Erected (Erector Set, Book One) (3 page)

Chapter Two

Could this week possibly get any worse?

Ness skirted her way around her desk, determined not to bang her cast into it one more time, and dropped the stack of folders she was carrying onto a bare spot. Why in hell couldn’t everyone put everything on computer the way she did? It made life so much easier. She didn’t have to wade through people’s chicken scratches and paper-clipped notes. What was wrong with them, anyway? Didn’t they know this was the twenty-first century? She’d finally persuaded R.L. Prater, CEO of Prater Electronics, to outfit everyone with electronic tablets. Now she could get instant market feedback, monitor customer contacts and track sales without having to beg for messy slips of paper.

The tablets would make what she had to do a lot easier. This morning at the interminable staff meeting, R.L. had announced that he wanted everyone’s reports and projections on his desk a month early. For Ness that meant having the public relations and marketing plan for all products for the coming year finely tuned. So goodie for her. More late nights on her social calendar, only not with anything hot, dark and smoldering.

Then two thoughts struck her. One, she didn’t do the hot, dark and smoldering anymore. Not since the last misadventure with Rick Andersen, another episode that left her questioning her appeal to the opposite sex. That one had really hurt. He’d walked away from her at a party they’d attended together. Just strolled off with a redhead with expensive boobs and a dress that looked as if it was painted on. “You need to loosen up a little more,” he’d called over his shoulder, not shouting but loud enough for everyone around them to hear.

And two, she had committed herself to this stupid dinner.

Oh shit!
Her and her big mouth.

Yes, Vanessa. A simple thank you would have been sufficient.

No, not when he hauled my ass to Dumpy Town and then made sure I got home okay.

Sighing she dropped into her desk chair and raked her hair back from her face. Dinner. Like a business meeting, he’d said. She could do that. Someplace neutral where she had other business dinners. Picking up her iPhone she skimmed through her list of restaurants, settled on one and punched the number to make reservations. Then she dug into her purse for the business card and studied it.

McMann Brothers Development

A Full-Service Construction Company

Residential and Commercial

Below that was the usual information. She flipped it over and stared at what he’d written.

Email him? Then he’d have her email addy. Message him? He’d have her cell number.

Okay, the email was corporate, much more anonymous. She turned in her chair, once again mindful of her leg, pulled up her mail program on the computer and began typing.

“Our appointment for dinner is set for seven o’clock at Hannigans on the Riverwalk. The reservation is in my name. I’ll expect you then.”

V. Bowen”

She studied it for a moment, assured herself that she’d set the right tone and hit Send.

If she was lucky she could wrap it all up in less than two hours and be done with it. Out of curiosity she opened a browser window and did a search for McMann Brothers Development. What she discovered startled her. She’d had no idea her late night savior was part of the McMann Development Company. The geographic scope and quality of their work was astonishing. Major projects in large cities all over the country, including three locally that had taken some top honors.

The home page had photos of the three brothers, all of them illegally good-looking.

And probably useless womanizers just like other men I’ve dated. Of course, I’m not dating this one, so…

She clicked on Josh’s picture but all she got was the company bio and the only pertinent facts she learned were he had a master’s degree in business and was unmarried.

Of course. Why settle for the same main course every night.

When she typed his name in the Search box pages of articles came up, many of them from the local newspaper’s Lifestyle section. Josh McMann appeared to enjoy a wide variety of women, none of them for very long. Just as she figured. He was like all the other men she seemed to attract. A type. She’d never thought she had a type but apparently she did. Ambitious, driven, coating it all with a thick veneer of casual charm. Successful, sexy, overly confident, sinfully appealing men. She didn’t know if she somehow sought them out or she had a sign they could see saying, “Willing target. Fuck her and dump her. No sweat.”

What was wrong with her, anyway? She had a feeling with most men she came off as too self-confident, maybe because of her position with Prater. And of course, after all the hurt and pain, she’d developed an outer layer of armor she used as her shield against the world. Usually. With Josh McMann, however, she’d been a total ditz, so how to explain that?

If she could cancel dinner now she would, but she’d grit her teeth and get through it. That was all. She closed the search with a firm click of her mouse.

“Ness?” her secretary’s voice sounded on the intercom.

“Yes, Carolyn. What is it?”

“Mr. Prater buzzed and wants to know when he can expect the rough outline of the public relations plan.” Carolyn’s voice held a hint of amusement. “He’s probably in a hurry because it’s been twenty whole minutes since the meeting broke.”

“Ha ha. Tell him I’m working on it.”

“I did.” Carolyn laughed. “And you have a gentleman caller on hold.”

Ness’ eyebrows lifted. “A gentleman caller? I thought that title went out with
The Glass Menagerie
and Tennessee Williams.”

“Well, he doesn’t sound like it’s a business call and he sure is a gentleman. Drawl and all.”

Drawl? Oh shit.

She shoved her folders aside. “Take a message. No, wait. Did he give his name?”

