The kid hesitated a second before he left with the rest of the crew, who apologized to Leo as they walked by. He meant what he said to Tucker. It wasn’t their fault.
It was his.
But it was time for solutions, not blame. Inhaling slowly, he glanced over the busted two-by-fours and Sheetrock in front of him and stared into the kitchen.
How could he fix this?
One of the requirements of being a Ranger was the ability to think on your feet. Something still ingrained in him. So within seconds, he formed an idea. With no time to waste, he pulled out the plans—the ones he should’ve shown his men before starting demolition—and sketched his idea, finishing just before the homeowners arrived.
After explaining the mix-up and shouldering the blame, Leo showed the clients his suggestion and quoted a new price. It was lower than it should be, but he’d cover the difference. He also gave the homeowners the option to stick with the original plan. He’d make sure their wall returned at no cost to them.
But in the end, the Burmans decided to go with the new plan. They even thanked him and shook his hand. Leo knew he was a lucky son of a bitch. It could’ve gone so much worse and tarnished Foxtrot’s name.
He hated that he’d put the company’s reputation at risk. But what bothered him even more was almost letting Stone down.
The guy always had Leo’s back, even when he didn’t deserve it. And how did he repay him? By nearly blemishing what Stone and his buddies busted their asses to create for almost the past two years…on his first day as supervisor.
His first fucking day.
All because he’d let himself get distracted.
Stupid.
He never should’ve left the job site. Maybe he wasn’t cut out to be a supervisor.
His chest tightened as his old friends—remorse and self-disgust—returned full force. He walked out to his truck, pulled the phone from his pocket, and stared at the screen.
It was time to do something even harder than facing the clients. It was time to tell Stone—a guy who believed in him, trusted him, always gave him the benefit of the doubt—that he’d screwed up. Again.
…
Wednesday afternoon couldn’t come fast enough for Kaydee. Ever since her lunch with Leo on Monday, and those delicious kisses they’d shared in the parking lot, she’d thought of little else. Which was foolish. They weren’t an item. Or even dating. So it was dumb to keep replaying the memories of them kissing through her mind.
And yet here she was, two days later, still thinking about them. She couldn’t help herself. No one ever made her feel the way Leo did. With luck, maybe she had the same effect on him.
But when evening rolled around and there was still no sign of the guy, she decided to pull her hair back in a ponytail and start working on her upstairs bathroom.
Maybe he was stuck in traffic.
With her safety glasses in place, she stood in the middle of the tub and swung her hammer. Pieces of the hideous pink tile fell with aclunkinto the tub, while a few smaller ones flew past her face. Good call not changing into shorts, but the tank top probably wasn’t wise.
Maybe Leo got hung up at work.
She slammed the wall with her hammer again, and more tile fell into the tub. By the fourth swing, she realized the pieces didn’t scatter if she held the neck of the hammer and didn’t swing back as far.
Maybe she scared Leo off.
Her heart flopped in her chest, and she stilled the hammer in midair. What if he changed his mind? Decided they were better off keeping their friendship platonic?
Shoot. She exhaled and stared at the chipped wall in front of her. Kind of how she felt. Exposed. Layers removed. For the first time since her early childhood, she decided to take a chance, let her guard down…allow someone in. She was giving Leo the opportunity to get close and see the real her.
And he probably didn’t want to.
It was silly the way her eyes stung with unshed tears. She had no right to feel hurt. It wasn’t like she and Leo were even a thing.
But she wanted to be.
There. She admitted it. Dammit.
