Page 49 of The Contractor & the Entrepreneur

“Why not? Sounds like the best use of time I’ve ever heard of.”

“Rhett …” Her dark eyes were cautious. “Are you only kissing me because it’s an enjoyable use of time?”

“Oh, Sloan …” He drew in a breath, hoping he could express his feelings accurately. “Kissing you is liking walking into heaven. The connection and joy I feel is unreal. I’ve never felt like that, and it is so much more than just enjoyment.”

She smiled tentatively. He thought she might come into his arms, but she said, “Pancakes.”

He chuckled and flipped them.

Her phone rang, and he froze. Had she set up a phone call with Kathy again?

She pulled her phone out, glowered at it, and then shoved it back in her pocket.

He turned off the sausage and grabbed milk and orange juice from the fridge. Facing her again, he said, “Everything okay?”

“My dad,” she admitted, her voice cold, picking at the button of her flannel.

Her phone started ringing again. She pushed the button to silence it.

“Does he call often?” Rhett asked.

“Not anymore. I rarely answer.” The phone started ringing again. “Oh my goodness!”

Rhett’s phone rang as well. He pulled it out. Andy? They weren’t supposed to meet at the site until eight.

“You can answer that while I tell my dad to leave me alone,” she said firmly.

“Okay.”

She turned her back and swiped her phone on.

He pushed the button to answer his. “Andy?”

“Rhett! There’s been … I don’t know. They’re saying it was a mudslide, but it’s … almost the entire bluff. One of Paul’s guys was there. You know Colt Sweeten? He’s okay, but the houses … they’re a mess. The entire property … it’s a mess.”

“I’m on my way,” he told his foreman. His stomach flipped over. The homes they’d worked so hard on. Sloan’s development. Could it all be gone?

“Okay. Not sure what any of us can do.”

There probably was nothing, but … a mudslide that took out the entire bluff? On the morning the rain finally stopped? He’d worried about that bluff above the river, but the testing had all come back good.

“No casualties?”

“No. Nobody but Colt was there that I’m aware of.”

Rhett unplugged the pancake skillet and turned to Sloan. She was arguing with her dad, her shoulders bunched, pacing and telling him it was none of his business where she was.

His spine tingled. He couldn’t imagine ever talking like that to his dad. How bad was their relationship? Her father didn’t even know where she was?

“Sloan.” He approached her and touched her elbow.

“What?”

“There’s been a mudslide at the site,” he told her.

Her mouth dropped and her eyes widened. She slid her phone off and dropped it in her pocket without saying goodbye. “How? That makes no sense. We tested … Are you sure?”

He shrugged. He felt as upset as she looked. “That was Andy. One of Paul’s guys was there.”

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