25
Rynna
Panic had me sailing out from the back of the kitchen and rushing through the dining room of Pepper’s Pies.
But this was a different kind of panic.
Not the kind incited by Timothy Roth.
This was a huge banging on the other side of the wall, the floors shaking and the fixtures trembling, so fierce I was terrified my grandmother’s restaurant was about to come crumbling down.
Confusion jolting me back, I skidded to a stop at the end of the hall that led to the restrooms.
My eyes narrowed as I attempted to make sense of the scene.
“What in the world are you doing?” I finally managed. Dust billowed in the enclosed area, and three strange men were in the midst of it, tearing out the plasterboard of the wall that blocked off the restrooms.
One stocky guy barely grunted an answer. “It’s demo day.”
Demo day?
“What are you talking about?” Exasperated, it tumbled out as I took a lurching step forward.
Another guy, dressed in a paint-stained tee, jeans, and work boots, tossed the piece of plywood he’d pried free into a small pile, which was growing quickly. “Boss sent us over. Told us this needed to get done and fast.”
“Boss?”
“Gunner,” the other guy huffed as he ripped free a huge piece of plywood that sent another plume of white dust billowing in the air.
Gunner.
Gunner. Gunner. Gunner.
The name spun through that haze before realization broke through the fog.
Oh God, what did he do?
I stepped back, trembling, the emotions tumbling through me too convoluted they were too much to fully understand. So, I latched on to one. That one that was frustrated and shocked, unable to process the actions of this unexpected man.
I rushed back into the kitchen and grabbed my purse and keys before flying out the door and hitting the road, my destination clear.
RG Construction.
I haphazardly parked and then flew through the entrance of the building. The interior space small enough that I didn’t need to do anything but round the secretary, who jumped to his feet.
“Excuse me, ma’am.”
I didn’t slow, I just thrust open Rex’s office door. I barged right in, the door banging against the inner wall when I did. I was flustered and angered and awed all at the same time. “You’d better have a good explanation.”
Surprised, his attention jerked up from the papers he was pouring over. “Rynna.”
God. He knocked the breath right out of me. I stood in the doorway, trying to brace myself, to remember why I was upset in the first place. Oh, yeah. “Why are there three men at my restaurant tearing it apart?”
Slowly, he stood, stealing a little more of the air. The man so powerful...so beautiful that I couldn’t think.
“You needed a job done, and I had the resources to do it,” he said.
Shaking myself out of the stupor, my eyes narrowed. “So, you just...sent them over? Without consulting with me? I...I...I...”
