Truth and Humility (9 page)

Austin threw her a killing look.  “Watch it, Sue, or I might think you’re turning on me.”

“Well…” Sue knew her boss well enough and decided he needed the truth.  “I’m sorry!  She’s a doer and the guys respect her for it.  And you’re the first to admit you didn’t hire them for their job performance.  You only hired Mac as a favor to me.”

“They needed work.”

“Exactly.  And you’re the softy who arranged it for them.  You knew exactly what you were getting.  But you can’t blame Danny for taking advantage.  She is clearly determined to pay you off.”

“And at this rate, she’ll be out of here by next week.”  Austin slammed his palm against the wall and leaned against it in thought.  “Has she been making any calls?”

“Mac says her phone Kys e berings, but she never answers it.”

“I need to get Derek’s attention somehow.”

“You promised her you wouldn’t tell him.”

He chewed his bottom lip and turned to look pointedly at his assistant, hands on hips.  “But that doesn’t mean you can’t.”

Sue let out a troubled breath, winced.  “I could, but I wouldn’t feel right.  I
do
like her.  May even be crushing a little.”  She laughed when Austin’s face contorted.  “Hell, Mac is worse.  Those two are practically joined at the hip because she makes him feel worthy.”

“Sheee-it.”

“She’s winning over your crew, boss.  Like it or not.”

“Well, I
don’t!”

“And, maybe if you two would quit tossing around your last names like they’re dirty words, you’d actually get along.”

That one put an end to the conversation.  If his assistant kept spewing gibberish, there was no point in it.

The workday was over and Danny was stuck with empty pockets.  The Cahill had chosen to work the yard in order to keep an eye on his crew, crack the whip and prevent her from further capitalizing off their incompetence.  It was all part of the personal vendetta, she was positive of it.  Hot, irritated and raw, she removed her hardhat as she followed the others across the yard.

“Keep it on until you’re inside, Bennett.”

She’d been hearing that damned voice all day, barking at her at every opportunity.  She plunked the hardhat back on and silently cursed the Cahill from which the order came.  He was impossible to deal with.  “Nothing’s gonna fall on my head,” she mumbled to herself.

But Austin heard her grumpy comment.  “I take safety seriously here,” he replied sharply while he followed her.  “Any time I catch you without it, I’m docking your pay.”

“Of course.”

In the locker room, Mac rubbed her shoulders and gave them a sympathetic pat.  “It’ll get better, Monkey.”

Truth be told, it
was
getting better.  Danny had found a comfortable rhythm in her nightly maintenance duties and was completing them much quicker now.  Her laptop even got some use the previous night, even though she’d gasped at the amount of neglected assignments.

“He didn’t pay much attention when the other guys took their hardhats off,” she mumbled sourly.

Mac chuckled, ripped open the snaps of his red denim shirt and struggled out of it.  “Try to look at it this way.  You’re special.”

As she rolled her eyes, Austin issued another order from behind.

“In my office, Bennett.”

Danny ground her teeth together, hooked her phone to her waistband and slammed her locker door.  “Right away,
boss.
”

“I don’t want you taking any more money from my crew.  They can’t afford it.”  Danny glared at him from across the desk.  Austin noticed for the first time her tan had deepened and the sun had intensified the golden highlights of her hair.  The hardhat had spent more time on the ground than on her head.  “And you obviously haven’t been following safety protocol.”

“I know what I’m doing.”

He leaned forward and clasped his hands on the desk.  “That cocky attitude of yours will catch up with you some day.  It’s how accidents happen, I’ve seen it way too often.”

“Is that a threat, Cahill?”

His jaw clenched.  “That’s ‘boss’ to you.  And if you imply I have it in me to hurt a woman -
even you
- you better have proof to back it up.”

Danny crossed her arms and looked away.  “That didn’t stop you from accusing my brother.”

He sneered at the blatant disrespect for her position.  “It’s different between me and Derek, or when
men
accuse each other of violence.  When a woman does the accusing, it gets more serious from a legal standpoint.  Just making that clear.”  When she remained tight-lipped, he moved on.  “Now, since I can hardly control how the crew blows their paycheck, I’ve decided to offer you an alternative.  In exchange, I want your word that you’ll refrain from betting against my men.”

Danny spared him a glance.  “I’m listening.”

“My uncle used to own a popular pizza shop in town.  When he closed it up we moved the pizza oven here.  It’s been in the kitchen for almost ten years and it’s considered a family heirloom.  But it needs repairs before I can use it Sunday.”

“Sunday?”

“Family gathering.  Once a month after church.  But the thermostat is broken and Torsten tore the shit out of the side when he tried to move it out.  Your application stated you’re certified to weld on stainless steel.  That true?”

“Yes...”

“Then, follow me.”

He goes to church
, Danny thought as she followed him through the inclined breezeway that connected the yard facilities with the old house.  Through the back door, past the old servant’s quarters and deeper into the two-story colonial home, they entered the kitchen.

That was something she missed, Sunday services with the family.  She and Derek would mainly horse around while pretending to pay attention only when eyes were upon them.  But they managed to absorb enough religion to appreciate it.

