Trevor (A MacLaughlin Family Novella) (2 page)

“It’s not that. I told Lizzy I could handle the office. But she never listens. She’ll be here in a few hours, so until then please make yourself at home at Karen’s desk.” He gestured toward the desk in the lobby. “There’s just not much for you to do right now. Karen was filing contracts for me as I closed them out for the year. She handles field calls too, but you won’t really be able to do that…”

“I can figure it out. I’m a quick learner.” She pulled her hand from his, regretting the loss of his touch. For a moment she thought she saw hint of disappointment in his, but it was probably just her unconscious mind trying to make her feel better.

Fate hadn’t changed its mind. Trevor MacLaughlin still had no interest in her at all.

Well fine.

She walked past him and set her purse on the desk. The phone rang and she reached for it, answering before he could take it from her.

“MacLaughlin Corp., Lorelei speaking. How can I help you?”

“Lorelei Ward! Is that you?” The deep male voice on the other end of the line sounded familiar, but she couldn’t put her finger on it.

“Yes, that’s me,” she answered slowly.

“It’s Caiden. You remember me, right? Lizzy’s oldest brother.”

She smiled. “Yes, of course. How are you?”

“Jealous that my brother has you in the office all to himself.”

Her cheeks warmed again. Why on earth would Caiden be jealous?
Did he…Was he? No. That was ridiculous.
“No reason to be jealous. He pretty much said he didn’t need me here.” She flashed a glance at Trevor. His eyebrows shot up and he frowned, but he said nothing.

“Really.” Caiden’s voice held an air of disbelief. “Well, sweet Lorelei, it’s his loss. Would you put my dunce of a brother on the phone, please?”

“Of course,” she answered, and then held out the portable handset to the silent MacLaughlin.

Trevor took the phone and disappeared back into his office, shutting the door softly behind him.

<><><>

“Jackass. What are you trying to do?” Trevor growled through the phone to his brother.

“Me?” his brother exclaimed. “You have the girl you’ve been in love with since high school in the office right now and you tell her you don’t want her there!”

“I can’t. What if it didn’t work out? I can’t do that to Lizzy.”

“We aren’t kids anymore, Trevor. You’ll regret never taking a chance with her. Fate is giving you another shot and you are trampling it like an angry steer in a flower garden.”

“What do you want, Caiden?” Trevor sighed and sank into his comfortable desk chair. His brother was right.
What the hell was he doing?

“I called to tell you, the Colorado Springs contract is finished. I’ll be hopping a flight back to town this afternoon. If you don’t ask her out before I get back, I will.”

“The hell you will!” he snarled.

“Just giving you a heads up, brother. That charming little woman belongs in the MacLaughlin family one way or another. If she’s back in town and you don’t want her, she’s fair game.”

Trevor clicked the END CALL button and set the handset on his desk.

Damn it to hell.
He wanted her.

When she’d walked in all curls and curves, he’d wanted to bend her back and kiss her hard. He’d wanted to run his hands through her beautiful hair and tell her how he’d been waiting for her to come back to Fort Worth. How she belonged at his side. That he'd missed her smile and laugh in the family house when she and Lizzy both left for college the same year.

But all of those feelings meant nothing if she didn’t return them. And after the performance in the lobby moments ago, her feelings toward him were probably bordering close to arctic levels.

The phone rang again and he answered it before she could. A half hour later he set the handset back on the desk and cursed his luck.
So much for the holidays.
A mudslide in California devastated a community and several large commercial buildings. He'd be lucky to get back before New Years, much less Christmas.

Caiden and Harvey have both been in the field for over a month.
It's my turn to take the next project. But, I'll be damned if I let either of them walk in and steal Lorelei from me.

They usually sent one of their admins to take care of paperwork on site and organization, but maybe... He opened his office door and peered out. Lorelei was sitting at the desk scribbling on a pad of paper, completely in her zone.

She didn't even look up when he walked up behind her and looked down over her shoulder to read what she was writing.
Vampires take the princess to the dark castle... What the hell?
He frowned. What was she doing?

"Vampires and a princess?"

