Maddy's Oasis Read Free

said, and stood. Like
his uncle, he left without another word. She watched him, her gaze
falling to his perfectly shaped backside as he strode out of the
office.
    She started after him and tripped over the
concrete block used to prop open the door. She cursed and leaned
against the door. Jake was waving all the awaiting men toward the
building. She rubbed her stubbed toe, aware of the blisters already
forming from chasing down Javier. Convinced Javier and Sons would
be the death of her, she forced herself to focus on the office.
    It, too, was a complete disaster, and for the
second time in half an hour, she felt overwhelmed by her
circumstances. She forced her mind away from the contracting
situation. In truth, she needed to determine the status of the
finances before being confronted with the price tag attached to the
damage and changes to blueprints.
    She carefully laid her suit jacket on a couch
and set out to decode Alex’s chaotic filing system. As she
approached the desk, she clipped her Bluetooth earpiece in place
and dialed Mr. Howard’s financial department.
    * * *
    Jake spent the afternoon going over the
structure, his opinion of the idiots who built it growing worse.
When dark fell, he remained with a flashlight to go over the
outside of the building and jotted down notes. It was near midnight
when he decided he'd had enough of the blooming onion of a
building. He started toward his truck and saw the city-girl's car
still there. A weak light glowed from the trailer. He was annoyed
rather than surprised she was still there, recalling very well the
speed and urgency attached to everything back east. It was one of
two reasons he left New York City and returned home. The other
reason: his busted leg with its metal plates that ended his chances
of an NFL career.
    He didn't regret leaving. Life was not
enjoyed by those consumed in meeting after meeting, phone call
after phone call, and relentless overtime. He preferred to be his
own master in the wide open desert of west Texas, working with his
family.
    He gazed up at the structure once again,
taking in its dimensions and reviewing the angles, materials, and
time it would take to create the vision on the blueprints before
him, assuming things weren't as bad as he suspected.
    The response made him grunt. Too long. He
knew any amount of time would be viewed as too long by the
city-girl still holed up in the trailer despite the hour. Only half
of the floodlights were working due to three destroyed generators,
but his men remained, cleaning up the area and reporting back with
assessments of the building’s structure.
    Most of the assessments pointed to fast,
shoddy work. The foundation was already cracked in several places.
The dangerously ill-constructed workmanship in general made him
shake his head. He'd heard of Smithson’s work in the past; however,
he'd never witnessed the brazen shoddiness of the sleazy little
man.
    The entire building needed to come down and
be started over.
    “Jake? Oh, sorry, hold on.”
    He recognized the soft voice without turning
and rolled his eyes at Toni, his uncle and foreman, as the
city-girl took yet another phone call. Then he pivoted and took in
the young woman with the phone to her ear. With the expensive suit
and heels, her athletic frame was stylish and out of place in the
middle of the desert.
    “Bring in everyone but the Reyes crew," he
said to Toni. “We’re done for the night.”
    Toni pulled free the whistle he kept around
his neck and blew it twice. Jake rolled the blueprints once more
and turned, knocking the ill-balanced woman back a few steps as he
pushed them toward her and strode on.
    “Nigel, wait … no, I’ll call you back,” she
said hurriedly in irritation. She disconnected the call and trotted
after him. “Jake!”
    Her small hand rested on his bicep. He turned
and saw her glance down at the buzzing BlackBerry.
    “Do you have numbers for me?” she asked,
looking up at him.
    “Yeah,” he answered,