Page 31 of The Fixer

He was kinda cute when he was flustered—not that she was about to tell him. He was mad enough as it was.

To her surprise—and his, if his expression was anything to judge by—she caved. Somewhere inside her, her libido busted out a dance move, which was wholly inappropriate and wholly inconvenient. No one ever stood up to her as firmly as he just had, especially a man in a business setting, but wow, was it hot! Parts inside that had been dormant too long zinged to life at the way he ran roughshod over her. Not that that was the reason she was giving him a pass here. Nodding, her cheeks flaming from his tirade—or from that little jig her lady parts were currently executing—she nodded. “I understand. From now on, you are in charge of Bea and the entire building department.” Plus, her attempt had gotten her nowhere except labeled as persona non grata in Fall River’s town hall.

Confusion knitted his dark brows together. “And we’re not tearing down this building?”

“I don’t see how we can.”

He reached up and scratched his nape, and that big old bicep of his bulged. Visions of licking the smooth skin popped into her brain, and she shook her head to knock it out of there.

“No, wearetearing down the building?”

“Sorry, no. There was a fly, and I shook my head so it wouldn’t land … ah, on my face.”

“Good,” he grunted. “Glad we’re agreed, then. I’ll just …” He pointed at the door and quickly let himself out.

Too late, she realized she hadn’t told him about Carl Weatherly. She’d figure out a way to relay the information soon enough.

Chapter 9

Let the Good Times Roll

Charlie parked behind theMiners Tavern and stared out the windshield. Christ, after wrangling with Joy Holiday, smoothing Bea’s ruffled feathers while dodging her matchmaking attempts, and pouring over the Crystal Harmony Haven’s sketchy, haphazard files, he had been ready to call it a day. Finding out the train project idled was the final log on the fire, and his call to the guy heading it up had gone unanswered and unreturned. Great.

The two women had sucked his energy, including his reserves. Cully had ghosted him for no apparent reason, leaving Charlie to deal with customers and their loose ends. He hadn’t had time in his schedule to put out the extra fires, so he’d pushed off working up the estimates he owed Joy. He had yet to get started. With the train in endless limbo, he needed her project more than he cared to admit.

He exited his truck and strode for the back door. Normally, he would give a small wave to the security cameras he’d installed, but he didn’t have it in him. As he reached for the knob, Hailey stepped out, leash in hand. Itwas tethered to her and Noah’s dog, Chance, and the pup whined and wagged as soon as he laid eyes on Charlie.

Charlie immediately crouched down and let the Airedale mix lick his chin. “This is what the doctor ordered,” he laughed.

“I’m letting him out for one last potty break before taking him back upstairs to wait for Uncle Reece to spend the night.”

Noah and Hailey lived upstairs in a loft apartment Charlie had fixed up when he’d renovated the bar. The place had lots of character, but it was a little tight for two people. They needed someplace bigger, with a yard for Chance, but hadn’t found anything yet. Housing was hard to come by in Fall River.

A thought struck, but before he could let it unfurl, Hailey bumped his shoulder and giggled.

“I think you’re his favorite dog uncle. He’s going to lick that sexy stubble right off your jaw.”

“That’s ’cause we’re pals, huh, buddy? And it’s a good thing since I ran out of time to shave off this so-called sexy stubble today.” He ruffled the dog’s neck, his spirits lifting as he did so. Dogs were the very best medicine.

When he and Chance had had their fill, Charlie climbed to his feet. Hailey placed her hand on his arm, her light blue eyes soft and shiny. “I can’t tell you how much I appreciate you covering for us tonight. It’s … I’m not used to … Thank you.”

Shit, she wasn’t going to cry, was she? Hailey had grown up rough and didn’t have many relatives. She’d taken to their family as much as they’d taken to her, fitting in seamlessly; she was perfect for his surly-assed brother. Who’d have thought it possible?

Charlie wrapped an arm around her shoulders in an awkward bro hug. “No problem, sis. Where’s Noah taking you anyway? Someplace really special, I hope.”

Hailey’s cheeks pinkened. “He’s taking me to some fancy restaurant in Durango. Then he rented a romantic little cottage at the edge of town for the night.”

“About time he splurged.” Weeks ago, Charlie had agreed to play bartender so Noah could take Hailey out on a “real date.” They both worked such long hours they could never carve out time to get away, and he—along with their older brother, Reece—had offered to take their places tonight. That was before his crap day. Right now all Charlie wanted was togo home, wrestle on the floor with his own dogs, down a beer or three, and veg out in front of the TV. He didn’t want to serve people drinks, he didn’t want to smile and have two-way conversations with them, and he didn’t want to follow all that up with slogging through three bids.

But no way was he going to let Hailey know that, so he simply smiled down at her and patted her back.

Noah burst through the back door, overnight bags in one hand and a shit-eating grin on his face. He dropped a kiss on Hailey’s head and whacked Charlie in the chest. “Thanks, man. Reece is here, and he and Dixie are working the bar together, though the crowd’s pretty light right now.”

“Then I’m heading in. You two kids have fun, but stay out of trouble, ya hear?”

“Oh, we’ll have fun all right.” Noah eyeballed the bags. “In fact, I’m not sure we’ll need any of the clothes we packed.”

“TMI, bro,” Charlie huffed before he barreled through the back door. He swapped his T-shirt for a Miners Tavern one that sported the logo he’d designed and made a stop in the restroom to wash his hands and face before joining Reece behind the bar.

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