Chapter 3 #2
Sawyer studied the column of her neck, his eyes moving hungrily up the delicate expanse of skin. His tongue darted out of its own accord, the need for just a quick taste of her nearly overcoming his common sense.
“So, what’s the issue?” she asked, catapulting him out of his fantasy.
Sawyer cleared his throat and took a step back. “What was that?” he asked. Standing this close to her would only lead to trouble.
As if she’d tracked the route his train of thought had taken, she, too, took a step back, putting a bit more distance between them.
“I asked about the issue you’re having with this. I don’t see anything that can put a kink in the project.”
Remembering that he was here to do a job, Sawyer returned his attention to the map. Using a capped pen, he pointed to a spot just left of Landreaux Creek that connected to a bigger tributary of the Pearl River.
“According to this elevation map, this area should be out of the restricted flood zone.” He slid several color printouts out from underneath the binder he’d set there earlier. “However, based on these stats from the aftermath of Tropical Storm Lucy, it saw over two feet of water.”
Paxton’s forehead wrinkled. She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth, and the urge to run his tongue along the glistening seam made a comeback. Sawyer started running linear equations in his head, hoping it would distract him. It didn’t.
“Maybe it was just overwhelmed,” Paxton said. “I was already in Little Rock by the time Lucy hit, but, according to everything I’ve heard, it dumped a lot of rain in a very short amount of time. Shayla said she was afraid The Jazzy Bean would get some water, and this part of town never floods.”
“Any area can see heavier standing water than usual if enough rain falls on it in a short time,” Sawyer said.
“But Lucy was moving at twelve miles an hour. That’s not fast, but still a reasonably steady clip.
This area shouldn’t be vulnerable to that kind of flash flooding, especially with it being this high up.
” He shook his head. “Something isn’t right here. I think these maps may be off.”
“These are the maps Bolt-Myer’s project engineers used when developing the initial concept package. Trust me, Sawyer—they’re accurate.”
“How sure are you?”
Her back went ramrod straight. “Excuse me?”
“Look, Paxton, I know as project manager you’ve had your hands in every aspect of this project, but I also know that there are a lot of things you have to pay attention to with a project of this size.
You trust your engineers to take care of certain things.
Now, I want to know how sure you are that these maps are accurate, because based on these flood totals, something isn’t adding up. ”
“I think you’re jumping to conclusions.”
Sawyer crossed his arms over his chest. “How do you explain two feet of water in an area that should see no more than a couple of inches at the most?”
“It’s not just the speed of the storm that you have to take into account,” she argued.
“The river was also still high from all the snow that melted from that previous winter and traveled down from the north. Gauthier doesn’t have robust pumping stations like the ones in New Orleans and other big cities, so they’re going to get this type of flooding during the perfect storm, even in places that are not flood prone. ”
“That’s the thing,” Sawyer said. “This wasn’t the perfect storm.
Not even close.” He rounded the table and moved to a map he’d hung on the wall.
He pointed the pen cap at the center of the Gulf of Mexico.
“Lucy formed here and lingered over the gulf for several days before moving north. The eye of the storm followed the Louisiana–Mississippi state line, which means Gauthier wasn’t even on the so-called bad side of the storm.
In fact, for the most part, it remained in the lower-left quadrant, which is the best-case scenario. ”
“But Lucy was a slow mover,” Paxton countered.
Sawyer shook his head. “That shouldn’t matter. If I’m to believe that the elevation in this area is as high as it is on this map, then Lucy could have lingered for another three days without this part of Gauthier seeing even close to the amount of flooding that it saw.”
Paxton let out an exasperated sigh. “Bolt-Myer’s engineers went over these topography maps, Sawyer. They would have caught discrepancies.”
“Everyone makes mistakes,” he said. “Even the best of them.”
“Including you?” she asked with that haughty lift to her voice.
Sawyer nearly said yes, even him, but he stopped himself just in time. He wasn’t there to bare his feelings over the mistake he’d made on his previous job—he was there to make sure it didn’t happen again.
“All I’m saying is that this doesn’t add up,” he said.
“I’m not questioning the professionalism of your team at Bolt-Myer, but I am questioning the accuracy of these maps.
I know this may put us back as far as your timeline is concerned, but we have to consider bringing in a surveying team to measure some of these areas again.
There’s a possibility that new maps will have to be drawn up. ”
“New maps?” Her screech was so high that Sawyer was sure every dog within a five-mile radius heard her. Her brows nearly reached her hairline. “Are you insane? Do you know what that would entail?”
“I’m a civil engineer,” he pointed out. “Yeah, I think I know a thing or two about what it would entail.”
“Well, as a civil engineer you should know that we don’t have the time or money in the budget to have completely new topography maps drawn up. It’s ridiculous to even suggest it.”
Sawyer took a step forward. “You want to know what’s ridiculous? Building a flood-protection system based on incorrect specs.”
“You’re the one who thinks the specs are incorrect,” she said. She took a step toward him, getting in his face. “My engineers thought they were fine.”
“Your engineers are hundreds of miles away! Order the surveyors, Paxton.”
“No!” she shouted.
“I’ve seen what happens when something is built half-assed. And that is not happening with this project.” Sawyer pointed at his chest. “Not on my watch.”
“Excuse me for sounding like a broken record, but I’m the project manager. It’s my watch.”
“Dammit.” Sawyer ran both hands down his face. “Stop being so damn stubborn.”
“Stop being so pigheaded,” she snapped.
“I’m being pigheaded? You’re the one—”
The conference room door swung open. “Hey, hey, hey.” Matt Gauthier poked his head in. “Is a referee needed in here?”
Sawyer and Paxton both stared at Matt for several heartbeats before backing away from each other.
His eyes met hers again before drifting lower and landing on her chest. It pumped up and down with her quick, shallow breaths.
He was so turned on by their fiery exchange that, if not for Matt standing in the doorway, Sawyer would have probably taken her then and there.
Paxton looked at Matt. “I’m sorry we disturbed you.”
“Hey, I’m all for passionate debate, but I have a conference call starting in a few minutes, and unfortunately the walls in this place are pretty thin.”
“We’ll keep it down,” Sawyer said.
“Thanks. I’m only here for the next hour. After that you can scream as much as you want to,” Matt said with a laugh.
“Actually, I could use a break,” Paxton said. She ran her hands up and down her arms as if chilled, while Sawyer’s skin burned with the hot tension still pulsing between them.
She cast a quick glance his way. “I’m going across the street to get a bite to eat.”
“We’re not done talking about this,” Sawyer warned.
Her chin rose. “We are for now.” She walked over to her desk and grabbed her purse. She then walked past him, her murmured “Excuse me” barely audible.
Sawyer braced his hands on the table and dropped his head as all the fight drained out of him. He felt a strong hand clamp him on the shoulder.
“Rough start?” Matt asked.
“You don’t know the half of it,” Sawyer answered. He blew out a deep breath, dragging a hand down his face.
“Just stick with it,” Matt said. “Gauthier needs this. You weren’t here for the flooding last year. It was bad. I’ve never seen that kind of damage before, not even after Hurricane Katrina. We have to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
“It won’t,” Sawyer said. Standing up straight, he turned and stared Matt directly in the eyes. “I won’t get a good night’s rest until I’m certain Gauthier never has to endure what it went through with that tropical storm.”
Sawyer knew that to make good on his promise, he would have to figure out why so many places outside the purported flood zones took on so much water.
His gut told him that he was on the right track with questioning those maps.
All he had to do was convince Paxton that she should listen to his gut, too.