All About You (All Series Book 6) Read Free

bad boy all the women thought he was. And wasn’t as hard or as gruff as the men always said he was either. He just had a ton of responsibility on his shoulders. The men he captained at the fire department needed him to be strong and authoritative. Lives depended on it. The littlest mistake and people died.
    Outside of the fire department, an even greater responsibility was on his shoulders. The most important one was at home.
    Less than forty minutes later, Olivia returned carrying a pizza box with a bag on top. He hadn’t been watching or listening for her. Not much.
    She stopped and looked around the store, walls open, wiring sticking out everywhere, and no place to put the box down. He scooted down the ladder and walked over, lifting the box out of her hands, which quickly had her taking the bag off the top.
    “Here, I’ll put this on the saw table for you.”
    “I guess that’s better than the floor.”
    His lips twitched—he couldn’t help it, not with her looking so cheerful and almost…grateful. He wasn’t sure what that was about and thought maybe he was imagining it.
    He heard the click of her heels and knew she was following behind him. The moment he placed the pizza box down, she set some paper plates and napkins next to it.
    “I grabbed these too. I figured you didn’t have plates just sitting around.”
    “No. It’s not a mandatory item in our toolboxes.”
    “Do you have mandatory items that need to be in your toolboxes?”
    Finn heard one of the men snorting, then laughing behind her, and sent another scowl Bob’s way. The crew was too used to busting on each other over every little comment. They didn’t have any manners half the time in front of the clients.
    At least the crew he was with today didn’t. They were a good time out on a Friday night, but a bit too immature in his eyes. That was probably why he got saddled with them on this job.
    Thankfully, he wouldn’t be here every day, but maybe he’d let his bosses, Brynn and Alec, know they should have someone a little bit more professional on site at all times, too. Or at the very least give these boys a talking to. “We have what we need in there.”
    “Okay. Ah, I’ll just let you guys eat and get back to work.”
    She started to walk away with the bag in her hand. “Aren’t you going to eat?”
    “I’ve got a salad right here. Too much meat on that pizza for me.”
    He heard the scoffs and snorts behind him, turned his head again and glared, but when he turned back around she was in the back room with the door shut. He opened the top of the pizza and saw it was loaded with pepperoni, sausage, and meatballs. She wasn’t kidding.
    “You guys need to grow up.”
    “What, what did we do?” Mike asked, normally the quietest of the group, but still the most immature. He’d been the one making faces and snorting more than the other two. He didn’t even have the grace to look away when he did it.
    “She’s a client. A paying client. This isn’t high school and you know better.” He stopped and turned his head. “All of you do. Treat the client with respect.”
    He grabbed a slice of pizza and walked away, but not before he heard, “Why is he always such a grouch?”
    Just another description of him. He wasn’t being grouchy though; he was being respectful. The young ones had a lot to learn.
     
    ***
     
    Olivia hurried back to her office and shut the door with a click, mortified that her face was red. She hadn’t meant to come off sounding like a fool.
    Besides that, she wasn’t stupid; the crew had taken everything she said to another level or a different meaning, just reminding her of why she never dated younger men. Or if she did, it was short term and only for a good time.
    There was no need to focus on that, though. She was here to work. Here to build a new life and here to prove she could stand on her own.
    She didn’t need her mother, or her father—who was never around anyway—or her stepfather’s