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“I wasn’t engaged then,” Cassidy said.
“Yeah, well you shouldn’t be engaged now, either.”
“Sara!” Cassidy realized she’d shouted that last one at her former roommate.
“Sorry, Cass. You know me. I call them the way I see them. All your friends are married, and now you’re settling down just because it’s the right thing to do. Believe me, I settled, and look what happened. He cheated on me right from the start.”
“I am not settling,” Cassidy protested. “I love Dan.”
“Dan is dull,” Sara said. “He’s like dishwater. You need it, but you don’t want to keep it.”
“I love Dan.”
“Yeah, as a brother,” Sara said. “I think that you’ve waited so long for Mr. Right you’re settling for Mr. Wrong. Come on, you can’t tell me that you don’t think that guy over there is to die for.”
Cassidy couldn’t get her lips to voice the lie. Instead she found another argument tack. “Yeah, but look where passion got me last time. Jeff the jerk.”
Sara nodded, but didn’t concede. “I’d forgotten about good old J.J. No offense but he was a loser.”
“Yeah, but passionate. He swept me off my feet and burned me bad.”
“True.” Sara thought for a second. “But we all go through the bad ones to find the good ones. Consider J.J. a learning experience.”
Cassidy shook her head. “I don’t have time for more learning experiences. I want children and a family. I’m twenty-eight. Dan is perfect.”
He was. She jutted her chin forward stubbornly.
Sara simply shook her head. “I hope for your sake you’re right.”
“I am,” Cassidy said. As long as I don’t run into that guy again.
She’d throw his business card away as soon as she got home.
IMAGE CONSULTANTS were not supposed to have hangovers. In fact, no one was supposed to have a hangover after only three longneck bottles of beer, then dinner and then another two hours of conversation with only water to drink before either she or Sara had done any driving home. Even that guy had left long before she had.
Cassidy rolled over and shielded her eyes from the bright sunlight pouring in her bedroom windows. Lillian’s mantra suddenly filled her mind. “Today is the first day of the rest of your life. Make the best of it.”
With that annoying thought, Cassidy sat up straight in bed. Today already sucked, and if today was a crystal ball of the future then she wanted no part of it. She blinked and glanced at the alarm clock—7:00 a.m. Great. Her alarm wasn’t scheduled to go off for at least another fifteen minutes.
Figured. She hadn’t even slept in.
Cassidy flopped back on the pillows and covered her eyes with her arm. Not that she could go back to sleep, anyway. The only concession was that she’d slept soundly, with no dreams of said men to haunt her.
Begrudgingly she rolled out of bed, hit the shower and within forty minutes had seated herself at the breakfast table with the yellow pages.
As she munched a grape-jelly-covered bagel, she frowned. By the time she’d finished the last of the bagel, she was sure lines ridged her brow, as well, creating a look her mother had always chided would give her premature wrinkles.
The yellow pages listed hundreds of contractors, and Cassidy had no clue whatsoever who to call.
Three hours later, after dialing for over an hour, she faced failure.
“Your problems are too small,” one contractor had said. “We don’t handle residential,” another’s haughty secretary had replied. “We can’t put you on the schedule for at least three weeks,” most had told her.
She was already at the Hs. She rose and faced her nightmare. Two steps took her to the stainless steel trash compactor. She’d run it last night when she’d gotten home.
Grimacing, she opened it up. Gingerly she picked through the remnants, finally finding the tiny cardstock paper she was looking for.
Glad the sauce had been white not red, she brushed off a leftover fettuccini noodle and read the words embossed.
J & B Construction. Blade Frederick, President.
Rather a fancy title to disguise what was probably a sole-proprietorship. She shivered as her gaze swept over the card again. His name was Blade.
She’d briefly heard it once or twice at the bar, but it hadn’t really registered. It did now, and his name fit. Sara’s prophetic words came rushing back, and Cassidy dropped the card back into the trash compactor.
She couldn’t call him.
She stared at the card, lying faceup on the congealing fettuccine Alfredo. She had to call him. She had no choice. Besides, he said he would recommend a handyman, not do the work himself.
