It was merely a person noting features of another person.

A person he now officially worked with.