Chapter 4
Chapter Four
Daniel
His hands were still twitching from the effort it took to stop himself from grabbing the check from her. The habit was too ingrained to be ignored, but the meal was Sadie’s party, her employees, and her business.
He consoled himself, knowing she wouldn’t be paying for any of their dates—of which there would be many—assuming he could tease her out of her irritation.
“I vote we keep the eye candy until his house is done, but not for The Majestic,” Beatriz said.
“Eye candy?” he asked, hiding a smile.
She shrugged. “What can I say? You’re pretty.”
“We are not objectifying a property owner,” Sadie replied, giving Beatriz a dark scowl.
“You don’t think I’m pretty enough for a few catcalls and whistles?” Daniel asked. He wanted to believe her angry expression carried a hint of jealousy but knew better. “I’m crushed.”
Her face reddened and he hid a smirk when she didn’t reply. Teasing Sadie was almost as fun as imagining her over his lap for a spanking. He was betting her ass would turn as pink as her cheeks, but it wasn’t just the fierce sexual attraction he had for her.
He wanted to know what made her tick. What was on the inside of her gorgeous head?
“I agree with Beatriz,” Lourdes said, once everyone stopped laughing. “Keep him away from pointy objects but let him help on his own house if he signs a waiver.”
For a moment, he wondered if he should be insulted, but Lourdes had a point. He hadn’t even considered liability and insurance, and for that, he owed Sadie an apology. The last thing he wanted was to risk her livelihood, and by extension, that of her employees.
“Same,” Jasmine said. “He could do interior paint and cleanup.”
“You’re just saying that because you hate cleanup,” Sadie muttered sourly. At least it looked like she was considering the idea.
“Who doesn’t hate cleanup?” Jasmine smirked at her. “It’s also safe enough for someone who isn’t on our liability insurance.”
Pinching the skin between her arched eyebrows, Sadie sighed. “Fine. We keep Lieutenant Dan until we finish his house.”
“Yay!” Jasmine called.
“But…” Sadie held up a hand to quiet the cheers. “He has to promise to do as he’s told and stay away from power tools, ladders, and anything sharp.”
“I’ll do exactly what you tell me,” Daniel murmured into her ear, enjoying her shiver. In a louder voice, he added, “As long as Sadie starts asking more questions when she hires people. No more assholes.”
“Goody,” Sadie muttered as everyone applauded. “Welcome to Windham Construction, Lieutenant Dan. Consider this your two-week notice.”
Smiling, he leaned back in his chair. Although he’d wanted to learn from Sadie and her team, he’d take what he could get. After all, he’d have plenty of time to watch if he wanted to pick up a few of their tricks.
Hell, he didn’t even mind her calling him Lieutenant Dan. It wasn’t like he hadn’t heard the tired old joke before, and it gave him a reason to spank her.
Not that he needed one.
His palms itched to connect with her heart-shaped ass, but he had to be patient. He hadn’t missed her swiftly indrawn breath or the flush in her cheeks when he mentioned it, but one didn’t spank a woman who carried a sledgehammer without her consent.
That was a good way to get one’s head caved in—as Jim would have probably learned if he’d decided to get frisky with her when she fired his dumb ass.
For fuck’s sake. She’d given Jim a damned drawing to follow. He’d seen the print, and it looked nothing like what Jim had built, meaning he’d purposely misunderstood the assignment.
Granted, Daniel couldn’t have made it look as good as Sadie and Beatriz had done, considering he’d never laid a brick in his life, but he’d have tried.
He finished the last of his water as the ladies gathered their things to leave. Sadie finally managed to rid herself of what seemed to be a permanent scowl and smiled as they said their goodbyes.
After the last of her crew headed toward the door, she said, “I’m taking off. Are you staying at the house now that you’re home?”
“I’m going to crash with my sister for one more night, then I’ll set up a cot in the garage.” He held the door for her, making her blink in surprise. “Mel is probably ready for me to get off her couch anyway, and I’d like to sleep in past five at some point.”
“Five as in morning?” A faint smile played across her rosebud lips. “There should be only one five o’clock.”
“Preach,” he muttered. “My nieces and nephews feel that is when people should be awake.”
“Well, we start at seven, so you can’t sleep in too late.”
It was like she thought an early start would scare him off. He stifled a chuckle and nodded, deciding not to tell her he was more than used to waking up for the dawn patrol.
“At least the sun is up by seven.” He led the way to her truck, then opened her door. “I’ll see you in the morning. Drive safe.”
Smiling for real, he got into his car and started it but waited until she drove away. He had twelve hours to make a plan to woo his sexy contractor.
Sadie
“You have got to be fucking kidding me!” She slammed on the brakes hard enough to make her extra-large iced mocha slosh in its cup.
Beatriz was there, early as usual, with eyes as big as saucers as she watched Daniel pace the front yard with his phone held to his ear.
The house was… Fuck.