Inaction paralyzed her, and finally anger overtook her. She was being silly. Last night had just been too much beer and too much of feeling sorry for herself because of her home situation.
She grabbed the card back out of the compactor and kicked the stainless steel door closed.
She’d simply make it clear to…Blade that she needed his help and that she wasn’t interested in any of his other services.
Besides, over the phone she wouldn’t be tempted to look at his hands and wonder if…
She brushed that distracting thought aside as she swore never to drink beer again. I can do this, Cassidy whispered the pep talk to herself as she reached for the phone. She dialed the number for J & B Construction. Besides, it’ll be fine, she told herself. After yesterday I deserve a break.
Chapter Two
Blade needed a break, and not an endless coffee break like his secretary still seemed to be on. Bidding on—and winning—the job to build the state’s newest revenue office should have been a piece of cake. But it wasn’t turning out that way, and Jake was annoyed.
Blade hated it when Jake, his best friend and business partner, was annoyed. It always spelled trouble.
“We’re up against D. W. Braun, and it’s down to just us two,” Jake said.
Blade sat forward, letting the back of his leather chair thump him gently in the back. He knew there was more. “What do they have on our bid?”
“I’m not sure.” His partner, and technically the company co-president, paced the room anxiously. “I’ve heard on the street that D.W.’s put money into some political campaigns.”
“Figures.” Blade gritted his teeth. “So much for the lowest bidder.”
“Come on, Blade, we know it’s rarely the lowest bidder. It’s the bidder with the longest tentacles who can justify all the expenses and pad the congressmen’s pockets. That’s why public projects always run over budget.”
“Not with our company.”
“Of course not.” Jake knew Blade was as honest and ethical as they came, and their company had a reputation for the same. “But we’ve only been bidding on public projects for the past two years. We’re new in this arena. We usually do private, like the renovation of the old Caferelli warehouse into an upscale hotel and lofts.”
“I want this project,” Blade said. “We have the best design and the best company for the job. I want to see us diversify from just office buildings and 200,000-square-foot retail developments.”
“Exactly,” Jake agreed with a short nod. “We want to diversify. To do that we’ve got to get out there on the social scene. Make some political contacts. Show them we’re serious about running with the big boys.”
“That’s your job.” Blade took a mechanical pencil and tapped it, top down, on the mahogany desk. “I may own a half dozen custom suits, but I don’t wear them unless I have to. You win jobs—I work the field and make sure we come in under budget and on time.”
“Yeah, but we want to continue to grow, don’t we?”
“Grow?” Blade snorted his disbelief. “We’re the fastest growing commercial contractor in the nation. We did two billion in revenue last year.”
“Exactly. Two million less than the year before.” Jake sounded as if two million was the end of the world. “Come on, Blade. I want this company to be one of the top in the country, and so do you. Right now we’re number ten in Houston and thirty-third in the nation.”
“And we’re not satisfied with that?” Blade asked. Their growth had been so phenomenal they’d passed companies in business for generations, not a mere eighteen years.
“Of course we’re not satisfied,” Jake replied. “We made a goal when we graduated high school that we’d never settle. Remember?”
The ringing of Blade’s desk phone interrupted the conversation. He frowned. He’d left orders not to be disturbed. Obviously the temp at the front reception desk had screwed up again. Already this morning she’d disconnected three important calls.
Blade checked his tone. No use scaring the temp. He could replace her tomorrow. Better yet, he’d have his secretary do it. “Hello?”
“Hello,” the female voice on the phone said slowly. Blade stopped tapping the pencil. Not the temp, and not one of his former girlfriends. He would have recognized one of their voices. Still, the voice sounded oddly familiar.
“I’ve gotten lost in the phone system twice now. I want to speak with Blade Frederick about fixing some code violations.”
Great. The temp had screwed up. J & B did not do code violation repairs.
“Lady, we’re—” Blade began, but she cut him off before he could finish.
