Page 33 of Daddy, Sir

“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.”

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