Snowbound With The Boss

“My crew. My work,” she countered.

“And here we go again,” Sean said, shaking his head. “Yeah, you’ll be doing the work, but you’re going to do it the way I want it done.”

“Even if you’re wrong.”

His mouth tightened. “If I want it, I’m not wrong.”

“You don’t know anything about construction,” she argued, even knowing it was fruitless. Her hands fisted on the coffeepot and the bag of coffee. The man had a head of solid rock. Hadn’t she been hammering at it for the last week?

He pulled his hands from his pockets, crossed his arms over his chest and stood, hipshot, giving her a look of resigned patience. “And how much do you know about video games? Specifically ‘Forest Run’?”

“Okay. Not much.” This argument was circular. They’d had it several times already, so Kate knew nothing would be settled and still, she had to admit again that he was right.

“Or nothing.”

“Fine. Nothing.” Her voice sounded defensive even to her, but she couldn’t seem to help it. “I’m a little too busy to be wasting my time playing video games.”

Briefly, insult flashed across his features. “Thankfully, there are a few hundred million people worldwide who don’t feel the same way.”

In a heartbeat, he’d reminded her of the difference between them. He was the billionaire. She was the hired help. “You’re right,” she said, though the words burned her tongue and nearly choked her. “I don’t know what gamers would want in a hotel designed especially for them.”

He gave her a short, nearly regal nod.

“But,” she added, “you don’t know about construction. What can and can’t be done and more importantly, what should and shouldn’t be done. You hired me because I’m a professional. When I tell you a wall is load-bearing, it’s not because I want to deny you the ‘open space to reproduce the sorcerer’s meeting rooms.’ It’s because if I take down that wall it destabilizes the entire building.”

His mouth worked as if he wanted to argue, but all he said was, “You have a point.”

“Thanks, I thought so.”

A brief twist of a smile curved his lips and was gone again in a flash. “You’re the most opinionated woman I’ve ever met.”

Kate took a breath. Strange but it was only Sean Ryan who brought out the argumentative side of her. Normally, she found a way to deal with clients with patience and reason. But he pushed every button she had and a few she hadn’t even been aware of. She found herself digging in, defending her position and never giving ground, which was no way to complete a job. Especially this job. She was going to have to learn how to deal with Sean Ryan in a calm, rational way, and she might as well start now. “Okay, I guess you have a point, too.”

His eyebrows lifted and amusement shone in his eyes. “Are we having a moment, here?”

Why did he have to be amiable along with irritating? Something inside her flipped over, and Kate took a long, hopefully calming breath. She’d been so solitary, so insulated, since Sam died, being this attracted to a man was staggering. And a little nerve-racking. But all she had to do was get through this storm. Survive being stranded with Sean Ryan long enough to see him get on his private jet and head back to where he belonged. Then everything would get back to normal and she could forget about how he made her feel.

“Why don’t you bring more wood and I’ll make that coffee.”

“And the moment’s over,” he muttered, shaking his head. “I’ll let it go for now, though, since I really want some caffeine.”

Kate held her coffeepot and the bag of grounds up like trophies. “The gas is connected. All I have to do is light a pilot light and we can use the stove.”

“You’re a goddess,” he said with a dramatic flair.

Amused, she shook her head. “You’re easily impressed.”

“Really not,” he told her and winked.

He winked, she thought as she walked to the kitchen and got things started. Why did he have to be gorgeous? she wondered. Was it some sort of trick by Fate, to send a man like him to her when she least wanted him?

Mumbling under her breath, she filled a pan with water and used a kitchen match to light one of the gas burners. While she waited for the pot to boil, she headed for the kitchen pantry to look through the food supplies she and her men had left here over the last week.

On normal jobs, they kept a cooler on the job site, stuffed with food, snacks and the guys’ lunches. But the hotel job was different. They would be working here for a long time and no doubt with lots of strange hours, so they’d more or less taken over the kitchen to store extra supplies—including paper plates, cups, towels and even, she saw, a plastic bag of disposable silverware.

Smiling to herself, she looked through the snacks and realized she could identify who on her crew had brought them in. Andy had a thing for Cheetos and Paco always had nacho-flavored corn chips with him. Then there were Jack’s Oreos and Dave’s peanut butter crackers. Kate herself had brought in chocolate, tea bags and those always-had-to-have Pop-Tarts. Brown sugar and cinnamon, of course.

“Not exactly a five-star restaurant,” she murmured a few minutes later, “but we won’t starve.”

“Yeah?” Sean’s voice came from directly behind her, and Kate jumped in response. He ignored her reaction. “What’ve we got?”

Kate moved away, forcing him to back up, too. “Cheese and crackers. Chips, pretzels and cookies. Everything you probably shouldn’t be eating.” She glanced at him. “My crew likes their junk food.”

“And who can blame them?”

A small smile tugged briefly at her lips. Kate closed the pantry door and opened the refrigerator. “There’s more in here, too. The storm hasn’t taken out the power yet. That’s good. Okay, we’ve got lots of those little cheese sticks, plus there are three sandwiches from yesterday, too. A few hard-boiled eggs thanks to Tracy, and some macaroni salad.”

He frowned. “When we brought lunch for everyone yesterday, there was one sandwich each. I didn’t expect leftovers.”

“Normally, you’d be right. The crew’s usually like locusts, mowing through anything edible—especially if they didn’t have to buy it themselves,” she said with an affectionate smile for the people she worked with every day. She looked up at him and added, “But thankfully for us, Lilah and Raul are both on diets so they didn’t eat theirs and Frank left early because his wife was in labor. So we’ve got food.”

“I forgot about Frank’s wife having a baby.” Sean leaned against the counter. “What was it, boy or girl?”

“A girl.” Kate couldn’t stop the smile as she remembered Frank’s call late the night before. “He’s so excited. They’ve got four boys already, and he really wanted a girl this time.”

“Five kids?” Sean asked, then whistled low and long. “Are they nuts?”

He looked so appalled at the very idea, Kate was insulted on behalf of her friends. “No, they’re not. They love kids.”

“They’d better,” Sean muttered and shook all over as if trying to ward off a chill.

“Wow, really hate the thought of family that much?”

Something flickered in his eyes—a shadow—and then it was gone, so fast, Kate wasn’t really sure she’d seen it at all.

“No,” he said, half turning to lean one hip against the battered kitchen counter. “Just not interested in having one of my own.”

“So no driving need to be a father,” she said flatly, thinking this was just another insight into the man she would be dealing with for months.

“God, no.” He shook his head and laughed shortly. “Can’t see me being a father. My brother maybe, but not me.”

Though he was brushing it off, Kate remembered that shadow and wondered what had caused it, however briefly. Curiosity piqued, Kate couldn’t help asking, “Why?”

He blew out a breath, crossed his arms over his chest and said, “I like having my own space. Doing things on my own time. Having to bend all of that to fit someone else’s schedule doesn’t appeal to me.”

“Sounds selfish,” she said.

“Absolutely,” he agreed affably. “What about you? If you like kids so much, why don’t you have three or four of your own?”