Page 4 of A Package Deal

I reached out my right hand. “You’re looking at her.”

The man tilted his head like a dog, studying me. “I’m Warrick Wolfe,” he finally said, taking my hand in his but not shaking it. He just…held it.

I cleared my throat and pulled my hand back, ignoring the butterflies that had decided now was a good time to flit around my insides. In my hurry this morning, I’d forgotten that I’d emailed back a potential client over the weekend that he could meet me during my lunch break and we could discuss his project.

“Emmerleigh Slaywright.”

The smirk was back, and I wanted to smack it off his face. Or kiss it. It was a close call.

“Damn. Slaywright for a last name and a female general contractor,” Warrick said appreciatively. “You’re full of surprises.”

I tried to smile professionally. “I’d prefer less surprises if it meant no more spiders.”

Warrick dipped his head, then looked up at me, humor dancing in those eyes. “I, ah, actually did see a spider on your neck before you whacked it off with your shirt.”

My hand instantly went to my neck, wishing I could wipe away the creepy-crawly feeling. Warrick pointed in the direction of my head.

“Want me to see if there’s a bite?”

I felt around but didn’t feel a bump. “I think I’m okay.”

“I should look. Just to make sure. If you died of a spider bite tonight, I’d never live with the guilt.”

I shot him a look but he ignored me, stepping closer and twirling his finger in the air. “Turn around.”

Somehow I found myself obeying, which was a shock in and of itself. After Cayden, I had zero plans to listen to a man ever again. Warrick’s fingers brushed my neck as he pushed my hair aside. My entire body broke out in goose bumps. I squeezed my eyes shut, hoping he didn’t notice. A moment later, he stepped back.

“Nope. All good. You shall live to see another day, Slaywright.”

I spun back around, my hands on my hips. What the hell was I doing? This was a potential client. A rich one, if his real snakeskin boots were anything to go by. I needed to get things back on a purely professional track. Quick.

“Thank you. How about we discuss your project?”

Warrick scratched the side of his head, leaving the thick brunette hair a bit of a mess. Somehow it only made him more handsome. Same with the silver strands that were threaded through the brown at his temples.

“It’s a pretty big job. Complete interior renovation plus a bedroom addition and screened-in porch over at Timberwolfe Farms.”

I clenched my teeth together and prayed for patience. I knew what he meant even if he didn’t come right out and say it. It’s a pretty big job…for a woman.

Thankfully, that was exactly what I needed to hear to get my traitorous eyes to quit taking in the muscles, the outfit, the hair, the mesmerizing eyes. Now I was good and pissed and there was nothing that would stop that haze of red over my vision once it had gotten there.

“I assure you, Mr. Wolfe, that I can do anything a man can do. Usually better and almost always on time. I’ve built houses from nothing, so an interior renovation and a bedroom addition are child’s play. And lucky for you, I’m new in town, which means I don’t have a several-months wait time for new projects. I can swing by tomorrow and work up a detailed estimate.”

If I thought I’d put Warrick Wolfe in his place, I was dead wrong.

He reached up, and for a second, I had a vision of him pulling me into his broad chest and kissing me. But he only pulled something off my head and held it between us before flicking his wrist. A cobweb floated to the grass.

“Looking forward to it, Slaywright.” And with one last smirk of his lips, he turned on his expensive boots and swaggered back to his truck.

It was a testament to how freaked out I was by the spiders that I hadn’t heard his truck pull up next to mine earlier. The truck was huge, jacked up above too large tires and an exhaust system that made your ears cry uncle. It was easily the most expensive truck in the county. I shook my head and turned back to the job at hand. Staring at Warrick or his ridiculous compensating-for-something truck wasn’t going to help me get this skirting done today.

Unknown Number: You really think leaving town will protect you? That child is mine, you know.

The text came in after I’d put Georgia to bed. My hands trembled and I wasn’t sure my lungs remembered how to breathe. It had to be Cayden. Who else would threaten me about Georgia? But the big question was why? He’d had a chance to be part of our lives and he’d turned his back on both of us. He’d made it excruciatingly clear he wanted nothing to do with me or the child we’d made after being together for over a decade.

Leaving town and starting a new life in Blueball had been a dream come true for me, something I’d worked incredibly hard for. So why the hell was he threatening me now?

CHAPTER TWO

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