“Please,” she said, her voice a breathy rush. “I need Blade Frederick. He said he could help me and I’ve tried everyone else. I have four pages of predications. You should have seen the guy. He just kept writing. If it weren’t for Lillian I never would have been in this fix.”
On the other end of the phone Cassidy bit her tongue. Had she just said that, again?
In his office Blade waved off Jake’s curious look and silent whisper of “Who is it?”
It was the girl from last night, and no, Blade himself couldn’t believe it. She’d called. Last night he’d left the bar long before she had, and he’d spent a sleepless night dreaming of her. He hadn’t woken up in a hot sweat like that since he’d been a randy teenager.
And she’d called. Unbelievable. He’d certainly lost that bet with himself.
He steadied his tone before speaking. No use giving away too much yet. “You do know we’re a commercial contractor.”
Sitting in her home office, Cassidy had no idea what that meant. “No,” she said. “Look, I need to talk to Blade. I need him.”
Blade shifted. That was not an image he needed at 11:00 a.m. Didn’t she know what a seductive voice she had? He should tell her she had him. “You’ve got him.”
“Oh.” Cassidy never felt so out of her element.
“Look, I’m a little busy right now, but how about you fax the list to me and I’ll take a look at them?”
Cassidy shifted the cordless phone to her other ear. So much for worrying about him hitting on her. Far from it.
“All right,” she replied, her ego just a bit dented that she’d worried for nothing. She fingered the list that sat on her desk. “What’s your fax number?”
Blade gave it to her. “I’ll send it right over,” Cassidy said. “I can’t thank you enough. My neighbor Lillian, I told you about her, she kept telling the inspector she was a senator’s wife. The more she talked, the more he wrote.”
He’d heard all that before. “Fax it over and give me a number where I can reach you.”
“Okay,” Cassidy replied. “Oh. By the way, I’m Cassidy.”
“Great, Cassidy,” Blade said, deliberately keeping his tone professional. “Send it over and I’ll get back to you.”
“Uh, thanks.”
“No problem.” Blade set down the phone before she had a chance to say anything else. He chuckled.
“What is it?” Jake asked.
Blade leaned back in his swivel chair and linked his hands behind his head. “I met this woman in the bar last night. Pretty thing, one of those rich women who live around the medical center and Rice University. The building inspector hit her up for four pages of violations.”
Jake gave a low whistle. “And she called you?”
Blade stretched and shook his head before he sat forward. “Well, I gave her my card.”
Jake looked impressed. “You dog. I didn’t think you still had it in you. You’ve been out of the scene awhile.”
“Yeah, well, I told her I’d find her a handyman. I really didn’t think she’d call.”
“She probably figured out how much you’re worth.”
“That’s the funny part. She has no clue. She wants me to find someone to fix her home predications. She thinks I’m some redneck, not a CEO.”
“But you didn’t correct her. You told her to fax you.” Suddenly Jake laughed as Blade grinned. “You’re a devil, Blade. Just wanted to know if you still had it, huh?”
“Yeah, well,” Blade changed that subject, “besides it really isn’t her fault. I kind of feel sorry for her. Her fiancе’s mother kept telling the city inspector she was married to a senator or something. So don’t get your hopes up. I’ll help her find a contractor, but that’s all.”
Jake’s ears perked up, and he ignored the last part of Blade’s explanation. “Senator? Did you say senator?”
Fire alarms pealed in Blade’s head. “Don’t look at me like that. We’ve been friends for too long. You should be warning me off. She’s set to be married.”
“That’s irrelevant. I like married women. They don’t want to settle down, just play. Which senator?”
Blade had long ago given up on Jake and his morals of an alley cat. “I don’t know. All I remember is that his wife’s name is Lillian.”
Jake’s jaw dropped and he stared at Blade. “Lillian Morris?”
Blade arched an eyebrow. “You know her?”
“Everyone knows Lillian whether they want to or not. She’s a firebrand who gets her way because she’ll just run you over if you don’t move.”
Blade shrugged. “Whatever. She didn’t make much of an impression on the building inspector.”
