Page 49 of Captivated By Him

“Jakub.” Nora peeks her head in, sees Marcin then walks right in.

“How do you know I’m not in a private meeting?” I question her.

She gives me the same casual shrug as usual. “If it was private you would have locked the door.” She grins. “Bobby wants to talk with you about the build.”

My jaw tenses. “Don’t tell me he’s going to beg for more time.”

She shakes her head. “No. In fact I think he’s going to finish before the scheduled date and wants to talk about pay for the crew if they finish early.”

“They’ll just drag their feet if you don’t,” Marcin adds.

“Yeah, let him in. If they can get it done before schedule, I’ll give them a damn bonus. Anything to get the project rolling. The sooner the opening happens the sooner things will calm down around here.”

Nora’s lips spread into a knowing grin. “You mean, the sooner your wife won’t be tied down with so much work.”

“Don’t start.” I shoot her a chastising glare, which she just ignores.

“I’ll send him in.” She wiggles her fingers at me on her way out.

“Hey, Nora,” I call before she disappears. “Call over to Somsri’s and make a reservation for seven.”

She narrows her eyes. “You hate Thai.”

“Just make the reservations.” I wave her away. “And send Bobby in.”

“Will do,” she says.

“Thai?”

“Don’t touch it, Marcin.” I point to him and march to my desk.

“I can’t remember the last time you dared to eat somewhere that wasn’t your choice,” he continues, disregarding my directive.

“I can’t remember the last time I gave a shit about your opinion,” I throw back at him.

He laughs. “Okay, okay. I’ll leave. I’ll get eyes on Henry and report back to you anything I hear.”

“Oh, sorry. Nora said you guys were done.” Bobby, the foreman on the construction project, enters the office.

“Yeah, we are.” Marcin walks past him and closes the door on his way out.

“So. Nora says you’re ahead of schedule. That’s good.” I sink into my chair.

“Yeah. Instead of four weeks, we’ll be done in two,” he says, but there’s a hesitation.

“Our contract says you get paid for the whole thing even if you finish early,” I remind him. “So that’s not the issue, right?”

He steps closer to my desk, his hands flex at his sides. His hair is matted down from the combination of sweat and the hardhat he wears for his work. Dirt streaks his cheeks and his arms. His boots are discolored from paint, concrete, and whatever other mediums he uses on a daily basis.

“No, that’s not a problem.”

“Okay, then what is it?” I ask, giving him my full attention.

“Piotr Kaczmarek has offered a new contract.” He drops the information on me with the right amount of hesitation. The union Bobby works for belongs to us. We dictate what jobs they take and redirect them when projects become more profitable to employ other crews.

“Oh. And what did Piotr offer?” I force my tone to even out. My father doesn’t know anything about this, otherwise he’d be banging down my door to get ahead of it. For once, I have intel he and my brother don’t.

“One and half of yours.” He doesn’t sound like he’s happy with the offer though. “Look, Mr. Staszek. I couldn’t care less where I take my men to get work. If we work here or on the west side, it doesn’t mean anything to me, but I don’t want to put them in a middle of any bullshit that could get them hurt.”

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