"Popcorn balls!" She squealed and jumped up from her chair, sending a canister of pens and pencils flying along with her pad of paper. He sidestepped, narrowly missing being railed by the back of her chair.

A roll of laughter escaped his chest. "It's been so long since I've heard you say that." His mind flew back to happy memories of her at his parent’s house for holidays, birthdays, and summer picnics. She’d always been there. Then she’d left for college and he realized how much he regretted never asking her to be a bigger part of his life.

"Why the hell are you sneaking up on me, Trevor MacLaughlin? You will pay for that!"

"You still haven't answered my question. What about the vampires and the princess?" He crossed the space between them quickly and knelt to help her pick up the pens. Her cheeks blushed a beautiful deep scarlet. He loved how easily she blushed. He wondered if she blushed that pretty red all over her body.

"I write paranormal romance."

He cocked his head and handed her the pens he'd retrieved from the floor. "Like books?"

"Yes, like books," she shot back. "They help keep me afloat while I look for a permanent teaching position."

Her breathing was shallow and unsteady. This was his chance to make up for being a jerk earlier, but he didn't know anything about romance novels except that his sister liked them.

"
I think that's great. Takes a lot of courage to put something out there for people to see. I know Lizzy likes to read this one author, May Ward. But I'm afraid I don't know anything else on the topic."

She burst into laughter and they both stood.
What was so funny?
She put the pencil canister on the desk, but the pens and pencils were all mixed together and some were upside down.

Unable to stop himself, he stepped closer and began separating the pens from the pencils and turned them all points down.

He looked over and met her gaze. Her warm honey colored eyes sparkled with mischief. She held up another pencil and stuffed it into the jar upside down. Then turned and waited for him to fix it.

Damn it!
He fixed it anyway. She could be amused or not. It didn't matter.

Then she held up another pencil.

"What the hell!" He snatched it from her hand. She chuckled again. He tucked it safely, right side up in the jar. “How many more of those do you have behind your back?”

“Five,” she answered, choking back a giggle.

He held out his hand and she put them gently in his outstretched palm. “You’re funny.”

She snorted and covered her mouth. “I have to amuse myself somehow, since you apparently don’t need any actual help.”

“We just got a contract in northern California. Mudslide. We leave this afternoon.”

Her eyebrows shot up. “We?”

“I can’t leave you here by yourself. I’ll have the office calls forwarded to my cell until my brothers get home and you can help me field them while I work on getting the new contract set up.” He paused, observing her body language. She wasn’t shrinking away, but she wasn’t smiling either. “Unless, you need to stay here. I can try and find an admin when I arrive.”

The wheels were turning in that pretty little head of hers. She rolled the silver thumb ring on her right hand and bit her bottom lip a few times.
Mercy!
All he could think is how much he wanted to bite that lip for her.

“Alright. Sure. My parents scheduled a Christmas cruise before they knew I was moving back. They are leaving in two days, and I’d rather be doing something other than sitting around the house, alone.”

“Great.” That she agreed to go shocked him. If he was ever going to have a chance to get to know her better, this was the perfect opportunity. Traveling for a minimum of three or four days, sharing three meals a day and working side by side. Perhaps he could redeem himself and show her he wasn’t a complete bumbling idiot.

3

“Honey, take the yellow sweater. It goes so nicely with your eyes,” Katie Ward said, sipping on a mug of coffee and rocking in a little glider in the corner. Lorelei nodded and pulled it down from the shelf before emerging from her walk in closet.

“He said to pack for a week.” She stared down at the huge suitcase filled to the brim with the necessities. “Do you think this is enough?” The bag was overflowing with jeans, slacks, a couple of dresses, shoes for every possible occasion, t-shirts, blouses, bras and underwear. She’d even managed to sneak a few lacy pairs in before her mother had parked herself in the room.

“It’s probably not enough, but if you run out have the hotel clean it for you.”

“It seems like a lot. I’m not sure I really need to pack a cocktail dress and fancy shoes. This is supposed to be work. He said I’d mostly just be in the hotel room making phone calls and filling out paperwork on the computer.”