Black spray paint spelled out, “Watch your back, cunt” in block capitals across the south wall, the words steadily baking under the rising sun. The retaining wall she and Beatriz had so painstakingly built had been demolished.
After getting out of her truck, she swallowed hard and closed her eyes when she got close to a large pile of excrement wafting its unpleasant odor from the newly refurbished front porch. Buzzing flies surrounded the waste and she swallowed hard in a desperate attempt to keep the contents of her stomach in place.
Unwilling to let anyone see her cry, she blinked back hot tears and tried to fix her face into something that wasn’t enraged fury.
“Hey, Sadie, we?—”
She held up a hand, silencing Beatriz. “Has anyone called the cops?”
“Yeah. They’re on the way, and I already got tons of pictures.” Beatriz scowled at the mess on the porch. “My money says it was Jim the asshole. He called you a c-word when you fired him, and I don’t see him having enough imagination to come up with something else.”
Sadie didn’t disagree, but she wouldn’t point fingers at anyone without evidence—even if she thought Beatriz was right. “Who is Daniel talking to?”
“Sean Franklin from The Majestic. I think he’s the one they call Death. They’re talking about cameras and security lighting.”
“Fair enough. I’ll deal with the poo.”
“Gives whole new meaning to the phrase, handling your shit , don’t it?”
“Haha, funny.” Sadie rolled her eyes but couldn’t help smiling at Beatriz’s joke.
“I can clean it up,” Beatriz offered. “I was going to, but figured you’d want to see it first.”
As if. No way was she letting her employees touch it. The buck—and the shit—stopped with her.
“See if we have any bleach in the supply trailer. Don’t let anyone get close until we can sanitize the area.”
“We don’t, but I can run to the store for some.”
“Thanks. After we get the biohazard dealt with…” She sighed and grimaced at the spray paint. “I can’t decide if I want to get out the sandblaster or see if we can scrub it.”
“It’s oil-based,” Beatriz replied. “And the stucco was still wet. We have to start over, so we might as well just sandblast it.”
“Fuck.” It seemed to be all she could say, but she figured there wasn’t a better word to describe her morning.
“You can say that again. Anyway, I’ll be back in about twenty with bleach.” Scowling at the mess, Beatriz added, “You don’t think it’s human, do you?”
“It doesn’t really smell like it came from a dog.” They both shuddered with revulsion. “Either way, it’s a health hazard.”
Beatriz nodded and tossed her keys in the air before catching them. “I’ll be back soon.”
Sadie got a roll of caution tape, a garbage bag, and a shovel from the supply trailer, noting the scrapes on the heavy-duty padlock from where someone had tried to cut it.
Thank goodness for small favors. She texted Beatriz to ask her to stop by the hardware store for another lock. The last thing she needed was to lose thousands of dollars’ worth of tools and equipment.
As she was wrapping tape around the porch, Daniel strode toward her, a ferocious scowl on his face. “What do you think you’re doing?” he asked, his voice dangerously soft.
“What does it look like?” Stepping around him, she tied off the tape and grabbed the shovel. “I’m handling my shit.”
He clenched his teeth, and a muscle twitched in his cheek. Clearly, he didn’t find the joke any funnier than she did. “Give me the shovel. I’ll take care of it.”
God help her; she considered it but shook her head. “No can do, Lieutenant Dan. My worksite, my liability insurance—which you are not on.”
“I’m the property owner,” he countered.
“Yeah, and I’m not about to let my employees do it either.” Without waiting for him to reply, she scooped the mess into the garbage bag and tied it off. “Stay away from the porch, please. Once we have the area sanitized, we’ll sandblast the paint and start over with the stucco. It will add an extra few days to our schedule, but?—”
He grabbed the bag from her and tossed it aside, then put his hands on her upper arms and shook her gently. “Did it occur to you that whoever did this might come back?”
After taking a deep breath and counting to ten, she asked, “Are you my father or my husband?”
“What?” He shook his head and frowned. “Those questions are irrelevant to this?—”
“I’m also not in a consensual power exchange relationship with you, which would not have included my business in the first place, so…” She lifted her chin and met his angry gaze. “Back off, Lieutenant Dan.”
“Again, I’m the property owner,” he snapped, giving her another shake. “It’s like you’re begging for me to fire you or turn you over my knee.”
Damn. She’d hoped Daniel would be better than this. As much as she wanted to do bad, bad things with him, she wasn’t about to let a man she barely knew order her around like she was a child or threaten to fire her for protecting him and her employees from a dangerous substance.
Fuck that noise.
“All right. You need to take your hands off me before you lose them.” Refusing to back down, she waited until he cursed and let her go. “This is my business, my crew, and my responsibility. You can fire me if you want to, but you do not get to tell me how to do my job.”
Once again, the muscle in his jaw twitched, then he gave her an ugly smile. “Fine, sweetheart. You’re fired.”