Page 56 of Lead Me On
The truck bounced over a ridge of dirt as he turned into the huge building site. “I need to walk the site first, then I’ll drive us farther away before the actual blast. I don’t want you getting hit by debris, and it’s best to coddle my insurance guy. He’s paranoid.”
He slid out of the truck and jogged around to open her door.
“You want me to come with?”
“Absolutely.”
Thankfully, she pulled on the black sweater and zipped it up, disguising her curves. Chase breathed a sigh of relief and resisted the urge to take her hand. She wouldn’t want to be led through the site like a date, regardless of his desire to mark her as his to keep all the men away from her.
It took him a good fifteen minutes to check the placement and fuses and wires. He went over the plans one last time, double-checking measurements. Everything was in order.
“Chase!” one of his technicians shouted, jogging over to him. He waved a yellow paper that Chase recognized as a permit.
“Just a second, Jane. I’ll be right back.”
* * *
JANE WATCHEDCHASEwalk away, his stride long and sure. He’d struck her as confident before, but here…here he was in his element, in control. He was theowner.
The men all nodded when he walked by, even as they carried on with their work. His second in command deferred to Chase, despite Chase being a good ten years younger.
Why had she never even suspected?
Yes, she was a snob, if only within the strict parameters she’d set in her own mind. But Mac was a business owner, too. She knew they didn’t all wear suits and ties.
Hidden behind her dark glasses, Jane watched Chase as he worked. Maybe she hadn’t considered him anything more than a laborer because that’s what she’d wanted him to be. If Chase was successful and ambitious in addition to being tattooed and rough…
She watched as he folded his arms and cocked his head, looking down at the paper the other man held. Then Chase nodded and clapped his hand against the guy’s shoulder before turning back toward Jane. When he glanced up and saw her, his mouth curved into a smile.
Something deep inside her chest clenched. It wasn’t her heart. It couldn’t be. Just her stomach. For all his muscles, Chase had the smile of a mischievous little boy.
He was impossibly cute. And this was the reason she needed him to be nothing more than a dead-end laborer.
This was bad. Really bad.
She shouldn’t have come. She should’ve stayed home and puzzled out what Chase’s revelation meant to her.
But his offer had been irresistible. She’d been pacing her condo restlessly, trying to think of some way to occupy her time before Jessie’s discovery hearing at three. Then Chase had called and offered to take her to anexplosion?She’d nearly wept with relief. But now she didn’t feel anything like weeping. Now there were butterflies dancing in her stomach.
“You ready?” he asked, shocking her into a little jump with his sudden appearance.
“Oh, y-yeah,” she stammered. “Absolutely.”
“Come on.” His hand rested low on her back for a moment before falling away. The faint imprints of his fingers tingled for a long time after as they walked across the wide lot toward his truck. But Jane forced her pulse to slow as she glanced back toward the jagged wall of rock. Perfect little holes peppered it, trailing red wires like tails. “Are you sure those little bits of dynamite will work?”
Chase winked at her. “I’m pretty sure.” When he handed her up into the truck, his hands lingered at her waist and dragged down her hips. Lust shot through her like tiny explosions, racing out ahead of his fingers, and her thoughts scattered.
“Where are we going?”
“Just to those trees over there. Here.” He reached into the tiny backseat and grabbed a hard hat. “You’ll need this.”
“Ooh, cute.” She plopped it onto her head.
“It’s not bad. Put it on with sexy lingerie and see how I react.”
“Hmm. Maybe the same way you’d react if I wore a jester’s hat with sexy lingerie?”
“Possibly.” Oh, God, that smile again.
