Total pages in book: 146
Estimated words: 143842 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 719(@200wpm)___ 575(@250wpm)___ 479(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 143842 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 719(@200wpm)___ 575(@250wpm)___ 479(@300wpm)
We’d be collaborating with the construction company who’d be working on any actual building construction. Plans had already been drawn up and integrated on both sides so we’d be ready to break ground.
The owners wanted the project complete by the end of summer before the winter crowd flocked here to hit the ski slopes. It was bound to be grueling, hard work. Long fucking hours. The pressure set to high.
But I didn’t get here by taking the easy way out.
“Works for me,” I told him.
I resituated my cap on my head and followed Tyrek out. We treaded up a path toward a grouping of cabins where we were set to begin work first.
Each cabin was getting a new elevated porch with an outdoor fireplace, plus new sidewalks and lit paths that were going to be surrounded by abundant, extravagant flower beds.
Pride expanded my chest. This place might have already been a five-star resort, but my design was only going to elevate it.
“Like we discussed, no guests are booked in this area for the month of June…” Tyrek started to ramble over the details again, reiterating the plan.
I nodded along, following him up the path that weaved through the lush scenery, beneath the enormous trees that swelled above and provided the slightest reprieve from the intensity blazing from above.
We made a circle around the area we were set to begin work first, Tyrek pointing out anything of importance, before we headed back down the walkway toward the maintenance facility that wound around the stables.
My footsteps grew slower when my attention caught on a woman standing by a side door that opened to the rambling stalls.
Her back was to us, and a luxurious fall of blonde hair laced with streaks of maple and honey was twisted in a braid that rolled down her back, topped off with a cream-colored cowgirl hat.
Tight jeans clung to the ample shape of her hips and ass.
When she heard us coming, she shifted to look over her shoulder.
Piercing blue eyes stared back, crystalline, as clear as the river that rolled through the property. The striking contour of her face glinted beneath the rays of light that spiked through the leaves.
My chest tightened and the air suddenly seemed too heavy to draw into my lungs.
Fuck me.
It was Hailey Wagner.
FOUR
HAILEY
What the hell was he doing here?
I tried not to choke on my tongue as I stared at the man who’d stumbled to a stop ten feet away, standing there in all his muscled-up glory, though this time I thought he might be suffering the same kind of shock I’d felt when I’d first seen him last night.
He wore a trucker’s hat with brown curls peeking out at the bottom, a tight white tee, and jeans that hugged his massive thighs in the most indecent of ways.
Only this morning, there were no shadows on his face, and he was lit up like he was a magnet for the rays of sun.
Each accentuating the rugged angles of his face, his strong brow and severe cheekbones. A squared jaw that was covered in a short, trimmed beard.
I tried to tamp the reaction I had at seeing him, how my traitor stomach twisted, and I forced a smile when Tyrek kept ambling my direction. He gifted me with the same welcome in his demeanor as he’d had when I’d met him yesterday.
“Good morning, Hailey.”
I gulped around the skittering of emotion and turned the rest of the way around. “Good morning, Tyrek. How are you today?”
I tried not to let my gaze slant to Cody as they came closer.
“Great. The big exterior renovations begin today, so we were making another round of the grounds before the landscape team starts doing their thing.” He waved a hand at the man whose presence battered relentlessly. “This is Cody Cooper. He owns Cooper Landscaping, so you’ll be seeing a lot of him around. And this is his project manager, Matthew.”
I couldn’t even look at Matthew since I was gaping at the grin that spread across Cody’s face.
I bet that grin alone could make all kinds of horrible choices seem like the best ideas you’d ever had.
But it was those gold-colored eyes dabbled in flecks of rusts and earthy browns that took me in as if he were trying to peer into the deepest parts of me that made my pulse skitter and my knees wobble.
Lolly might have thought he looked like sex on a stick, but what he really looked like was a giant dose of heartache. I’d seen it in action myself.
He hadn’t even remembered me at first. Why that bothered me, I didn’t know. Or maybe what really bothered me was that he was still smiling after everything.
“This is Hailey Wagner,” Tyrek introduced.
Cody stepped forward, and the ground trembled beneath his massive frame.
Those lips quirked up farther on the left side as he stretched out a massive palm, acting like he’d never seen me before. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Hailey Wagner.”