"Sit down, Mr. Kinny." He said, and Kinny did so without question. Damien’s request moved along quickly after that, and he left with every permit in hand.
"Thank you, Mr. Kinny," Damien said as he was leaving his office. Kinny came back to himself, but with a clear understanding that he'd just barely escaped something terrifying.
"Of course, whatever you need, just ask." He said his voice shaking as Damien closed his office door.
“The project at the Blood Rose has begun this morning, Mr. Henry." The man reported and waited for directions. William Henry had bid on that job and had been shut out by a small upstart contractor. No one undercuts Henry Properties.
“Is Andy on site?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Tell him to begin as we planned.” He smiled and turned to the large window behind his desk that looked out over the Chicago skyline. “We will have Rhett Parks bankrupt and homeless before the week is over.”
“Maybe sooner.” His man chimed in, and William laughed.
"The men are breaking for lunch and will be back at two," Andy told Rhett, who was helping to unload the lumber for framing, which would begin tomorrow. Rhett nodded, and Andy motioned for everyone to stop and return at two.
Rhett went inside and walked through the cleared area, seeing that large parts of the main room were salvageable, apart from sections of the wall that butted up against the front entrance. That could prove to be a considerable savings. He then went out back to his truck and sat on the tailgate with his lunch. He started on his ham sandwich and poured a cup of coffee from his thermos.
As soon as he started to relax, visions of Damien Russo's man came rushing back to his mind. He was a stunningly good-looking man, so good-looking that Rhett could not stop thinking about him. Working with him throughout this project was going to be a definite challenge. A challenge to keep his hands off the beautiful man and a challenge not to start humping his leg. Rhett smiled at that thought and took a big swig of his coffee.
Rhett’s salacious thoughts and visions must have called to him because within minutes, the man of his daydreams walked up beside him and leaned on the tailgate. "Here." He said and handed Rhett a stack of papers. He quickly thumbed through them and saw that Damien had successfully obtained all the necessary permits.
“Did they give you trouble?” Rhett asked, stunned that Damien was able to get them so quickly after Rhett hadn’t even been able to secure an appointment. “This is fantastic.” Rhett was astonished, and Damien looked at him with those sexy eyes and smiled. Rhett’s heart started to pound, and he felt a heat building in his core. “The guy in charge wouldn’t even agree to see me.” He added.
“They wanted to dance around for a while, but I pointed out the urgency, and they were more than willing to accommodate.” Damien was painting a picture that bore no resemblance to Rhett's experience with the building department. But then, who could say no to this man? One look and Rhett would give him anything he asked for and do it with gusto.
“Would you like a cookie? I made them myself, peanut butter and chocolate chip.” Damien again smiled and accepted the small gift. He watched the way the cookie went between Damien’s lips and the way his tongue jutted out to lick his lips. The entire thing was so erotic that Rhett could not take his eyes away and found himself licking his lips as he watched, totally enthralled.
“Delicious.” Damien complimented and finished the cookie. Rhett wanted him to eat another and then maybe press those lips somewhere else. His mind was racing with visions, and that hot desire that had started in his gut was spreading throughout his body. If he didn’t get a hold of himself and calm down, he was going to do or say something embarrassing.
Then he winked at this man, dark and dangerous, who scared most of his workers just by his sheer existence, and had winked at him. Rhett figured he must be losing his mind. This can't be real; he must be imagining things.
Damien patted Rhett’s knee and suggested another walk-through. Rhett didn't see where it was necessary, but was thankful for the opportunity to hopefully walk off his intense feelings. This would get him focused on the job and clear his head. Then he noticed that he still had his hand on Rhett’s knee.
Rhett set his cup and thermos aside, along with the remains of his cookies, and jumped from the tailgate. The loss of his touch was felt, but Rhett had to clear his head. He didn't know what the touch meant, but his mind was more than eager to paint many interesting possibilities for him.
“The men should be back soon. Andy broke them for lunch until two.” He explained and took a look at his watch, which read one fifty-five. There should be sounds of people arriving, but there was only silence. Andy should have returned by now, but he was also absent.
Rhett tried not to make too much of it and took Damien around once again, explaining plans and showing progress. He glanced at his watch again, and now it was nearly two thirty, and still no one had returned. "Excuse me for just a moment." He said and pulled out his phone, dialing Andy. He noticed Damien giving him some privacy and walking over to the remains of thebar. Rhett turned his back and spoke forcefully yet softly into the phone. “Where the hell are you?”
“We’re at another site. We were called away for a job we started last week. I told you that the crew and I were working for Henry Properties. He called and needed us to finish last week’s project immediately. We'll be back as soon as we're finished here. It shouldn’t take but a couple of hours.” Andy acted like it was no big deal, but Rhett was furious.
“You didn’t think to call and let me know?” He barked louder than he intended.
“I apologize," Andy said without conviction. “I got caught up in the job. It won’t take long, I’ll see you soon.” Rhett did not comment, simply closed the call, and took a deep, aggravated breath. He turned around to see Damien looking at him with those eyes, and his heart once again began to pound. Things were screwing up spectacularly, and still, all he really wanted was to walk into that man’s arms and stay there for a day or two.
He shook his head and stared at the ground between his feet for a few moments. When he looked up, Damien was standing in front of him with a look that conveyed concern and sympathy, not what he had expected from an exacting manager. "I'll let you get back to work, and perhaps we can talk later.” Damien was mercifully giving him time to figure this out.
Damien reached out and placed his hand on Rhett’s shoulder. He looked up at Damien and nodded. The hand on his shoulder was comforting, and his presence felt strangely supportive.
"I'll see you this evening," Damien stated, and Rhett was not sure what that meant, but Rhett had too much to deal with to spend too much time analyzing words and intent right now.Again, he nodded but did not comment. Damien squeezed his shoulder and then turned and left.
Rhett felt his absence immediately. He wished he could have discussed this issue with him, but he feared it would make him look unprofessional, and he didn’t want to risk that at the moment.
This job was too important to his career; he had to make it work, do it right, both on time and on budget, and if he needed to hire a new crew, he would do so. Andy was an utter disappointment, and now he understood why Damien had questioned him about the man earlier. Damien obviously knew more about Andy than he did.
He grabbed his gloves and continued with the demolition single-handedly. He wasn't going to wait around for Andy to get his ass back there. He would make some calls tonight and see what he could pull together for tomorrow.