“He said you’d know it. He’s the local taxi service, whatever that means.”

She deliberately hadn’t called in order to avoid just this. “Tell him our appointment is at seven and we’ll talk then. Do not put him through.”

“Uh huh. If you don’t want him can I have him?”

“Carolyn,” she warned.

“Okay, okay. Just kidding, but it never hurts to ask.”

Ness looked at her watch. “And order me a sandwich and soft drink from the cafeteria, will you? Prater will be all over my ass if I don’t give him something before the end of the week.”

Deliberately putting Josh McCann out of her mind she buried herself for the rest of the day reviewing last year’s plans and setting up outlines for the new ones. Then she surfed the internet to see what their competitors were doing and how she could plan to top them. She barely looked up from her work until she heard a knock on her door and saw Carolyn standing there.

“I’m leaving,” her secretary said, “and you should, too. It’s after six o’clock.”

“You’re kidding.” She checked the time. “What are you still doing here?”

“Clearing up our other projects so I can work on the budget with you. Don’t you have an
appointment?”
She stressed the last word deliberately.

“Damn. Yes, and I want to get it over with as fast as I can.”

She shut down her computer, grabbed her purse and levered herself out of the chair. She had just enough time to touch up her makeup—not too much, this wasn’t a date—and get to the restaurant downtown.

“Okay. See you tomorrow.”

Carolyn was gone by the time Ness headed out to the hallway and the elevator. Climbing into her car, hauling the leg with the cast in carefully, she wondered how the hell she’d talked herself into doing this.

Because my brain had taken a vacation but my mouth hadn’t.

She hoped she didn’t run into too much traffic on the way, then realized what a dumb thought that was. She was right in the middle of rush hour. It was probably the preoccupation with Josh McCann the made her concentration a little fuzzy. As the traffic light changed and she pulled into the intersection, she never saw the car coming that ran the red light—and barreled right into her on the passenger side.

Oh, shit!

She had time for two thoughts—
he killed my brand-new car
, and
I hope I didn’t break the other ankle.

* * * * *

Josh was unusually distracted throughout the day, a rare occurrence for him. Normally when he walked in the door in the morning whatever else was on his mind got shoved easily to the back burner so he cold focus on work. But today he frequently found himself staring into space, his vision filled with the image of a petite yet lusciously curved figure with masses of brown hair and snapping hazel eyes. His shit detector told him she was a hundred and some pounds of trouble and a distraction he didn’t need. Ever since the disaster with Jiliane five years ago women were nicely compartmentalized in his life. Nonintrusive. Here today and gone tomorrow. The future belonged to…the future.

Once he actually had real plans, looked for the right woman. Then McMann Brothers Development became successful beyond anything the three of them expected and suddenly his wallet became the main attraction for the women he met. Now he had a hard time trusting any female.

So why couldn’t he get this bumblebee out of his mind? Why did the image of her haunt him, disrupting his thought processes?

“I hope that preoccupied stare has something to do with the next contract you’re working on.”

Josh looked up to see his brother Tyler lounging in the doorway. He was dressed in faded jeans, t-shirt and work boots, a good indication he’d just come from one of their job sites.

“I brought in a fat contract this morning,” Josh defended himself. “And did a damn fine job, as a matter of fact. In fact, I texted you both about it as soon as Chuck Barnes signed on the dotted line.”

Tyler uncoiled his muscular body and dropped into the chair across from Josh. “Next you’ll be wanting to get paid double for doing two jobs.”

“Very funny.” Josh looked at the pad in front of him, filled with the scribbled notes from his meeting with Barnes. They formed the basis of the plans he would draw up, making Barnes’s ideas come to life.

“So what’s got that ‘shorts-in-a-bunch’ look on your face? Not another woman. Please.”

Josh grimaced. “You make me sound like some man-whore.”

Tyler held up his hands. “You’re the one with hot and cold running females. What’s your longest relationship these days? Three weeks?” He shook his head. “If Mom were still living here she’d have a fit.”

“Don’t you think I’m a little old to worry about how my mother sees my dates?” he asked through gritted teeth. His brother’s comment upset him more because he really wanted to find a woman he could settle down with, but one who didn’t see dollar signs every time she looked at him.

“So then what’s the deal?” Ty persisted.

Josh glared at him. “No deal. Now get out of here so I can get some work done. Don’t you have any crews to harass?”

“Actually had to pick up some paperwork here and wondered if you wanted to catch a bite later. Maybe around seven?”

“Sorry. I have an appointment for dinner.”

Josh looked down at the pad again, knowing he was being rude and at the moment not caring. The last thing he needed right this minute was for one of his brothers to dig information out of him about his late night rescue of Ness Bowen and their dinner date for tonight.

Oh, wait. It wasn’t a date. A
business
arrangement.

Her and her smart mouth.

At least a dozen times he opened his email program to send her a note he was canceling. But each time he clicked off without doing it. He didn’t remember the last time a woman had his mind twisted this way.