“It’s better to be over-prepared than under.”

Lorelei chewed on her bottom lip a moment and then pulled the suitcase lid over and zipped it up. “It’s packed now. So hopefully it will be fine.”

“Are you sure you are going to be okay going away with him like this? I know you were sweet on him for a long time and he never returned your feelings.”

“I’m fine, mom. You and dad enjoy your cruise and I’m going to go chill in the redwood forest and make a little spending money. Lizzy thought Trevor and I might hit it off, but after seeing him this morning, I don’t think that’s going to happen.” She laughed a little and heaved the heavy suitcase from the bed to the floor. “You know his brother Caiden flirted with me on the phone, though. Maybe I was paying attention to the wrong brother.”

Her mother made an indecipherable groan about boys never growing up and took another sip of her coffee.

The doorbell rang. Her father’s welcome to Trevor echoed from the front of the house. Her mother hopped up and hurried past her out to the living room.

“Tell him I’ll be there in minute,” she hollered a minute later, grabbing her reading tablet from her recently cleaned desk.

A cough caught her attention and she turned to see Trevor staring at her from the bedroom doorway. His blue eyes were laser focused, driving a beam of heat straight to her core.

How was she ever going to last a week with those eyes? She already wanted to throw herself into his arms, but that wasn’t in the cards for her. He’d made himself quite clear with his handshake earlier this morning that he wasn’t into her.

“Do you need any help with that suitcase? It looks a tad on the heavy side.”

She stepped aside and nodded. “Yes, please. Thanks.”

He grabbed the handle and pulled it through the doorway. She followed him down the hall to the front living area where her parents were still standing, apparently waiting for them to reappear.

“Sweetie, be careful.” Her mom gave her a quick hug.

“I will,” Lorelei answered. “I’ll see you guys in a week. Enjoy your cruise.”

“We will, sweetheart. Love you,” her Dad whispered and hugged her too. She was so happy they were taking some time off work and going on vacation alone. They needed a recharge. Her mom worked a lot of hours at the hospital and her father was an attorney. They never seemed to slow down.

“Take care of my girl, Trevor MacLaughlin. We just got her back from the east coast.”

“I promise, she will be well looked after, Mr. Ward,” he answered, giving her father a friendly handshake.

Damn handshakes.

<><><>

The drive to the airport was quiet. She didn’t know what to say to him, so she just decided to start asking questions. If it annoyed him, oh well. She wasn’t going to handle this awkward silence much longer.

“So I guess you travel a lot with this job?”

“Some. My brothers and I take turns. Usually we aren’t all gone at once, but sometimes the jobs pile on.” He paused for a moment, passing a slow car in the right lane. “But yes, there is regular travel with this job.”

“Do you like traveling?”

“I like visiting other places, but it’s just work. I don’t normally have time for much sightseeing.”

“Well, that’s a shame.” She watched the prairie grass fly by through the window of his truck. They were almost to the DFW airport. She could hear the roar of planes crossing overhead and see several arriving low on the horizon. “Though, I guess you are usually visiting right after a disaster, so it’s probably not the best time to traipse around the cities you are visiting.”

“Yeah, not so much.” He chuckled.

She relaxed at the sound. Maybe, they could figure out how to be friends on this trip. Her heart sunk at the thought. She didn’t want to be
friends
with Trevor MacLaughlin. And, she didn’t want to flirt with his brother Caiden. She wanted Trevor to flirt with her.

Damn it.
What was so wrong with her that he wouldn’t? He’d looked at her twice now, like he was contemplating what she looked like underneath her clothes. His gaze both times had soaked her panties. Something no other boyfriend had ever been able to do with just a glance. But then, he quickly backed off both times too. Physically and emotionally. It was enough to drive even a fly-by-the-seat-of-her-pants fine arts major insane.

They chatted a little more about the different places he’d traveled to and not seen, laughing about all the missed opportunities. He even asked her about college and what she’d enjoyed. By the time they reached the express parking lot, she realized he’d asked her question after question and she’d rambled on about school and professors for the rest of the drive. He couldn’t have possibly wanted to listen to her prattle on about school.