She wondered just how spiritual Austin’s family was since the “merciful and gracious” part of the faith completely eluded them.  After all, her parents had taught her and her brothers to forgive.  Part of the conditioning to ignore the feud as much as possible.  Let the uncles and cousins fight it out.  But her parents always tried to keep their distance from it.  Until the personal feud between Derek and Austin erupted, that is.

The kitchen was a spacious room with a gigantic island, natural wood cabinets, granite countertops, breakfast nook and tall windows that bathed the space in natural light.  Her jaw dropped when she spotted the pizza oven sitting cock-eyed in the corner.  There were sheets and towels covering the floors and countertops to protect the area from flying sparks.  The space was cluttered with welding equipment, filler rod, grinding tools, a pair of heavy gloves and a hood.

The oven was so tall the stainless heat hood above it recessed into the ceiling.  “A dual conveyer oven,” she observed in awe.  “In your own kitchen.”

Austin detected a hint of wonder in her voice and appreciated it.  “I’ve tried fixing the stainless myself but I’m doing something wrong.”

“Why didn’t you just hire someone?” she asked, peering around the side and running a hand over the length of the broken seam and the burnt sugar-textured welds.

“Because I wanted to do it myself,” he snapped defensively.

Ignoring his attitude, Danny refrained from commenting on the ugly bubbles protruding from his failed attempt to weld on stainless.  In fact, she felt a small swell of admiration for the man.  He was a Cahill, after all, but he obviously thrived on personal accomplishment.

And, Danny thought, it was cute how he scribbled measurements on his work gloves when he needed to remember one.  “You need argon gas.”

“What?”

“Argon.  You’re getting this sugary texture because of oxygen exposure.  Argon pushes the oxygen away and allows you to achieve a smooth bubble, but I’ll need you to hold the hose against the back of the seam while I work from the front.”

Austin crouched beside her and looked where she was pointing through the empty storage compartment below and at the inside of the broken seam.  “There’s a cylinder of argon in the equipment building.  I Kdinnd th’ll have Tom bring it up and we can start on it tomorrow morning.”

“And it would help if we can roll it out all the way.  Give us more room to work.”

Now she was talking like they were partners, as if she understood his need to be involved.  It took him aback and he found himself studying her profile.  “It’s stuck,” he explained absently.

“What?  Why?”

“I don’t know.  I’m afraid to force it and none of us can get back there.”

She backed up a step and surveyed her options.  It was sandwiched pretty good between the wall and the cabinets, taking up every available inch of space.  “I can get behind it.”

“I don’t see how, it’s too narrow.”

Danny sent him her best poker face as she began to unbutton the snaps of her denim shirt.  It was a challenge she couldn’t ignore.

“Before I do this, Cahill, I need to know how much this job is going to pay.”

He couldn’t tear his eyes off her hands as each button came undone one-by-one.  What the hell was she doing?  “Five hundred.”

“Any welder would charge twice that.  Plus, if I can get this beast out, I’m saving you from having to hire out for it.”

In truth, the figure she threw out was a bit out of the ballpark, but it left her room for negotiation.

“I’ll be doing half the work,” he countered.  “Six hundred.”

Her long-sleeved shirt came off revealing a lace-edged camisole top.  The white opaque fabric was wet beneath her breasts where sweat had trickled down the channel between them, collected in a wide arc beneath their curvature.  Austin’s throat constricted a little when his eyes skimmed downward to a narrow waist, then back up again to the outline of two small nipples.  Apparently, Danny Bennett didn’t feel the need to dirty a bra when facing eight hours of hard physical labor.  And she obviously kept very fit due to that physical labor, as the detailed lines of the lean muscle in her arms boasted no fat whatsoever.  The camisole hugged her middle tight enough that he could even make out the edges dividing her abs and obliques, which highlighted a very tone, very feminine and very appealing body.

She pulled a chair out from the island, threw her shirt over the back and sat down to take off her boots.  “Holding an argon hose is called grunt work,
boss
.  It’s hardly worth $20 an hour.  Make it nine hundred.”

“Seven-fifty and you don’t get paid until the job is done.”

She must have noticed his interest because her face took on a heated look.  “I don’t want to get snagged on the corners of the conveyers,” she offered, dispelling any notion she was stripping for him. Kpin shirt  “There isn’t much clearance.”

Austin’s gaze moved up and down her length, though he knew he shouldn’t be openly ogling an employee.  But Danny was a Bennett.  She was here under deceptive means and deserved no respect from him.  Or so he told himself.  “You’ll still snag.  Maybe you should lose the undershirt, too.”

His comment made her blush and instead of gloating over it, he was charmed.  In fact he was dying to see the bare skin beneath the white fabric.  His pants began to tighten at the crotch and he moved behind the island to hide it, planted his elbows on the surface and motioned for her to continue.

Her neck was burning.  Danny had suffered through countless ogling looks over the last five days, but that one made the blood rush to her ears.  For once, she had no comment.

Austin watched as she lifted her arms high, sucked in her breath and squeezed through the opening.  Her waist deflated another few inches, but it was still a tight fit and, sure enough, the camisole snagged and ripped on the jagged corner of the lower conveyer.  But she continued on regardless.  Her neck was level with the top conveyer and she barely made it through by turning her head.  But made it through she did.

“The cord is hooked on one of these pipes back here,” she announced from behind the oven.  “Good thing you didn’t try to force it or you’d have plumbing issues.”